The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

Each Chemical Physics student's curriculum is designed individually to complement his or her background. There are no set formal course requirements for the Chemical Physics Ph.D., but the curriculum must satisfy the rules set by the Graduate College and should be acceptable to the student's research advisor and home department. Students have considerable freedom in choosing a curriculum in accordance with their interests and research goals. Below are suggestions to guide students in acquiring the background expected of a Chemical Physicist. It is expected that each student will enter with the knowledge equivalent of several of the courses suggested below, and that the individual course program will be devoted to completing the rest of the basic foundation and taking some advanced and auxiliary coursework.

Basic Knowledge Levels Appropriate for a Chemical Physics Program

1. Classical Mechanics: Phys. 325 (Intermediate Mechanics and Relativity)
2. Quantum Mechanics: The equivalent of one of the following two sequences (or a mixture thereof) is strongly recommended.

3. Statistical Mechanics:
   Chem. 544 (Thermodynamics and Statistical Thermodynamics or Phys. 427 (Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics). In addition, either Chem. 546 (Statistical Mechanics) or Phys. 504 (Statistical Mechanics and Kinetic Theory) should be considered, particularly for students with theoretical interests.
4. Electricity and Magnetism:
   Phys. 435 & 436 (Electromagnetic Fields and sources I & II)
5. Physical Chemistry:
   Chem. 444 (Physical Chemistry II)
6. Mathematics:
   Many Chemical Physics students will find it helpful to acquire additional mathematical background such as found in Phys. 506 (Special Functions and Boundary Value Problems in Physics), Phys. 507 (Additional Techniques of Mathematical Physics), and Phys. 502 (Uses of Complex Variable in Physics) or Math 446 (Complex Variables and Applications and Math 556 (Mathematical Methods of Physics I) will be helpful.

Additional courses that may be of interest to Chemical Physicists

Phys. 560 (Solid State Physics I)
Phys. 561 (Solid State Physics II)
Phys. 564(Surface Physics)
Phys. 565 (Theory of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Devices)
ECE 570 (Nonlinear Optics)
ECE 496 (Projects and Lectures in Quantum Electronics)
It is presumed that the student has had courses equivalent to Advanced Calculus (Math 380) and Linear Algebra (Math 498 or 415). Additional information about specific classes in different departments may be obtained from the U.I. on-line course catalog.


View the course catalog, schedule, etc.