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M.S. Program

Course Work

The Masters of Arts (M.S.) program includes the satisfactory completion of 32 credits, 18 of which must be formal courses (lecture courses receiving a letter grade). It is expected that Biology graduate students will complete their course requirements by enrolling in graduate courses offered by the Biology Department. Biology graduate students may petition the Graduate Affairs Committee to take courses outside our department, if these courses are considered by them and their advisor to be necessary for their research topic. It is expected that the formal course work requirement will be completed within four semesters. In order to ensure that these courses are completed in the allotted time, a full-time first year master's candidate must enroll in and complete two formal courses in each of their first two semesters. Failure to complete two formal courses in either of their first two semesters will result in the student being placed on academic probation for that semester. To be removed from probation, the student must complete two formal courses and have an aggregate quality point average (QPA)of at least 3.0 in the subsequent semester. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the graduate program. Throughout the program, the student must maintain A QPA of at least 3.0 in formal courses. A quality point average for all other graduate courses must also be 3.0 or higher. Students whose QPA in either category falls below 3.0 will be placed on probation. Failure to achieve a cumulative QPA of 3.0 by the succeeding semester after being placed on probation will result in dismissal from the graduate program. Students will be immediately dismissed from the program if their QPA is so low as to preclude their achievement of a 3.0 QPA in formal courses within one semester of further course work.

Selection of course work will be made by the student and a faculty advisor. The advisor will be assigned by the Graduate Affairs Committee according to the students interests. Once the M.S. student selects a research advisor, the research advisor will assume responsibility for student advisement.

M.S. students will enroll in the Departmental seminar (BIO 614) and the Graduate Student Seminar (BIO 610) every semester. Each M.S. student is required to give one seminar in BIO 610 and will receive a letter grade for this seminar. In order to fulfill the seminar requirement the student must achieve at least a B grade in each seminar. Students may present additional seminars to make up for unsatisfactory presentations.

Research Experience

The M.S. student must complete two 10 week research rotations (see Ph.D. requirements for a description of research rotations). The student is also required to complete a research project in one laboratory. One of the research rotations may be used as part of the research project. A written report of the project's research results must be approved by the faculty member in whose laboratory the research was performed and by an additional faculty member approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee. The reviewing faculty member must be identified to the graduate affairs committee before the end of the third semester of residence on an approval form. The written report should have the format of a research article. It must include sufficient background to understand the rationale for the project, the objectives of the project, the methods used, the results of the investigation and interpretation of these results. An approved copy of the report must be submitted to the Graduate Affairs Committee before the degree is conferred.

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