|
|
|
|
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:
- MOCB 630 Molecular Genetics (3 credits) -Fall semester
- MICB 688A Research Experiences (3 credits) - Fall semester
- MICB 701 Teaching Biology (1 credit) - Fall semester
- MOCB 639 Advanced Cell Biology (3 credits) - Spring semester
- MICB 688B Research Experiences (2 credits) - Spring semester
MICB 688A/B Research Experiences consists of laboratory
rotations, graduate research seminar, and departmental colloquia.
MICB 701 Teaching Training is designed to help entering students who
have been awarded teaching assistantships. Students must attain a
grade of "B" or better in the two core lecture courses, and a grade
of "S" in MICB 688A/B and MICB 701. These grades are mandatory for
continued enrollment in the graduate program. By the end of the
second semester, the student must choose a research specialization
and major advisor from the CBMG faculty.
The Second Year
Most M. S. and Ph.D.
students are expected to take a minimum of 9 credits of advanced
courses in the chosen research specialization and 3 credits of
graduate seminars in order to satisfy the requirements for advanced
training. These requirements are typically completed in the next two
semesters following the first year of graduate study. 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. Nancy Williams,
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: nwilliam@umd.edu
Financial
SupportThe 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 2003 semester, the stipends for
fellowships and graduate assistantships range from $20,000 to
$23,000 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.
|
