UMass Boston

Applicants must meet general graduate admission requirements in addition to the following program-specific requirements:

• Applicants should have a background in life science, physical science, or engineering. All applicants must have taken a full year (two semesters or three quarters sequence) of calculus.

Individuals applying to this program should apply to one of the four participating campuses.

Deadlines: January 2 (priority deadline for funding consideration) and April 1 (final) for fall; October 1 (priority deadline) or November 1 (final deadline) for spring

Application Fee: The nonrefundable application fee is $75. UMass Boston alumni and current students that plan to complete degree requirements prior to graduate enrollment can submit the application without paying the application fee.

Program Cost Information: Bursar's website

Core Courses (16 Credits)

Complete six courses from below.

One course must be taken in each area.

• Introduction to Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology

• BIOL 625 - Genomics and Biotechnology 3 Credit(s)
• BIOL 697 - Special Topics in Biology 1-6 Credit(s)
  
  Instrumentation and Laboratory Experience
• BIOL 899 - Dissertation Research 1-99 Credit(s)
  
  Applied Math for Life Sciences or Advanced Numerical Methods
• BIOL 384L Game Theory, Evolution and Ecology 3 Credit(s)(see undergraduate catalog)
• BIOL 607 - An Introduction to Computational Data Analysis for Biology 3 Credit(s)
• ENVSCI 611 - Applied Statistics 3 Credit(s)
• MATH 303 Introduction to Mathematical Biology 3 Credit(s)(see undergraduate catalog)
• MATH 384L Game Theory, Evolution and Ecology 3 Credit(s)(see undergraduate catalog)
• BIOL 691 - Seminar in Developmental Biology 3 Credit(s)
  
  Bioethics
• BIOL 650 - Scientific Communication 3 Credit(s) (1/3 of this course or 1 credit will apply to this requirement; the remainder is applied to the doctoral seminar requirement below)
  
  Advanced Cell and Molecular Biology
• BIOL 612 - Advanced Cell Biology 3 Credit(s)
• BIOL 676 - Advanced Molecular Biology Lecture 3 Credit(s)

Specialization Courses (12 Credits)

Complete four courses chosen and approved by the dissertation committee.

Project/Directed Study (3 Credits)

The credits for this can be embedded in existing coursework, but the spirit of this requirement is that students must be involved in some multi-investigator collaborative project and the student should present this project at some national meetings or equivalent venue. Documentation of this presentation must be presented to the GPD for this requirement to be fulfilled.

• BIOL 672 - Directed Readings in Biology 1-3 Credit(s)
  or
• BIOL 899 - Dissertation Research 1-99 Credit(s)

For more information on curriculum, including course descriptions and degree requirements, visit the Academic Catalog.

Doctoral Seminar (2 Credits)

Doctoral students will present research in progress. The seminar will emphasize not only research but also communication and writing.

• BIOL 650 - Scientific Communication 3 Credit(s) (2/3 of this course or 2 credits will apply to this requirement; the remainder is applied to the Bioethics requirement above).

Research (30 Credits)

Complete at least 30 credits of doctoral research from below.

• BIOL 899 - Dissertation Research 1-99 Credit(s)

For more information on curriculum, including course descriptions and degree requirements, visit the Academic Catalog.

• Students will learn how to interpret and critically analyze papers from the primary literature related to their area of research.
• Students will be able to formulate answerable scientific questions that are critical to the advancement of their research field.
• Students will be able to design and independently carry out experiments to answer relevant scientific questions in their field of study.
• Students will learn how to carry out long-term strategic planning for a research program.
• Students will be able to justify their experiments, interpret their results, and communicate their scientific work in an oral and written manner.

Complete 63 credits from 12 courses including six core courses, four specialization courses, one project/directed study course, one doctoral seminar, and 30 credits of research.

Doctoral candidacy: Students must pass written and oral qualifying examinations before undertaking research at the doctoral level.
Dissertation: Candidates must compose and defend a dissertation based on original research.
Departmental presentation: Within two semesters after the advance to candidacy, the student will present a seminar, based on his/her work in progress, to the entire department.
Teaching: Students are required to participate in the teaching program as teaching assistants for at least two semesters.

Minimum grade: No more than one course with a grade of C may be applied toward the program.
Statute of limitations: Eight years.

Graduate Program Director Linda Huang
Linda.Huang [at] umb.edu
(617) 287-6674

Alexa MacPherson
Alexa.MacPherson [at] umb.edu
(617) 287-6603