Public Health Research Day, held annually by the Graduate Program in Public Health, is a required event for all MPH students. All graduating MPH students are required to present posters during the Public Health Research Day. The Public Health Research Day Committee will select the 3 top-ranked abstracts for oral presentations, and each will receive a Blue Ribbon Award with an honorarium. All other students are required to attend the day’s events. Public Health Research Day showcases MPH student thesis, manuscript, and capstone projects. In addition to the annual poster session, the event will include a keynote lecture, oral presentations, and a networking reception. This is an excellent opportunity for networking among students, faculty, alumni, and community stakeholders, and to gain experience in presenting your work to an audience with diverse professional interests.

All graduating students are encouraged to prepare in advance for Public Health Research Day. The Culminating Experience Abstract for Public Health Research Day will be due in early April, and the poster will be due in early May.

All MPH students are required to complete a Culminating Experience. The Culminating Experience is typically started towards the end of the student’s first year and completed by the end of the second year. The goal is for students to synthesize, integrate and apply the skills and competencies they have acquired to a public health problem. Students may choose to complete a Master’s Thesis, First Author Manuscript or Capstone to satisfy the Culminating Experience. The type of project completed will depend on the student’s Specialty Track and topic of interest.

The Culminating Experience must be completed under the direction of an ISMMS Faculty Advisor. The ISMMS Faculty Advisor may or may not be the student’s Specialty Track Advisor. Students can identify another ISMMS faculty member to serve as their ISMMS Faculty Advisor as appropriate. If a student is working closely with an offsite mentor, this mentor may serve as a co-advisor/second reader alongside an ISMMS Faculty Advisor.

Once an ISMMS Faculty Advisor has been determined, the student must submit the Statement of Support with an approved outline of the project to Academic Program Office. This Statement of Support must be submitted prior to initiating any research or project to ensure relevancy to public health.

The Culminating Experience requires:

• One written Thesis, First Author Manuscript or Capstone formatted according to applicable guidelines as outlined in the Culminating Experience Guide

• Two Oral Presentations

  • Public Health Research Day Poster Session in the Spring II term before graduation

  • 10-minute Oral Presentation to summarizing their Thesis, First Author Manuscript, or Capstone project to the ISMMS Faculty Advisor and Second Reader

• Forms documenting the experience

  • Statement of Support – submitted before beginning work

  • Evaluation – submitted after the Oral Presentation

  • Deposit Form - submitted after the Oral Presentation

  • Other documentation as detailed in the Culminating Experience Guide

Below are general descriptions of each of the three types of projects. Please read the Culminating Experience Guide on Blackboard for all details regarding the Culminating Experience.

Master’s Thesis

The goal of the Thesis is to advance or create new knowledge to an existing body of research. The student develops a research question and a hypothesis based on previous research on the topic. The student gathers data (either through primary or secondary data collection) and analyzes the data, usually with statistical analysis software, such as SAS or SPSS. The findings are then discussed as to whether or not they support the hypothesis. The study should be designed so that the results of the analysis are generalizable to a larger population, rather than the sample used in the student’s data analysis.

First Author Manuscript

The First Author Manuscript must be written in publishable format for a selected scholarly journal. Students meet with their Specialty Track Advisor and Culminating Experience ISMMS Faculty Advisor to determine which journal is most appropriate for their topic. The format of the paper is based on the formatting guidelines for submission as outlined by the selected journal.

Capstone

This scholarly project is much more applied in nature. The Capstone is a scholarly project developed for and with consultation of a public health organization or community agency. Generally, the capstone builds directly upon the Applied Practice Experience (formerly known as the Practicum experience) in that the student produces a deliverable based on the needs of the Applied Practice Experience site. The Capstone can take on several forms, including:

• Community Needs Assessment

• Public Health Program Plan

• Program Evaluation

• Training Manual

• Policy Analysis

• Systematic Literature Review

• Grant Proposal

In order to earn the MPH degree by your intended degree conferral date, the documentation required for the Culminating Experience and all other outstanding degree requirements must be submitted by the following deadlines.

Please refer to the Culminating Experience Guide for detailed information, including step-by-step procedures, registration requirements and track-specific requirements. The Culminating Experience Guide can be accessed on Blackboard > MPH Students Organization.