Program of Study | Entrance Requirements | Advisory System | Qualifying Exam | Dissertation
Student Advisory System
Advisory Committee for Incoming Students
Each new student is assigned a faculty Advisory Committee made up of 3 faculty members who are chosen by the Program Director and who represent a range of research interests. The Advisory Committee helps the student plan a tentative doctoral program, provides advice, and submits regular written evaluations of the student's progress via the Student Advisement Record form. This committee is replaced by the Dissertation Advisor and Dissertation Committee when the student is selected following the successful completion of qualifying examinations.
It is the responsibility of the student to schedule and meet with the Advisory Committee within the first two weeks of each semester.
Dissertation Advisor and Dissertation Committee
Selection of a Dissertation Advisor by the student generally occurs at the end of the third semester of study and is subject to review by the Program Director and departmental faculty. The Dissertation Advisor must be a member of the Graduate Faculty, hold a primary or secondary appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, have a laboratory on the UMB campus, and be publishing in the area of the proposed dissertation research. In addition to supervising the dissertation research, he or she will help the student form a Dissertation Committee and will serve as its chair.
The Dissertation Committee has at least four members in addition to the Dissertation Advisor. Three committee members must also be regular members of the Graduate Faculty, and one must be from outside the Department. The Dissertation Committee must be approved by the Program Director (Refer also Dissertation Defense, below). This group replaces the initial Advisory Committee, and must be convened within three months of choosing the Dissertation Advisor. It assumes responsibility for monitoring the student's progress and finally for deciding when the dissertation is ready for defense. The Dissertation Committee will meet with the student at the beginning of each semester to discuss the student's progress. The progress is then reported to the Program Director via a Thesis Committee Meeting Form. It is the student's responsibility to coordinate the Dissertation Committee meetings. The Dissertation Committee also serves as the examining committee for the student's defense of his or her dissertation proposal.