Program Overview

Program Overview

The Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology requires a minimum of 60 semester hours in graduate credits beyond the M.S. degree or its equivalent. Upon graduation, doctoral students will have fulfilled the following requirements:

Program Requirements

• Completed 3 courses from groups I and II, representing both groups, and 2 courses from group III.
  • Completed additional courses in groups I-IV and/or Research for Doctoral Dissertation (MBI 850) as deemed appropriate by the advisor and dissertation committee.
• Enrolled in Graduate Seminar (MBI 690) or Molecular Biology Seminar (MBI 650) each semester.
• Enrolled in a literature-intensive course each academic year.
• Passed a written and oral comprehensive examination administered by a committee of graduate faculty.
• Passed an oral defense of a dissertation proposal, approved by a dissertation committee of graduate faculty.
• Conducted a research project approved by the dissertation committee, presented the project as a written thesis and in a public seminar, and submitted a manuscript based on the project for publication in a refereed journal.
• Passed an oral examination by the dissertation committee in defense of the dissertation.

Additional Opportunities

• Doctoral students entering with an M.S. may bypass some or all of the requirements from courses in groups I-IV by demonstrating proficiency in them.
• For Ph.D. students interested in strengthening their teaching credentials, the department offers the opportunity for Ph.D. candidates to teach one semester of an introductory lecture course in microbiology under the supervision of a member of the microbiology faculty.
  • This experience can also count towards the Certificate Program in College Teaching.