Graduate Programs

General Information of Program of Study

• A minimum of 30 credits is required for graduation of which 20 must be for course work and not thesis credit.
• At least half of these 20 credits must be in the major subject area.
• A minimum of 10 thesis credits must be successfully completed.
• Two-thirds of the minimum 30 credits must be at the 5XX-level. (Undergraduate courses at the 4XX-level are allowed but not 3XX-level).
• Credit in seminar (500), individual problem (570) and internship (576) courses may not exceed 1/3 of credits required.
• Course work more than 6 years old cannot be applied toward the program.
• No more than 3 credits (except thesis credits) can be taken Pass/Fail
• Transfer credits – see policy at Transferring Credits

Core Curriculum

All M.S. students (Plan A) are required to take one General course of their choice and Ethics. Any deviation from these credit requirements require approval by the graduate student’s mentor and graduate committee, departmental graduate curriculum committee, Department Head, and if appropriate, the Dean of the Graduate School. Options listed in the table below constitute the core curriculum of the MBI graduate program:

 Electives Coursework (subject to change)

All M.S. students are required to take at least threecourses in of the seven areas of the core curriculum. Students are highly encouraged to take a diversified set of courses with an emphasis of offerings from the Department. See the Table below for the core groups and course opportunities to fulfill the requirements.

Teaching Assistantships

M.S. students may be asked to complete one teaching assistantship if the need arises. This typically will be done in the student’s second year in the program. Please see general TA guidelines above in PhD section.

Seminar Series and Journal Club

• Departmental Research Seminar Series
• All students are requried to attend the Departmental Seminar (MB 594) each semester regardless if they are registered in the course. There are limits to the number of MB594 credits allowed in a Graduate Program (3 for Ph.D.). Departmental administrators will register you for these credits.
• Student Research-in-Progress (RIP) Series
• All students are required to attend the Student RIP Series, and present starting in their second year.
• Journal Clubs
• All students are required to attend one of the MB 592 Journal Club sessions each semester.
• Prior to each semester, the instructors and topics of the Journal Club sections will be announced. The topics will vary but and can be focused on either environmental or biomedical research topics or synchronize with the Departmental Research Seminar Series schedule.

Comprehensive Examination for Plan A Master's Degree

Before the end of the 4th semester (excluding summers), and once 2/3’s of the course work has been completed, the student should schedule an oral exam with their Masters Committee. This should follow a seminar presented by the student in Journal Club. The Journal Club presentation will serve as a focus for questions. However, other questions will be included in the examination to test breadth of comprehension.

If the student fails the examination, at least 2 months must pass before repeating it. A second failure will result in dismissal from the academic program.

Thesis and Defense

A thesis approved by the Masters Committee, Department Head, and the Dean of The Graduate School is required. In Plan A, an oral thesis defense examination is required. The student’s approved Masters Committee carries out this examination. The student should have prepared and distributed a draft of the thesis to the committee at least fourteen (14) business days prior to date of defense.

Please refer to the Graduate School for all timelines, requirements and paperwork.

The primary role of the advisor and Doctoral Committee is to guide the student throughout their thesis research. It is required that the student's Doctoral Committee meet at least once each year following a formal presentation of the student's research to discuss the student's progress.

The thesis must be prepared and submitted electronically in the format described in the latest version of the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Initiative. Previously published electronic theses and dissertations may be viewed at the View ETDs link.

The thesis draft must be approved by the advisor before it is submitted to the Committee. The student must defend the thesis orally no sooner than two weeks after submission of the thesis to the Committee. The oral defense consists of a public seminar followed by a detailed examination of the student and their thesis by the Doctoral Committee.

Notification of oral defense must be made, at least two weeks prior to defense, to The Graduate School and to the Department so that proper posting can be made well in advance.

Final approval of the thesis rests with The Graduate School. That office reads the thesis for formatting, grammar and content.

• A hardbound copy of the thesis must be provided to the Department for inclusion in the Cotner-Morris library.

Transition from MS to PhD Program

The transition to the PhD program will be initiated by the faculty advisor, upon request from the student. The advisor would send a letter of recommendation and commitment of support to the MBI Graduate Program Committee and the Department Head.

The Graduate Committee would then vote to approve based on the recommendation and student records.

If the request is approved, the student would fill out and submit the Graduate School Change In Graduate Status form and a new program of study to the Graduate School.

Transition in status within DegreeWorks will occur based on the policies of the Graduate School. Once complete, the student will be held to the expectations and requirements detailed in the Doctoral Program section of the handbook of the year they matriculated as a M.S. student.