what is a thesis in chemistry

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A guide to writing up your chemical science thesis

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This guide aims to give you guidance on how to write your thesis so that your research is showcased at its best. It includes suggestions on how to prepare for writing up and things to consider during the final stages. 

• Higher-order thinking and metacognition
• Investigation
• Manipulating data
• Working independently
• Communication skills

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Thesis Preparation

The following information is provided to assist Chemistry graduate students as they prepare their theses. If graduate students have any questions that are not answered by this guide, they should email the Chemistry Education Office (questions about department policies) or MIT Libraries (for questions about thesis formatting, etc.)

Degree candidates must fill out the Degree Application via WebSIS at the start of the term. Important dates and deadlines (including late fees) for the upcoming academic year are listed below.  It is strongly advised that degree candidates apply for the degree list even if there is uncertainty about completing the thesis defense and submission by the  deadline, as there are no penalties for being removed from the degree list.

Students must successfully complete the thesis defense before submitting their final, signed thesis.

**Please note that the Specifications for Thesis Preparation were updated in November 2022. Please make sure you use these new guidelines.**

Important Dates & Deadlines

May 2024 degree list.

• Degree Application Deadline: February 9, 2024 ($50 late fee if submitted after this date, $85 late fee if submitted after April 12, 2024)
• Thesis Title Deadline: April 12, 2024 ($85 late fee if submitted after this date. If your thesis title is not finalized by this date, please enter your current working title and the final title can be updated later)
• Thesis Submission Deadline: May 10, 2024
• Last day of work in the lab: on or before May 29, 2024. If you plan to end your RA appointment earlier than May 29, 2024, please contact Jennifer to review your timeline.
• Your degree will officially be conferred by MIT on May 30, 2024
• Information about the MIT Health Plan and graduation will be available online here.

September 2024 Degree List

• Degree Application Deadline: June 14, 2024 ($50 late fee if submitted after this date, $85 late fee if submitted after July 19, 2024)
• Thesis Title Deadline:July 19, 2024 ($85 late fee if submitted after this date. If your thesis title is not finalized by this date, please enter your current working title and the final title can be updated later)
• Thesis Submission Deadline: August 16, 2024
• Last day of work in the lab: on or before August 31, 2024. If you plan to end your RA appointment earlier than August 31st, please contact Jennifer to review your timeline.
• Your degree will officially be conferred by MIT on September 18, 2024

February 2025 Degree List

• Degree Application Deadline: September 6, 2024 ($50 late fee if submitted after this date, $85 late fee if submitted after December 13, 2024)
• Thesis Title Deadline: December 13, 2024 ($85 late fee if submitted after this date. If your thesis title is not finalized by this date, please enter your current working title and the final title can be updated later)
• Thesis Submission Deadline: January 17, 2025
• Last day of work in the lab: on or before January 15, 2025. If you plan to end your RA appointment earlier than January 15th, please contact Jennifer to review your timeline.
• Your degree will officially be conferred by MIT on February 19, 2025

May 2025 Degree List

• Degree Application Deadline:February 7, 2025 ($50 late fee if submitted after this date, $85 late fee if submitted after April 11, 2025)
• Thesis Title Deadline: April 11, 2025 ($85 late fee if submitted after this date. If your thesis title is not finalized by this date, please enter your current working title and the final title can be updated later)
• Thesis Submission Deadline: May 9, 2025
• Last day of work in the lab: on or before May 28, 2025. If you plan to end your RA appointment earlier than May 28th, please contact Jennifer to review your timeline.
• Your degree will officially be conferred by MIT on May 29, 2025

Scheduling your Thesis Defense

All PhD candidates must have a Thesis Defense. As soon as your defense is finalized, please email the Chemistry Education Office with the date, time, location, and thesis title . Thesis defenses are strongly encouraged to be in-person.  If there are questions or concerns about an in-person defense, please reach out to Jennifer Weisman. When thesis defenses are on campus, we recommend reserving a room once the defense date is finalized, student can reserve department rooms through the online scheduling system or request a classroom via this form .

Degree candidates should provide their advisor with a copy of the thesis at least two weeks before the defense and provide their thesis committee chair and member with a copy at least one week before the defense. However, degree candidates should talk with their advisor, committee chair, and committee member to find out if they need the thesis further in advance or if there are preferred formats. Degree candidates should allow time in between their thesis defense and the submission deadline to make edits and submit the final copies.

Please note that most receiving a PhD degree are required to present a seminar as part of the thesis defense. This seminar is open to the department. The degree candidate is responsible for providing the Chemistry Education Office with information about their thesis defense at least two weeks ahead of time. Following the seminar, the candidate will meet privately with the thesis committee.

Thesis Formatting

The Institute has very specific requirements for thesis preparation, which were updated in November 2022. Specifications for Thesis Preparation is available on the library’s website and should be read very carefully. The MIT Thesis FAQ may answer additional questions and a helpful checklist is also provided. The specifications also include information about copyright and use of previously published material in a thesis . Do  not  rely on any templates or prior theses from your research group – they may not reflect the most current guidelines. We have highlighted some especially important points below.

Font & Spacing

Title page & committee signature page.

• The title page of the first copy will be digitally signed by the author, advisor, and Professor Adam Willard. The title page should contain the title, name of the author, previous degrees, the degree(s) to be awarded at MIT, the date the degree(s) will be conferred (May, September, or February only), copyright notice, and appropriate names and signatures. Degrees are awarded in Chemistry, regardless of your specific research area. Regardless of when you defend or submit your thesis, the date of degree conferral must be May/June, September, or February.
• As noted above, the title page will be signed by you, your advisor, and Professor Willard. You do not need to have Professor Willard digitally sign the thesis before you submit it, we will arrange to have him sign it. If your advisor has a title (ex., Firmenich Professor of Chemistry) it should also be included under their name. If you are not sure if they have a title, you can consult the Faculty Directory . Professor Willard should have the following listed under his name, on two separate lines: Professor of Chemistry; Graduate Officer
• Each student should place the appropriate copyright notice on the thesis title page. Copyright notice consists of four elements: the symbol “c” with a circle around it © and/or the word “copyright”; the year of publication (the year in which the degree is to be awarded); the name of the copyright owner; the words “All rights reserved” or your chosen Creative Commons license. All theses should have the following legend statement exactly: The author hereby grants to MIT a nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to exercise any and all rights under copyright, including to reproduce, preserve, distribute and publicly display copies of the thesis, or release the thesis under an open-access license. Please carefully review the copyright information to determine the appropriate copyright ownership.
• The date under Signature of Author should be the date the final thesis is signed and submitted to the department.
• The title page is always considered to be page 1, and every page must be included in the count regardless of whether a number would be physically printed on a page. We recommend that you do not include the page number on the title page.
• There is also a signature page that will be digitally signed by your entire thesis committee. Your advisor will digitally sign your thesis twice, on the title page and signature page. The signature page is right after the title page.
• More details about digital signatures are provided below.

Table of Contents

Final thesis submission, general submission process.

Please carefully review the details below, including the file naming format . There are two steps to the final submissions process:

1. Submit the following documents to the Department of Chemistry:

• An electronic copy of your thesis in PDF/A-1 format (with no signatures)
• A PDF of the digitally signed title page and committee signature page (using DocuSign to obtain signatures)

Please send an email to your advisor, Jennifer Weisman, and William McCoy, which includes the 2 PDFs above and the following text:

“Dear Professor/Dr X: Attached is the final version of my thesis. Please use reply-all to this message to indicate your acceptance of my thesis document and your recommendation for certification by my department.”

**Note: if your thesis document is too large to send via email, your email can include a link to access the document via Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.**

2. Submit your thesis information to MIT Libraries here . Choose to opt-in or opt-out of ProQuest license and publication.  Include the same copyright and license information that is on your thesis title page. Note: this does not involve submitting your actual thesis.

Details for Thesis Submission Process

• After the defense, the student and thesis committee reach agreement on the final thesis document.
• Students should follow the format specifications as stated in the Specifications for Thesis Preparation . Do not print or physically sign pages.
• Students will have the thesis signed electronically through DocuSign. This process is described in detail in the section below.
• The title page is always considered to be page 1, and every page must be included in the count regardless of whether a number is physically printed on a page. The entire thesis (including title page, prefatory material, illustrations, and all text and appendices) must be paginated in one consecutive numbering sequence. Your committee signature page should be page 2. Please see the  Sample Title Page and committee signature page for reference.
• You will still include the title page and committee signature page in the full thesis PDF, they just won’t have any signatures.
• The digitally signed title page and committee signature pages should be in one PDF, separate from the thesis document. This avoids a DocuSign tag at the top of each page of the full thesis. Please use the following naming convention: authorLastName-kerb-degree-dept-year-sig.pdf (ex., montgomery-mssimon-phd-chemistry-2021-sig.pdf).
• Students should save their final thesis document as a PDF using the following file naming convention: authorLastName-kerb-degree-dept-year-thesis .pdf (ex., montgomery-mssimon-phd-chemistry-2021-thesis.pdf).
• Students should not deposit the PDF of their thesis via the Libraries Library’s voluntary submission portal.
• Please send an email to your advisor, Jennifer, and William which includes the final thesis document and file with the digitally signed title/committee signature pages with the following text:

Please also complete the MIT Doctoral Student Exit Survey and your Laboratory Safety Clearance Form .

Digital Signatures

Please see here for a full guide (with screenshots) to using DocuSign to obtain digital signatures

Required Signatures:

These should be everyone’s uploaded digital signatures in their own handwriting, not one of the pre-formatted signatures created by DocuSign.

• Your signature on the thesis title page
• Your advisor’s signature on both the title page and committee signature page
• Your thesis committee chair’s and member’s signatures on the committee signature page
• You do not need to have Adam Willard sign your title page, the Chemistry Education Office will take care of that
• Full thesis with no signatures (including unsigned title page and thesis committee signature page)
• Title page and committee signature page with signatures via DocuSign

Accessing DocuSign

Thesis Hold Requests

Details about requesting a thesis hold are available here and the requests are made to different offices based on the type of request. Please note that planned or pending submissions to scholarly journals related to thesis work will not be considered for thesis holds.

Written notification of patent holds and other restrictions must reach the MIT Libraries before the thesis in question is received by the MIT Libraries. Theses will not be available to the public prior to being published by the MIT Libraries. The Libraries may begin publishing theses in DSpace@MIT one month and one week from the last day of classes.

Graduate Student Exit Interviews

In order to best serve the educational, scientific, and social needs of graduate students in the Chemistry Department, it is critically important that Departmental leadership be appropriately informed of issues of importance to graduate students, ideally on an ongoing basis. Graduate student exit interviews provide information that alert the Department to acute issues that affect graduate students and provide data for longitudinal assessments of graduate student experience within the program.Graduate exit interviews are administered to all graduate students departing the Chemistry Department. The exit interview applies equally to graduate students departing with completed degrees (Ph.D. and M.S.) and without degrees.

• Graduating students will be sent a list of interview questions by the Chemistry Education Office when the student joins the degree list. Instructions about scheduling a time for the in-person or virtual discussion will be included with other informational correspondence from the Chemistry Education Office regarding degree completion. Graduating students will perform their exit interview after the thesis defense so as to avoid making the interview an additional burden.
• For students departing the program without a degree, the interview questions and instructions for scheduling an in-person discussion will be sent by the Chemistry Education Office at the point in time that a date for termination of their appointment in Chemistry is determined.
• For the majority of departing students, this interview coincides with the end of the semester, but a rolling schedule of surveys is anticipated.

Postdoctoral/Research Specialist Appointments

If you plan to transition to a postdoctoral/research specialist appointment within the Department of Chemistry at MIT, please contact Jennifer Weisman and  Chemistry HR as soon as possible. Your final signed thesis must be submitted before a postdoc appointment can start. If you are an international student, it is extremely important that you start this process early to allow sufficient timing for visa processing. In addition to talking with Jennifer and HR, please consult with the International Students Office .

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7.3: Thesis Statement

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Establishing the Thesis Statement

Thesis or focus.

Once you have a specific, narrow topic, you’ll want to be sure you bring that specific topic into your essay effectively and maintain focus on that specific topic. It can be easy to wander off topic in a long research paper, but a good research paper always has a strong focus. Information that does not directly relate to supporting your point or maintaining your focus shouldn’t be included in your research essay.

Some research assignments will require a specifically stated thesis statement, while other projects will simply require that you maintain a strong focus, without requiring a specific thesis.  (21)

Drafting a Debatable Thesis

A thesis statement expresses the central arguments and establishes the focus of a piece of writing. Here is a simple formula for the thesis statement:

Narrowed Topic + Main Ideas = Thesis Statement

An effective thesis statement for a research argument should be debatable. Because humans communicate in a variety of ways, the following thesis statement on text messaging fits the criteria for a debatable thesis:

Although text messaging can often be a convenient mode of communication, overreliance on the practice can lead to insincerity, confusion, and a lack of depth in human communication.

This is certainly an open topic for debate, as many people born in the last two decades view text messaging as the preferred method for staying in touch with friends and family. But the practice is not without controversy. M.I.T. communications theorist Sherry Turkle has interviewed many young people who admit to avoiding important face-to-face conversations because of their discomfort with spontaneous conversation.  (1)

Stating Your Thesis

Most traditional research essays will require some kind of explicitly stated thesis. This means you should state your thesis clearly and directly for your readers. A thesis is a statement of purpose, one to two sentences long, about your research, that is often presented at the beginning of your essay to prepare your audience for the content of your whole research paper. Your thesis is often presented at the end of your introductory paragraph or paragraphs.

Your thesis statement should state your topic and, in a persuasive research essay, state your assertion about that topic. You should avoid simply “announcing” your thesis and should work to make it engaging. A good thesis will answer the “so what?” question your audience might have about your research paper. A good thesis statement will tell your readers what your research paper will be about and, specifically, why it is important.

You should avoid thesis statements that simply announce your purpose. For example, in a research paper on health care reform, you should avoid a thesis statement like this:

In this essay, I will write about health care in the United States.

Instead, a good thesis statement on health care reform in the United States would be more specific and make a point that will help establish a clear purpose and focus for your essay. It might look something like this:

Although health care reform is a controversial topic in the United States, the need for strong reform is important, as too many Americans are living without access to health care.

Of course, not all research papers are persuasive. Some research papers can also be analytical. In developing a thesis for an analytical essay, you won’t make an argument, but you’ll still want to provide a specific statement about the purpose of your essay. A good analytical thesis statement might look something like this:

Analysis of high school dropout rates reveals that an emphasis on standardized testing plays a role in higher dropout rates among American high school boys, resulting in what some educational researchers call “the boy crisis.” (22)

Implying Your Thesis

Not all research papers will require an explicitly stated thesis. Some research papers in some fields will simply require a strong focus. You can maintain a strong focus in your essay without an explicitly stated thesis by thinking about an implied thesis for your research paper. With an implied thesis, your point is never stated directly, but your paper does have a clear focus or point. Even if you’re not stating your thesis directly, you should keep your implied thesis in mind as you write. All papers require a specific focus, and a good research paper will maintain that focus throughout.  (23)

Identifying the Subdivisions of Your Essay

The body of your essay should feature the bulk of your research and support your thesis statement. Complex subjects often have numerous components that require discussion. Consider our sample thesis statement from the previous section:

A research essay on this topic might logically explore these subdivisions in the order they are listed in the thesis statement. The essay would likely have an introduction that is a page or two in length, and then each of the three subdivisions would also stretch to a few pages.

The first subdivision on the lack of sincerity in some text messages might explore the subject from the perspective of texting to commemorate celebrations (graduations, anniversaries, and birthdays, for instance) and important life events, texting as a means of ending romantic relationships, and the nature of how we use punctuation in text messages. In fact, according to a recent study that was reported on NPR’s  All Things Considered  , researchers “at Binghamton University have found that ending your text with a period—full stop—may make you seem more insincere” (“You Should…”). These are the kinds of research findings that would support your viewpoint that text messaging is probably not the best option for communicating in some important situations.

Your next two subdivisions would cover the ways in which text messaging can lead to confusion in the communication act (typos, autocorrected terminology, and lack of emotional nuance), and also the lack of depth or complexity (language erosion) that often accompanies the practice.

It may be useful to think of each subdivision as a smaller essay that is subsumed within your larger argument. These subdivisions support your thesis by using examples, opinions, and theories, and you can connect them with transitional sentences or you can use headings to organize your essay.  (1)

• Authored by : Florida State College at Jacksonville. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Thesis or Focus, Stating Your Thesis, Implying Your Thesis. Provided by : Online Writing Lab at Excelsior College. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/ . License : CC BY: Attribution

Chemistry Writing Guide

Introduction, writing assignments, discipline-specific strategies, watch out for..., professor's comments and websites.

Writing in chemistry is similar to writing in other disciplines in that your paper must have a clear purpose that explains why you are writing, a thesis statement or main idea that defines the problem to be addressed, and background information wherever necessary. In addition, you should include evidence in the form of figures, graphs, and tables to support your argument.

You will be asked to write an abstract -- a single-spaced paragraph summary that briefly states the purpose of the experiment, important results (and how the results were obtained), and conclusions. Ideally, the abstract can be thought of as one or two sentences from each section of the paper that form a cohesive paragraph that summarizes the entire paper. The abstract should be single spaced unless you receive other instructions from your professor.

When writing an abstract, you should avoid too much experimental detail (e.g. concentration of stock solutions used) or preliminary results (i.e. "raw" data). In addition, make certain that the purpose of the experiment is stated clearly and early in the abstract. Ideally, it should be stated in the first or second sentence.

Lab Reports

There are six main sections in a chemistry paper: introduction, experimental section, results section, discussion section, conclusion, and list of references. As with most disciplines, the introduction should include your background knowledge of the experiment, including theory and past research, the relevance of your research, and the thesis statement. You may also state in your introduction any general conclusions you discovered, but try to avoid making your introduction longer than a page. The purpose of the introduction in a chemical journal is to provide (1) a literature review of what has been published on the subject to justify the importance of your research, (2) an explanation of any unusual experimental approaches, and (3) any background information or explanations that will help the reader understand your experiment and your results. Ultimately, the introduction should explain how the experimental approach you chose allows you to find the numerical or qualitative results you are looking for. For example, if you're going to determine if the substance you synthesized is a particular compound by examining its UV-Vis spectrum, you should find in the literature or a reference book the maximum wavelength of the compound and present it in the introduction. The experimental section focuses on the details of the experiment. Be certain to include enough information so that the reader could repeat the experiment and obtain similar results within the limits of uncertainty. The following should be addressed in this section: treatment of data (e.g. calculations or computations used to generate graphs) and an identification of instruments and sources of materials used (e.g. synthesized within the lab or bought from Aldrich, Sigma, or Fluka). For commercially available equipment, the manufacturer and the model should be mentioned (e.g. JASCO UV-Vis Spectrophotometer). The results section should include any figures, graphs, and tables that summarize the data. The material in this section should be presented in the order that best defends the thesis and the order in which they will be addressed in the discussion section. The order in which the data was collected is rarely important. For example, just because the data for graph N was collected before that of graph M does not mean that M shouldn't be presented first if it makes the presentation of data more coherent. In the results section, graphs are usually listed as figures. Tables are numbered and given specific titles (must include concentrations, volumes, etc.), which are placed at the top of the table. Figures (graphs or any other visuals) are numbered and given a caption, not a title. The caption should be several sentences long and explain what the figure is, what result is found from the figure, and the importance of the result. Captions are placed below the figure. For a results section, the text, tables, and figures should mirror each other. That is, the text must include all of the important information given in the graphs and tables, but in written form. If a table or figure is included in the report, it must be specifically referenced in the text as at the end of this sentence (Table 1). It might also be worthwhile to note that figures and tables are usually submitted to a journal and also to a professor with the tables and figures attached to the end of the report, not interspersed throughout the text. Journals insert your figures and tables according to their page format. In the discussion section, you should explain your results and observations and illustrate how they support your thesis, discuss any possible sources of error, and suggest potential future research stemming from your results. You may also want to mention any past research in the field that may pertain to your experiment's results.

Something to think about: results and discussion sections are often combined in chemical journals. In that case, each result is presented and then its relevance is explained. If you are writing a results section alone, you should only present, not interpret, your results. For example, a statement like, "The UV-Vis spectrum of the complex showed a peak at 291 nm" is a statement of your numerical result and is appropriate for a results section. A statement like, "The peak at 291 nm indicates that the complex changed conformation" is interpretive and belongs in a discussion section. Your conclusion should contain a brief summary of the paper and must state important results (e.g. yield of product) and assess the research with respect to the purpose. This section may be combined with the discussion section; that is, the last paragraph of the discussion section may act as a conclusion. In the reference section you must list all non-original sources used in the paper in the order in which they appear with the appropriate number. Citations should be made according to the format of the journal to which you will submit your paper. For a Swarthmore class, the Journal of the American Chemical Society format is appropriate. Unlike other disciplines, citations in a chemistry paper are usually not in-text or parenthetical, but incorporated using superscripts as at the end of this sentence. 1 It is sometimes appropriate in a discussion section to refer to other researchers by name and end the sentence with a reference. For example, "Khmelnitksy, et al. found that trypsin denatures in 2-propanol." 2

• Chemistry papers should be written in passive voice (unless you receive other instructions from your professor).
• Abbreviations or acronyms must be explained the first time they are used.
• Figures, graphs, and tables must be titled and referenced in the text.
• References (including textbooks and lab manuals) must be cited and numbered consecutively with the superscript number corresponding to that reference in the reference section of the paper. The use of superscript suffices as the mode of reference because it eliminates the need for in-text citations and footnotes.

I. Organization: As for all lab reports, chemistry reports are very structured and must be highly organized in a logical way. Organization of results is especially important. Your results and discussion sections, as well as tables and figures, should be organized in a way that leads the reader to draw the same conclusion that you did based on your data. Don't just tack on a graph at the end of the paper or arbitrarily put your results into a table. Think about how you can use tables to make comparisons between your data and literature or reference values. Think about the format of your tables and the chronology of your results section. How can you present your results so that the reader is already convinced of your conclusion before you explicitly state it?

II. Repetition: If you've already said it once, or it's already been published somewhere else, don't say it again. You can refer to other parts of your paper instead of repeating explanations or facts. If you've already written an experimental methods section, you've already explained your procedure; there is no need to provide procedural details again when you talk about results. If the procedure you used came from a published article, provide a short summary, explain any alterations, and then give the citation. Also, if you explain someone else's experimental results in the introduction, it is acceptable to write statements like, "As discussed above, Khmelnitsky, et al. found contradictory results" in your results section. Journals have page limits. Repetitious or unnecessary words or figures are unwelcome.

III. Distraction: Remember that the whole point of writing a chemistry paper is to present results and prove your conclusion based on those results. There are a lot of numbers, facts, and procedure information that you can easily get bogged down by. Just remember that ultimately you have to convince the reader that your conclusion is accurate. If you feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you have to include, try making a flow chart that shows the logical progression of your procedure. Or create your figures and tables first, and then use them as an outline or guide to write your results section. Take a look at published articles to get a sense of how others organize papers and what kinds of phrases and sentence structure are useful and accepted.

Courses Taught: General Chemistry, Organic I and II laboratories

Particular stylistic issues you should keep in mind:

"Write as concisely as possible. Know the meanings of the words you use and choose the best word for your purpose."

Grammar/spelling and word choice pet peeves:

• Using "this" and "that' as undefined pronouns
• Using "so" without "that" or "as"
• Misspelling of terms that are presented in the manual

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Guidelines for writing a senior thesis.

Except as noted below, each thesis should be about 20-25 pages in length (12 pt font, double-spaced except for abstract which may be single-spaced) and written in the style of an article to be published in a journal in the area of the research. Students should, of course, consult with their research directors about the structure of their theses; however, a suggested outline which may be used as a default follows. [Comments in brackets apply to research publications in primary literature and are generally based on material in  The ACS Style Guide .]

Title; names of student and research director; date.

[The title should be brief, grammatically correct, and accurate enough to stand alone. The purposes of the title are to attract the potential audience and to aid retrieval and indexing services. The latter is facilitated by using several keywords in the title. In a journal publication, the title is followed by the names of the authors, the address of the institution where the work was conducted, and the date on which the paper was received by the journal editor. The names of the authors are each listed in the order: first, middle initial, and surname; and include all who made substantial contributions to the research. An asterisk is placed on the name of the author to whom correspondence should be addressed.]

One-half to one page (single-spaced); a succinct summary of objectives, methods, results and conclusions.

[The purposes of the abstract are (1) to allow the reader to determine the nature and information given in the paper and (2) to allow editors to pinpoint key features for use in indexing and retrieval. State briefly the problem or purpose of the research if it is not adequately conveyed by the title. Indicate theoretical or experimental plan used, accurately summarize the principal findings, and point out major conclusions.]

Statement of objectives and significance and a review of pertinent literature, carefully cited. This section should generally be more detailed than allowed for a journal article.

[The introduction should contain a clear statement of the problem and why you are studying it. Outline what has been done before by citing truly pertinent literature. Indicate the significance, scope and limits of your work. In journals, this section is frequently not labelled.]

Methods used; instrumental, synthetic and analytical, as well as computational. Also, description of equipment built, compounds synthesized, computer programs written, etc.

[This section should include sufficient detail about the materials and methods that you used so that experienced workers could repeat your work and obtain comparable results.]

The data, complete and detailed, with sufficient description to be understood — but without interpretation.

[Summarize the data collected and the statistical treatment of them. Use equations, figures, and tables where necessary for clarity and conciseness.]

The interpretation, analysis and explanation of the results, both positive and negative; what does it all mean?

[In journal publications, the Results section is sometimes combined with the Discussion section of the paper.]

Final wrap-up statement.

[Have you resolved the original problem? If not, what exactly have you contributed? Conclusions must be based on evidence presented in the paper. Suggest further study or applications, if appropriate. This section may be omitted and its contents presented in the Discussion section.]

[The last paragraph of a journal article frequently contains acknowledgements of people, places, financing, etc.]

In the style indicated by your research director. If your research director does not indicate a specific style, use the following.  Book references.  Author or editor (last name followed by initials),book title in italics or underlined, publisher, city of publication, year of publication, page number(s). Dodd, J.S., Ed.; The ACS Style Guide, American Chemical Society:Washington, DC, 1986, pp 108-111.  Journal references.  Author (last name, followed by initials), abbreviated journal title in italics or underlined, year of publication (boldface), volume number in italics or underlined, and initial page of cited article (the complete span is better). Fletcher, T.R.; Rosenfeld, R.N. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985, 107, 2203-2212.

Any extensive tabulations of raw data, additional spectra not needed for illustration of the main text or listings of computer programs written or modified. That is, if there is just too much data to include in the Results Section or if much of the raw data have been abstracted and/or tabulated, these abstracts and/or tables may go in the Results Section along with only representative spectra (or chromatograms, etc.), and the bulk raw data put in Appendices. NEW: An  appendix on safety  should be added to the thesis.

• All pages should be numbered consecutively.
• Each table should be on a separate sheet, be consecutively numbered, and have a caption at the top. Columns must be labeled and all labels should be explained in the caption or in footnotes.
• Each figure should be carefully drawn on a separate sheet, consecutively numbered and accompanied by a legend. The legend should normally appear below the figure but may be placed on a separate sheet, if necessary. Figures should be carefully prepared using a drawing program such as ChemDraw or ISIS. Graphs are treated as figures, i.e., they should not be labeled as "Graph 1," "Graph 2," etc. Each axis of a graph must be clearly labeled as to the variable represented and its value along the axis. Each curve on a graph should be clearly identified. Raw data displayed in graphs may also appear in separate tables. All symbols and conventions, such as broken lines or dotted lines, should be explained in the legend.
• Insofar as is practical, mathematical equations, Greek letters, special mathematical symbols, and chemical reaction schemes should be typed in the text.
• Reprints or preprints of any publications that have already arisen from the research being reported may be appended.
• Further details may be obtained from  The ACS Style Guide .
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Research thesis.

You may decide to culminate several semesters of research work by documenting your results in the form of an undergraduate thesis:

• For students who are members of the Schreyer Honors College (SHC), a thesis is required to graduate with distinction.
• For all other students, the Eberly College of Science offers a certificate via the Science Research Distinction (SCIRES) program .

Completing a research thesis indicates a high level of achievement, and the resulting distinction is an important addition to your CV. Details of the specific requirements and deadlines for these two approaches can be found at the SHC and SCIRES websites listed above.

From the perspective of the chemistry department, the requirements for an undergraduate research thesis in chemistry are the same for honors and non-honors students. Research in chemistry or a related area must be undertaken under the supervision of a thesis advisor (or co-advisor) who is a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry.

The thesis will be evaluated by a three-person committee consisting of the research advisor and at least two other faculty members. In the case of SHC theses, one of the committee members should be your honors advisor. At least two members of the committee must be from the tenure-track faculty; the third participant may be a non-tenure- track faculty member. When appropriate, participating faculty members may be from departments other than chemistry. Note that the chemistry requirements for thesis evaluation are more comprehensive than those of the SHC or the SCIRES programs. Students fulfilling the chemistry requirements will automatically fulfill the requirements of either of these two programs.

After the thesis is approved by the research advisor, and at least one week prior to the submission deadline, students should provide a complete copy of the thesis to all committee members and schedule a meeting with the committee. During this meeting, the candidate first presents a 20–30-minute talk to their committee members and, if desired, to other interested persons. The committee members will then discuss the research with the student, decide whether it satisfies requirements for research distinction, and suggest any required changes to the thesis. Students are responsible for scheduling a meeting of their committee early enough to meet the program-specific deadlines for final submission. Contact the chemistry department's Undergraduate Program Office to reserve an appropriate room for this meeting. Be sure to bring the required signature page to the meeting. Theses must be signed by all committee members and, in the case of SCIRES theses, the Associate Head for Undergraduate Education must also sign. In the case of SHC theses, the final audit for conferring an honors degree must be completed by the Schreyer Honors College.

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Chemistry Theses & Dissertations

Department of chemistry  https://chemistry.princeton.edu/.

Princeton University Undergraduate Senior Theses, 1926-2021 

https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp018c97kq479

Princeton University Doctoral Dissertations, 2011-2022  

https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp01sf2685121

Princeton University Library catalog, Chemistry undergraduate senior theses  - call number = SrTh CHM  https://bit.ly/3ilJGrV

Department of Chemistry records, 1893-2017  https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/AC358

Chemistry Librarian Presentations

3660027 - Citation analysis for open-access content in theses and dissertations

American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2022 Conference 

The Ethics and Equity of Open:

06:00pm - 09:35pm USA / Canada - Eastern - March 22, 2022 

Judith N Currano , Organizer, Presider;  Dr. Ye Li , Organizer;  Professor Patricia Ann Mabrouk, Ph.D., F.A.C.S. , Organizer, Presider

Division: [CINF] Division of Chemical Information; Session Type: Oral - Virtual

Co-Sponsor/Theme:  Co-sponsor - Cooperative ETHX: Committee on Ethics

06:35pm - 07:05pm USA / Canada - Eastern - March 22, 2022 

Emily C. Wild, MLIS , Presenter

Abstract 

Each year, undergraduate and graduate students complete senior theses and PhD dissertations within the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University. During the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic, access to some content became challenging, and students became more aware of open-access and subscription content availability while researching remotely and worldwide. This session will be an analysis of citations for open-access content within theses and dissertations, as well as an analysis of the chemistry theses and dissertations as cited works in other research publications.

Division: [CINF] Division of Chemical Information

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To find recent CEAS chemistry dissertations and theses:

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Chemistry > Theses and Dissertations

Chemistry Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

aPKCs role in Neuroblastoma cell signaling cascades and Implications of aPKCs inhibitors as potential therapeutics , Sloan Breedy

Protein Folding Kinetics Analysis Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy , Dhanya Dhananjayan

Affordances and Limitations of Molecular Representations in General and Organic Chemistry , Ayesha Farheen

Institutional and Individual Approaches to Change in Undergraduate STEM Education: Two Framework Analyses , Stephanie B. Feola

Applications in Opioid Analysis with FAIMS Through Control of Vapor Phase Solvent Modifiers , Nathan Grimes

Synthesis, Characterization, and Separation of Loaded Liposomes for Drug Delivery , Sandra Khalife

Supramolecular Architectures Generated by Self-assembly of Guanosine and Isoguanosine Derivatives , Mengjia Liu

Syntheses, Photophysics, & Application of Porphyrinic Metal-Organic Frameworks , Zachary L. Magnuson

Chemical Analysis of Metabolites from Mangrove Endophytic Fungus , Sefat E Munjerin

Synthesis of Small Molecule Modulators of Non-Traditional Drug Targets , Jamie Nunziata

Synthetic Studies of Potential New Ketogenic Molecules , Mohammad Nazmus Sakib

Coupling Chemical and Genomic Data of Marine Sediment-Associated Bacteria for Metabolite Profiling , Stephanie P. Suarez

Enhanced Methods in Forensic Mass Spectrometry for Targeted and Untargeted Drug Analysis , Dina M. Swanson

Investigation of Challenging Transformations in Gold Catalysis , Qi Tang

Diazirines and Oxaziridines as Nitrogen Transfer Reagents in Drug Discovery , Khalilia C. Tillett

Developing New Strategy toward Ruthenium and Gold Redox Catalysis , Chenhuan Wang

Gold-Catalyzed Diyne-ene Cyclization: Synthesis of Hetero Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and 1,2-Dihydropyridines , Jingwen Wei

Development of Antiviral Peptidomimetics , Songyi Xue

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Investigating a Potential STING Modulator , Jaret J. Crews

Exploring the Structure and Activity of Metallo-Tetracyclines , Shahedul Islam

Metabolomic Analysis, Identification and Antimicrobial Assay of Two Mangrove Endophytes , Stephen Thompson

Bioactivity of Suberitenones A and B , Jared G. Waters

Developing Efficient Transition Metal Catalyzed C-C & C-X Bond Construction , Chiyu Wei

Measurement in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics Education: Student Explanations of Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms and Instructional Practices in Introductory Courses , Brandon J. Yik

Study on New Reactivity of Vinyl Gold and Its Sequential Transformations , Teng Yuan

Study on New Strategy toward Gold(I/III) Redox Catalysis , Shuyao Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Design, Synthesis and Testing of Bioactive Peptidomimetics , Sami Abdulkadir

Synthesis of Small Molecules for the Treatment of Infectious Diseases , Elena Bray

Social Constructivism in Chemistry Peer Leaders and Organic Chemistry Students , Aaron M. Clark

Synthesizing Laccol Based Polymers/Copolymers and Polyurethanes; Characterization and Their Applications , Imalka Marasinghe Arachchilage

The Photophysical Studies of Transition Metal Polyimines Encapsulated in Metal Organic Frameworks (MOF’s) , Jacob M. Mayers

Light Harvesting in Photoactive Guest-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks , Christopher R. McKeithan

Using Quantitative Methods to Investigate Student Attitudes Toward Chemistry: Women of Color Deserve the Spotlight , Guizella A. Rocabado Delgadillo

Simulations of H2 Sorption in Metal-Organic Frameworks , Shanelle Suepaul

Parallel Computation of Feynman Path Integrals and Many-Body Polarization with Application to Metal-Organic Materials , Brant H. Tudor

The Development of Bioactive Peptidomimetics Based on γ-AApeptides , Minghui Wang

Investigation of Immobilized Enzymes in Confined Environment of Mesoporous Host Matrices , Xiaoliang Wang

Novel Synthetic Ketogenic Compounds , Michael Scott Williams

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Biosynthetic Gene Clusters, Microbiomes, and Secondary Metabolites in Cold Water Marine Organisms , Nicole Elizabeth Avalon

Differential Mobility Spectrometry-Mass spectrometry (DMS-MS) for Forensic and Nuclear-Forensic applications , Ifeoluwa Ayodeji

Conversion from Metal Oxide to MOF Thin Films as a Platform of Chemical Sensing , Meng Chen

Asking Why : Analyzing Students' Explanations of Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms using Lexical Analysis and Predictive Logistic Regression Models , Amber J. Dood

Development of Next-Generation, Fast, Accurate, Transferable, and Polarizable Force-fields for Heterogenous Material Simulations , Adam E. Hogan

Breakthroughs in Obtaining QM/MM Free Energies , Phillip S. Hudson

New Synthetic Methodology Using Base-Assisted Diazonium Salts Activation and Gold Redox Catalysis , Abiola Azeez Jimoh

Development and Application of Computational Models for Biochemical Systems , Fiona L. Kearns

Analyzing the Retention of Knowledge Among General Chemistry Students , James T. Kingsepp

A Chemical Investigation of Three Antarctic Tunicates of the Genus Synoicum , Sofia Kokkaliari

Construction of Giant 2D and 3D Metallo-Supramolecules Based on Pyrylium Salts Chemistry , Yiming Li

Assessing Many-Body van der Waals Contributions in Model Sorption Environments , Matthew K. Mostrom

Advancing Equity Amongst General Chemistry Students with Variable Preparations in Mathematics , Vanessa R. Ralph

Sustainable Non-Noble Metal based Catalysts for High Performance Oxygen Electrocatalysis , Swetha Ramani

The Role of aPKCs and aPKC Inhibitors in Cell Proliferation and Invasion in Breast and Ovarian Cancer , Tracess B. Smalley

Development of Ultrasonic-based Ambient Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry , Linxia Song

Covalent Organic Frameworks as an Organic Scaffold for Heterogeneous Catalysis including C-H Activation , Harsh Vardhan

Optimization of a Digital Ion Trap to Perform Isotope Ratio Analysis of Xenon for Planetary Studies , Timothy Vazquez

Multifunctional Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) For Applications in Sustainability , Gaurav Verma

Design, Synthesis of Axial Chiral Triazole , Jing Wang

The Development of AApeptides , Lulu Wei

Chemical Investigation of Floridian Mangrove Endophytes and Antarctic Marine Organisms , Bingjie Yang

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

An Insight into the Biological Functions, the Molecular Mechanism and the Nature of Interactions of a Set of Biologically Important Proteins. , Adam A. Aboalroub

Functional Porous Materials: Applications for Environmental Sustainability , Briana Amaris Aguila

Biomimetic Light Harvesting in Metalloporphyrins Encapsulated/Incorporated within Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs). , Abdulaziz A. Alanazi

Design and Synthesis of Novel Agents for the Treatment of Tropical Diseases , Linda Corrinne Barbeto

Effect of Atypical protein kinase C inhibitor (DNDA) on Cell Proliferation and Migration of Lung Cancer Cells , Raja Reddy Bommareddy

The Activity and Structure of Cu2+ -Biomolecules in Disease and Disease Treatment , Darrell Cole Cerrato

Simulation and Software Development to Understand Interactions of Guest Molecules inPorous Materials , Douglas M. Franz

Construction of G-quadruplexes via Self-assembly: Enhanced Stability and Unique Properties , Ying He

The Role of Atypical Protein Kinase C in Colorectal Cancer Cells Carcinogenesis , S M Anisul Islam

Chemical Tools and Treatments for Neurological Disorders and Infectious Diseases , Andrea Lemus

Antarctic Deep Sea Coral and Tropical Fungal Endophyte: Novel Chemistry for Drug Discovery , Anne-Claire D. Limon

Constituent Partitioning Consensus Docking Models and Application in Drug Discovery , Rainer Metcalf

An Investigation into the Heterogeneity of Insect Arylalkylamine N -Acyltransferases , Brian G. O'Flynn

Evaluating the Evidence Base for Evidence-Based Instructional Practices in Chemistry through Meta-Analysis , Md Tawabur Rahman

Role of Oncogenic Protein Kinase C-iota in Melanoma Progression; A Study Based on Atypical Protein Kinase-C Inhibitors , Wishrawana Sarathi Bandara Ratnayake

Formulation to Application: Thermomechanical Characterization of Flexible Polyimides and The Improvement of Their Properties Via Chain Interaction , Alejandro Rivera Nicholls

The Chemical Ecology and Drug Discovery Potential of the Antarctic Red Alga Plocamium cartilagineum and the Antarctic Sponge Dendrilla membranosa , Andrew Jason Shilling

Synthesis, Discovery and Delivery of Therapeutic Natural Products and Analogs , Zachary P. Shultz

Development of α-AA peptides as Peptidomimetics for Antimicrobial Therapeutics and The Discovery of Nanostructures , Sylvia E. Singh

Self-Assembly of 2D and 3D Metallo-Supramolecules with Increasing Complexity , Bo Song

The Potential of Marine Microbes, Flora and Fauna in Drug Discovery , Santana Alexa Lavonia Thomas

Design, Synthesis, and Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Fractals Based on Terpyridine with Different Transition Metal Ions , Lei Wang

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Fatty Acid Amides and Their Biosynthetic Enzymes Found in Insect Model Systems , Ryan L. Anderson

Interrogation of Protein Function with Peptidomimetics , Olapeju Bolarinwa

Characterization of Nylon-12 in a Novel Additive Manufacturing Technology, and the Rheological and Spectroscopic Analysis of PEG-Starch Matrix Interactions , Garrett Michael Craft

Synthesis of Novel Agents for the treatment of Infectious and Neurodegenerative diseases , Benjamin Joe Eduful

Survey research in postsecondary chemistry education: Measurements of faculty members’ instructional practice and students’ affect , Rebecca E. Gibbons

Design, Synthesis, Application of Biodegradable Polymers , Mussie Gide

Conformational Fluctuations of Biomolecules Studied Using Molecular Dynamics and Enhanced Sampling , Geoffrey M. Gray

Analysis and New Applications of Metal Organic Frameworks (MOF): Thermal Conductivity of a Perovskite-type MOF and Incorporation of a Lewis Pair into a MOF. , Wilarachchige D C B Gunatilleke

Chemical Investigation of Bioactive Marine Extracts , Selam Hagos

Optimizing Peptide Fractionation to Maximize Content in Cancer Proteomics , Victoria Izumi

Germania-based Sol-gel Coatings and Core-shell Particles in Chromatographic Separations , Chengliang Jiang

Synthesis, Modification, Characterization and Processing of Molded and Electrospun Thermoplastic Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites , Tamalia Julien

Studies Aimed at the Synthesis of Anti-Infective Agents , Ankush Kanwar

From Florida to Antarctica: Dereplication Strategies and Chemical Investigations of Marine Organisms , Matthew A. Knestrick

Sorbent Enrichment Performance of Aromatic Compounds from Diluted Liquid Solution , Le Meng

Development of Bioactive Peptidomimetics , Fengyu She

Azamacrocyclic-based Frameworks: Syntheses and Characterizations , Chavis Andrew Stackhouse

Structure-based Design, Synthesis and Applications of a New Class of Peptidomimetics: 'Y -AA Peptides and Their Derivatives , Ma Su

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Chemistry thesis and dissertation collection

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Probing the organisation and turnover of synaptic proteins at the nanometre length scale , molecular dynamics simulations of engine lubricant additives , utilising non-canonical amino acids in the design of artificial enzymes: an exploration of cu-enzymes, steroid carrier protein scaffolds and synthetic biology , magnetism of multinuclear 3-d transition metal complexes of 2-hydroxymethylpyridine , antimicrobial polymers , biological control of crystallization by marine phytoplankton to produce functional mineral structures , low-temperature phase-change materials for energy-storage applications , biocompatible aldehyde modification in escherichia coli , novel smart probes for detection of neutrophil activation and net formation and investigation of etosis in fish erythrocytes , improving rapid pathogen detection: towards a gram-selective lateral flow test , towards predicting and tailoring properties of energetic materials , development of liquid crystal lasers for application in fluorescence microscopy , block by block: developments in nmr methodology , development and understanding of iron-catalysed c–h functionalisation reactions , developing new processes for the solvent extraction of precious metals , effect of drainage and drain-blocking on the molecular and microbial composition of blanket bog peat , investigating the biomedical applications of coordination cages , gas phase electronic spectroscopy of ionic carbon chains, rings, fullerenes and analogues , novel synthetically accessible polymers of intrinsic microporosity (pims) , fluorescence properties of nucleobase analogues in dna under one- and two-photon excitation .

Thesis Defense: Jacob Kirsh, Boxer Group

"Protein Molecular Dynamics Tested with Nitrile Electric Fields"

Noncovalent interactions are ubiquitous in chemical systems and essential for biological function. Since these interactions are often electrostatic in nature, the Boxer Lab has developed methods to measure electric fields in condensed phases: this is done by using the vibrational Stark effect, where electric fields are quantified by shifts in a vibrational probe’s IR signatures. I will first discuss our work to measure electric fields via transition dipole moments, i.e., peak areas, rather than the more historically utilized peak frequencies. When applied to the popular nitrile (–C≡N) reporter, this method overcomes well-known issues with nitrile frequency shifts in hydrogen bonding solvents and enables the measurement of electric fields in diverse protein environments. I will then discuss our efforts to use nitriles to compare experimental electric fields with electric fields from molecular dynamics simulations. We found that the polarizable AMOEBA force field can recapitulate the experimental values, while the more conventionally used nonpolarizable AMBER force field cannot. I will conclude by discussing the implications of this result for the simulation of nitriles and proteins in general.

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Chemistry Honors Program Thesis Presentations

Our Chemistry Honors Program students did an amazing job summarizing their research accomplishments from their respective research groups last Friday during the 2024 Chemistry Honors Program thesis presentations. Well done, Emma Messina, Ben Cipriano and Meric Trombley!

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More From Department of Chemistry

Sciences staff honored with awards for excellence, 6 faculty members elected as aaas fellows, 2023-24 university teaching awards announced.

Chemistry and Biological Chemistry

HONORS THESIS SYMPOSIUM

Spring 2024

  Thursday, April 25th

Searle Laboratory 240A

8:55 am - 5:45 pm, opening remarks by jiwoong park at 8:55am closing remarks by john anderson at 5:45 pm,   lunch will be served at 12:15 pm in kent 114.

All event attendees - students, their families, faculty and lab groups - are invited

 For those who cannot attend in person, the synchronous Zoom casting of the symposium is available. 

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 913 6077 8763 Password: honors

All are encouraged to attend and support the honors students’ hard work!

Tanner Baldwin

"Ultra-Mild Bisulfite Sequencing of 5mC in DNA"

Advisor: Chuan He (Chemistry)

Nora Sampson

"Fgf8 Gene Dosage in Brain Patterning at Single-cell Resolution"

Advisor: Francois Spitz (Human Genetics)

Madison Huynh

"Modulating Outer-Sphere Electron Transfer via Non-Covalent Self-Assembled Layers"

Advisor: Anna Wuttig (Chemistry)

Ryan Owyang

"Synergism of Cu-Importer Perturbation and Pt-Based Chemotherapy"

Joshua Edwards

"Development of IR Compatible Microsecond Mixing"

Advisor: Andrei Tokmakoff (Chemistry)

Marja Lalley

"Discovery of Nanostructured PGM-Free Anode Catalysts for Alkaline Water Electrolysis”

Advisor: Ahmed Farghaly (PME)

Tania Pena Reyes

"Characterizing Large Serine Integrase-Recombination Directionality Factor Interactions"

Advisor: Phoebe Rice (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)

"N1 Selective Methylation of Pyrazoles via α-Halosilanes as Masked Methyl Agents and a Transition Metal Free Deacylative Transformation of Methyl Ketones to Nitrile Group"

Advisor: Guangbin Dong (Chemistry)

Eyob Tewelde

"Simulating the Effects of Nucleotide Interactions on Prebiotic Membrane Stability"

Advisor: Jack Szostak (Chemistry)

Steven Labalme

“Nickel Catalysis in π-Conjugated Covalent Organic Frameworks”

Advisor: Wenbin Lin (Chemistry)

Rachel Quan

"Study Towards the Total Synthesis of Cinncassiol F "

Advisor: Scott Snyder (Chemistry)

Krishna Raghavan

"Effects of Charged Particles on Alpha-synuclein's Membrane Binding "

Advisor: Ka Yee Lee (Chemistry)

Amanda Hill

“Identifying Regulatory Strategies of Transcriptional Activator Pnt and Repressor Yan During Drosophila Photoreceptor Fate Specification"

Advisor: Ilaria Rebay (Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology)

"Using a Sparse Sampling of Epistasis Terms for Generative Protein Design in PDZ3"

Advisor: Rama Ranganathan (PME)

Alejandra Bergquist

"Usage of T cell Receptor γ Constant (TRGC) Genes C1 and C2 in Developing and Peripheral T Cells"

Advisor: Erin Adams (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)

"Pseudouridine-Binding Proteins”

Jack LeGrow

"Probing Nanoscale Heat Transport in 2D van der Waals Materials via Raman Thermometry"

Advisor: Jiwoong Park (Chemistry)

Megan Morales

“The Need for Speed: Kinetics of the Anomeric Amide"

Advisor: Mark Levin (Chemistry)

"Investigation of the Mechanistic Role of the Catalytic Metal Cation in Nonenzymatic RNA Replication"

Daisy Ortiz

"Mutagenesis of Mr1 α1 and α2 Platform Domains Allows for Mapping of Antigen Specific Antibody Binding"

"Temperature Responsive Polymersomes for Efficient Protein Vaccine Delivery "

Advisor: Stuart Rowan and Jeff Hubbell (Chemistry and PME)

Sophia Madejski

"Molecular Dynamics of Peptide Bound HLA-F "

Advisor: Benoit Roux and Erin Adams (Chemistry and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)

JJ Abu-Halimah

"Hydrogel Applications for Regenerative Medicine and Biosensing"

Advisor: Bozhi Tian (Chemistry)

Nicolas Bertuol

"The Role of STAG Proteins in 3D Genome Structure Evolution"

Advisor: Heather Marlow (Organismal Biology & Anatomy)

Marcos Lopez II

"Cationic Polymers & Small Molecules for NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation"

Advisor: Aaron Esser-Kahn (PME)

"The Role of Extracellular ATP Signaling and Putative P2X Receptors in Collective Epithelial Cell Migration in Clytia Hemisphaerica"

Advisor: Jocelyn Malamy (Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology)

"Studies Towards the Asymmetric Total Synthesis of Picrinine and 18Z-11-methoxypicrinine "

Ainsley Iwanicki

"Investigating the Effect of Hydrogen Bonding on Energy Transfer between H-Aggregates Using Cross-Peak Specific Two Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy"

Advisor: Greg Engel (Chemistry)

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HIGH SOLIDS LOADING AQUEOUS SLURRY FORMATION OFCORN STOVER BEFORE PRETREATMENT IN A FED-BATCH BIOREACTOR

Feedstock variability represents a challenge in the adoption of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuels and biochemicals production, due to the differences in critical chemical and physical properties like lignin content, and water absorption respectively. Thus, difficult continuous manufacturing processes in biorefineries, hinder the transition from liquid feedstocks to renewable materials that consisting of solid particles. Modeling of flow properties based on rheological measurements of treated biomass is a quantitative metric for identifying if different feedstocks form pumpable slurries. Additionally, the correlation of yield stress to physical and chemical properties gives a measure that accounts for the variability in the processing design. This research models rheological properties and relates these to compositional data from different non-pretreated fractions of corn stover biomass slurries. Slurries were formed with solids concentrations of 300 g/L in a 6 hours fed-batch process using the commercial enzymes Celluclast 1.5L or Ctec-2 at 1FPU/g or 3 FPU/g of dry solids, basis to enable the liquefaction (i.e., slurry-forming) mechanism. We found that insoluble lignin content of the different fractions was related to water absorption in pellets and free water on slurries and that free water was a good indicator of the potential for a material to form slurry. Higher flowability (lower yield stress) was found at higher content of lignin, particularly for materials containing 26% lignin where yield stress was reduced to 254Pa when compared with mixtures of 14% lignin that presented yield stresses of around 4000 Pa. We show that rheology modeling linked to compositional characteristics for biomass slurries can be used to predict material flow behavior in a biorefinery to optimize and achieve high solids loadings that enhance the production of ethanol for biofuels. This insight and the ability to form high concentration slurries before pretreatment holds the potential to develop new processing strategies that could help to foster a more efficient and sustainable bio-based industry.

DOE EE0008910

Purdue university college of agriculture idea challenge 2030, degree type.

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Campus location

• West Lafayette

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Additional committee member 2, additional committee member 3, additional committee member 4, additional committee member 5, usage metrics.

• Bioprocessing, bioproduction and bioproducts
• Crop and pasture biomass and bioproducts
• Agricultural engineering

Community News for the week of April 15, 2024

Week of april 15, 2024.

The following announcements are as of April 12.

Events and Seminars

April 15: The Future of Mobility – TDC-MIT Summit on Transportation & Infrastructure. 10 a.m., virtual. [ Details ]

April 17: 2024 MIT Research Slam Showcase, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in E38. [ Details ]

April 18: Earth Month @MIT: Choose to Reuse. [ Details ]

April 19: ChemE Seminar Series, 3:00 p.m. in 66-110 “ Membrane Technologies are Key Enablers of the Energy Transition “, Ryan Lively, Georgia Institute of Technology

April 22: Student Seminar: 3:00 p.m. 66-110 – Jennifer Fang, “Spatial Multiplexing and Quantitative miRNA Detection of Plant Tissue using Nanoliter Well Arrays” – Yash Samantaray, “Electrochemically-resolved Acoustic Emissions for Li-ion Batteries” – Alexis Dubs, “Continuous Manufacturing Testbed Development for a Monoclonal Antibody Production Process”

April 22: Earth Day Colloquium with Ani Dasgupta, World Resources Institute. 12:30 – 1:30pm, 54-100. [ Details ]

April 25: SERC Workshop: Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer of Microsoft. 5:45 p.m., 51 Vassar St, 45-230 [ Register ]

April 25: MIT Campus Decarbonization Forum Round Table, 12:00 p.m. -1:00 p.m, W20-201. [ Details ]

April 25: GSC Sustain Meeting and Elections, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., 50-220 (GSC Office) [ Details ]

April 25: Petting Zoo and Meditation Wellness Event, 11:00 am in Kresge Oval. [ Sign-up ]

May 13: ChemE Awards Ceremony, 3:00 p.m. in 66-110. [ Details ]

April/May: Spring MITEC Student Seminar Series. 12:00 p.m. in 66-168. [ Signup ]

June 23-28: The Twenty-Fourth International Conference on the Science and Applications of Nanotubes and Low-Dimensional Materials. [ Details ]

See ChemE calendar for more listing of department events and seminars >>

Thesis Defense

April 25: Devashish Gokhale (Doyle Lab), 2:30 p.m., E17-517 and zoom link will be emailed “ Sustainable Hydrogels for Water Treatment ”

Internships, Fellowships, and Job Opportunities

MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, & Science : Paid instructor & TA positions. [ Details ]

MIT Graduate Community Fellow : [ See current positions and apply ]

MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) : open position for student sustainability researchers. [ Details ]

Search for more faculty positions around the world at PolytechnicPositions.com See listing of upcoming career-related events, workshops, and company info sessions>>

Other Announcements

April 30: Application due for Dow 2024 BEST Symposium. [ Details ]

May 1: Application due for J-WAFS Grant for Transforming Animal Agriculture Systems. [ Details ]

May 6: Application due for J-WAFS Travel Grants for Water Conferences. [ Details ]

MIT Solve: Apply to help select 2024 Solver Teams. [ Details ]

MIT Energy and Climate Club: Present your energy research at a MITEC seminar. [ Signup ]

Chancellor’s Innovation Fund: Info sessions and application [ Details ]

MIT Spouses & Partners Connect : Language Conversation Exchange events. [ See Calendar ]

Spring 2024 MIT Energy & Climate Club Launchpad. [ Undergraduate Application ]

D-Lab Energy: Introduction to Energy in Global Development. [ Register now! ]

Food@MIT Guide: How to access healthy & affordable food at MIT. [ Details ]

Student Support Services (S3): Help in an accessible & respectful environment. [ virtual & walk-in locations ]

MIT Alumni Advisors Hub: Signup to connect with MIT alumni for career conversations. [ Details ]

Become an iREFS to offer confidential, peer-to-peer conflict management coaching and support to graduate students at MIT! Email [email protected]

REFS (Resources for Easing Friction and Stress): Feeling stressed? We are here to help. Email: [email protected] | Website: web.mit.edu/refs-x/

Chemical Engineering : Theses and Dissertations

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About Theses and Dissertations

A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.  (International Standard ISO 7144: Documentation — Presentation of theses and similar documents ).

For most universities in the U.S., dissertation is the term for the required submission for the PhD, and thesis refers only to the master's degree requirement.

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon theses are now ONLINE and can be searched through the ProQuest database Dissertations & Theses @ Carnegie Mellon University that enables access to citations and abstracts of all dissertations and theses, as well as the full text in PDF format.  Scroll down and select Dissertations & Theses, then do a regular search. Print versions are also available in the libraries' collection.

PRIMO ,  the Carnegie Mellon Library catalog, uses the term THESIS to denote both masters' theses and dissertations.  However, the number of master's theses is limited.  Within the libraries, theses are located in designated areas and are shelved in alphabetical order by the author's last name.  The catalog treats theses and dissertations like books, and they can be borrowed as such. Theses may be in print, microfiche, or microform.

• In catalog use the Advanced Search :  search by author, title, or keyword limiting to type THESIS.
• For a list of theses from a specific department, use Advanced Search to combine a keyword search for the name of the department with location THESES.  E.g., search for "Dept. of Computer Science" with THESES as the location.
• For a complete list of theses at Carnegie Mellon, use Advanced Search to search Carnegie Mellon University Dissertations in the Subject line.  

Other Universities

T he best source to find theses is ProQuest Dissertations & Thesis Global .  Policies regarding theses and dissertation collections largely vary between universities.  So check the library website of the university of interest.

Other Countries

Center for Research Libraries:  Foreign Doctoral Dissertations CRL has more than 800,000 cataloged foreign doctoral dissertations from more than 90 countries and over 1200 institutions.

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• Last Updated: Jan 9, 2024 12:50 PM
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