REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PHD

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE

Microbiology Graduate Program

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Revised: October 2008

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

The primary requirement for the Ph.D. degree is the completion of a significant, original contribution to biomedical research. The candidate is expected to do original research during the entire period of training for the Ph.D. degree and to write a dissertation based on this research. The dissertation must represent a substantial effort from both the experimental (and/or theoretical) and literary points of view. The purpose of the other requirements listed below is to increase the student's ability in research and to broaden his/her knowledge of modern microbiology. The department stresses an attitude of inquiry which elicits the adventure as well as the intellectual rigor and technical expertise involved in research activities.

I. Background Requirements

A. Undergraduate

The Cellular and Molecular Biology Admissions Committee is responsible for initial decisions concerning admission to the graduate program. In general, acceptance will be based on scores achieved on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), nominally 1200 total (verbal and quantitative components); undergraduate grade point average (with weight given to the curriculum completed) of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; letters of evaluation and performance in other research activities or graduate programs; candidate's statement of career goals.

For a student to receive full acceptance into the CMB program, a bachelor's degree including the following undergraduate coursework should be completed by the time of entrance: Calculus, general and organic chemistry and at least one introductory course in zoology or biology. Courses in biochemistry, physical chemistry, genetics, immunology, and cell biology are also to the benefit of the candidate.

B. Graduate

After completing the CMB curriculum, students who wish to pursue their Ph.D. degree in Microbiology must have met the following requirements:

1) As of the end of the spring semester of the first year, have a 3.0 or above average in CMB related coursework and not more than 2 grades below B in the CMB courses.

2) Attain a grade of B or better in each of the CMB courses. Students should be aware they cannot repeat courses more than once in order to attain a grade of B and courses must be repeated in the second year.

3) Students who are directly admitted to the Department of Microbiology graduate program rather than the CMB program must meet the same requirements as defined for those who enter through CMB. This includes all CMB courses and 3 lab rotations. One of the lab rotations may be in the lab of the mentor; other rotations may be with collaborators of the mentor. If the student has documented previous experience in research, he/she may request exemption from the third rotation by the Microbiology Graduate Committee.

II. Curriculum Requirements for Microbiology Graduate Students:

All second year students must register for the Principles of Scientific Integrity Course (GRD 717-6N 3hr.), and a Scientific Communication: Professional Speaking Course. This course offers sections for international students and one for domestic students and is listed under Graduate School Courses in the Class Schedule.

Please remember to register for a total of 12 hours in the Fall, 12 hours in the Spring and 9 hours in the Summer. DO NOT exceed the required hours.

1) Journal Clubs (MIC 712, 724, 737, 772, 780, 785, 786, 789, 794, 796 and 797)-one each semester beginning in the second year. Note: Discussion groups are not considered as Journal Clubs. Although students are encouraged to participate in and even register for discussion groups, all students must register for and attend at least one authentic Journal Club.

2) Development of Communication Skills for Biological Research (MIC 710) each semester beginning with the third year.

3) Advanced courses. Three letter-graded advanced courses are required before obtaining the PhD degree. Advanced courses offered by any of the Joint Health Science (JHS) departments may be taken to fulfill this requirement and should be selected after consultation with the mentor. Prior written permission from the Microbiology Graduate Program Director must be obtained for any course outside the JHS to count towards fulfillment of graduation requirements. Any student registering for a non-JHS course without such approval will be responsible for all tuition and fees associated with that course.

III. Seminars: Student attendance at Microbiology Departmental Seminars is required.

IV. Teaching and Language Requirements: The Microbiology Graduate Program has no formal teaching or language requirements. Students interested in gaining teaching experience should consult with the Microbiology Graduate Program Director.

V. Registration: All students must register each semester for a total of 12 credit hours for the fall and spring semester and 9 credit hours for the summer semester. These hours should include the Scientific Communication/Communications Skills course and one journal club. It will be the responsibility of the student to pay for any hours exceeding the amount required by the graduate program.

VI. Examination and Review Procedures: All students seeking a Ph.D. degree will be evaluated using the following procedures:

A. Qualifying Examination

Each student will be expected to pass, before the beginning of the third year of full-time graduate study, a qualifying, "Proposition" exam. This exam consists of a written proposal of an experimental approach to test an original hypothesis concerning an area of molecular cell biology research, followed by an oral defense of the proposal which will include an examination on general scientific background. A detailed description of the proposition examination can be found in the Guidelines for the PhD Qualifying Examination. http://www.microbio.uab.edu/QualifyingTopics/qualify.html

B. Dissertation

1. Admission to Candidacy

After satisfactorily completing the required components of the first-year curriculum and passing the qualifying examination, students will apply for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. This is usually done by the end of the second year as a graduate student and must be completed by the end of February in the third year. To begin this process the student and the mentor will suggest a minimum of 4 additional faculty members to serve on the dissertation committee. (At least 2 committee members must have a primary appointment in the Department of Microbiology (this may include the dissertation advisor), and at least 2 members should have primary appointments outside of Microbiology.) This recommendation is made by the dissertation advisor to the Graduate Program Director who, in turn, recommends the appointments to the Graduate Dean. These faculty members are selected for their ability to provide expert advice to the student in attaining his or her research objectives.

Before students are formally admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, the research project must be presented to the Dissertation Committee. This presentation will consist of two parts. First, a written RESEARCH PLAN will be prepared. This will be modeled after an NIH grant proposal, i.e., Sections as follows: 1, Specific Aims; 2, Background & Significance; 3, Experimental Design & Methods; and 4, Expected Results. In addition, appropriate literature should be cited. The Research Plan (10 single-spaced or 20 double spaced pages) should be distributed to the Dissertation Committee at least 1 week prior to the first meeting. Secondly, the student will present and defend the proposed research to the committee at this first meeting, at which time the approval of the committee to pursue the proposed line of research will be obtained. It should be emphasized that the preparation of the written Research Plan differs in several significant ways from that of the Qualifying Exam: no Abstract or Abstract approval is required, and the student may have as much input from the mentor as he/she feels is necessary.

The Dissertation Committee will also review the courses taken by the student and his/her overall academic preparation and may make recommendations concerning additional training that the student may need to become proficient in his or her area of scientific interest. The Admission to Candidacy approval form will then be signed by all members of the Dissertation Committee. The Microbiology Graduate Program office will review the student's file to insure that all requirements (CMB courses, lab rotations, and completed Proposition) have been met before the Program Director approves the Admission to Candidacy recommendation, which must also be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School.

In order to achieve maximum involvement of the Dissertation Committee members in the research endeavors of the student, the committee will meet at least once per year. Beginning with the 5th year, the student must meet with the committee twice a year. During these meetings the student will review progress in attaining the intended research objectives and will mention any difficulties or unanticipated findings. These periodic meetings are very helpful to the student and often result in a significant improvement in the student's research productivity. Debbie Sirles will keep a log of this information; therefore, the student must notify her via email of each committee meeting.

It is possible that during the course of graduate studies a student's interests and specific direction may change. Thus, it may be necessary to alter the membership of the student's Dissertation Committee. In these cases, the student must notify the Microbiology Graduate Program office in writing of such changes, and both the removed and added committee members must sign this notification.

In Summary:

1. Student completes qualifying examination

2. Student and advisor select a dissertation committee

3. Advisor recommends the committee to the Graduate Program Director and the student informs Debbie Sirles

4. Graduate Program Director recommends committee to the Graduate Dean

5. Graduate School approves committee

6. Student writes a research proposal and distributes it to committee

7. Student schedules committee meeting to present proposal and informs the Graduate Program Office of scheduled meetings

8. Committee meets to hear proposal and reviews student's academic preparation

9. If the proposal is approved, the student is then Admitted to Candidacy and should then register for Dissertation Research each semester.

10. After admission to candidacy, the student must have at least one committee meeting per year. Beginning with the 5th year, the student must meet with the committee twice a year.

2. It is strongly recommended by the Microbiology Graduate Committee that all students have a minimum of 2 accepted or published papers prior to applying to the Graduate School for the degree. In addition, students should have at least one presentation at a national or international scientific meeting.

3. As indicated above in the introductory paragraph of this document, the Dissertation must represent an original body of work leading to a significant enhancement of knowledge in the student's chosen field of study. It should not be simply an accumulation of experiments that do not necessarily speak to a specific scientific problem. Students should not expect to receive the degree merely because they have been graduate students for an extended period of time.

4. Application for Degree: This form, which is available from the Graduate School, must be completed not less than one semester prior to the anticipated graduation date. Signatures of the Advisor and the Graduate Program Director or Departmental Chairperson are required on this form. Completed forms should be submitted to the Graduate School.

5. Format of the Dissertation: The candidate is expected to do original research during the entire period of training for the Ph.D. degree and to write a dissertation based on his/her research. The dissertation must represent a substantial effort from both the experimental and literary points of view. Options for the format of the dissertation are described in the Thesis and Dissertation manual available from the UAB Graduate School. To avoid later confusion, it is strongly suggested that the student read this manual early. Presentation and defense of the dissertation must occur 30 calendar days prior to the published graduation date. Final unbound copies should be distributed to the Dissertation Committee at least 2 weeks prior to the defense.

6. Defense of the Dissertation

The final defense will consist of a closed presentation and examination by the student's Dissertation Committee. After the student has successfully defended the Dissertation and all signatures are in place, he/she will hold a public seminar, generally within 2 weeks. This public seminar is a mandatory component of the degree process. Students should be aware that they should take into account the scheduling of both the defense and the seminar in meeting the deadlines imposed by the Graduate School. If the student cannot meet the deadlines in a given semester even though he/she successfully meets all requirements (defense and public seminar), the student will be allowed to register for 3 hours in the subsequent semester (students must be registered in the semester they propose to graduate). The Program Director must sign permission for the student to register for only 3 hours.

Students should give their announcements to Debbie Sirles (BBRB 266) so that she can put them on official Microbiology Seminar Notices and email the announcement to the Microbiology Seminar distribution list. She will advertise the seminar in the in the Microbiology Calendar of Activities and distribute seminar notices in the following buildings: Bevill, Volker, Zeigler, Kaul, Lyons-Harrison, McCallum Basic Health Sciences, Shelby and Tinsley Harrison. The seminar announcement must include the names of all Dissertation Committee members. It will still be the responsibility of the student to notify the Graduate School. Following the seminar, the forms certifying (a) that the Committee recommends the award of the degree and (b) approval of the dissertation, should be signed by the student's committee members and the Program Director and forwarded to the offices of the Chairman and the Graduate School.

VII. Short-term Leaves:

As outlined in the Graduate School Handbook, graduate assistants are entitled to the following short-term leaves:

. A maximum of 15 calendar days (one-half month) paid leave of absence (vacation) per calendar year,

.3 calendar days paid sick leave of absence per calendar year,

.Parental leave of absence (with pay) of 30 consecutive days per calendar year upon the birth or adoption of a child. Either or both parents are eligible for parental leave.

These leaves (vacation, sick, parental) do not accrue. All leaves require notification of an approval by the mentor or graduate program director and may be extended, if necessary, with permission of the graduate program director. Program policies regarding leaves of absence must apply equitably to all full time students in good standing in the program. With the agreement of the mentor and graduate program director, extended, unpaid, non-emergency absences from campus for periods up to a month may be approved. Extended absences (without pay) for non-academic purposes should be limited. Students should consult the Graduate School Policies and Procedures concerning leaves of absence. In emergencies, graduate assistants should inform their mentors or program directors as soon as possible about the need for a leave of absence.

VIII. Requirements for Continuation of Stipend

Completion of the entire curriculum for the Ph.D. degree normally requires five to six years. Under ordinary circumstances, Microbiology students may only receive a stipend for a period of no more than 7 years. The Program Director monitors the stipend termination date of each student. If a student feels that he/she can justify a stipend extension beyond the 7 year deadline, a mentor-initiated appeal may be made to the Graduate Committee, and a meeting of the student, mentor, and Committee will be scheduled. At this meeting it must be made clear to the Committee that there are extenuating circumstances that have led to the failure of the student to complete the dissertation within 7 years. The Graduate Committee will determine, on a case by case basis, if such an extension is warranted and an appropriate allowable period of time for the extension. If awarded, the stipend extension will most likely be at a reduced level. A stipend extension request can only be made once, and if awarded, further extension requests will not be accepted by the Graduate Committee.

IX, Health Insurance

The mentor of each student provides single coverage health insurance. Insurance takes effect during the Fall Semester (currently August 20 but this date is subject to change) for 12 months. Insurance is renewed automatically each year unless the student requests insurance termination or has graduated.

Special information for graduating students

Health insurance is paid at one time so if you are graduating at the end of August, your coverage will more than likely already be terminated. In order to avoid any lapse in coverage, it is very important that you contact Student Health, ext. 4-3580 as soon as you know your graduation date. They will advise you regarding your coverage dates and whether any supplemental coverage is needed to bridge the time period between your graduation and your next position.