All enrolled students must attend at least 80% of the department’s seminars; these include journal club, PiN, and Epicenter talks.

 

Year 1  Complete required coursework for whichever umbrella program you are entering through. Complete MG 250: “Responsible Conduct of Research”, which is required for all trainees in the School of Medicine as well as anyone funded by an NIH grant.  By the end of the year you should choose a lab, in agreement with the Principal Investigator (PI) of that laboratory.  Also  for the NSF GRFP pre-doctoral fellowship. Complete MG 250: “Responsible Conduct of Research”, which is required for all trainees in the School of Medicine as well as anyone funded by an NIH grant.

 

Year 2. Identify a faculty advisory committee including your PI and at least 3 other faculty members; of these four persons, at least 2 faculty need to have primary appointments in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. In the Fall of Year 2, schedule the first committee meeting; this will be a relatively informal “meet & greet” session where you introduce yourself, your background, your goals, and what you’ve been working on in the lab. They will probably ask a lot of questions and give you good ideas for additional experiments. You are expected to present your progress to your faculty committee at least twice per year until graduation.  This generally includes one committee meeting in the fall and a second presentation at the Grad Day yearly graduate student symposium.

 

Year 3. During this year you should confene a Fall meeting which can be considered a pre-advancement to candidacy meeting. At this time you should have a reasonable idea of what your thesis project will be (it need not be refined) and be able to articulate goals for progress on that projects.  Later in Year 3 you should Advance to Candidacy.  Advancement entails writing a proposal of your thesis research. It can be in the form of a proposal in the style of an NIH NRSA (F31) grant proposal.  If you have not already done so you could take advantage of the committee feedback to refine the proposal and submit it to NIH. For your Advancement meeting you need to set a date to present it to your committee; this need not be the same committee as for prior meetings be may include the same faculty with some additions. The advancement committee needs to include 5 members including your advisor. The the committee needs to include at least two faculty members with primary appointments in Anatomy and Neurobiolgy.  must be from Anatomy and Neurobiology and at least one faculty member from a separate degree granting unit. Two weeks prior to the meeting, send your advancement proposal to your committee. Prepare a 30-40 minute talk describing your work in the lab and what you propose to do for your dissertation project. It is best to keep it closer to 30 minutes to allow for extensive discussions.  The committee will ask questions during and after your talk.  Following this discussion, you will be asked to step out of the room while your committee considers your understanding of your thesis project and your preparedness to advance to candidacy. They will then invite you back inside to receive their feedback which hopefully will include constructure criticism and suggestions. Receive this input gracefully and if the committee considers the meeting successful you will need to  then collect everyone’s signatures and deliver your advancement documents to Grad Division. Note that you will also need signatures from the department Chair (Christine Gall) and the SOM Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Klemens Hertel). Congratulations! You are now officially a PhD Candidate.

 

Year 4 Continue with your dissertation research and present your research progress to your committee twice yearly (as described for Year 2).  Assemble your dissertation.

 

Year 5+ Present your findings to your committee twice yearly. As you approach scheduling your dissertation defense you need to have a meeting with your committee that is considered a Pre-defense meeting (this can be in year 4 or 5) at which you present your now specific plans for what will be in your dissertation the committee will consider if the plan is adequate or if it needs some revision.  Complete your dissertation and prepare to for your dissertation defense.  For the Defense you need just 3 faculty committee members including your advisor; at least two of these need to have primary appointments in Anatomy and Neurobiology.  You can include additional faculty on your committee, most student do, but it is best to keep the total to 5 or less.

 

You need to present a near complete draft of your dissertation to your committee to receive their approval and, after approval, you can schedule a date for your defence!