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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
  • Second Semester: Before finishing 12 credits 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 : 3 core courses plus 4 other courses from the attached list or as determined by your committee in the Plan of Study. The 6 courses 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.

MCB 374 need only be taken for credit during the first year. After that, students are expected to attend each week and to present their research once each year.

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.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND ORAL EXAM : PhD students are required to pass a three part preliminary exam. 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. 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 maintain order and decorum. The exam must be completed within the first 3 years of graduate school. No preliminary data is necessary to write the proposal.


Part 1 - The student will prepare an approximately 20 page double spaced research proposal (excluding references) in the format of an NIH grant proposal. This should include the face page, budget pages, facilities and Research Plan. The proposal should be written as if the student were proposing a three-year project including a timetable. If the proposal is completed at the early stages of the student's investigations, then the proposal will hopefully form the basis for their 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 work that has not yet been accomplished. The proposal will be written with some consultation with the major advisor, although the student should actually write the proposal. The written portion will then be distributed to the member 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 - The candidate will present a public seminar describing the proposal and answer general questions from the audience.

Part 3 - The candidate will remain after the audience leaves and answer questions about the proposal and other related areas from members of the examining committee and any other faculty who wish to remain.

Each part of this exam will be evaluated independently and the student is expected to pass all three sections. The student may be asked to repeat any or all three parts of the exam.


Masters

COURSE REQUIREMENTS : 2 core courses plus 4 other courses from the attached list

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 two core courses plus four other courses from the approved list are required. A total of 24 credits are needed. A written exam for exiting Masters students will be administered by a committee of 3 including the major advisor. Questions are sometimes solicited from other faculty who have had direct interaction with the student. The exam is usually a take home exam tailored for the particular student's current or long-term interests.