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Learning Outcomes

Degree Requirements (30 Post Masters Hours)

Students choose a Major Professor and form an Advisory Committee during their first year. A curriculum, tailored to each student, is developed with and approved by the Advisory Committee and submitted to the Graduate School as the Program of Study. Students take a Qualifying Examination at the end of their first year, comprised of a short written and orally defended Research Plan focusing on planned research in the laboratory of their Major Professor; this Research Plan is developed in consultation with the Major Professor and presented to a committee selected by the Department Chair. Upon Advancement to Candidacy, the Advisory Committee becomes the student’s Dissertation Committee. Students present a dissertation plan in the form of a Research Proposal to their Dissertation Committee and take a Comprehensive Examination; the formats of both Research Proposal and Comprehensive Examination are determined by the Dissertation Committee. Finally, students write and orally defend a research based Dissertation. PhD students entering without M.S. degrees must complete at least 60 hours of course credit including multiple credits of BIOL 798  and 12 credits of BIOL 899 . Ph.D. students entering with a M.S. degree must complete at least 30 hours of course credit including multiple credits of BIOL 798  and 12 credits of BIOL 899 . Ph.D. students are required to have teaching experience equivalent to two semesters as a Teaching or Instructional Assistant, unless waived on appeal by the Department Graduate Studies Committee.