Chemical physics is among the interdisciplinary fields that hold great promise for the future. The Chemical Physics program at Maryland is different from almost all other chemical physics programs because it requires that entering students have a strong background in physics independent of their undergraduate major. The program attracts students of high quality who do well in their studies and research, who have a positive feeling about their experience at Maryland, and have gone on to productive and worthwhile scientific careers.

The stated goal of the Dean of the Graduate School is to increase the number and quality of graduate students at Maryland. Chemical Physics is in a favorable position to do this by virtue of the attractiveness of the program and the largely untapped pool of high quality students with interests in non-traditional areas of physics and chemistry. Our goal is to double the number of students in the program while maintaining the high standards that have always existed.

The fact that the program best serves students with a strong physics background has been a recruiting limitation because chemical physics and biophysics are not widely recognized in traditional physics departments. The advisors of potential chemical physics students are usually not aware of the opportunities in chemical physics (and biophysics) nor do they know of the Chemical Physics Program at Maryland.

We must seek recognition among the departments at other universities that train undergraduates with the potential to succeed in our program and we must improve the attractiveness of our offers of admission to the Chemical Physics Program. Our offers of support should be equivalent to the offers talented physics students receive from traditional physics departments.

There are currently 25 full-time Chemical Physics graduate students. The graduation rate is high and the attrition rate is low, but the number of applicants has remained small. Those students who apply have high GPAs and GRE scores, but generally choose to attend better known institutions such as Michigan, Stanford, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin (recent applicants). The financial support for the students that is available from Maryland is almost always less than competing institutions even after supplementing teaching and research assistantships and fellowships.

The students who apply to the Chemical Physics Program are generally physics students with an interest in chemistry and biology. These days such interests are not common and are not easily accommodated in traditional physics departments. The Chemical Physics Program attracts students from a different pool than most physics departments and is not in competition with Physics for the same students. The students who enroll in the Chemical Physics Program are attracted by the range of research opportunities and the chance to get to know, and in some cases, work with scientists at NIST and NIH. The flexible curriculum recognizes the range of interests of the students.

The cooperative programs allow students to do their Ph.D. research at NIST and NIH under the joint supervision of a government scientist associated with the Program and a Maryland faculty member. The results have generally been satisfactory at NIST but mixed at NIH. There is support at NIST, both among the scientists and administrators, for the cooperative program. In the past, active support for the NIH/Maryland program never went beyond a few scientists, but this is changing. There is a new emphasis at NIH on graduate education and cooperative programs with Universities. Chemical Physics intends to take advantage of this change by actively recruiting students in the area of biophysics.

The quality of Chemical Physics applicants and enrolled students has always been high, the problem is low numbers in both categories. This can be traced to the relative obscurity of the Program and the reluctance of faculty and government scientists to spend time recruiting given the low yield to effort ratio (mixed units). The research areas where Chemical Physics is strong are those that have large potential for growth but which lie outside the main research topics of traditional departments. Examples are complex systems, soft media, non equilibrium statistical mechanics, molecular dynamics, and biophysics.

Increase the total number of applicants

Goal of 30 qualified applicants in 5 years

Increase the number of U.S. applicants

Goal of 15 qualified U.S. applicants in 5 years

Increase the number of minorities and women

Goal of 30% minority and 30% women Chemical Physics students in 5 years.

Increase cooperation with NIST and NIH

Twice yearly research meetings at NIST and NIH of all the students

Seminars by NIST and NIH scientists at Maryland

Links to Chemical Physics on the web sites of CMPS and departments with faculty in Chemical Physics

New Chemical Physics web site

New NIST/CHPH and NIH/CHPH descriptive publications

Current Research Abstracts

Participation in AIP Divisions of Chemical Physics and Biophysics

Targeting appropriate people and institutions

Former graduates

Faculty contacts

Contacts of NIH and NIST scientists

Chemical Physics Receptions for faculty, students and NIST/NIH scientists

The budget includes requests for funds to supplement TA, RA, and Fellowship offers by $5000 each in order to make them equivalent to offers from our peer institutions. Also requested are funds for undergraduate summer interns, travel for accepted applicants and travel for faculty to recruit. A portion of the supplements and internships will be shared by the program in the form of matching funds. The program will assume the full costs of publicity materials and advertising.

M. A. Coplan, Director

J. H. Moore, Associate Director