During the first semester, students enroll in four graduate level courses, including CHEM 2870, and choose a research advisor among the faculty in the department. Additionally, first year students receive fellowship support and are not required to teach.

A significant feature of Brown's doctoral program in chemistry is that almost all students start their research during the second semester of the first year. During later semesters, the research project becomes the student's primary responsibility, and leads to a Ph.D. dissertation usually within four or five years.

Additional Resources

The Department of Chemistry occupies a state–of–the–art laboratory building and maintains outstanding facilities. Departmental research resources include a 600 MHz, a 300 MHz and two 400 MHz NMR spectrometers and six mass spectrometers with multiple ionization techniques including electrospray, APCI, MALDI, and EI. In addition, individual research groups maintain a wide array of specialized equipment, including three cutting–edge, ultra–fast laser systems; high power Nd:YAG; excimer, dye, and quantum cascade lasers; a laser Raman spectrometer; several high–resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometers; an automated X–ray diffractometer; atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes as well as a wide range of networked workstations and computers. In addition, the department houses excellent machine and electronics shops that are staffed by skilled technicians.