Intercampus Programs: Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology — PhD Degree Requirements
Course Work
To receive the PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, the student must complete sixty-three credits, distributed as follows:
- required (core) courses (16 credits) and specialization courses (12 credits);
- directed studies (3 credits) and doctoral seminar (2 credits); and
- research credit (30 credits).
The student must take 16 credits (six courses) in the core course area. These courses are:
- Introduction to Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology
- Instrumentation and Laboratory Experience
- Applied Math for Life Sciences or Advanced Numerical Methods
- Quantitative Physiology
- Bioethics
- Advanced Cell and Molecular Biology
A minimum of 12 additional specialization credits (four courses) must be taken, subject to the approval of the student’s dissertation committee. Students may specialize in: Biomaterials, Biomedical Information Systems, Biomedical Instrumentation, Biomechanics, Medical Imaging, Medical Physics, Agricultural Biotechnology, Applied Microbiology, and Molecular Biotechnology.
Relevant courses available at UMass Boston include (full course descriptions may be found in the individual program sections):
BIOL 602 Plant Molecular Biology and Physiology
BIOL L608/PHYSIC L608 Biophysical Instrumentation
BIOL 612 Advanced Cell Biology
BIOL 614 Advanced Cell Chemistry
BIOL 615 Immunology
BIOL 622 Concepts and Methods in Cytology
BIOL 626 Molecular Genetics of Bacteria
BIOL 628 Microbial Ecology
BIOL 635 Population Genetics and Diversity
BIOL 640 Principles of Qualitative Modeling in Biology
BIOL 645 Ecological and Evolutionary Aspects of Plant-Animal Interactions
BIOL 646 Pollutants in Marine Food Chains
BIOL 650 Scientific Communication
BIOL 653 Current Literature in Biology
BIOL L658/ECOS L658 Environmental Physiology
BIOL 662 Photobiology
BIOL 664 Computer Analysis of DNA and Protein Sequences
BIOL 666 Mammalian Toxicology
BIOL 668 Cellular and Molecular Endocrinology
BIOL 670 Tissue Culture
BIOL 672,673 Directed Readings in Biology
BIOL 675 Advanced Molecular Biology
BIOL 676 Advanced Molecular Biology Lecture
BIOL 677 Advanced Eukaryotic Genetics
BIOL 678 Protein Chemistry and Enzymology
BIOL 679 Protein Chemistry and Enzymology Lecture
BIOL L680/CHEM L680 Physical Biochemistry
BIOL 685 Biochemical Tracers
BIOL 691 Seminar in Developmental Biology
BIOL 692 Advanced Physiology
BIOL 693 Seminar in Neurobiology
BIOL 697 Special Topics in Biology
BIOL 698 Projects in Biology
BIOL 720 Cell Ultrastructure
BIOL 899 Dissertation Research
Project/Directed Studies and Doctoral Seminar: In addition to the 12 specialization credits, students are required to take at least 5 credits of appropriate project studies and seminar courses. Project/Directed Studies courses are team-based cross-disciplinary collaborations with other scientists that will result in a written or oral presentation at a multicampus research symposium. The Doctoral Seminar course is a seminar series with intercampus emphasis with outside speakers and student presentations.
Research: Students must take a minimum of 30 dissertation credits.
Other Requirements
Teaching
Students are required to participate in the teaching program as teaching assistants for at least two semesters. The teaching responsibility is intended to enhance the experience and skills of the PhD candidate.
GPA
To continue in the PhD program, the student must maintain a GPA of 3.0 and may not receive a grade of “C” in more than one course.
Written Comprehensive and Oral Qualifying Examinations
Students must pass two examinations before they undertake research at the doctoral level: 1) a written comprehensive examination to test the student’s command and knowledge of four specific areas of biology, and 2) a subsequent oral qualifying examination based on a) the oral description and defense of the student’s dissertation proposal, and b) comprehensive questioning focused on the four areas covered in the written exam.
The written comprehensive examination may be taken at the end of the student’s first year, or after the completion of at least 18 credits of course work; it should generally be taken by the end of four semesters or 36 credits of course work. The student will defend four areas, drawn from the array of graduate courses offered in the department or from other areas acceptable to the AAC (Academic Advisory Committee) and approved by the Graduate Committee.
A student who fails the written examination may, at the discretion of the academic advisory committee, be permitted a second and final written examination after six months. A student failing the examination a second time may either 1) withdraw from the program or 2) formally petition the AAC for permission to work toward a master’s degree in biology, in biotechnology and biomedical science, or in environmental sciences. A student may not continue in the PhD program after a second failure of the comprehensive examination.
Generally, within one month of the written exam, the student should submit a brief description of his or her dissertation proposal to the AAC and the GPD. Before taking the oral examination, the student should also confer with members of the AAC on the soundness of the proposal. The student should also discuss, with the individual members of the AAC, the possible deficiencies in the written exam. Generally, the oral qualifying exam should be scheduled within one month after the submission of the dissertation proposal.
On successfully completing the qualifying examination, the student becomes a candidate for the PhD degree. The student is allowed up to five more years to complete and successfully defend a scholarly dissertation.
Departmental Presentation
Approximately nine to twelve months after the student’s advance to candidacy, the student will present a seminar, based on his or her work in progress, to the entire department.
Dissertation Committee
After becoming a candidate for the PhD, the student must choose a dissertation advisor and committee. The dissertation committees will generally, but not necessarily, comprise the three members of the AAC and one member from outside the department. With the approval of the GPD and the Graduate Committee, faculty from outside the Biology Department or non-UMass Boston faculty will be permitted to co-sponsor a student’s dissertation work. Dissertation committees for Boston-based students must be approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies and meet the university-wide requirements for such committees as described in the “Doctoral Degree Requirements” section of this bulletin.
Dissertation Defense
A final public dissertation defense will be administered by a dissertation panel comprising at least five members, including a) the Dissertation Committee; and b) the Biology GPD or (if the GPD is already on the dissertation committee) a member of the Graduate Committee. The defense will be chaired by the student’s dissertation advisor and will be scheduled after the student has submitted an advance draft of the manuscript to the dissertation panel and after the panel has agreed that the student is ready to defend it.