Expectations for the Award of Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology
- Students will meet with their dissertation committee (external member may be absent) at least annually to discuss their project. A written report of that meeting must be provided to the Program Director in Experimental Pathology and to each member of the dissertation committee within one week following the committee meeting. Failure to have a meeting and/or to file the report of the meeting will result in a grade of “Unsatisfactory” in research or dissertation and immediately place the student on academic probation. Students cannot graduate while on academic probation.
- The student will prepare a one page single-spaced “annual progress report and research plan” that must be presented to the SEAC on September 30th each year. This report must be cosigned by the mentor as being an accurate and satisfactory assessment of the students work. Students will be required to list publications, abstracts, awards, grants, and presentations. Based upon the information provided, student progress will be evaluated by the SEAC annually in October.
- During the duration of the dissertation research period, a student must have presented their work (poster or oral) in at least one National Meeting. Mentors are encouraged to support student’s attendance at other meetings as part of their general training. A published abstract of their presentation should be provided to the SEAC.
- At the time of the dissertation defense, the student must be an author (first author or second if the journal states that the first and second authors are considered as equal contributors) on at least one peer-reviewed paper that has been accepted for publication. Most students have several publications by the time that they graduate.
- It is the responsibility of the student and mentor to ensure that the version of the dissertation that is sent by the student to all committee members is complete and in the final and presentable form that is required by the GSBS. The dissertation format is not fixed and can be, for example, a sequential report of the study with introduction, methods, data, discussion and bibliography sections, or as a package of published papers linked with a general introduction and discussion. A defense cannot be scheduled unless a complete dissertation has been submitted at least 3 weeks prior to the scheduled defense. A bound file consisting of published papers alone is not considered to be an adequate dissertation. All dissertations must follow the GSBS guidelines and be approved by the GSBS. All dissertation committee members should read the dissertation prior to the defense and be prepared to ask questions that adequately test the student’s knowledge and understanding of their research.
- Students will present their dissertation in a private dissertation committee-only defense. If the dissertation is defended successfully and once the dissertation has been accepted as satisfactory and all committee members have signed (following, for example, completion of changes requested by committee members), a public defense as required by the UTMB Graduate School will be organized. This will be in the form of a one-hour public seminar, followed by an open session for questions.