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SDSU-UCSD Biology Doctoral Committees and Curriculum Plan
A. Standing*
and Ad Hoc Committees 1. Executive Committee* 2. Advising Committee 3. Qualifying Committee 4. Dissertation Committee B. Curriculum
and Examinations 1. Curriculum Plan by the year 2. Qualifying Exam A. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees 1. Executive
Committee The
Executive Committee for the Biology Joint Doctoral Program consists
of six faculty members selected from the Joint Doctoral Faculty by the
Coordinator of the program. For
the academic year 2008/2009 this committee is chaired by Greg Harris,
with Peter van der Geer, Roland Wolkowicz, Kelly Doran, Ricardo Zayas
and Bob Zeller. Functions of this committee include:
1) Select students for admission
2) Establish curriculum
3) Advise incoming students until a Dissertation
Advisor is selected (end of year 1) 4) Evaluate and provide recommendations on the
placement of students into dissertation laboratories, and
5) Select the Advising Committee members in
consultation with the student and
Dissertation Advisor. In
addition, the Executive Committee monitors the academic progress of
all Joint Doctoral students. This
will include 1) insuring that all course work, laboratory rotations,
and teaching assignments are completed in a timely manner, and 2) verifying
the completion of the Qualifying Exam by no later than the end of the
Fall semester of the third year. 2. Advising
Committee The
Advising Committee will be established by the Joint Doctoral Graduate
Advisors from SDSU and UCSD in consultation with the student and the
Dissertation Advisor. This committee
will consist of three faculty members chosen jointly from SDSU and UCSD. The Chair of the Advising Committee will be
the Dissertation Advisor; at least one member must be from UCSD. The Advising Committee will establish the student's
course of study from year two on, and will also select the Qualifying
Committee. 3.
Qualifying Committee (JDP
2) The Qualifying Committee consists of five
faculty members, at least two from UCSD (one of whom must be in the
Biology Department). Based upon
past experience with the UCSD Office of Graduate Studies, UCSD requires
that one member be a full-time UCSD Biology faculty member, i.e. not
be an adjunct appointee*. It
is possible that a full-time (not adjunct) UCSD faculty member in another
department who regularly participates in Biology graduate program instruction
could serve in place of the UCSD Biology faculty member. However this
must be approved by Dr. Brody and the UCSD graduate office. *NOTE:
UCSD only allows a single adjunct faculty member per committee.
While the second UCSD member may be a UCSD adjunct faculty member, this
needs to be approved on a case-by-case basis. Although UCSD has not
provided a written policy in regard to SDSU adjuncts, it is probably
safest for students to have, at most, one adjunct member on the entire
committee (UCSD or SDSU). List of acceptable UCSD Biology
Faculty. The Dissertation
advisor may serve as a member of the Qualifying Committee. The members of the Qualifying Committee will
be selected by the Advising Committee in consultation with the student. In order to provide continuity between exams,
at least one member of the Qualifying Committee shall be a member of
the SDSU Executive Committee
(currently Harris, van der Geer, Wolkowicz, Doran,
Zayas and Zeller).
Final appointment of Qualifying Committee
members will be made jointly by the Graduate Deans of SDSU and UCSD. The
Qualifying Committee will be responsible for carrying out the Qualifying
Exam and the Chair of this committee will report the outcome of the
exam and any related academic recommendations to the Executive Committee. The Chair will also provide a written evaluation
of the student's performance. The
Chair of the Qualifying Committee is responsible for notifying the members
of the time and place of the exam, and the student is responsible for
obtaining all required documents necessary for the exam four weeks before
the scheduled exam time. 4. Qualifying
Exam (JDP 3) The
exam will be administered in one session* and consists of two parts. First
Part: Oral presentation of
dissertation research results and proposed dissertation plan (duration
40-50 min, similar to a formal seminar presentation, slides, etc.). The student should come prepared to defend the
overall experimental design, including possible outcomes and interpretations,
and be thoroughly familiar with the literature in his/her chosen field.
A major portion of this examination will be devoted to background
information so that a student can demonstrate the context in which the
proposed research project lies. A succinctly written version of the proposed
dissertation plan (maximum 14 double spaced pages) should be provided
to committee members at least two weeks before the presentation. Prior written approval by all SDSU Qualifying
Committee members stating that the written dissertation proposal is
sufficiently developed must be obtained before the oral presentation
takes place. Second
Part: In consultation with
the members of the Qualifying Committee, the student will select two
subject areas broadly related to the dissertation research.
Two members of the Qualifying Committee with expertise in these
areas will serve as primary mentors.
The student will carry out literature research in each of the
topics and select three to four research papers in each area to be discussed
during the Exam. Each of the
papers to be discussed must meet the approval of the two primary mentors. The student will be expected to answer questions
on the selected papers, relevant background, and potentially related
topics. A major goal of this
portion of the exam is to test the student's ability to extract information
from the literature, to critically and objectively analyze this information,
and to formulate a thorough knowledge base of the subject area. *Currently, the two parts of the exam may
be administered at separate times. 5. Dissertation
Committee (JDP 4* and JDP 5) Upon completion of the Qualifying Exam
the Dissertation Committee will be established. This committee will be selected by the Advising
Committee in consultation with the student and his/her Dissertation
Advisor. The Dissertation Committee
will consist of five faculty members; two should be from UCSD with at
least one UCSD member from the Biology Department.
The Chair of the Dissertation Committee will be the Dissertation
Advisor. The Dissertation Committee will be appointed
jointly by the Graduate Deans of SDSU and UCSD. In part, the Dissertation Committee
will be responsible for assessing on a periodic basis the progress of
the student's research. Regular
committee meetings will be held with the student at 6 to 12 month intervals.
Upon completion of the dissertation, a public oral presentation of the
work will be presented. JDP Forms and Information JDP 2 Form: Nomination of the Doctoral Committee for Qualifying Examinations
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Fill out the form and return to Patti Swinford
in LS 104 for processing. JDP 3 Form: Report
of the Qualifying Examination and Advancement to Candidacy Committee
For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology. Fill out the form and obtain your committee
members’ and Greg Harris signatures on
the day of your Qualifying Exam.
See Cathy Pugh at UCSD to obtain Stu Brody’s signature and then pay the fee at the UCSD Cashier’s Office. Return form to Patti Swinford in LS 104 for
processing. JDP 4 Form: Nomination of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee for the Degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology. Fill out the form and return to Patti Swinford
in LS 104 for processing. *NOTE: This form only
needs to be completed if your committee membership has changed. JDP 5 Form: Report of the Final Examination and Filing of the Dissertation
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology.
Fill out the form and obtain your committee members’ and Greg
Harris signatures on the day of your Dissertation Defense. See Cathy Pugh at UCSD to obtain Stu Brody’s
signature. Take form to your final appointment with UCSD Office of Graduate
Studies. See Graduation
Checklist for detailed information. NOTE: Due
to delays in the graduate offices, the appointment process often takes
on the order of two months. Thus, to assure the committee is appropriately
appointed prior to a qualifying exam or dissertation defense, it is
essential that the student begin this process well in advance. B. Curriculum
1.
Curriculum Plan a) Year 1––Normally students will be in residence
at SDSU to complete three 15-week lab rotations, and to undertake course
work as indicated by the Executive Committee.
The rotation laboratory will be determined by the student, the
Executive Committee, and the PI of the laboratory.
Selection of the lab will be dependent on 1) student research
interests, 2) availability of lab space, and 3) availability of research
support in that laboratory. To
ensure well-rounded pre-dissertation lab exposure, the student will
be advised to undertake at least one lab rotation clearly outside the
indicated field of interest. The rotation will consist of a well-defined
research project to be carried out by the student. Results of the project will be presented in
mini-seminar fashion by the student at the end of the rotation period. It is suggested but not required
that all first year students enroll in Molecular Biology 610. It is to the student's advantage to acquire
a well-rounded background in cell and molecular biology; thus, some
courses outside the student's indicated research interests may also
be advised. Additionally, each student will be expected
to participate actively in Journal Clubs and Research Seminars throughout
their entire time at SDSU. Teaching assistant assignments will
be made through the Biology Department and level of teaching involvement
is dependent upon the source of the student's stipend. At the end of the first academic
year the student will indicate to the Executive Committee his/her choices
for a Dissertation Advisor. In
close consultation with the student and potential Dissertation Advisor,
the Executive Committee will then determine the feasibility of the selection
based on several criteria including 1) space in the prospective lab,
2) correlation of student and faculty research interests, and 3) appropriate
student preparation to undertake work in the laboratory of choice.
After acceptance in a dissertation lab, the student will spend
the summer between the first and second years beginning dissertation
research. b) Year 2––Normally, students will be taking courses
primarily at UCSD carrying out a combination of course work (e.g. Biology
221, 222, 223) and/or research laboratory rotations. In conjunction with the Executive Committee,
the Dissertation Advisor and student will determine how best to spend
the UCSD residence year. Residency
can be undertaken during later years, if this better suits the needs
of the student. Also during year
2 the student will be expected to continue dissertation research at
SDSU. Subsequent to the completion of the second year
the student should be in a position to successfully complete the Qualifying
Exam. During the summer between years
2 and 3 the student will continue dissertation research. c) Years 3 and on––Year
3, and all subsequent years, will be spent in residence at SDSU. The Oral Qualifying Exam must be taken by the end of the Fall semester of the
third year. Upon successful
completion of this exam, the student will be advanced to candidacy for
the Ph.D. degree. The remainder
of the program will involve full time dissertation research. Dissertation research will continue throughout
subsequent years until completion, as judged by the Dissertation Committee
of which the Dissertation Advisor is the Chair. Generally, completion of dissertation research
is indicated by the completion of an original research project and includes
publication of at least two full length research papers in first-rate
refereed journals with the candidate appearing as first author. At this point, the research is written up by
the candidate. Award of the degree
requires acceptance of the manuscript by the Dissertation Committee
and successful Department wide defense of the dissertation. The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Biology will
be awarded jointly by the Regents of the
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