Graduate School Policies and Guidelines

Policies and Guidelines

Graduate Students entering CDB from the IGP or QCB program enter with 16 didactic credits from their first year of graduate school. In the second year of graduate school, students must earn 8 didactic credits, to reach a total of 24 didactic credits, before they can schedule their qualifying exam, usually at the end of their second year.

Starting in Fall 2020, CDB graduate students are required to take Effective Scientific Communication (CBIO 8310) for 3 didactic credits in the fall and Teaching Cell Biology (CBIO 8315) for 2 didactic credits in the spring. Attendance and participation in Research Exchange Seminar REx (CBIO 8339) is also required in the fall and spring semesters of the second year. In addition to these required courses, students entering CDB from the IGP or QCB must earn an additional 3 didactic credits in their second year of study from elective courses offered by CDB or by any of the programs within the BRET umbrella; electives from another science department will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Director of Graduate Studies.

For students entering the Cell and Developmental Biology department from the MSTP program, the Graduate School permits a transfer of up to 48 credit hours for the first two years of medical school, toward a total of the 72 total required hours for a Ph.D. degree. Incoming MSTP students begin their G1 year with the equivalent of 16 didactic credits toward the requirement of 24 didactic hours and need to earn another 8 didactic credits in CDB. Additional course requirements for MSTP students in the CDB Graduate Program are provided in the MSTP Compass.

A minimum GPA of 3.0, or a B average, must be maintained by all CDB students in all formal coursework.

After earning 24 didactic credits, a student is eligible to take the Qualifying Examination.

Detailed information about earning a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology can be found in the CDB Graduate Program guidelines and procedures.

Additional information about graduate study at Vanderbilt can be obtained from the Vanderbilt Graduate School and the Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET).

Qualifying Exam

The Qualifying Exam comprises a written grant proposal and an oral examination administered by an individualized Examining Committee. The goals of the Qualifying Exam are: 1) to assess the student’s ability to formulate a series of hypotheses and specific aims to test these hypotheses that will likely constitute the basis for a Ph.D. dissertation, 2) to immerse the student in the scientific literature relevant to the Ph.D. dissertation, 3) to assess the student’s general knowledge base and aptitude for a research career, 4) to provide training scientific writing, and 5) to form a thesis committee to foster and monitor the student’s continued development.

Students begin preparation for their qualifying exam in the fall semester of their second year in graduate school, in the Scientific Communication class, where they are given significant guidance in preparing a Specific Aims page and a research proposal suitable for the qualifying exam. The documents generated in the class may be used for the exam, or they may be updated or rewritten.

SCHEDULING AND PLANNING FOR THE QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

Submit Committee Preference form and Specific Aims Page. Near the start of the spring semester, the second year CDB graduate students will meet as a group with the DGS to discuss the Qualifying Exam. The first step is to submit two documents, the QE Aims page and the completed Committee Preference Form, to the Program Manager, usually around mid-February.

The Qualifying Exam Committee Selection Form enables the student to suggest potential committee members, after consulting with his/her mentor. After the Qualifying Exam, the Exam Committee becomes the Thesis Committee, and so selection of the QE Exam Committee is important. Each Committee consists of four members of the University Graduate Faculty, one of whom is not a member of the CDB Primary Faculty. A tenured CDB faculty member will serve as Chair. The student’s mentor may not serve on the Exam Committee but must attend the qualifying exam meeting. In the case where a student has multiple mentors, the co-mentor is invited to attend the Qualifying Exam as a non-discussant. Students can meet with the DGS to discuss the selection of the Qualifying Exam Committee prior to submitting the Specific Aims and the Committee Selection Form.

The Steering Committee for Graduate Education makes final assignments for the Exam Committees. It will consider issues of exam consistency, educational oversight, research topic, distribution of workloads, and the written requests of the Qualifying Exam Committee Selection Form. After committee composition is determined by the Steering Committee, the Program Manager sends the student’s QE Aims page to each selected committee member, asking if they will serve. After all faculty members have agreed to serve, the Program Manager formally communicates the Thesis Committee to the Graduate School. Students are notified about their thesis committees usually about a month after they file the selection forms.

Pre-examination meeting. After the Graduate Program Manager informs the student of their thesis committee, the student will introduce themselves to each committee member if necessary and then schedule the pre-examination meeting, which typically occurs in April or May of the second year. (It is advised that the student provisionally schedule the Qualifying Exam while they are scheduling the Pre-exam meeting.) The student will inform the Graduate Program Manager of the date and time immediately, and the Graduate Program Manager will schedule a room for the pre-examination meeting. The student will send a QE Specific Aims page to committee members a week before the Pre-exam meeting, using either the pre-existing document or updating it if desired. The goal of the pre-examination meeting is to determine whether the student’s anticipated research proposal (based on the Specifics Aims Page) will be “defendable” in a qualifying exam. During the meeting, students are given advice about revising and fleshing out their Aims for the full proposal. At the end of the meeting, students are usually given approval to schedule the Qualifying Exam, although it is possible that a second Pre-exam meeting may be requested if the Aims need substantial revision.
The Qualifying Examination. Upon approval of the specific aims by the Exam Committee, the student, mentor, and Committee members will set a date for the oral Qualifying Examination, if it has not already been scheduled. The examination should take place about four to six weeks after acceptance of the Specific Aims Page by the Committee, and usually takes place over the summer between second and third year. It is imperative that the Graduate Program Manager is informed as soon as possible of the Qualifying Exam date to assist the student with scheduling, including reserving a room for a 2.5 hour block of time for the exam. The student must file an electronic request with the Graduate School via Kuali to schedule and take the Qualifying Exam, and the request must be submitted no later than two weeks in advance of the exam. Late requests may not be honored without special permission and the exam may require rescheduling.

The written component of the qualifying exam is a grant proposal. Following American Heart Association student fellowship guidelines, a total of six pages is allowed, including a one-page Specific Aims Page; and five pages containing Background and Significance, Preliminary Data (if available), the Research Plan, and any figures. References are required and are not included in the six-page limit. The student must adhere to NIH guidelines for the humane and ethical treatment of animals for any studies proposed. Studies involving human subjects must adhere to institutional guidelines. The Research Plan should assume a timeline of three to four years for the proposed experiments, which could be realistically accomplished with the available resources. The student is responsible for all scientific aspects of the proposal including background information, approach, experimental design, and methodology. The student may consult anyone (concerning methodologies, format, references, etc,) during the writing and editing process. Although the student must write the proposal themselves, they are free to have their mentors and other students or postdocs read and critique the proposal. Readers may make suggestions to improve the format of the grant, the amount of detail in the methods, or the rationale for specific experiments. The student should provide an electronic copy (PDF format) of the finished research proposal to the Exam committee by email no later than one week prior to the oral qualifying exam. For the oral exam, students should prepare a 20-25 minute presentation (typically about 12 content slides). The possible outcomes of the Qualifying Exam are Exemplary (pass), Satisfactory (pass), or Unsatisfactory (fail). If the student does not pass, they have the opportunity to re-take the QE one time, usually within three months. If the student passes, the first thesis committee meeting should take place six months later.

PRE-EXAMINATION MEETING

The goal of the pre-exam meeting is to determine whether the student’s anticipated research proposal (based on the specifics aims page) will be “defendable” in a qualifying exam. The meeting is scheduled to last one hour. The student gives a ~15 minute presentation (10 slides, brief background and outline of proposal) interspersed with discussion of the logic, feasibility, and scientific merit of the proposal. This meeting is not an evaluation, but rather a chance for the student to meet with the Exam Committee members in a less stressful atmosphere. The committee ideally gains a clear understanding of the student’s plan for the proposal, and the student ideally gains a clear understanding of the committee’s expectations with regard to the qualifying exam (both written and oral components). It is the chair’s prerogative to ask the student to leave the room so the committee can discuss the Aims at the end of the meeting. Possible outcomes are as follows: approval of Aims, approval with revisions, significant revision of the Aims necessitating a second pre-examination meeting.

THE QUALIFYING EXAMINATION MEETING

The Qualifying Examination should take place about four to six weeks after acceptance of Specific Aims Page by the Committee. The Qualifying Exam meeting should last approximately two hours, including the oral exam and closed discussion at the end. The Qualifying Exam comprises two parts: written proposal and oral exam.

The written proposal is submitted to Committee members one week before the exam. Within that week, if any member of the committee finds the proposal to be unacceptable, the chair will confer with the other committee members and the DGS, and the Qualifying Examination may be delayed until after the student revises the proposal. Criteria for assessing the proposal include (but are not limited to) the following:

Is it hypothesis-based, scientifically sound, logical?
Is there sufficient background/review of field?
Are the aims sufficiently independent?
Is there an explanation of expected outcomes and consideration of alternative approaches?
Is it well-organized and clearly written with proper grammar/spelling?

The proposal is formally evaluated at the end of the meeting, when the chair polls each member.

The oral exam consists of a ~20-25 minute presentation (~12 slides, brief background and specific aims) given by the student, typically following the flow of the written proposal. Questions are interspersed throughout the presentation, often from the beginning. Roughly two-thirds of the overall exam time should correspond to the proposed research. Questions from the committee ideally probe the student’s ability to pose a scientific question, state a hypothesis, develop reasonable strategies and alternatives to test the hypothesis, anticipate possible outcomes, and interpret these possible outcomes. Roughly one-third of the overall exam time (spread throughout the exam) should be used to probe the student’s knowledge of the general principles of cell and developmental biology and knowledge of his/her field of specialization. Committee members ideally prepare in advance for the meeting by reading the entire proposal and identifying several lines of questioning (on both the proposal itself and general background) to pursue during the oral exam. All committee members should actively participate in questioning the student. The student’s mentor is expected to remain silent during the oral exam unless specifically addressed by the committee or granted explicit permission by the committee to speak briefly. Although a wide variety of questions may be deemed appropriate during the oral exam, the committee’s focus should be to ascertain whether the student has established a critical knowledge base essential for understanding their research project and for achieving success as they progresses through graduate school. The chair is responsible for keeping everyone “on track” in terms of time, lines of questioning, and overall direction.

Upon conclusion of the oral exam, the committee confers in the student’s absence to evaluate the student’s performance and written proposal. Both the student’s written proposal and performance during the oral exam must be deemed satisfactory by all committee members. Disapproval of the proposal and/or inadequate performance by the student in the oral exam (either in defense of the proposal or in general knowledge) is grounds for failure and will necessitate a redrafting of the proposal, a second oral exam, and/or additional remediation. In such cases, it is the chair’s responsibility to delineate (with input from the committee) what remedial steps are most appropriate for a particular student and how the committee will evaluate the student a second time. Examples of remediation used successfully in the past include the following: providing student with a specific reading list to augment background knowledge relevant to his/her project followed by a second oral exam to test understanding of the assigned material; having the student meet with an assigned faculty member for “tutorials” to remedy specific gaps in knowledge (e.g. mouse genetics) or to improve breadth of understanding of fundamental cell and developmental biology topics (e.g. discuss chapters from Alberts textbook).

After the qualifying exam, the chair will prepare a brief report summarizing the student’s performance and outcome of the exam. The chair will ask for input from all committee members and then provide the report to the Graduate Program Manager within one week of the exam who will forward to the mentor, the student, and the Director of Graduate Studies. If the committee recommends a meeting in three months or the student must repeat the examination, the Graduate Program Manager will schedule the committee meeting. Otherwise, it is the student’s responsibility to schedule the first regular committee meeting six months after the Qualifying Exam.

Guidelines and Procedures

REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES

The information provided below is intended to supplement the regulations of the Graduate School. Students and faculty are encouraged to be familiar with the contents of the Graduate School Bulletin and Regulations. Students are expected to conduct themselves according to the honor code of Vanderbilt University.

Choice of a thesis laboratory

Each student in an interdepartmental training program (IGP, QCB, or MSTP) is expected to complete a series of laboratory rotations typically in the first year of study. The number and length of rotations are established by each interdepartmental program. The students choose the laboratory rotations from the Open Lab List, a list of faculty who have funding, approval, and interest in accepting graduate students; the Open Lab List is available from the BRET office. In general, students are expected to spend about 15 hours per week working in a laboratory rotation, but this expectation and others concerning rotation reports and rotation presentations should be clarified with each laboratory director. Rotations provide detailed exposure to procedures, techniques, and intellectual atmospheres in different laboratories that will serve as the basis for selecting the thesis laboratory. At the end of the laboratory rotations, a student chooses one of their rotation laboratories for thesis research. The choice of laboratory must be approved by the faculty mentor and the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) of the department.

Course Requirements

The total number of graduate credits must conform to the specification of the Graduate School (i.e. 24 didactic hours and 72 total hours). Details about course requirements including credits transferred into CDB from interdepartmental programs is provided in the course requirement link.

In brief, all CDB students must take Effective Scientific Communication (CBIO 8310) offered in the fall. Beginning in 2020, CDB students are required to take Teaching Cell Biology (CBio 8315) offered in the spring. Participation in two departmental seminar series, Monday Seminar and Research Exchange (REx, CBIO 8339), is also required. Additional advanced course work is chosen based on the student’s special interests, field of specialization, and/or training grant specifications. Such courses should be selected with the assistance of the student’s mentor, the Graduate Program Manager, and/or the DGS, and must be graded with a letter grade. Coursework is generally completed within the first two years of study. A minimum GPA of a 3.0, or a B average, must be maintained in all formal course work. In addition, a grade of C in one of the major courses required by the Department may lead to dismissal based on the consideration of this and other criteria by the Steering Committee for Graduate Education.

Every student must be trained in the Responsible Conduct of Research. This requirement is usually met by taking the 0-credit course IGP8004 or an equivalent course. If the student can demonstrate that it is not possible to take such a course, then the DGS will work with the mentor to work out a substitute training plan, to be certified by the DGS.

Teaching

There is no formal teaching requirement for the CDB Ph.D. degree. Upon agreement with the mentor, students interested in gaining formal teaching experience can sometimes find teaching assistantships in other departments. Opportunities are also available in several graduate school courses including the IGP. Information can be obtained through the BRET office and from the DGS. Teacher training opportunities can be found at the Center for Teaching.

Admission to Ph.D. Candidacy

Passing the Qualifying Exam admits students to Ph.D. candidacy. The Qualifying Exam comprises a written grant proposal and an oral examination by an Examining Committee. The goals of the Qualifying Exam are: 1) to assess the student’s ability to formulate a series of hypotheses and specific aims to test these hypotheses that will likely constitute the basis for a Ph.D. dissertation, 2) to immerse the student in the scientific literature relevant to the Ph.D. dissertation, 3) to assess the student’s general knowledge base and aptitude for a research career, 4) to provide training scientific writing, and 5) to form a thesis committee to foster and monitor the student’s continued development.

In brief, the Qualifying Exam is usually taken between the student’s second and third year of graduate school. The exam is based on the student’s expected thesis project, and it comprises a 6-page written proposal and a two hour oral examination. Details about the Qualifying Exam can be found following this link.

Thesis Research and Ongoing Evaluation

Thesis Committee. The Thesis (Dissertation) Committee is composed of the Qualifying Examining Committee and the mentor. The Chair of the Qualifying Examining Committee will serve as Chair of the Thesis Committee; the mentor will not serve as the Chair to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Although the Dissertation Committee is initially composed of five members of the University Graduate Faculty including the mentor, a sixth member may be added. This is particularly important if the dissertation broadens in scope and would benefit from the participation of a faculty member who can contribute relevant new expertise. If it becomes impossible for a committee member to continue on the committee, the DGS can replace them with a suitable substitute, informing the Graduate School of the change in committee composition. If a member is temporarily unable to attend, a meeting can proceed with a minimum of four committee members present, as proscribed by the Graduate School. Proposed changes in the composition of the Dissertation Committee must be approved by the DGS.
Annual Meetings. The student is required to meet with their Dissertation Committee at least once a year, but the Dissertation Committee may recommend more frequent meetings. Such meetings are usually scheduled for two hours, although they can end earlier. Although the Graduate Program Manager will remind students when a required meeting approaches, the student is responsible for scheduling the annual meetings and informing the Graduate Program Manager of dates and times. If a student is not organizing their meetings in a timely manner, the DGS has the prerogative to schedule meetings that are significantly overdue. Prior to the meeting, the student should prepare a brief report (3-5 pages) and distribute it to the Committee members at least one week prior to the meeting date by email. At this same time, the students will provide their committees with a completed self-evaluation form; the mentor will also complete a student evaluation and distribute it to the committee.

At the start of a thesis committee meeting, the student may be asked to leave the room as the committee discusses the mentor’s observations. When invited back into the room, the student will give a presentation to the Committee on progress towards completion of the dissertation research. After the meeting, the Committee Chair will write a brief report, including a summary of the work presented and a statement as to whether satisfactory progress is being made in the various aspects of scientific training, including knowledge in the field of research, ability to present data both in oral and written forms, attention to the literature, critical and independent thinking skills, evaluation of results, and design and implementation of experiments. Attention should be given to delineating any perceived problems or deficiencies. Clear recommendations and goals relating to the above outlined areas should be communicated in the report. The report should be circulated and approved by the Thesis Committee members and then given to the Graduate Program Manager who will forward it to the student and mentor.

At all stages of the student’s graduate training, continuation in the program is dependent on satisfactory progress in research-oriented activities and successful completion of Thesis Committee meetings. Cases in which performance at two consecutive meetings of the Dissertation Committee are judged by a majority of committee members to be unsatisfactory are reviewed by the Steering Committee for Graduate Education of the department. Unsatisfactory performance at two consecutive meetings is grounds for dismissal from the CDB Graduate Program.

Additional requirements. During their Ph.D. training in the CDB Graduate Program, each student must present their research in the form of a seminar to the department as part of the Research Exchange (REx) seminar series. Ideally this would occur more than 9 months before the thesis defense and preferably in the third or fourth year of graduate training. The REx organizers will monitor and facilitate each student’s participation. In special circumstances, the thesis committee can waive this requirement. CDB students are also expected to participate in each annual CDB departmental retreat and to attend seminars regularly.

Masters Degree. The CDB department does not offer a Masters degree program. A Masters degree in CDB is awarded only under special circumstances with the approval of the DGS. The student must have spent at least one year in residence at the university, and have satisfactorily completed at least 24 didactic semester hours of course work. A satisfactory pass of the qualifying exam is also a prerequisite.

Minimum Requirements

All CDB students must maintain the following minimum requirements:

Students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0;
Each class grade must be higher than a C;
The student must demonstrate professional conduct in his/her interactions with peers, faculty, and the department; and
Research units must have grade of Satisfactory.

If one or more of these requirements have not been met, the student will be placed on academic probation. The student and mentor must ensure that the DGS is made aware of the deficiency, and they will work with the DGS to develop a remediation plan. The student will remain on academic probation until the plan is successfully completed. If there are new circumstances that arise during the period covered by the remediation plan, the student and mentor should make the DGS aware of these circumstances as soon as possible, and the plan can be amended if necessary. If the plan is not successfully completed, the DGS in consultation with the mentor will recommend the student’s dismissal from the program to the Chair. If the DGS, mentor, and Chair decide that the student should be dismissed, the student will be notified as soon as possible and the reasons for the decision will be indicated. The student is allowed to petition this decision to the Senior Associate Dean for Biomedical Research Education and Training and/or the Graduate School. If the student accepts the decision, the student and mentor may petition for the opportunity to pursue a MS degree.

According to Graduate School policy, the accumulation of three (3) U grades over the course of study will lead to dismissal from the program and the Graduate School.

As described above, unsatisfactory performance at two consecutive meetings is grounds for dismissal from the CDB Graduate Program.

The Dissertation and Final Defense

The Dissertation. To earn a PhD, students must make an original research-based contribution to knowledge, typically publishing several manuscripts from their graduate studies. A first author peer-reviewed research article is a minimum requirement for earning the Ph.D. in CDB. Although a first author publication is necessary, it may not be a sufficient scientific contribution to award a Ph.D; the Thesis Committee will determine when the student’s research is sufficient to write a dissertation and earn a PhD.

After receiving approval from the Thesis (Dissertation) Committee, the student will begin writing a Dissertation in close consultation with the mentor. A reasonable amount of time should be allotted for this process but it typically takes one month. The Dissertation should describe the results and analysis of independent research that constitutes a significant advance in knowledge. The dissertation must conform to the Guidelines set by the Graduate School and must be submitted in both hard and electronic copy to the Dissertation Committee at least one week before the final defense and only after approval from the mentor. The student should consult the “Regulations” bulletin issued by the Graduate School for detailed information on formatting requirements for the dissertation.

The policy regarding distribution of fees and costs associated with preparing the dissertation is as follows:

The mentor’s primary department is responsible for payment of fees required by the Graduate School for storage of the thesis (microfilm or electronic). The mentor’s primary department will also be responsible for payment of fees for optional copyrighting of the thesis.
The mentor will pay for photocopying the dissertation drafts for him/herself and committee members. The mentor also will pay the binding fee for two un-bound copies submitted to the Graduate School IF the student does not submit his/her thesis to the Graduate School electronically. (Note: the Graduate School will not accept bound copies.) Three required copies are for the mentor, the student, and the Cell and Development Biology library. An additional two bound copies for the Graduate School also will be paid for by the mentor IF the student does not submit his/her thesis to the Graduate School electronically. Copies for the Graduate School, the mentor, the student, and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology library should have original figures and be on bond paper. Final copies for committee members are optional and their wish to have one should be determined by the student. These copies can be soft-bound on copy paper. Any costs for additional copies of thesis, bound or otherwise, will be the responsibility of the student. Students are responsible for timely delivery of final bound copies to the mentor, the Graduate School (if not submitting electronically), and the Graduate Program Manager for the Cell and Developmental Biology library.
The Defense and Final Examination. In accord with Graduate School policy, the defense of the Ph.D. should take place within four years of passing the Qualifying Examination. A one-year extension to the Ph.D. training period can be requested from the Graduate School by the DGS. A further extension of the Ph.D. training period will be granted by the Graduate School only in special circumstances and must be requested by the DGS after consultation with the mentor and Chair of the Dissertation Committee.

The final defense is administered by the Dissertation Committee. The student will schedule the defense with the Committee members and inform the Graduate Program Manager. The Graduate Program Manager will reserve a room and prepare the defense announcement, while the student will submit an electronic defense request, including date, time, defense location, and dissertation title, to the Graduate School via Kuali. Graduate School regulations require that this be done at least four weeks prior to the defense. Committee members will receive a notice from the Graduate School of the final defense.

The date and time of this examination will be published in the Vanderbilt Calendar as a public announcement.

The defense begins with a public seminar that will be advertised campus wide by the Graduate Program Manager at least one week prior to the defense. Following the seminar, the committee meets with the student for the Final Examination. The Final Examination is concerned with the student’s dissertation, the literature relevant to the research topic, methods employed in the investigation, conclusions, and the significance of the study. Approval of the written dissertation is signified by signing the required page in the dissertation and can occur at a later date if additions or corrections are required. The final approved thesis, including two signed versions of the title page, must be submitted to the Graduate School by the student at least 30 days before the end of the term in which the degree is to be conferred.

Further details of the Ph.D. Graduate Program in Cell and Developmental Biology can be obtained from the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Jason MacGurn, or the Graduate Program Manager, Lorie Franklin.