GRADUATE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
► Courses
All
students are required to take IBS 700, 701, 702, PHY 750 (Molecular
Physiology and Medicine), and PHY 704 (Biostatistics). Each student
is also required to take three reading courses (PHY 790, 791, 792)
and PHY 796 and PHY 751 (Seminars in Physiology).
PHY 796 &
850 must be taken by all students throughout their graduate studies.
All 1st
year students
must successfully complete GRD 717 “Principles of Scientific Integrity”.
Exceptions and substitutions must be approved by the Graduate Program
Director and/or Departmental Chair (i.e. PHY 792 Selected Topics Course -
"Ethics in Publication").
The
graduate school regularly offers one-day workshops and short courses in
scientific writing, communication skills, and scientific ethics that our
graduate students are encouraged to attend.
Full-time
students are required to register for 15 hours per semester for Fall and
Spring; 10 hours for summer semester.
►
Grades
Students
must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better in required course work. Failure to do
so may result in dismissal from the program pending appeal to the CMP
Graduate Program Committee.
1-C Rule:
Students who receive a grade of a "C" or lower in any required course will
be required to repeat the appropriate course. Failure to earn a grade of a
"B" or above in this second attempt will result in dismissal from the
Physiology Training Program pending an appeal to the Cellular and Molecular
Physiology Graduate Committee.
2-C Rule:
If a student receives two “C” grades or lower in required courses during the
same academic year, the student is subject to dismissal from the program
pending an appeal to the Cellular and Molecular Physiology Graduate
Committee.
►
PHY
796 - Departmental Seminars, Journal Club and Luncheon
PHY 796
consists of three parts: Monday afternoon journal club, Wednesday’s noon
seminar, and the graduate student luncheon immediately following the
seminar.
As a
requirement for PHY 796, all graduate students must attend and
participate in the department journal club, seminar series, and luncheon
every semester that they are enrolled1. Following each seminar,
select graduate students meet with the seminar speaker over lunch.
Attendance is mandatory at the journal club and seminar AND for luncheons
you have committed to.2, 3 As the seminar program is
published well in advance, students should ensure that they are available
for this 2-hour period. The faculty consider the seminar series as one of
the more important and essential enrichment activities for the graduate
students. Please visit our web site at
http://www.physiology.uab.edu/Seminars.htm for the
detailed seminar series.
NOTES for
PHY 796
–
1
Students who are in their final semester prior to their defense are exempt.
2
Students are excused from 3 seminars and/or journal clubs per semester.
More
than 3 absences may result in a lowered grade for that semester. This
rule does not apply to luncheons, as there are no excused absences there.
3
If you are unable to attend a luncheon for which you have signed up, you
will be required to find another CMP graduate student to take your place.
Failure to show (or to have a surrogate show) for the luncheons will result
in a loss of points toward that semester’s grade.
Click here to see change in requirements for PHY 796
that will be in the new '05-'06 handbook.
►
PHY
751 - Summer Student Seminars
As required
for PHY 796, all graduate students must attend and participate in the
student seminars every semester that they are enrolled. The purpose of this
course is to allow students to present formally to a large group in
preparation for the qualifying exam and dissertation defense.
►
Teaching
An
important aim of the Cellular and Molecular Physiology Graduate Program is
to provide students with teaching experience. If a student is interested
in teaching, the Graduate Program Director will find the opportunity.
►
Admission
to Candidacy
Following
completion of required courses, each student must take a qualifying exam
subject to review by the student’s thesis committee. This exam should be
completed during the student’s third year. Specifically, this exam will
entail a written thesis proposal and an oral defense of this proposal.
Throughout the organization of the thesis proposal-qualifying exam, the
amount of direction the student receives is at the discretion of the mentor
and the thesis committee members.
The thesis
proposal should be 10-15 pages in length and written in an NRSA-style format
(i.e. Abstract, Specific Aims, Background and Significance, Preliminary
Data, and Research Design).
·
A draft of
the proposal should then be handed out to each committee member for his/her
review; it is expected that the written proposal will be reviewed by the
committee members within two weeks of having received the proposal. It is
the responsibility of the thesis committee members to notify the student
and/or mentor if the written proposal is unacceptable. Upon approval of the
written proposal by each committee member, the student may then schedule the
oral defense of the proposal before the department.
·
For the
qualifying exam only, the chair of a student’s thesis committee must be a
committee member other than the mentor.
·
Following
the oral defense of the thesis proposal, the committee may recommend
corrections to the written proposal; it is anticipated that the student
would complete the corrections to the proposal within a month of the
defense.
·
Upon
successful completion of both the written proposal and oral defense, the
student may apply for candidacy. It is recommended that no more than 2
months elapse between initial submission of the written proposal to the
committee and application for candidacy; if more than two months elapses,
the student may have to re-defend the proposal.
·
Upon
entering candidacy, each student must enroll in PHY 799 (Doctoral Level
Dissertation Research). Completion of 30 credit hours (i.e., 2 semesters @
15 hrs each) of PHY 799 is required prior to the thesis defense.