Environmental Chemistry
M.S. and Ph.D.

Introduction

We offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry with an emphasis in Environmental Chemistry. This remains one of the few Ph.D. programs in environmental chemistry resident in a Chemistry Department anywhere in the country. Our six core faculty and five participating faculty make it one of the largest such programs in the world.

Research in the department spans a wide range, from field work to laboratory work to computer modeling, and from global biogeochemical cycles to ecosystems to elementary kinetics. Our program avoids a "pollutant of the week" approach that would leave graduates unprepared for future developments. Instead, we emphasize a framework wherein students can incorporate new knowledge as it becomes available and deal with new problems as they appear.

The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry provides a unique setting for the study and practice of Environmental Chemistry. The focus of the ESF campus on the environment and natural resources promotes the exchange of ideas across disciplines and fosters acommunity of scholars. Additional resources are also freely available to ESF students through the services of Syracuse University, located adjacent to the ESF campus.

Financial Support

Selected applicants to the graduate program will be offered a full tuition waiver and a generous 12 month stipend that will cover more than cover their expenses. Students are supported primarily as research assistants rather than teaching assistants, and as a result they have ample time to devote to their research.

Program of Study

Incoming graduate students in Environmental Chemistry are required to take two introductory lecture courses and one laboratory course in Environmental Chemistry. Several advanced courses are also offered, such as Environmental Organic Chemistry, Oceanography, Stable Isotopes, Chromatography, and Kinetics. An introductory Biochemistry lecture course is also required. To ensure that students obtain a strong background in the fundamentals of chemistry, they make selections from among graduate courses inAnalytical, Physical,Organic, and Inorganic Chemistry from the offerings of Syracuse University. Students are also encouraged to take related graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses offered in other departments at ESF and at Syracuse University.

Research is at the core of any Ph.D. program. Research is conducted in the laboratory, in the field, and on computers. For more information, visit Environmental Chemistry faculty member pages, or you can explore further via the Department of Chemistry Faculty Directory.

We strongly encourage prospective graduate students to contact the department or any professor whose research is of interest!

• Prospective Student Interest Form
• Environmental Chemistry Faculty Directory

Request an Application to the Graduate Program

Office of Instruction and Graduate Studies
SUNY-ESF
1 Forestry Drive
Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 470-6595
esfgrad@esf.edu

Postdoctoral scientist Wang Chuji and graduate student Liat Shemesh align one the lasers in Dr. Dibble's laboratory.

The sticky bottom surface of a linden leaf (shown here) traps particles. Dr. Johnson's group analyzes particulate matter using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray fluoresence spectrsocopy.