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General Graduate Program Information
In consultation
with faculty advisers, students develop a course programs and
research topics appropriate to their individual needs and
professional goals. The training is tailored to the specific needs
of each student, and the program aims to prepare students for
professional careers in industry, in government laboratories, and
for research and teaching in academic institutions.
Entering
students are encouraged to select the M. S. or Ph.D. program based
on their professional objectives. Typically, the appropriate
professional objective for a M. S. student is a research technician
position or an equivalent position, whereas the appropriate
objective for a Ph.D. student is a research scientist, college
professor, government administrator, or another position requiring
sophisticated training at the Ph.D. level. A wide range of job
opportunities are available to our graduates with M. S. and Ph. D.
degrees, and a very high percentage of our graduates obtain
positions utilizing their graduate training within a short time
after their graduation.The First Year
The Graduate
Director, with the assistance of the Graduate Program Committee,
serves as the initial advisor for all entering CBMG students for
their first year. For most students, the core requirements plus
several advanced courses serve as the primary academic load during
the first year of study. The core courses are:
CBMG 688D Cell Biology I (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Fall
semester
CBMG 688E Cell Biology II (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Fall
semester
CBMG 688A Research Experiences (3 credits) - Fall semester
CBMG 688G Teaching Science (1 credit) - Fall semester
CBMG 688F Genetics I (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Spring semester
CBMG 688I Genetics II (2 credits, 7 weeks) - Spring
semester
CBMG 688C Research Experiences (2 credits) - Spring
semester
CBMG 688A/C
Research Experiences consists of laboratory rotations, graduate
research seminar, and departmental colloquia. In most cases, at
least two lab rotations are required and occur during the fall
semester and winter break period. An additional rotation can be done
in the spring semester if necessary. CBMG 688Z Teaching Science is
designed to help entering students who have been awarded teaching
assistantships. In addition to these core courses, each student is
required to complete 3 additional two credit 7 week elective courses
within the first two years. Currently these include courses in
immunology, microbial pathogenesis, microbial genetics, virology,
plant developmental biology, plant physiology, general developmental
biology, and bioinformatics. Additional courses offered in other
departments may also be taken. Students must attain a grade of "B"
or better in the lecture courses, and a grade of "S" in CBMG 688A/C
and CBMG 688Z. These grades are mandatory for continued enrollment
in the graduate program. Additional courses offered by other
departments may also be recommended by the student’s advisory
committee. By the end of the second semester, the student must
choose a research specialization and major advisor from the CBMG
faculty.
The Second Year
Students will
generally complete elective courses and any other course work by the
end of the second year. For the M. S. degree, the University
requires that the student complete at least 24 credits of graduate
(400 and 600-level or above) courses, with a minimum of 12 credits
at the 600-level or above. In addition, all M. S. candidates must
complete 6 credits of 799 Masters Thesis Research to graduate. The
University has no formal course credit requirements for Ph. D.
students other than the completion of at least 12 credits of Ph. D.
Dissertation Research (898 and 899 credits). Before the end of the
fourth semester, the adviser and the student should also submit to
the Graduate Director the names of other faculty members who will
serve as the student's Research Committee. The student's research
advisor serves as the chairman of this committee, and it becomes the
responsibility of the committee to guide the student through the
remainder of the graduate program.
Although the
students in the M. S. and Ph. D. programs have similar course
requirements, the two degree programs diverge at the end of the
second year, because they have different research expectations. The
M. S. program involves advanced technical training resulting in an
original M. S. thesis, while the Ph.D. program involves independent
and creative scholarly research resulting in an original Ph. D.
dissertation.
Master's Program
The
research for the M. S. degree must establish the student's ability
to carry out research experiments addressing an important question
in biology. By the middle of the second year, it is expected that
the M. S. student will write a brief research proposal summarizing
the relevant literature, objectives, experimental methods, and
significance of a research project that the student and the advisor
believe is appropriate for a M. S. thesis.
Once the
committee approves a thesis proposal, it is expected that the M. S.
student will then complete this research in time to defend the
resulting M. S. thesis by the middle of the third year. The student
can request a routine extension for another year from the Graduate
Program Committee, but additional extensions will be granted only
for very unusual circumstances.
Ph.D. Program
The Ph. D.
student has two important meetings with the student's research
committee in the third year. For the Ph. D. proposal meeting, the
student submits a research proposal summarizing the relevant
literature, objectives, experimental methods, and significance of a
research project that the student and the advisor believe is
appropriate for a Ph. D. dissertation. This meeting, which is held
by the end of the student's fifth semester, is chaired by the
student's advisor and is attended by all members of the research
committee.
The Admission
to Candidacy Examination is held by the end of the student's sixth
semester. As its starting point, this meeting uses the revised
dissertation proposal submitted to the committee a minimum of two
weeks before the meeting. In particular, the student is expected: 1)
to exhibit a sophisticated understanding of the advanced knowledge
necessary to conceptualize and to perform the critical experiments
in the research proposal; 2) to defend the project outlined in the
research proposal as having the potential to become appropriate and
worthy of a high-quality Ph. D. dissertation; and 3) to demonstrate
considerable ability for independent and creative thinking as it
relates to the identification of important questions, the design of
experimental hypotheses, and the testing of those hypotheses in
other relevant research areas not addressed in the proposal. The
student is expected to pass the Admission to Candidacy Examination
before the end of the third year in order to maintain reasonable
progress toward the Ph. D. degree.
It is expected
that the student should be able to complete the research necessary
for writing the Ph. D. dissertation within two to three years
following the candidacy examination. The student is required to meet
with the Research Committee on a yearly annual basis. The research
for the Ph. D. degree must establish the student's ability to
perform independent and creative scholarly research that makes a
substantial contribution to our knowledge about an important
question in biology. The ability to do high-quality research must be
demonstrated by the submission and the defense of a Ph. D.
dissertation.
Graduate Office
Ms. Sarah
Biancardi, Graduate Secretary Department of Cell Biology and
Molecular Genetics University of Maryland College park, MD 20742
Telephone:
(301) 405-6991
Fax: (301) 314-9921
Email:
sbiancar@umd.edu
Financial
Support
The
CBMG graduate program has been extraordinarily successful in its
ability to provide continuous support for our graduate students in
the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and research
assistantships. All applicants for admission are automatically
considered for financial support. The sources of graduate student
support include: University funds, the National Science Foundation,
the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration,
and other federal granting agencies, as well as private foundations.
For new students entering in the Fall 2007 semester, the stipends
for fellowships and graduate assistantships range from $22,385 to
$25,000 for 12 months, plus the remission of tuition costs for up to
10 credits per semester and the standard University health insurance
coverage for the entire year. In addition, the department recommends
outstanding applicants to the Graduate School for its fellowships;
when supplemented with matching funds from the department, these
awards enhance the financial support to a level significantly higher
than the regular assistantships and fellowships.
The department
has continuously provided full support for all its students provided
that they are making satisfactory progress toward their degrees. In
general, entering students, who have not been awarded research
assistantships, receive teaching assistantships, which require a
maximum of 20 hours of teaching-related duties per week, for their
first 3 or 4 semesters. Almost all senior students are supported as
research assistants on the research grants of their major advisors.
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