GRADUATE PROGRAMS
GENERAL GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR PHD DEGREE IN MBBE
A temporary committee: Graduate Chair appoints a temporary committee for each PhD student. The committee comprises the student’s supervisor (major advisor), Graduate Chair, and a faculty member. The committee advises on course work and other academic and research related matters.
Course work. Students are required to take a minimum of three high-level courses and MBBE 401 (Molecular Biotechnology). The courses must be pre-approved by the major advisor and Graduate Chair. Graduate students are encouraged to take one credit seminar (MBBE 610 or equivalent) each academic year. They require at least two seminar credits for PhD degree. The dissertation proposal or defense seminar cannot be used to meet this requirement.
Two-page proposal. Students need to discuss with their major advisors about their research projects and write a two-page proposal. The proposal must be submitted to the Graduate Chair within the first semester. The proposal should have the following sections: (i) Introduction (background and justification), objectives, and approach. If the scope and objectives of the project are changed or modified later, the temporary committee should be informed and a copy of the revised proposal should be submitted to the Graduate Chair.
Qualifying exam: PhD students have to take a qualifying exam within the first, second or third semester. As a part of this exam, students are asked to write a manuscript from the results obtained within the first one or two semesters.
Permanent committee: After completing the qualifying exam, a PhD student can form a permanent committee in consultation with his supervisor and the Graduate Chair.
CTAHR Symposium: Students are encouraged to make a poster presentation in the CTAHR symposium in the first year. They must make a presentation in the second year and should continue to make presentations in subsequent years until graduation.
Other presentations: Students are encouraged to make oral and poster presentations in other national and international conferences. A number of travel scholarships are available from the Graduate Student Organizations. Often the supervisors provide funds for student travel. Students can also make presentations in a number of research symposia organized at the UHM campus. These include Tester Symposium, Microbiology Symposium, and BioMed Symposium.
The first manuscript: Students should try to complete the manuscript that was started as a part of the qualifying exam and get it published as soon as possible.
Committee meetings: Students should meet at least once a year with the committee.
Proposal seminar: There should be frequent discussion between the student and the major advisor about the progress and direction of research. When a student and the major advisor both agree that the project is going well and there are some good data, the student may be allowed to write a full proposal and then present a proposal seminar. All graduate faculty and students are invited to the proposal seminars. A proposal seminar must not be delayed beyond three years. If it is delayed beyond three years, the Graduate Chair will discuss with the committee and consider transferring the student to the MS program.
Revision of dissertation proposal. Sometimes, a project may not go as expected and run into unexpected problems. Under such a situation, the project may have to take a new direction and some of the objectives may have to be modified. The student should invite a committee meeting and present a revised proposal.
Comprehensive exam: It is an oral exam given by the committee and the Graduate Chair. The Graduate Chair or a representative appointed by him serves as the moderator for the exam. The committee will ensure that the student has learnt molecular biosciences or bioengineering and mastered the subject well. The comprehensive exam must not be delayed beyond three years. If it is delayed beyond three years, the Graduate Chair will discuss with the committee and consider transferring the student to MS program.
Review of literature: The students are encouraged to conduct an extensive literature review related to his/her research subject. He/she should discuss with his/her supervisor about the main focus of the “review of literature” chapter of his/her dissertation. This must be completed and forwarded to the committee within the first three years.
Publications: Publications are essential requirements of a PhD degree in MBBE. Students are encouraged to publish several papers in refereed journals. There must be at least one publication as the first author in a standard refereed journal. Only under an exceptional situation, where research subject is very problematic, and the supervisor assures and convinces the committee and the Graduate Chair that a publication in forthcoming, a student may be considered for graduation without a publication on the day of defense.
Submission of dissertation to the committee: Students are encouraged to write and submit the ‘Review of Literature’ chapter to the committee well in advance, preferably one year before submitting the complete dissertation. They can also write the chapters ‘Introduction’ and ‘Materials and Method’ in advance. All chapters of the dissertation must be first submitted to and corrected by the major advisor before submitting to the rest of the committee. The committee members may refuse to read the chapters if these were not previously read, corrected and approved by the major advisor.
Final dissertation defense: The final dissertation defense seminar is perhaps the most important event for PhD. Therefore, a student must prepare well for this presentation. A student must get approval of the major advisor and the committee for presenting a defense seminar. The Graduate Division must be notified in advance by the student through the Graduate Chair about the date, time and place of dissertation defense. Graduate faculty and students must be invited to the defense seminar.
Citing “Department of Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering” in publications: Students who work under the supervision of co-operating or affiliate Graduate Faculty in a laboratory outside of the MBBE department should also cite “Department of Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering” in their publications, at least as the second address. In this case, the address and affiliation of the supervisor’s laboratory can be the primary address. For example:
M. Eustice1,2, Qingyi Yu, C.W. Lai, S. Hou, J. Thimmapuram, L. Liu, M. Alam, P.H. Moore1, G.G. Presting, R. Ming1. 2008. Development and application of microsatellite markers for genomic analysis of papaya. Tree Genetics and Genomics 4:333-341.
1, Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Aiea, HI 96701
2, Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822
