skip to content

Cell and Developmental Biology Program Requirements and Courses

Masters and PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology

PhD

Important Milestones for the PhD:

  • First year:
    • Rotate in potential labs in order to choose your advisor
    • Before finishing 12 credits of coursework you must form a committee of 3 faculty and submit a Plan of Study to the Graduate School
  • Before the finish of 3rd year:
    • Write and defend the Research Proposal

COURSE REQUIREMENTS : Core courses plus other courses from the attached list or as determined by your committee in the Plan of Study. The courses listed on your Plan of Study must be completed with a grade of B or higher. Course requirement may be modified for PhD students entering with a related masters degree. If a B is not obtained, then a written general preliminary exam will be required that will follow the guidelines of the masters exam above. A list of courses can be found here.

MCB 5899 (Graduate Seminar) need only be taken for credit during the first year. PhD students are required to present their research once each year( without signing up for credit). MS and PhD students are expected to attend each week. Thesis Masters students are encouraged to also present their research in this course.

Note: There is no longer a foreign language requirement for the PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology


COMMITTEE : A student will formulate a committee consisting of a major advisor and two associate advisors during their first year. The student will meet with the committee in order to get advising about courses, and the student will submit a plan of study by the end of the second semester. The student should meet with the committee at least yearly thereafter in order to keep them apprised of progress and to plan the preliminary exam.

PRELIMINARY EXAM: : PhD students are required to pass a two part qualifying preliminary exam which will require writing and defending a Research Proposal. The committee will consist of the 3 members of the students permanent committee plus two examiners. It is recommended that one examiner be from outside the department. The exam should be completed within the first 3 years in the PhD program. No preliminary data is necessary to write the proposal.


In preparation - Prepare one page of Specific Aims for the proposal: The specific aims briefly describe the rationale for the proposal and outline the hypotheses to be explored and the methods/experiments to acheive the aims. The student should prepare this document with some input from the advisor. The student will then meet with the full committee to discuss the breadth and depth of the Aims so the committee can provide guidance.

Part1- Written Proposal: The student will prepare a 15-25 page single spaced (excluding references) Research Proposal following the general guidelines of an NIH R01 grant proposal. This should include the Face page, Research Plan, Biographical Sketches, Facilities and Equipment. The proposal should be written as if the student were proposing a three-year project and include a timetable. If the Preliminary Exam is completed at the early stages of the student's investigations, then the proposal will hopefully form the basis for the PhD thesis. If the proposal is completed late in the students investigations, then at the discretion of the committee, the proposal will either be for the subsequent 3 years of research (going beyond the tenure of the candidate), or will be an unrelated proposal. In either case, the intent is for the student to propose about 3 years worth of research that has not yet been accomplished.

The written portion will then be distributed to the members of the examining committee. The proposal will be evaluated by the committee in terms of both scientific content and clarity of writing style. The committee will have the discretion to reject the proposal (the equivalent of a study section "triage") or accept it for continuing to Part 2.

Part 2 - Oral Defense of the Proposal: The candidate will present the proposal to the committee and any other interested faculty, describing the Background and Research Plan and answer questions. One member of the committee (not the major advisor) will serve as the chair of the examining committee. It is the job of this person to make sure that the candidate is examined and not the advisor and to generally keep the process moving along so the entire proposal is discussed. There will be no general audience presentation preceeding the defense. Committee members may ask questions at any time rather than waiting until the entire proposal has been presented.

Each part of this exam will be evaluated independently and the student is expected to pass both sections. The student may be asked to repeat either part of the exam.

Links to Forms:

Full SF424 proposal instructions

Research Plan instructions (from SF424)

PhD THESIS DEFENSE: At least 6 months prior to the time the student would like to finish, the student should meet with the committee and present the outline of the thesis. If approved, the student will then begin to assemble the thesis. The thesis should be submitted to the committee at least 3 months before the expected finishing date. The committee will read the proposal at this time and determine if it is generally acceptable in terms of both the writing and the science and whether there are additional experiments that need to be performed. Once the student has received feedback from the committee, the student can proceed to schedule a defense date.

 

 

MASTERS DEGREE

COURSE REQUIREMENTS : Core courses plus other courses for a total of 24 credits.

Before finishing 12 credits of coursework you must form an Advisory Committee of 3 faculty and submit a Plan of Study to the Graduate School

Plan A - 15 total credits and a thesis

Plan B - 24 total credits of course work and a final examination. A laboratory course or research credit is highly recommended.

COMMITTEE : A student should formulate a committee consisting of a major advisor and two associate advisors during their first year to assist in course planning and arrange the exit exam.

For the Plan B Masters, the core courses plus other courses from the approved list are required. The course list must be approved by your committee, so do not wait until after taking courses to get approval. A total of 24 credits are needed.

A written exam or paper for exiting Masters students will be administered by a committee of 3 including the major advisor. The exam is usually a take home exam or research paper tailored for the particular student's current or long-term interests. The research paper should be a critical examination of a topic agreed upon by the student and the committee. The exam or paper must be submitted to the committee at least one month prior to the end of the semester in which the student intends to graduate.

 

Forms and Links

 

Full SF424 proposal instructions

Masters forms

PhD Forms

Graduate School

Registration, Fees, Etc.