PhD Degree Requirements

The Graduate Catalog lays out in great detail the general requirements, guidelines, and timetables for the MS and PhD degrees. It is your responsibility to be familiar with these rules and comply with them! Below are the specific expectations of the Cell and Developmental Biology program.

For a concise guide regarding the milestones and procedures please refer to the Milestones and Procedures. This document also contains a checklist with dates that you will find useful to keep on track during your tenure in MCB. This information applies to all MCB PhD students who entered the PhD program after December 2015.

Timetable for the PhD

  • First Year:
    • Rotate in potential labs and choose your thesis advisor
    • Form a Thesis Advisory Committee (your advisor plus two other faculty)
    • Before finishing 12 credits of coursework you must formulate a Plan of Study with your Advisory Committee and submit it to the Graduate School.
  • Second Year:
    • Take the second year review at the end of the second year
    • Between years 2 and 4, all students must take MCB 5893 (Special Topics in Cellular & Molecular Biology)
  • Third Year:
    • Write and defend the Related Research Proposal

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1st semester (Fall) Registration:

Normal load is 6 credits with an assistantship
MCB 5896-038 MCB Introduction to Research (3 credits)
MCB 5896-013 Rotations in MCB (3 credits)
MCB 5896-001 Graduate seminar (1 credit) This is a seminar series given by graduate students to learn the art of presenting seminars and to hear what other students are doing in the lab. Cell Biology students are required to present once each year.

2nd semester (Spring) Registration:

MCB 5801 Scientific Writing and Project Development for MCB Graduate Students (2 credits)
GRAD 5910 Responsible Conduct in Research (1 credit)
MCB 5217 Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids and Proteins, 3 credits OR MCB 5986 Methods in Cell Biology (3 credits)

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

ADVISORY 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.

EXAMINATIONS

Second Year Review:

Before the end of May of the second year, the students need to take the 2nd year review.

  • Follow the instructions for the Second Year Review
  • In brief, the purpose of the Second Year Review is for you to demonstrate that you have established the foundational knowledge in your research area such that you can craft impactful research questions for your thesis proposal.
  • Following the instructions, you will prepare a 2-3 page document describing the background and significance of your topic area, leading to your research questions and their importance. Your advisor can provide general input on this document but you are responsible for writing it.
  • You will also prepare a short (~20 minute) talk describing your research question and progress to date.
  • Your discussion with your committee will be based on both your document and your research talk.
  • The signed report on the 2ndyear review is given to the MCB Graduate Program Coordinator, Chelsea Bartos (BPB108).
  • Any corrective actions to the 2ndyear review need to be completed prior to authorization to take the General Exam in the third year.

General Examination:

All Molecular and Cell Biology PhD students are required to take the General Examination before the end of August of their 3rd year of graduate studies. A written document describing the proposed research is prepared in the format of grant proposal. Please see these guidelines. This can serve as the prospectus (Proposal) required by The Graduate School. The Proposal is prepared with minimal input from the major advisor and the exam is chaired by a committee member other than the major advisor. The signed “Report of the General Examination for the Doctoral Degree” is given to the MCB Graduate Program Coordinator.

Related Research Proposal Exam:

The examination committee will consist of the 3 members of the student’s Advisory Committee plus two Examiners. It is recommended that one Examiner is from outside the department. The exam must be completed within the first 3 years in the PhD program. No preliminary data are necessary to write the proposal. The proposal should be written as if the student were proposing a three-year project and include a timetable.

A. Prepare one page of Specific Aims for the proposal and have it approved by the exam committee: The specific aims briefly describe the rationale for the proposal and outline the hypotheses to be explored and the methods/experiments to achieve 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.

B. Prepare the full proposal: The student will then prepare a 12-14 page single spaced (excluding references) Research Proposal following the general guidelines of an NIH R01 grant proposal including the Face page, Specific Aims, and Research Plan. An estimated budget for supplies, reagents, equipment, etc. should be provided.

The written portion will then be distributed to the members of the examining committee at least 2 weeks before the oral defense. 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 3.

C. 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. 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 preceding 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 all sections. The student may be asked to repeat either part of the exam.

Links to Forms:

Research Plan instructions (form SF424)

Sample Grants at the NIH web site:

http://nccam.nih.gov/grants/resources/grantwrite-advice.htm

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL

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 should submit the Dissertation Proposal to the Graduate School and begin to assemble the thesis.

 

PhD THESIS DEFENSE

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.