All PhD students must complete the Thesis Proposal by the end of their fourth semester in the Program. MD/PhD students must present the Thesis Proposal by the end of the first year in the PhD-phase in Program. If a student fails to meet this deadline, he/she/they will automatically be placed on Academic Probation. If Academic Probation is not removed by the end of the next semester, the student will be dismissed from the program. Under extenuating circumstances, students may request an extension of this deadline by submitting the appropriate form to the Dean of the Graduate School prior to the deadline for successful completion of the Thesis Proposal.
The student whose Thesis Proposal is deemed unsatisfactory will usually be given one opportunity to address the particular area(s) of weakness. The conditions and timing for a re-presentation must be established at the time of the initial presentation. However, it must occur within 4 months of the initial presentation. The information concerning a re-presentation should be communicated to the student and the Graduate School Office, in writing, within two days of the initial presentation. If the student (with support of the mentor) wishes to change the membership of the Re-Examination Committee from that of the Examination Committee, she/he/they should discuss this with the MTA co-directors and/or the Dean of the Graduate School, prior to registration for the Re-Examination. In rare instances, the Committee may refuse the student the opportunity to redress the Proposal where students who have failed to show sufficient research progress and ability.
The written proposal should be emailed to the committee no later than three weeks prior to the scheduled oral exam. Committee members may reschedule the Examination if not given the appropriate amount of time to prepare.
The committee members should read the proposal prior to the exam, and while they can provide informal feedback to the student if they wish, they cannot convey their consideration as to whether the document is acceptable or requires revision prior to the meeting of the committee at the oral exam.
Since the Committee members will have read the written document before this presentation, the student should use this opportunity to give a brief summary of the particulars of the research and the proposal. This presentation should not be a reiteration of the written proposal and should be limited to 20 minutes, a time limit that should be enforced by the Chair of the Committee. Prior to the presentation, the student should discuss, with the Chair of the Committee, whether he/she/they would prefer uninterrupted presentation vs. one in which questions will be asked as they arise during the presentation. If the latter is chosen, the 20-minute time limit does not apply. If the former format is chosen, there will be a questioning period following the presentation.
In either case, the student should be able to answer questions about the specifics of the proposal as well as general knowledge of the field as related to the proposal. The student should be able to defend the rationale for the particular approach(es) being used and explain how this will answer the questions being asked. Potential problems should also be anticipated with alternative approaches that could be used. Students will not be expected to defend these alternatives in great detail.
The proposal should be written by the student, not the dissertation advisor. It is the role of the dissertation advisor to guide the student in preparing a coherent, intelligible document to be distributed to the members of the Thesis Proposal Committee. However, the dissertation advisor should also ensure, to the best of her/his/their ability, that the proposal is an original document and that the language of the proposal is that of the student. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the student to provide an acceptable document.
The whole proposal should be in the best traditions of scholarship, e.g., identify sources, and balance one's presentation by including conflicting data and counterarguments. The proposal should convince the Committee that the dissertation project is reasonably important and practicable.
A student should not present tables that are not entirely his/her/their own work, unless this is unavoidable because the data are necessary to develop the story. In that case, the precise contribution of the student must be made clear and appropriate attribution should be made.
Detailed methods should not be presented for work not actually conducted by the student, including work done by the Core Facilities or other colleagues; such presentations convey the impression that the student actually carried out the procedures.
Successful passage of the Thesis Proposal should be completed by the end of the fourth semester (June 30th) for PhD students, and by the end of the first year in the PhD-phase (June 30th) for MD/PhD students. To schedule the Thesis Proposal (or re-examination), the student should check the proposed date and time with the Examination Committee members before submitting the Thesis Proposal Registration Form. The student needs to submit the Registration Form, with the appropriate signatures, to the Graduate School for approval, at least 4 weeks before the scheduled dates of these Examinations. Failure to register in a timely manner may result in the cancellation of the Examination. If a student does not register for an Examination that is conducted, the Graduate School reserves the right to require a re-examination or to require a notarized statement from the student and the Examination Committee certifying the number of times the student has been examined. The Chair of the Examination Committee complete the Thesis proposal voting form at the completion of the examination. If the Committee determines that a re-examination must occur, or that revisions must be made to the Thesis Proposal, the details, including a deadline within the allowable time, must be communicated to the student, in writing.
No extensions will be granted except under extenuating circumstances. Requests for extensions of established Examination deadlines should be made at least one month prior to that deadline. Request for an extension should be made by completing the Thesis Proposal - Request for Extension form and turning it in to the Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs; final decision are made by the Dean of the Graduate School. Students who fail to meet the Examination deadlines will be placed on academic probation.
The Thesis Proposal consists of the presentation, written and oral, of a research proposal that is based on the thesis work already begun by the candidate. For additional detailed instructions, refer to the Thesis Proposal webpage.
The thesis proposal should:
Be based on the student's own work, not that of the research mentor
Allow the student to organize his/her/their thoughts and plans and place them in perspective
Allow the research mentor and the student's Advisory Committee to assess the level of scientific sophistication of the student
Provide both the student and the Committee a measure against which to determine subsequent progress.
The Committee should evaluate the student’s ability to:
evaluate and synthesize relevant literature
articulate and elaborate on the aims
show and evaluate preliminary data
discuss experimental design as it applies to work planned.
The Thesis Proposal Committee is composed of the Thesis Advisory Committee with the possible addition of an MTA co-director or another senior MTA faculty member designated by the MTA-Director(s) who will serve as chair of the committee for the Thesis Proposal exam. If an MTA co-director or other senior MTA faculty member are already a member of the Thesis Advisory Committee, no additional members are needed for the Thesis Proposal Committee. If the chair of the Thesis Advisory Committee does not have extensive experience with Thesis Proposal Exams, an MTA co-Director or a senior MTA faculty member (delegated by the MTA co-Directors in consultation with the trainee and their Thesis Advisor) will be added to the committee to serve in this role. The chair of the Proposal Committee must meet the same criteria as the chair of the advisory committee. Participation of nonvoting members of the advisory committee in the Thesis Proposal exam is optional; if they are present, they must remain silent.
The Chair of the Committee must enforce all rules of the Examination, including those pertaining to the role of the dissertation advisor, as outlined below. In addition, each student is strongly encouraged to discuss the expectations of the Thesis Proposal Committee Chair as they develop their Thesis Proposal.
The meeting should be structured as detailed in the Thesis Proposal webpage
If the Committee determines further work necessary, the Chair will provide this information, in writing, to the student. A copy of this memo, detailing conditions and deadline, must accompany the Voting Form, which should be submitted electronically within two days of the proposal presentation. The Chair of the Committee will report the discussion to the dissertation advisor.
It is possible for a Committee to consider a student’s performance satisfactory for the oral presentation of the work achieved and work planned, but still consider the written proposal to be inadequate (in detail, style, citation quality, figure/table/legend presentation, etc.). The student may only be permitted one re-take the oral presentation, but the Committee may ask for as many revisions of the written proposal as are necessary to achieve a satisfactory proposal. This process can occur under the supervision of a subcommittee and must be completed before the student can be advanced to Candidacy.
Students will automatically be advanced to candidacy after all the General Program Requirements, the Advanced Coursework for the MTA, and the Thesis Proposal Exam have been successfully completed.
The written document must be in the format of an NIH F30/31. As such, the document should not exceed 7 pages, excluding references. The Thesis Proposal must be submitted to the Thesis Proposal Review Committee at least three weeks in advance of the Oral Presentation. When writing the Thesis Proposal, it should contain:
Specific Aims (1 page): Describe the hypothesis(es) you are testing. What are your research objectives? What conclusions could be made from your findings? Be concise, clear and logical. Provide an approximate timetable for accomplishing these aims. Your aims are the test(s) of your hypothesis
Research Proposal (6 pages): The research proposal portion typically includes the following sections:
A clear statement of the scientific premise. The purpose of this will be covered in the Rigor and Reproducibility course in Year 1.
Background/Significance: Provide a critical review – evaluate, don't just cite! – of the most pertinent work that raised the question you are answering, spawned the idea for your plans, made your approach feasible, etc. Critically evaluate what others have done. How does your dissertation relate to other problems or areas of biomedical sciences and/or contemporary biology? Identify any concerns. Explain how your hypothesis and planned accomplishments fit. This is an opportunity to relate your plans to the ongoing tradition in science and explain why your work is important.
Preliminary Studies: Describe what you have already accomplished. Where appropriate, provide data, even if preliminary. You do not need an enormous amount of preliminary data; it is far better to take this Examination near the beginning of the project. Explain how these results fit in with your plans.
Research Design and Methods: Describe the primary techniques you will use. Critique them - exactly what will they show? With how much assurance? How will you evaluate them? What kinds of artifacts have been observed or could be expected? Are the methods adequate to test your hypothesis(es)? Can other procedures be applied to achieve the same goals? Why are yours better?
Literature Cited: Not included in the page limit.
Formatting Instructions:
Font: Use single-spaced, 11-point Arial font (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.)
Page Margins: Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages.
Figures, Graphs, Diagrams, Charts, Tables, Figure Legends, and Footnotes: You may use a smaller type size, but it must be in a black font color, readily legible, and follow the font typeface requirement. Color can be used in figures; however, all text must be in a black font color, clear and legible.