The 3rd Year & Beyond
The primary activity of students in the third and subsequent years will be the performance of thesis research. In addition, students in years 3-6 are required to register for 2 credit hours each semester of Advanced Graduate Seminar (IMP790r). The minimum total number of credit hours for each semester must be 12. Students will also present once per year at the weekly "Research in Progress (RIP)" seminar. Other milestones:
THESIS COMMITTEES
A thesis committee is to be selected by the student’s Research In Progress presentation in the second semester of the second graduate year. The 5-member committee must include the dissertation advisor, who serves as chairperson, and at least three faculty members of the IMP Program. A Thesis Committee Notificationform must be filled out, signed by all committee members, and returned to Becky Waters.
The duties of the thesis committee include assisting the student in creating and executing an original, publishable research project, assisting in the preparation of an acceptable dissertation and administering the final oral examination (i.e., the dissertation defense). As such, this committee is vital to the progress of the student. The first committee meeting will occur in conjunction with the students first RIP (year 2 for Ph.D. students and G1 for M.D.-Ph.D. students). Although it may be convened earlier, the second committee meetingwill involve presentation of athesis proposal, to be held no later than Feb 1st of the third graduate year (year 2 for MD-PhD students). The written thesis proposal must be submitted to thesis committee members and the IMP Program Administrator (Becky Waters) by Dec 1st of the third graduate year (year 2 for MD-PhD students). Committee approval of the thesis proposal by this time is required; failure to meet this deadline will result in revocation of the student’s stipend.
Subsequent committee meetings are to be held at least once per calendar year, including the final year of graduate study. A student must have at least 3 committee meetings prior to thesis defense. However, the thesis committee may recommend more frequent meetings as needed to more closely monitor a student’s progress. At least 3 of the 5 thesis committee members must be in attendance at each meeting. If possible, annual committee meetings are most conveniently held immediately after the Research In Progress (RIP) seminar, which each student prepares once per academic year. For this meeting, each student will provide a short written report detailing the progress made in accomplishing each Specific Aim, possible revisions in Aims, manuscripts as drafts, submitted, or in press to each committee member no less than 1-week before an oral presentation. AThesis Committee Meeting Summary and Progress Report form must be completed and returned to the IMP Program Office (Becky Waters, WMB 7300) after each committee meeting.
THESIS PROPOSAL
A written grant describing the students proposed research is to be completed by December 1st following completion of the oral examination and given to each member of the thesis committee and the Director of IMP. The thesis committee members must approve the proposal following a thesis committee meeting to be held no later than February 1st of that academic year. Failure to meet this deadline will jeopardize the student’s stipend support. The student must return to Becky Waters the IMP Thesis Proposal Approvalform (obtained from Becky Waters, WMB 7300) with the approval signatures of each committee member, and the signature of the IMP DGS. A copy of the thesis proposal will be placed in the student’s permanent file.
The grant should adhere to the format and instructions for NIH NRSA postdoctoral application. Briefly, the thesis proposal is to be divided into 5 sections - Specific Aims, Background and Significance, Preliminary Data, Research Design and Methods, Literature Cited – and formatted as single-spaced, 1 inch margins, Arial font, 11 point size, with a 10-page limit (excluding references). Proposals that do not adhere to these format requirements will be returned. Students are encouraged to solicit funded R01 grant applications from faculty as guides for organizing their thesis proposals. The student’s thesis advisor is expected to aid in the design and editing of the thesis proposal. Thus, the thesis proposal should be written by the student with scientific input and editorial advice from their thesis advisor. The presentation of the thesis proposal signals the start of a collaborative interaction between the student, thesis advisor, and committee to foster the student’s independent research program and track its progress.
Each student should prepare an oral slide presentation of his/her thesis proposal. This presentation should provide a brief overview of the field of interest, followed by a presentation of each specific aim, hypotheses, preliminary results, and approach(s) to be used.
Deadlines:
• Thesis proposal to your thesis committees and the IMP DGS no later then December 1stfollowing a passing mark on the oral qualifying exam.
• The thesis committee must meet and approve the proposal no later then February 1st of that academic year.
AWARDING OF PH.D. DEGREE
The format of the thesis must be approved by the thesis committee before the student begins writing. A copy of the thesis in final form must be submitted to all members of the Committee at least two weeks before the examination. The written dissertation must conform to Graduate School Guidelines, but in general will consist of an original account of the background, approach, experiments, and conclusions of your thesis research. Published papers written by the student may be reformatted as chapters in the thesis, but an original introductory chapter and concluding chapter must be added. The dissertation must indicate which figures and tables are based on data generated by the Ph.D. candidate.
The final oral examination (thesis defense) is scheduled by the student with the approval of their thesis committee. The examination is administered by the thesis committee, the thesis advisor serving as chairperson. The examination is public and anyone attending may ask questions. After the public presentation, the audience is dismissed and the thesis committee may further question the candidate. The success of the defense is determined by majority vote of the thesis committee.
