Finally, students complete 12 hours of elective coursework. Students may take any biologically or chemically oriented graduate courses to fulfill their elective coursework. Teaching Our Department believes that teaching is an invaluable part of graduate education, as well as a benefit to the University. Hence, Ph.D. students are asked to serve as teaching assistants in two one-semester courses. These are typically courses for professional students in the Schools of Dentistry, Nursing, or Medicine.
Most students satisfy their teaching requirements during their first year of study.
Examinations To be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, students are required to pass two qualifying examinations. For the written exam, subject areas are announced at the end of the fourth semester, and students have 3 weeks to study these topics. They then receive a take home exam and have one week to complete it. For the oral exam, students first prepare a complete proposal, using an NIH-style grant application format, of their ongoing dissertation research. This will be by the end of their fifth semester when they have been involved with their dissertation work for a year and a half.