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Ph. D. Program

Course Work

The Doctor of Philosophy degree program includes the satisfactory completion of at least 22 credit hours of formal course work. Eighteen (18) of these credits must be completed by the end of the fourth semester in the program. 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. In order to ensure that these courses are completed in the allotted time, a full-time first year graduate must enroll in and complete two formal courses in each of their first two semesters. Formal courses are defined as graduate level lecture courses in which a letter grade is given. Formal courses do not include seminars, directed readings, research rotations, graduate research, or supervised teaching. 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 with 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 QPA of 3.0 is also required for all OTHER graduate courses taken (including rotations, seminars etc.). Failure to maintain the required QPA in either of these categories will result in a student being placed on probation. Failure to achieve the cumulative QPA of 3.0 by the succeeding semester after being placed on probation will lead to 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.

Entering Ph.D. students will be assigned a faculty advisor, based on the student's interests, to assist the first year student in the selection of courses. Course selections must be approved by the advisor. Once a student has selected a research advisor, the research advisor will assume responsibility for student advisement. The research advisor should be selected by the end of the second semester of residence. The schedule for a typical Ph.D. program is shown at the end of this document.

After the successful completion of the formal course work the student will devote the major portion of his or her time to graduate research.

Rotations

Incoming students will be required to perform two 10-week research rotations with different faculty members prior to entering a laboratory and embarking on a Ph.D. research project. Research rotations consist of miniprojects carried out in the laboratory of and under the supervision of a faculty member. After an orientation in which students hear about all of the research opportunities in the department, students pick their advisors for research rotations. These rotations will normally take place during the first two semesters in the program and will include the intersession period between the fall and spring semester and/or the summer months. Students in the Ph.D. Program will have the option, but not a requirement, of performing a third research rotation. Students that opt to not perform a third rotation must immediately begin their thesis research in the laboratory they choose after their second rotation.

Rotation Periods

Students entering in:

The Director of Graduate Affairs will coordinate the assignment of research rotations and the assignments will be made, in so far as is possible, into the laboratories requested by the student. Students will prepare a written report describing the experiments completed during each rotation, a copy of which must be submitted to the Graduate Affairs Committee. Laboratory rotations will be graded on either an A-F or S/U basis, at the discretion of the faculty research supervisor. The grades will be based on BOTH the laboratory work and the written report. Students must receive passing grades or higher in all laboratory rotations to complete the research rotation requirement. After completing their rotations, students choose a laboratory in which to do their thesis research and immediately commence their thesis work.

Seminars

Ph.D. students will be required to enroll in and attend Departmental Seminar (BIO 614) every semester they are in residence. They are also required to enroll in a Graduate Student Seminar (BIO 610) during their first two years in the program. Each Ph.D. student is required to present two seminars in BIO 610 and will receive a letter grade for these seminars. In order to fulfill the seminar requirement the student must achieve at least a B grade in each seminar. The student will give a seminar during the third semester on the topic chosen for the candidacy exam grant proposal (see below) and will invite the members of their PhD advisory committee to attend the seminar. During the fourth semester the student will give a seminar on the student’s proposed thesis research project. The seminar will include a presentation of the relevant background information, the major hypotheses being tested, the planned experimental approaches, and the rationale for using the experimental approaches. These student seminars may include results the students have from their laboratory work. The student will invite their PhD advisory committee to attend the seminar. Students will be required to present additional seminars to make up for unsatisfactory presentations.

The Ph.D. Advisory Committee

Upon choosing a faculty member as an advisor the student and advisor will assemble a Ph.D. Advisory Committee, consisting of the advisor and at least three other faculty members from the Department. The membership of each Ph.D. Advisory Committee must be approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee and any changes in the Committee's members (including a change in advisor) must be approved by petition to the Graduate Affairs Committee. The Ph.D. Advisory Committee will: (1) meet with the student at least four weeks before the candidacy examination (see below) to define the nature of the examination, (2) administer the candidacy examination, (3) be responsible for meeting with the student every semester to ascertain whether the student is making adequate progress towards completion of the research project and for reporting said progress to the Graduate Affairs Committee by letter signed by all of the Ph.D. Advisory Committee members, (4) attend the student's informal presentation of thesis data and determine whether the student may commence writing the Ph.D. thesis, and (5) approve the thesis and certify the completion of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. All meetings of the Ph.D. Advisory Committee will be called and chaired by a member of the Committee designated by the student. The research advisor may not chair the Committee.

The Candidacy Exam

Each student is required to take a candidacy exam, conducted by his or her Ph.D. Advisory Committee. All Committee members must be in attendance for candidacy examinations. A candidacy exam will consist of two parts.

1. A grant proposal. During their fourth semester in the Ph.D. program each student will prepare an original grant proposal, on a topic selected by the student and approved by the Ph.D. Advisory Committee. The purpose of the written exam is to judge the student's ability to design a line of inquiry into a specific scientific topic. As such, the proposal should be based on a seminal paper or papers in the field of interest. This paper should be presented, along with the topic of the proposal to the Ph.D. Advisory committee for approval prior to initiating the writing of the proposal. The background of the proposed work will be presented in the graduate student seminar (BIO 610) during the third semester of residence. The Ph.D. Advisory Committee must be invited to the seminar. The topic of the grant proposal must be different from the planned thesis research or other research in progress in the department. The proposal will follow the format used by a major granting agency, such as NSF or NIH, and should include: (1) Specific Aims: Provide a clear, concise summary of the aims of the work proposed and the hypothesis to be tested. (2) Background and Significance: Sketch briefly the background to the proposal. State concisely the importance of the research described in this application by relating the specific aims to broad, long-term objectives. (3) Research Design and Methods: Procedures to be used to accomplish the specific aims; tentative sequence for the investigation; statistical procedures by which the data will be analyzed; discussion of potential experimental difficulties and alternative approaches to achieve the aims. (4) Literature Cited: List of all references. The proposal should not exceed 10 pages (double-spaced 12 point New Times Roman or equivalent font). There is no page limitation to Literature Citation. The grant proposal will have a 10 page size limit (double-spaced 12 point New Times Roman or equivalent font). The proposal must be submitted to the Ph.D. Advisory Committee by February 28 for students entering in fall or September 30 for students entering in spring. The Committee members will read the proposal, make comments, and return a copy of the proposal to the student at least two weeks prior to the candidacy exam. The student will then prepare a revised proposal and provide a copy of the revised proposal to the committee prior to the candidacy exam.

2. An oral examination. The Ph.D. Advisory Committee will question the student about the grant proposal and in the sub-discipline the student has chosen for his or her Ph.D. research project. Approximately half of the exam will be devoted to questions relating to the submitted grant proposal. The remaining half will consist of questions in the general field in which the Ph.D. research project will be conducted. Students are expected to exhibit breadth in their major area of interest and in ancillary fields. The student will be required to take his or her candidacy exam no later than March 31 (October 31) of the 4th semester in the program. Following the oral questions and answers, the student and thesis advisor will leave the examination room. The remaining members of the Ph.D. Advisory Committee will determine if the student has passed the oral examination.

     The student will pass the exam if there is no more than one dissenting vote. Should a student fail the exam, he or she will have the option of taking a second candidacy examination, which must be passed by June 15 (for those students taking their first candidacy exam in the Spring semester) or by January 15 (for those students taking their first candidacy exam in the Fall semester). Failure to pass this exam on two occasions will lead to the student's dismissal from the Ph.D. program.

Graduate Research and Thesis Requirements.

After successfully passing the candidacy exam the Ph.D. student will meet with the Ph.D. Advisory Committee each semester to report on the progress being made in their research. The Ph.D. Advisory Committee will keep a record of these meetings.

When a student and his or her advisor agree that sufficient research has been successfully completed to comprise a Ph.D. thesis, an informal presentation of this work will be made to the Ph.D. Advisory Committee. This presentation is intended to avoid a situation in which the Committee rejects a written thesis because of inadequate or unacceptable content, obligating the student to resume further experimentation. The Committee must give unanimous permission to the student before completion of the thesis. Under normal circumstances, the target for completion of the Ph.D. thesis is four to five years after entrance into the graduate program.

The thesis shall be written by the student with the advice and criticism of the research advisor. It shall be a scholarly effort that conforms in all respects with the principles of good grammar, organization, and style. A near final draft of the thesis shall be submitted to each member of the Ph.D. Advisory Committee at least three weeks before the defense of thesis.

The defense of the thesis shall be conducted by the Ph.D. Advisory Committee, with the designated chairman presiding. It shall be open to all students and faculty, who shall have the right to pose questions. Notice of the defense of thesis shall be mailed to Faculty and Graduate Students of the Department and to other interested parties at least two weeks prior to the defense. After the presentation and question period, the Committee will meet to discuss and vote on the outcome of the thesis defense.

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