Coursework & Registration for Continuing Scholars

section III, article 1

Coursework is an opportunity to delve deeper into the science of your chosen research area as well as the discipline of chemistry more broadly. Required skills-based coursework in proposal preparation, pedagogy, and ethics, among others, will help prepare you for your thesis work and for the job market.

Reminder of requirements

“Continuing” coursework refers to course effort after the first year of graduate school.

Review the First Year Coursework article for a list of courses required for all scholars and an overview of grading policy and expectations.

The Course Plan Guidance provides an at-a-glance view of requirements by semester:

Chemistry-Course-Plan-_-Rev-Apr-2024Download

Petitioning for Course Credit or a Course Waiver

Scholars may petition to receive course credit for graduate courses taken at another institution and/or a course waiver for a maximum of 9 credit hours. The scholar should submit the Petition for Course Credit and/or Waiver form as supporting documentation with a petition to the graduate program. Petitions will be forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review. Transfer credit requests must also be approved by the Laney Graduate School Dean (see box below.)

Coursework petitions must be submitted by the end of the first semester of coursework.

What is the difference between transfer credit and a waiver?

Course transfer credit may be given only for courses that were not used to satisfy the requirements of any previous degree. When you request course credit, you are requesting for a specific course taken elsewhere to be included on your official Emory transcript. Transfer credit may also reduce the number of courses required at Emory by an equivalent amount. A course waiver may be requested to reduce the usual six-credit course load required for candidacy based on prior coursework at the graduate level. Waivers may be requested for courses that were also used to satisfy requirements for a previous degree. In the case of a waiver, the courses themselves will not be reflected on the Emory transcript. It is more common for students to be eligible for a waiver than for transfer credit.

Scholars wishing to use non-chemistry coursework as part of a transfer or waiver request should include a rationale indicating the relevance of the course to the chemistry degree. Support from the primary research mentor significantly strengthens requests (therefore, scholars are encouraged to submit these requests after group selection has concluded.)

All requested waivers and petitions will be reviewed. However, scholars should be advised that in most cases, it benefits the scholar to take a full slate of courses at Emory.​​​​​​​

Course Registration for Continuing Scholars

All scholars should meet with their primary research mentor to decide on necessary coursework. First year scholars are encouraged to consult their rotation advisors and/or the DGS. Scholars must register themselves online via OPUS. The Graduate Program Coordinator can provide assistance but is not responsible for enrollment. Scholars are responsible for ensuring that they are enrolled prior to the enrollment deadline each semester. 

Milestone Course Guidance

Scholars must enroll in a specific course to properly record and receive credit for chemistry milestones. Scholars should enroll in these courses in the semester in which they plan to complete a milestone. Scholars are also required to re-enroll if they are approved to re-test a milestone in a given semester.

  • CHEM 798B: Second Year Qualifying Exam (3 credits)
  • CHEM 798C: Third Year Milestone (1 credit)
  • CHEM 798D: Fourth Year Milestone (1 credit)

Registering for External Courses

Scholars who wish to register for courses offered outside of the Department of Chemistry must complete the External Coursework Petition. This form requires signatures from the primary research mentor, the Instructor of Record for the requested course, and the graduate committee. If a scholar wishes to apply a non-chemistry course towards the six chemistry courses required for candidacy, they should indicate this on the petition.

Coursework Residency Requirement and Research Credit

All scholars in the graduate program are required to maintain a full course load consisting of at least 9 units during the fall, spring and summer semesters. In most semesters, scholars will need to enroll in CHEM 599R (Pre-Candidacy) or CHEM 799R (Post-Candidacy) to properly reflect their research effort. Scholars should refer to the table below to determine the appropriate research credit to reflect their effort in a given semester.

Research Credit Guidance

First Year, First Semester0
First Year, Second Semester6
First Year, Summer12
Second Year, First Semester9
Second Year, Second Semester9
Second Year Summer and Above12
Note: In any given semester, if a scholar calculates that their full credit load will fall below 9 credits or rise above 18 credits, the scholar must contact the Director of Graduate studies to discuss prior to the beginning of add/drop.

Grading for Research Credit

The Instructor of Record for CHEM 599R/ 799R is the Director of Graduate Studies. The DGS will seek input from the primary research mentor as to the scholar’s research progress at the midpoint of each semester. Scholars will be graded as:

  • Progressing well, no concerns 
  • Some concerns will need improvement 
  • Major concerns, needs significant improvement 

Scholars will be informed of their mid-semester evaluation and will be provided with notes from the primary research mentor regarding the assessment. At the end of the semester, faculty will be asked to advise the DGS of any changes to the mid-semester evaluation. Scholars must receive an assessment of “progressing well, no concerns” to earn an “S” grade in research in a given semester.

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Next: Teaching

First Year Teaching Assignments

Section II, Article 5

Laney Graduate School seeks to ensure that a scholar’s education includes thoughtful and thorough preparation in the art of teaching. All chemistry scholars will serve as Teaching Assistants as part of their education.

For information on Advanced TA (all TA after First Year) go here.

Teaching requirements for candidacy

  • Laney Graduate School TATTO (Teaching Assistant Training and Teaching Opportunity) Program—including the two-day TATT 600 workshop and microteaching during graduate orientation.
  • Completion of a Teaching Assistant assignment for two semesters—once in the Fall and once in the Spring of the first year.

First Year TA assignments

  • TA assignments are made by the DGS in consultation with the Graduate Committee. Class size and type are the primary driver of TA assignments.
  • Faculty are allowed to request specific students and/or skill sets for their assigned TA(s) via the DGS. These requests are given priority over scholar requests but are not guaranteed.
  • First year scholars may make requests for specific TA placements to the DGS and the DUS, but these selections are not guaranteed and, in many cases, cannot be honored. Most first year scholars will TA in laboratory courses.

First Year TA responsibilities

  • Provide classroom instruction as needed
  • Develop laboratory course materials as needed
  • Lead a lab section (if applicable)
  • Grade homework and quizzes
  • Proctor exams
  • Work closely with your faculty supervisor to ensure duties are completed to a high standard of excellence
  • Other duties supportive of University instruction as assigned

TA assignments are 10 hrs/week for a TA enrolled in TATT 605. Laboratory TAs may be required to occasionally work more than 10 hrs/week to assist with exam grading. The expectation is that lead instructors will balance this requirement with a lower work load in other weeks.

TA grading procedures

The Instructor of Record for TATT 605 is the Director of Graduate Studies. The DGS will seek input from each TA lead as to the scholar’s research progress at the midpoint of each semester. Scholars will be graded as:

  • Progressing well, no concerns 
  • Some concerns will need improvement 
  • Major concerns, needs significant improvement 

Scholars will be informed of their mid-semester evaluation and will be provided with notes from the TA lead regarding the assessment if any improvement is needed. At the end of the semester, TA leads will again be asked to advise the DGS of any changes to the mid-semester evaluation. Scholars must receive an assessment of “progressing well, no concerns” to earn an “S” grade in research in a given semester.

TA probation procedures

Graduate TA assignments are graded on an S/U basis. Scholars are expected to achieve an “S” grade. If a scholar receives—or is advised that they are on track to receive—a “U” grade, the following probationary procedure will be followed.

  1. The graduate scholar must re-take any failed assessments.
  2. The graduate scholar must arrange a meeting with their lab/course director, the primary research mentor, the DGS, and the Graduate Program Coordinator to collaboratively develop a plan to achieve an “S” grade either by improving performance in the current semester or via an additional TA assignment.
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Next: Annual Reports

First Year Course Selection

section II, article 4

Coursework is an opportunity to delve deeper into the science of your chosen research area as well as the discipline of chemistry more broadly. Required skills-based coursework in proposal preparation, pedagogy, and ethics, among others, will help prepare you for your thesis work and for the job market.

Required courses for all scholars

  • six 3-credit chemistry graduate courses (or approved external courses)
  • TATT 600 + 605 (TATTO)
  • JPE 600 + 606 + 610 (JPE)
  • ELSP courses, if required (ELSP)
  • CHEM 504 (Rotations)
  • CHEM 597 (Proposal/Library Course)
  • CHEM 798B, CHEM 798C, CHEM 798D (Milestones)
  • Research credit (every semester except the first)
Chemistry-Course-Plan-_-Rev-Apr-2024Download

Grading

Courses are graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) or on a letter grade basis (A, A-, B+, B, B-, C, or F). Courses that offer a letter grade must be taken for a grade if they will be applied towards the requirements for candidacy.

Understanding course levels

Graduate courses at Emory are offered at the 500-level or above. The following guidance may be helpful in distinguishing between levels:

  • 500-level: core/foundational graduate course; appropriate for any graduate scholar
  • 600-level: required training courses, including TATTO and JPE
  • 700-level: advanced graduate course; first year scholars may enroll, but are encouraged to seek advising support to ensure they can be successful in the course

New scholar enrollment

New scholars will meet with faculty during orientation to select coursework for the first semester.  A signed Course Selection Form is required for the first semester only.

Enrollment in two chemistry graduate courses is considered a full load during the first year.

First year scholars wishing to take a third course in either the Fall or Spring should request DGS permission prior to enrollment via a petition to the graduate program. Scholars are advised that two courses is considered a full load and is the most common successful path through the program. Scholars who elect to take three courses have the option of dropping one course at any point during the semester; this action will result in a “W” notation on the transcript.

ELSP courses

The LGS English Language Support Program (ELSP) provides high quality language support to graduate and professional students, postdoctoral fellows, and scholars with diverse linguistic backgrounds at all stages of the academic journey.  Scholars for whom English is a second language may be required to take an ELSP assessment during orientation. The chemistry graduate program strongly encourages scholars to take all required and recommended ELSP courses. ELSP courses are also recommended as an excellent resource for fluent English speakers seeking support in graduate writing and presentation skills.

Registering for external (non-Chemistsry) courses

In most cases, first year, first semester scholars will be best served by taking all of their courses in chemistry. However, after this point, scholars are encouraged to broadly explore course offerings across Emory.

Scholars who wish to register for courses offered outside of the Department of Chemistry must complete the External Coursework Petition. This form requires signatures from the primary research mentor (or DGS prior to joining a group) and the Instructor of Record for the requested course. If a scholar wishes to apply a non-chemistry course towards the six chemistry courses required for candidacy, they should indicate this request on the petition.

First year research credit

All scholars in the graduate program are required to maintain a full course load consisting of at least 9 units during the fall, spring and summer semesters.

First Year, First Semester (Fall)

First year scholars should NOT enroll in any research credit during their first semester at Emory. Research effort during the first semester is tracked via enrollment in CHEM 504: Rotations. Scholars may be automatically enrolled in research credit as a temporary placeholder prior to course selection – it is the responsibility of the scholar to drop these credits when they enroll in their selected courses.

First Year, Second Semester (Spring)

Scholars should enroll in 6 credits of CHEM599R to reflect research effort.

First Year, Third Semester (Summer)

Scholars should enroll in 12 credits of CHEM599R to reflect research effort.

Next: Teaching

Candidacy

section III, article 5

Candidacy status is an indication that a doctoral scholar has developed sufficient mastery of a discipline to advance towards the PhD. The scholar will rely on this foundation to produce an original research contribution in their field in the form of the dissertation.

Eligibility

PhD scholars are eligible for candidacy when they have earned at least 54 credit hours at the 500 level or above. All incomplete (I) and In Progress (IP) grades must be resolved. Candidates must be in good standing with the program. Scholars must also complete the following before entering candidacy:

  • Rotations
  • JPE: LGS Ethics course JPE 600 (JPE 610 may be completed after entering candidacy) 
  • Chemistry JPE Requirements
  • Second Year Qualifying Exam
  • TATTO: TATT 600 & TATT 605 (x 2 semesters)
  • Six chemistry courses (or equivalent course release based on transfer coursework) with a minimum G.P.A. of 2.7

Timing

Scholars should enter candidacy as soon as all requirements have been completed. Scholars must reach candidacy by September 15 of their fourth year. Scholars who do not meet this deadline will be placed on academic probation, will not be eligible for PDS funds, and may forfeit financial support. These sanctions will be lifted when the scholar enters candidacy.

How to apply

Scholars enter candidacy by submitting the application to enter candidacy, available on the LGS website. Chemistry will confirm that all program requirements have been met and LGS will confirm that remaining requirements have been met. Scholars are considered “in candidacy” when the Dean has approved the application to enter candidacy.

Eligibility for the MS based on candidacy

Once scholars have completed all candidacy requirements, they are eligible for an M.S. degree “on the way” to the Ph.D. Scholars should review the guidelines in the M.S. Degree appendix. The degree is not awarded automatically and is not the same as a terminal degree (which requires full completion of JPE requirements.) Scholars are responsible for pursuing the degree if they wish.

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Next: IV: Milestones

Teaching for Advanced Scholars

Section III, Article 2

Advanced teaching opportunities are available in chemistry and across the university.

For information about TA in the First Year (or any TA for credit in TATT/CHEM 605), go here.

Advanced graduate scholar TA commitment request form

Advanced scholars must complete and submit the Advanced Graduate Scholar TA Commitment Request Form no later than August 1st each year in consultation with the primary research mentor. This form is required even if scholars do not wish to TA in a given year.

TA requests for students supported by bridge funding

Scholars who are required to TA under the department’s bridge funding policy should submit their Advanced Graduate TA Commitment Form no later than June 1st in any given year, or as soon as the faculty member accepts bridge funding, whichever comes sooner.

Availability of advanced TA assignments

Available advanced TA support depends on the total number of courses requesting TA assistance (based on enrollment.) TA support will only be offered to advanced scholars when all first-year scholars have received TA assignments and additional TA slots remain unfilled.

In the event that there are more requests for Advanced TA support than there are available positions, the Director of Graduate Studies will assign available lines in consultation with the Department Chair and the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Changes to TA commitment request

If a scholar wishes to change their TA commitment request, they must submit a new form by the last day of classes in the semester prior to the commitment you want to change (example: end of fall semester to change a spring request.) Changes requested after this date, either to reduce or add TA hours, will only be honored if TA needs allow.

Additional opportunities within chemistry

  • Reduced TA assignments (less than 10 hours), if TA need allows
  • Opportunities to serve as Instructor of Record, if course coverage needs allow

Opportunities will be announced via the chemistry graduate email digest, when available.

Additional opportunities outside chemistry

  • Dean’s Teaching Fellowship
  • SIRE for Natural Sciences
  • ORDER
  • Emory Pipeline
  • Teaching at other local universities

For the most up-to-date opportunities, visit the Laney Graduate School Advanced Student Fellowships page.

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Next: Annual Reports

Coursework for Continuing Scholars

section III, article 1

Coursework is an opportunity to delve deeper into the science of your chosen research area as well as the discipline of chemistry more broadly. Required skills-based coursework in proposal preparation, pedagogy, and ethics, among others, will help prepare you for your thesis work and for the job market.

Reminder of requirements

“Continuing” coursework refers to course effort after the first year of graduate school.

Review the First Year Coursework article for a list of courses required for all scholars and an overview of grading policy and expectations.

The Course Plan Guidance provides an at-a-glance view of requirements by semester:

Chemistry-Course-PlanDownload

Course registration for continuing scholars

All scholars should meet with their primary research mentor to decide on necessary coursework. First year scholars are encouraged to consult their rotation advisors and/or the DGS. Scholars must register themselves online via OPUS. The Graduate Program Coordinator can provide assistance but is not responsible for enrollment. Scholars are responsible for ensuring that they are enrolled prior to the enrollment deadline each semester. 

Milestone course guidance

Scholars must enroll in a specific course to properly record and receive credit for chemistry milestones. Scholars should enroll in these courses in the semester in which they plan to complete a milestone. Scholars are also required to re-enroll if they are approved to re-test a milestone in a given semester.

  • CHEM 798B: Second Year Qualifying Exam (3 credits)
  • CHEM 798C: Third Year Milestone (1 credit)
  • CHEM 798D: Fourth Year Milestone (1 credit)

Registering for external courses

Scholars who wish to register for courses offered outside of the Department of Chemistry must complete the External Coursework Petition. This form requires signatures from the primary research mentor, the Instructor of Record for the requested course, and the graduate committee. If a scholar wishes to apply a non-chemistry course towards the six chemistry courses required for candidacy, they should indicate this on the petition.

Coursework residency requirement and research credit

All scholars in the graduate program are required to maintain a full course load consisting of at least 9 units during the fall, spring and summer semesters. In most semesters, scholars will need to enroll in CHEM 599R (Pre-Candidacy) or CHEM 799R (Post-Candidacy) to properly reflect their research effort. Scholars should refer to the table below to determine the appropriate research credit to reflect their effort in a given semester.

Research credit guidance

First Year, First Semester0
First Year, Second Semester6
First Year, Summer12
Second Year, First Semester9
Second Year, Second Semester9
Second Year Summer and Above12
Note: In any given semester, if a scholar calculates that their full credit load will fall below 9 credits or rise above 18 credits, the scholar must contact the Director of Graduate studies to discuss prior to the beginning of add/drop.
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Next: Teaching

Orientation

section II, article 1

Orientation activities always begin on the start date indicated in your Emory offer letter – this is quite a bit earlier than the first day of classes, generally the middle of August.

​​​​​​

Orientation overview

New scholars are required to attend orientation for both the chemistry graduate program and the Laney Graduate School before the start of classes.

Advanced students may be required to attend orientation activities to complete program requirements that were missed or not offered during their own orientation.

​​​​​​​All orientation activities are mandatory. Scholars who do not participate may forfeit their August stipend payment and/or be excluded from rotation activities.

Orientation content

Orientation will include the following:

  • introductions
  • program requirements, including rotations
  • mail and keys
  • Emory ID cards and building access
  • payroll and compensation
  • facilities and stockroom
  • safety training
  • TA training
  • ethics training
  • academic advising with faculty
  • course selection and registration
  • cohort team building
  • strategies for success in graduate school
  • peer mentoring and graduate organizations
Next: Research Rotation Program