Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D. Degree Requirements
Course Requirements
Please refer to Required Course listing.
A minimum of 90 credit hours beyond the student's acquisition of a Bachelor's degree, in graduate level courses (5000 - 7000) is required. No more than 30 credit hours of a Master's degree from another institution will be transferred to a doctoral program. If a student holds a Master's degree in a discipline different from the doctoral program, the Master's work will not be counted in the program unless the department specifically petitions and acquires the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School.
Study Loads
Students on Graduate or Teaching Assistantships must register for a minimum of 9 credit hours for Fall and Spring semesters. Minimum registration for the Summer is 6 credit hours. (Minimum study load for domestic "part-time" graduate students not on assistantship is three credits during Fall and Spring and two credits for Summer. (International students not on an assistantship must register for the correct number of credit hours required to assure compliance with the requirements of their visa). Full-time graduate students, not on appointment, must register for 12 credit hours in the Fall and Spring semesters and 8 in the Summer semester.
Students are also expected to actively participate in seminars and Journal Colloquy every semester irrespective of their registration status in these courses.
Period of COncentrated Study
Candidates must satisfy the minimum requirements for a period of concentrated study beyond the first 30 hours counted toward the doctoral program by registering for either 30 semester hours in one calendar year or 32 semester hours in no more than four semesters within a period of two calendar years.
Comprehensive Written Preliminary Examination
The written preliminary examination will consist of questions from topic areas selected by the student's Supervisory Committee. Composing and grading of the examination will be performed by the graduate student's committee with input from other select members of the faculty as deemed appropriate. A student's supervisory committee may submit questions in the student's specialty area or on general topics such as: 1) molecular biology and genetics 2) metabolism and regulation 3) cellular structure and function and/or 4) immunology and virology. The written preliminary examination which will be administered once a year in the second week of July, must be taken no later than the end of the second year of graduate study. A make-up exam may be given for those showing unsatisfactory performance in one or more topics. If additional course work is recommended, the make-up exam will be given upon demonstration of satisfactory course performance.
Qualifying Examination
This examination will be administered by the student's supervisory committee and given within six months of successful completion of the written preliminary examination. At least five faculty members must be present. Only those students demonstrating satisfactory performance in the written exam, may take the oral preliminary exam. The subject matter tested will be determined by the individual supervisory committee and will include questions in the student's specialty area. The student should prepare a brief, written research proposal (patterned after NIH or NSF guidelines) on the research completed and planned, and submit to the supervisory committee. The student will also orally present this to the committee at the beginning of the examination. A student showing unsatisfactory performance on the oral preliminary exam will be permitted one re-examination.
Admission to Candidacy
A recommendation concerning admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree will be made by the individual supervisory committee as soon as possible after the oral preliminary examination. Approval will be based on the academic record of the student, satisfactory performance on both written and oral preliminary examinations, selection of a suitable dissertation topic, a demonstrated ability to conduct laboratory research, and the overall fitness of the student for candidacy.
Dissertation
The candidate is required to prepare a dissertation that shows independent investigation and makes a significant contribution to the research field. Where possible, the format of the dissertation must adhere strictly with the rules and abbreviations described in "Instructions for Authors" published in the Journal of Bacteriology or other approved journal. At the student's option, reference citations within the text may be in the form of (author and date) rather than the usual reference number format. This will greatly facilitate changes which may be suggested by the student's committee. The format, typing and position requirements of the Graduate School Guide take precedence over the journal specifications.
A copy of the dissertation is to be provided to the department.
Final Oral Examination
The student must present a departmental seminar of the dissertation research to be immediately followed by an oral defense administered by the individual's supervisory committee. At least five faculty must be present during the department seminar.
Constraints on Financial Support
Students seeking financial assistance should know that they can normally expect continued financial support from the department upon satisfactory progress towards fulfilling their degree requirements. However, this continued financial assistance of graduate students is dependent on the availability of funds within the department. Support will be available only for a maximum of nine (9) semesters for students entering the program with a M.S. degree or fifteen (15) semesters for students with a B.S. degree. If the student fails to complete his/her degree requirements by the end of the above-described time period, he/she must petition the Graduate Oversight Committee the approval for the continuation of support. It is anticipated that students entering this program with a M.S. or B.S. degree normally finish their requirements in 3 or 4-5 years, respectively.