Welcome to the Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Program at UToledo!
Interested in applying to graduate school?
Applications to UToledo’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry are evaluated holistically by a committee of faculty, but we can offer the following tips to improve your application:
- Make sure when you ask your recommenders to write a letter for you, that you stress the letter should detail your experiences and preparations for research and teaching in addition to discussing academic prowess and any accolades or extra-curricular activities.
- The department does not currently require GRE for admission, though scores, if included, will be evaluated as part of your application.
- Your statement of purpose should detail the reasons why you want to pursue a graduate degree, a reasonable summary of any teaching or research experience you possess (the more detail you can give here the better), what research you want to pursue at UToledo (and which faculty members you would like to consider as an advisor) and finally, what you hope that pursuing a degree at The University of Toledo will allow you to do in your future career.
- Please note that we accept students with B.S. – level degrees into both the M.S. and Ph.D. programs. If your interest is to get a Ph.D., we highly encourage students to apply directly for the Ph.D. degree.
- For working professionals who are currently employed, we have both non-thesis M.S. and the Professional Science Master’s programs – these are not research-based degrees and have different requirements.
Our Ph.D. program, one of the largest in Ohio, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. The achievements of our students are recognized nationally and internationally. We offer unique research opportunities and our research programs aim to explore challenging scientific questions in various fields of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
We provide you with a comprehensive selection of research programs, including Analytical, Biological and Biochemical, Inorganic, Materials, Organic, Physical, Photo and Cellular Chemistry. Our department is equipped with cutting-edge instrumentation and our faculty members are highly recognized nationally and internationally for their quality of research. Check out faculty profiles on their individual pages and by searching Google Scholar for more information.
Every year our outstanding graduate students publish numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts in highly respected journals.
The success of our students is our top priority!
In the News:
- January 2025: Uzoamaka "Clara" Bokolo, Ph.D. candidate in the Sucheck Group, was awarded a Sustainable Future Travel Grant to attend the 29th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference to be held in June 2025, in Pittsburgh, PA.
- November 2024: Umesha Kumbalathara, Ph.D. candidate in the Sucheck Group, was a finalist in the College of Graduate Studies Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition.
- September 2024: Victoria Drago (B.S. Biochemistry ’17; Ph.D. Chemistry ’22; T. Mueser Lab), a scientist at the Oak Ridge Lab, instrumental in ground-breaking new research to aid drug design for aggressive cancers!
- September 2024: Two alumni of Dr. Jianglong Zhu's lab recently joined academia as Assistant Professors of Chemistry - Haiden Nguyen (Ph.D., '16) is at South Dakota Mines and Padam Acharya (Ph.D., '19) is at Eastern Kentucky University.
- August 2024: A perspective article on organometallic lanthanide complexes written by Prof. Joe Schmidt and former doctoral student Yesmin Akter Rina (Ph.D. '22) was featured on the cover issue of the August 2024 Dalton Transactions journal.
- August 2024: Congratulations to the five doctoral students who successfully defended their dissertations in summer 2024: Indunil Alahakoon (Young), Hasaruwani Kiridena (Isailovic), Koshala Olupothage (Bellizzi), Prem Gurung (Zhu) & Ankita Mishra (Young)!
- July 2024: Distinguished University Professor Jon Kirchhoff and Ph.D. lab alum Ahmad Rohanifar and Govind Sharma Shyam Sunder received one of the 14 utility patents granted to UToledo in 2023. U.S. Patent 11634517-B2 ‘Pyrrole-based polymers for metal extraction, analysis, and removal’.
- June 2024: Dr. Dragan Isailovic, Ph.D. candidate Sanduni Premathilaka and postdoc researcher Sharmila Thenuwara, were contributors on the publication - Microbiome processing of organic nitrogen input supports growth and cyanotoxin production of Microcystis aeruginosa cultures.
Questions? Contact the Graduate and Recruitment committee: UTCHEM@utoledo.edu
michael.young8@utoledo.edu
In her own words, hear from graduate student Heidi Fresenius about her time and experiences in the UToledo Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Program: