Thesis Advisory Committee

After becoming a Ph.D. candidate, the student and advisor will assemble a Thesis Advisory Committee by the end of the third year. The committee will consist of the advisor, two additional faculty members of the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and one outside member from either another program, another university, or from outside academia. Members of the committee should possess expertise closely related to the thesis area.

The Thesis Advisory Committee meets with the student once a year to evaluate research progress towards the Ph.D. degree. Ordinarily, the student will describe their research progress in the form of an oral presentation. An abstract describing the project and recent progress should be presented to the committee in advance of the meeting. The committee will serve an advisory role on research and help determine when the requirements are satisfied for the Ph.D. degree.

Doctoral Thesis

A doctoral thesis describing original research is required earn the Ph.D. degree. The thesis will be presented to a Thesis Examination Committee that is usually composed of the same members as the Thesis Advisory Committee (see above). A formal thesis defense is scheduled no earlier than two weeks after distribution of the thesis proposal. This defense consists of a public seminar followed by a closed session with the Thesis Examination Committee.