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Degree Requirements (30 Hours)

Students choose a Major Professor and form an Advisory Committee during the first year. This Advisory Committee serves as the students Thesis Committee. A curriculum, tailored to each student, is developed with and approved by the Advisory Committee and submitted to the Graduate School as the Program of Study. Students take a Qualifying Examination at the end of their first year, comprised of a short written and orally defended Research Plan focusing on planned research in the laboratory of their Major Professor; this Research Plan is developed in consultation with the Major Professor and presented to a committee selected by the Department Chair. Students present a thesis plan in the form of a Research Proposal to their Thesis Committee; the format of this Research Proposal is determined by the Thesis Committee. Finally, students write and orally defend a research based Thesis; the Thesis and its defense serve as the M.S Comprehensive Examination. M.S. students must complete at least 30 hours of course credits including multiple credits of BIOL 798  and 3 credits of BIOL 799 . M.S. students are required to have teaching experience equivalent to one semester as a Teaching or Instructional Assistant, unless waived on appeal by the Department Graduate Studies Committee.