Ph.D Student Handbook

Fall 2008

Orientation 2008-2009 Academic Year

Molecular, Cellular, and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Developmental Biology

CLASS OF SEPTEMBER 2008

Name University Degree Cochrane, Katharyn Texas A&M B.S.; M.S.

Lenhart, Justin University of Michigan B.S. Mao, Kai Peking University B.S. Song, Qingxuan Tsinghua University B.S.; M.S. Sun, Kan Tsinghua University B.S.; M.S.

Wang, Yanbin Fudan University B.S.

Wegman, Sara SUNY– Brockport B.S.

SUNY—Buffalo M.S.

Yang, Yaxuan Tsinghua University B.S.

PIBS STUDENTS

Anderson, Erik Grand Valley State B.S. Wang, Guoxiao Peking University B.S.

Yu, Geng Fudan Unviersity B.S.

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First year Doctoral Students Fall 2008

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Graduate Student Committees Data Club Molly Day

Fei Li

Kamy Singer

Yang Xia

Yizhou Zhou

Faculty Liaison Karishma Collette

Yana Panciera

Michael Wells

Zhifen Yang

Social Activities Chris Pelletier Senior Member

Chandan Bhambhani Senior Member

Yana Panaciera Senior Member

Lisa Arnold

Youjian Chi

Zhou Du

Lindsey Gish

Zhuqing Liu

Dongbiao Shen

Kamy Singer

Xiang Wang

Xin Wang

Xin Xiong

Ying Zheng

Student Recruiting Lisa Arnold

Lindsey Gish

Gizem Kalay

Danming Tang

Name E-Mail Address Mentor

Allard, John johnalrd@umich.edu Duan

Arnold, Lisa llarnold@umich.edu Wittkopp

Ashman, Elizabeth emashman@umich.edu Chapman

Bagamasbad, Pia piab@umich.edu Denver

Bhambhani, Chandan bchandan@umich.edu Cadigan

Bharucha, Nike nikeb@umich.edu Kumar

Cao, Yang caoyang@umich.edu Klionsky

Chang, Mikyung mikyungc@umich.edu Cadigan

Chi, Youjian yjchi@umich.edu Wang

Dai, Wei daiwei@umich.edu Duan

Day, Melinda lynchma@umich.edu Klionsky

Du, Zhou zdu@umich.edu Klionsky

Frisch, Ryan rlfrisch@umich.edu Bender

Geng, Jifei jfgen@umich.edu K0l0ionsky

Gish, Lindsey gishl@umich.edu Clark

Harrison-Lowe, Nicola nhlowe@umich.edu Olsen

He, Congcong cconghe@umich.edu Klionsky

Horstick, Eric horstick@umich.edu Kuwada

Jin, Rui biorjin@umich.edu Kumar

Li, Fei feili@umich.edu Chapman

Kalay, Gizem gizemkly@umich.edu Wittkopp

Lee, Chunghee bluelee@umich.edu Clark

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Doctoral Students Fall 2008

Doctoral Students Fall 2008 Name Degree Mentor Li, Hui ziwen@umich.edu Cadigan

Liu, Zhuqing zhuqingl@umich.edu Kumar

Ma, Ju majun@umich.edu Kumar

Ma, Yuliang yuliang@umich.edu Raymond

Ni, Yunyun niyunyun@umich.edu. Cadigan

Panciera, Yana ypancier@umich.edu Schiefelbein

Pelletier, Chris chrspltr@umich.edu Denver

Petty, Emily emilynnp@umich.edu Csankovzski

Punthambaker, Sukanya sukpunth@umich.edu Hume

Qin, Zhao qinzhao@umich.edu Raymond

Quan, Shu shuquan@umich.edu Bardwell

Ren, Hongxia renh@umich.edu Duan

Sadikot, Karishma karishms@umich. Csankovzski

Schmidt, Adam adschmid@umich.edu Pichersky

Shen, Dongbiao dongbiao@umich. Xu

Smith, Daniel dnlsmith@umich.edu Chapman

Tang, Danming dmtang@umich.edu Wang

Wang, Ke wangke@umich.edu Klionsky

Wang, Xiang xiangwa@umich.edu Xu

Wang, Xin xinw@umich.edu Collins

Wells, Michael mbwells@umich.edu Csankovszki

Xia, Yang youngxia@umich.edu Li

Singer, Kamy kamys@umich.edu Tzfira

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Doctoral Students Fall 2008 Name Degree Mentor

Zheng, Ying zhengy@umich.edu Duan

Zhou, Yizhou yzzhou@umich.edu Chapman

Xiang, Yi yixian@umich.edu Wang

Xiong, Xin xinxiong@umich.edu Collins

Yang, Zhifen zfyang@umich.edu Klionsky

Yen, Wei-Lien wlyen@umich.edu Klionsky

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Graduate Academic Affairs Academic affairs of the MCDB graduate program fall to two standing committees: admissions committee and graduate studies committee. The goal of the two committees is to provide an environment that is conducive to students becoming productive scientists and thoughtful human beings.

Admissions Committee The admissions committee is responsible for reviewing all applications to the program and subsequently rec-ommending admissions offers. This committee is also involved in the recruiting process, both externally and internally.

Janine Maddock, Associate Professor, Chair Gyorgyi Csankovszki, Assistant Professor Haoxing Xu, Assistant Professor Erik Nielsen, Assistant Professor Stefan Walter, Assistant Professor

Graduate Studies Committee The Graduate studies committee is responsible for supporting the graduate students by monitoring the year round issues that occur in the graduate program such as prelim examinations, orientation, internal awards, and individual concerns that may arise.

Jianming Li, Associate Professor, Chair Yanzhuang Wang, Assistant Professor Amy Chang, Associate Professor

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Name Phone # Office Uniqname Research Area

Akaaboune, Mohammed

647-8512 3129 Nat Sci makaabou Neurobiology development; synaptic plasticity

Bardwell, Jim 764-8028 4003A Nat Sci jbardwel Protein Folding

Cadigan, Ken 936-3246 3028D Nat Sci cadigan Drosophila development & signal transduction

Chang, Amy 647-7963 2116 Nat Sci amychang Yeast Cell Biology

Chapman, Matt 764-7592 2109 Nat Sci chapmanm Molecular Physiology

Clark, Steve 647-4151 4124A Nat Sci clarks Development & signal transduction in Arabidopsis

Csankovszki, Gyorgyi

764-3412 3028A Nat Sci gyorgyi Dual roles of condensin complexes in C. elegans

Demb, Jonathan 647-7469 347 Kellogg jdemb Developmental Neurobiology

Denver, Bob 936-6625 3065C Nat Sci rdenver Developmental Neuroendocrinology

Duan, Cunming 763-4710 3065B Nat Sci cduan Molecular animal physiology

Hume, Rich 764-2071 3095C Nat Sci rhume Molecular & developmental neurobiology

Jakob, Ursula 615-1286 4041B Nat Sci ujakob Biochemistry & molecular cell biology

Klionsky, Dan 615-6556 6036 LSI klionsky Protein targeting

Kumar, Anuj 647-8060 6026 LSI anujk Yeast Genomics

Kuwada, John 936-2842 3113A Nat Sci kuwada Molecular genetics of zebrafish neural development

Li, Jianming 763-4253 4071B Nat Sci jian Molecular physiology of Arabidopsis

Maddock, Janine 736-8068 4033C Nat Sci maddock Microbial development

Olsen, Laura 763-0976 4103C Nat Sci ljo Protein sorting in plants

Pichersky, Eran 936-3522 4103D Nat Sci lelx Plant molecular biology & evolution

Raymond, Pamela 647-0811 3003 Nat Sci praymond Retinal neurogenesis, neural stem cells & regeneration

Schiefelbein, John 764-3580 4103B Nat Sci schiefel Molecular genetics of Arabidopsis development

Tzfira, Tzvi 764-3265 4071D Nat Sci ttzfira Plant T-DNA nuclear import, uncoating & integration

Wang, Yanzhuang 936-2134 2127A Nat Sci yzwang Molecular organization of Golgi apparatus

Wittkopp, Patricia 763-1548 1061B Nat Sci wittkopp Evolution of development/gene regulation

Xu, Haoxing 615-2845 3089 Nat Sci haoxingx Sensory neurobiology and integrative physiology

Nielsen, Eric 936-2977 3103A Nat Sci nielsene Proper deposition of plant cell wall components

Collins, Catherine 764-4363 3028B Nat Sci collinca Structural plasticity of neurons

Walter, Stefan 764-1341 4140A Nat Sci sgwalter Molecular chaperone Hsp104 from yeast; prion

All email addresses = uniqname@umich.edu

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Mentor Faculty

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Standards of Conduct Graduate students are responsible for being familiar with and are held accountable to the standards in all applicable University policies. Information about these policies is contained in The Guide to Campus and Com-munity for Graduate and Professional Students. Copies of The Guide are made available to all graduate and professional departments and programs for distribution to new students. All Rackham students should review this publication and keep it for reference. The following discussion covers additional policies that apply to Rackham students that are not covered in The Guide.

A clear sense of academic honesty and responsibility is fundamental to our scholarly community. To that end, the University of Michigan expects its students to demonstrate honesty and integrity in all their academic ac-tivities. However, students pursuing graduate education are being educated not only in a substantive field of inquiry but also in a profession. Although there are many common values, specific standards required of pro-fessionals vary by discipline, and this policy document has been written with respect for those differences.

As professionals in training, graduate students assume various roles, depending on the academic program. These include the roles of scholar/researcher, teacher, supervisor of employees, representative to the public (of the University, the discipline and/or the profession), and professional colleague and even the role of pro-vider of services to clients. Therefore, students are responsible for maintaining high standards of conduct while engaged in course work, research, dissertation or thesis preparation, and other activities related to aca-demics and their profession. Because students take on multiple roles in multiple settings, some types of con-duct are both academic and professional in nature—hence, the inclusive nature of this policy.

Graduate training, like future professional life, includes demands that might tempt some students to violate integrity standards. There are pressures on graduate students to achieve high grades, obtain financial sup-port, meet research or publication deadlines, gain recognition from the scholarly community, and secure em-ployment. Although faculty members can help students to maintain academic integrity despite these pres-sures, each student has final responsibility for maintaining integrity in his or her individual conduct.

Finally, conduct that violates the ethical or legal standards of the University community or of one's program or field of specialization may result in serious consequences, including immediate disciplinary action and future professional disrepute. In support of the Graduate School's commitment to maintain high standards of integ-rity, this policy makes provisions for bringing forward and hearing cases of academic and professional miscon-duct.

Winter 2008 Academic Calendar Ann Arbor Campus

Fall 2008Academic Calendar Ann Arbor Campus

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Registration (for students not pre-registered) Aug 29, Fri

Labor Day (Holiday) Sept 1, Mon

Classes begin Sept 2, Tues

Fall Study Break Oct 20-21, Mon-Tues

Thanksgiving recess 5:00 p.m. Nov 26, Wed

Classes resume 8:00 a.m. Dec 1, Mon

Classes end Dec 9, Tues

Study Days Dec 10, Wed & Dec 13-14, Sat-Sun

Examinations Dec 11-12, Thurs-Fri & Dec 15-18, Mon-Thurs

Grades Due 72 Hours after exam

Commencement Dec 14, Sun

Registration (for students not pre-registered) Jan 5, Mon

Classes begin Jan 7, Wed

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day University Symposia. No Regular Classes. Jan 19, Mon

Vacation begins 12:00 noon Feb 21, Sat

Classes resume 8:00 a.m. Mar 2, Mon

University Honors Convocation Mar 15, Sun

Classes end Apr 21, Tues

Study Days Apr 22, Wed & Apr 25-26, Sat-Sun

Examinations Apr 23-24, Thurs-Fri & Apr 27-30, Mon-Thurs

Grades Due 72 Hours After Exam

Commencement Activities May 1-3, Fri-Sun

Fall 2008 Student Registration Deadlines

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Sept 1, Mon Last day to disenroll.

Last day to waitlist classes.

Last day to process initial registration without late registration fee.

Sept 2, Tues Classes Begin

Begin assessment of late registration fee for initial Fall term registration.

Registration and disenrollment fees assessed to any student who withdraws from Fall

Sept 15, Mon Drop/Add Deadline for first 7-week session classes.

Last day to withdraw from term (if only taking 1st 7 week courses) with assessment of registration and disenrollment fees only.

Sept 16, Tues All changes to first 7-week session classes must be approved by the Academic Unit.

Students dropping a course will receive a "W" (Official Withdrawal). There is no reduc-tion in tuition for courses dropped.

Sept 22, Mon Drop/Add Deadline for regular term classes. Last day to access Web Registration for Fall term (ends at midnight)

Last day to withdraw from term with assessment of registration and disenrollment fees only.

Sept 23, Tues All changes to elections must be approved by the Academic Unit.

Students dropping a course will receive a "W" (Official Withdrawal). There is no reduc-tion in tuition for courses dropped.

Oct 13, Mon Last day to withdraw from Fall term with fifty percent tuition reduction.

Oct 14, Tues No reduction in tuition and fee assessment for students who withdraw from Fall term.

Oct 27, Mon Second 7-week session classes begin.

Registration not available on the web - visit a Student Services site with photo identifica-tion for assistance.

Nov 10, Mon Drop/Add Deadline second 7-week session classes.

Last day to withdraw from term (if only taking second 7-week session courses) with as-sessment of registration and disenrollment fees only.

Nov 11, Tues All changes to second 7-week session classes must be approved by the Academic Unit.

Students dropping a course will receive a "W" (Official Withdrawal). There is no reduc-tion in tuition for courses dropped.

Registration Appointments Your registration appointment is the earliest date and time you can enroll for the term. Wolverine Access al-lows you to enroll from anywhere you can access the Internet. You may not register prior to the date and time of your appointment

The system will take you to your pre-registration Backpack prior to your registration enrollment appointment. Once the date and time of your appointment pass, the Backpack/Registration link will take you to Registra-tion. You can register for classes without putting classes in your Backpack first.

After registering for your class schedule, you can modify it at any time using Wolverine Access until the third week of the term (drop/add deadline). .

To Register You Will Need

1. Access to a computer. 2. A uniqname and password. 3. An appointment start time (log on to Wolverine Access (www.wolverineaccess.umich.edu) to view your ap-pointment, or call the Registrar’s helpline at 763-5174 ) 4. Course selections (using class numbers) Refer to the on line time schedule for a list of offered classes Log on to Wolverine Access to VIEW U-M Course Catalog to find out which courses are open, waitlisted, or have entry restrictions and which courses require two or more sections. Fill out a worksheet and weekly planner to help with your registration. Have alternative courses selected. 5. Electronic permission (if permission of the instructor or Department is required; class/selection has entry restriction; closed courses/sections etc). Once you receive an electronic permission, you must access Web Registration and add the class to your schedule. 6. Log on to Wolverine Access to register at any time after your appointment time.

Late Registration Fee: If you are not registered before the first day of class, for at least one class, a $50 late registration fee will be assessed to your account. Exceptions to the late fee are: late admissions, non-degree students, Ph.D. students registering to defend their dissertation. The late registration fee is increased by $25 at the beginning of each subsequent month. (For more information, see www.umich.edu/~regoff/latereg.html

Student Identification Cards or “M-Cards”: M-Cards are issued daily in Room 100 of the Student Activities Building (Entree Plus Office), 515 E. Jefferson. Consider this card as your passport to the University; you should carry it with you at all times. It is your student ID and gives you access to the library system, recreation facilities, student-priced tickets for University musical and theatrical events, etc.

Students with Assistantships/Fellowships: Graduate Student Instructors (GSI), Research Assistants (RA), Trainees and Fellows must register for a minimum of 6 credit hours. Students who are deferring loans must register for a minimum of 8 credit hours; however, students who enter with a relevant Master's degree (or who have earned 21 credits toward the Ph.D.) need only register for a minimum of 6 credit hours. In general, doc-toral students who enter without a relevant Master's degree are advised to register for 9 credits. Registering for 9 credits for the first four terms satisfies the Rackham requirement of 36 fee units before advancement to Candidacy can be authorized.

F1 Visa Holders: Students with F1 Visas must be registered full-time. Full-time is defined as 8 credit hours for those who have not previously earned a relevant Master's degree, and 6 credit hours for those with assistant-ships (whether or not they've already earned a relevant MS degree). This rule is mandated by immigration and monitored by Rackham's International Admissions Office. Please refer to the Rackham Graduate Student Handbook (available in the Biology Graduate Office, 1121 Natural Sciences Building, or online at www.rackham.umich.edu/StudentInfo/Publications/GSH/ for more information. In general, doctoral students who enter without a relevant Master's degree are advised to register for 9 credits. Registering for 9 credits for the first four terms satisfies the Rackham requirement of 36 fee units before advancement to Candidacy can be authorized.

Registration Information

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Registration Information Independent Study Courses: Before registering for one of the independent study courses -- Biology 700, 730, or 755 -- review the faculty interest sheet enclosed in your packet. Permission of the faculty member is required prior to registration. Before you may register for a course that requires faculty permission, you must be sure that the instructor has contacted Mary Carr (carrmm@umich.edu) in the MCDB Office, who will enter it electronically. The faculty member must provide the following information: your name, student number, term, course number, section number, number of credits, etc. You must then go to Wolverine Access and register for the course.

Tuition Bill: Tuition waivers are usually credited directly toward student accounts during the SECOND month of the term. Do not be alarmed if a tuition bill arrives in late September.

Program Credit Requirements

Credit System: Most courses at Michigan are one term long and are given a value of three or four credit hours. Credit hours reflect the number of hours a student attends lectures each week during a four-month term. A course with three hours of lecture plus a laboratory segment generally receives four-credit hours.

Rackham Fee Totals (RFT) - Ph.D. Students: The Graduate School requires a total of 36 Rackham Fee To-tals (RFT) for Candidacy and 68 fee totals for the Ph.D. degree. Students who enter with a relevant Master's degree must accumulate 18 RFT’s to be eligible for Candidacy status, and 50 RFT’s for the Ph.D. Because tui-tion is capped at 9 credit hours, doctoral students can earn no more than 9 RFT’s per full term (and 5 RFT’s in a half term) prior to advancement to Candidacy. NOTE: In order to advance to Candidacy after two years (if a relevant MS hasn't already been earned), students must register for 9 credits each term during their first 4 terms. Mind you, RFT’s are just one requirement for Candidacy. You must refer to your Department for addi-tional requirements. Maximum fee totals change after advancement to Candidacy.

Grades

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Grades: Graduate students may elect Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading in an otherwise graded course. "Satisfactory" means earning a minimum grade of "B" in the course. Students wishing to take a course S/U (if designated as a graded course) should make arrangements with the instructor during the first three weeks of the term (first two weeks of a half term). If the instructor approves S/U grading, students must modify the election in the Class Options dialogue box during online registration. Instructors may not assign letter grades (A-E) to students electing designated S/U courses. Graduate Students may NOT register for or receive Pass/Fail grading (P/F grading is permitted for undergraduates only since students must earn a "C" or better in a course).

Incompletes: Grades of Incomplete (“I”) can be changed to letter grades only if the incomplete work is made up by the end of the fourth full term beyond the term for which the grade of “I” is given (regardless of enroll-ment status in subsequent terms and including the spring-summer term). The grade of “I” is permanently re-tained on a student's record. An incomplete that has been made up according to the stated procedures will appear on a student's transcript, e.g., I B+.

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Requirements for Graduate Students in MCDB Focus: The members of the Department of MCDB are broadly interested in how organisms, cells, molecules, and genomes function, develop, and evolve. The members of the group share technical approaches such as recombinant DNA, genetics, biochemistry, and specialized imaging. The group shares a common intellectual approach that emphasizes mechanistic and experimental strategies to investigate a diverse set of biological problems.

Mentorship: The Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) of MCDB will advise each precandidate on courses, teaching and lab rotations. The GSC will evaluate the precandidate student's progress until the student has identified a faculty member as a research mentor. At that time the research mentor along with the GSC will advise the precandidate student.

The earliest date that a faculty member can extend an offer of a position in the faculty’s laboratory to a rotat-ing student is April 1 of the 1st academic year of the rotating student. The earliest date that a rotating student can request a position in a faculty’s laboratory is April 1 of the 1st academic year of the rotating student. Research: Students directly admitted to the MCDB PhD program engage in two or more research rotations in MCDB faculty labs starting the fall semester of the 1st year in order to identify a research mentor and lab in which to pursue a dissertation. Rotations are defined as lab research done as part of taking MCDB 700 for MCDB students and PIBS 600 for Program in Biomedical Science (PIBS) students. Typically students do one rotation per semester but they are free to arrange rotations of other durations. Oral or written rotation reports by the students are evaluated and graded by the rotation mentor as part of the rotation performance report and these evaluations are placed in the student’s file. The rotation and permanent research advisors should take an active role in the student’s education towards becoming an independent investigator. In addition to technical training the rotation should include training on formulation of a research plan, analytical and critical interpretation of the student’s research results, critical analysis of reports in the literature, and oral and writ-ten presentation of scientific materials. Students carrying out research rotations register for MCDB 700. If a student is rotating in more than one lab during a semester, he/she should register for MCDB 700 with each faculty.

Students admitted via PIBS who have designated MCDB as their primary choice will follow PIBS rules and guidelines regarding research rotations during their 1st year. When rotations are done in MCDB labs the PIBS student should register for PIBS 600 and the rotation mentors will write evaluations of the student’s perform-ance which are placed in the student’s MCDB file.

Cognates: The Graduate School recognizes the value of intellectual breadth in graduate education, and the importance of formal coursework in fields of inquiry that lie outside the boundaries of the student's field of study. Therefore, students are required to satisfactorily complete (with a grade of C- or better) a minimum of 4 hours of graduate-level work in a field or fields other than the student's field of specialization before being ad-vanced to Candidacy (i.e. Human Genetics 541, Cell Biology 530, etc.). The elected course(s) should be ap-proved by the student's advisor prior to registration. (You may not "visit" the cognate course; you must get ei-ther a letter grade or a "satisfactory" grade.)

If you have taken graduate coursework elsewhere that may be considered as a cognate course, you can request that the course be considered a cognate "in spirit." Talk to the Graduate Coordinator for details. A cognate in spirit may not be used to meet minimum credit hour requirements toward the doctorate.

This guide outlines the steps necessary to complete the requirements of the Ph.D. Degree in the MCDB program.

PRE-CANDIDATE 18 credit hours of course work End of 1st academic year (9 hours with Masters’ degree) Lab rotations – at least 2; additional possible April 15th; June 30th if doing an

additional rotation

36 credit hours of course work End of 2nd academic year (18 hours with a Masters’ degree)

Permanent lab and mentor Beginning of 2nd academic year

Prelim Evaluation End of the 2nd academic year CANDIDATE

Advance to Candidacy Beginning of 3rd academic year

Form thesis committee BEFORE beginning of 3rd year

Hold first committee meeting 2nd semester of 3rd year

Yearly committee meeting Once an academic year; more

often as determined by committee

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Doctoral Program

Milestone To be completed by

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First Year Students, Academic Course requirements:

The typical student will take the following sequence of courses. Any deviation must be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee in advance. It is expected that all students will maintain a 5.0 GPA which is a “B” average and will not receive anything less than B- in any given course taken.

PRE-CANDIDATE Year 1, Term 1:

PIBS 501/503: MCDB students will take PIBS 503 which is the part of PIBS 501 that covers issues in re-search ethics. MCDB Primary PIBS students will take PIBS 501 which introduces PIBS students to the various Ph.D. programs plus discusses issues of ethics in research.

MCDB 614: This course 3 credit course introduces beginning Ph.D. students to model organisms widely used in molecular, cellular and developmental biology research and to several powerful experimental approaches that can be used to student these organisms. The emphasis is on understanding the types of experiments for which each organism is particularly well suited.

ONE of the following four courses: Biological Chemistry 550 (Protein Structure), Cell and Developmental Biol-ogy 530 (Cell Biology), Human Genetics 541 (Gene Structure), and Neuroscience 601 (Principles of Neurosci-ence I). This class serves to fulfill 3 of 4 cognate credits needed to advance to candidacy.

MCDB 800, Section 004: Weekly Department Seminars. Attendance is mandatory for all first year students and highly recommended for second year students. An attendance sheet will be kept to verify compliance.

Research Rotation:

You must do at least 2 different lab rotations your first year (additional rotation possible). This will be the first of at least two. The total number of credit hours must equal 9 for the semester. You must take 9 credit hours your first four semesters in order to fulfill the necessary 36 hours requirement for advancement to candidacy.

Year 1, Term 2:

MCDB 615: This course will be a continuation of MCDB 614, with the main focus being preparation for the Preliminary Examination. A student must receive a grade of a B- or higher in order to fulfill Department require-ments.

Research Rotation:

This will be your second different lab rotation. You must select a permanent lab by April 15th, unless you are doing a 3rd rotation - then you must select a permanent lab by July 1st

Other Courses: Appropriate specialty courses decided upon by the student in consultation with the advisory faculty can be taken during any term other than Term 1 of the first year.

MCDB 800, Section 004: Weekly Department Seminars. Attendance is mandatory for all first year students and highly recommended for second year students. An attendance sheet will be kept to verify compliance

Second Year Students, Academic

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Teaching: Each student is required to serve as a Graduate Student Instructor (Teaching Assistant) for two se-mesters prior to receipt of the Ph.D.. Typically students will serve as a GSI one term of year 2 and then another term after the 2nd year. Biology 801-Supervised Teaching: Graduate student instructors teaching for the first time are required to take this course. Other graduate students may earn credit for this course only by com-pleting work as a GSI that is above and beyond the regular assignment.

Preliminary Examination (2nd Year Evaluation):

Students must demonstrate that they are qualified to proceed in the Ph.D. program by passing the second year evaluation administered by three representatives from the MCDB faculty (Prelim Committee).

At the beginning of the second year, each student will submit to the GSC a form indicating their proposed area of research concentration, and a list of faculty they consider most appropriate to serve on their prelim commit-tee. The student's prospective thesis mentor cannot be a member of the student's Prelim Committee. The student can also name one faculty member they want excluded from their Prelim committee, and need not state a reason for this choice. The GSC will assign each student a Prelim Examination Committee consisting of three faculty members. As a general rule, at least two of the members will be expert in the area the student identified as the proposed area of research concentration.

The Preliminary examination consists of a three part exam: a written proposal, a research seminar, and an oral defense of the proposal. The exam will be based on the student’s thesis project.

Written Prelim Exam (Winter term):

The document should be written in the form of a grant proposal (11pt Arial, double spaced, 1 inch margins) of no more than 20 pages, not including references. The proposal should clearly state the hypotheses, and dis-cuss possible outcomes and how they will be interpreted. The proposals are due on the first Monday after the Mid-Winter break at 5pm. The members of the Prelim Committee will provide the students with written feed-back no later than one week after receiving the proposal.

Research Seminar

The research seminar is to be scheduled one to two weeks after receiving written feedback from the Prelim Committee. Each student presents a seminar to the Department including the Prelim Committee members. Students should prepare a general introduction and describe their research results and a brief description of future plans. Research seminars are typically 35 minutes to allow sufficient time for questions.

Oral Prelim Exam

The oral part of the prelim exam takes place immediately after the question and answer session following the Research seminar. The student will provide a short summary of the rationale of the proposed experiments and respond to the written feedback from the Prelim Committee. This is accompanied and followed by ques-tions from the Prelim Committee.

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As second year students, you will be employees of the University and as such your pay days will now be the last working day of the month. Typically, second year students teach and are GSI’s in the Fall semester and are GSRA’s (Graduate Student Research Assistant) in the Winter semester. What is important is that you teach one of the semesters of your second year. But which ever you do, you will be paid the last working day of the month.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

HEALTH CARE: When you are a GSI or GSRA, you are eligible for health care coverage, BUT you must fill out the paperwork in order to have coverage. If you do not fill out paperwork to choose a plan, selection will de-fault to no coverage. If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate Coordinator.

TRAVEL TO SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS:

The MCDB Program feels that it is important that graduate students be aware of the latest findings in a particular fields of research. For that reason, the department provides $1000 to second year students to attend one major scientific meeting of their choice. Request forms for this travel money can be obtained from from the Graduate Coordinator’s office.

Second Year Students, Financial

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Policies on student employment and absences Student Employment Outside the Program:

The MCDB Program follows NIH policy that students may not be employed outside their training program. The faculty of MCDB believe that Ph.D. training is a full-time endeavor. Outside employment subtracts from the time and mental energy a student devotes to his or her research. No student in the MCDB Program may be employed outside the Program without permission of both the mentor and the Graduate Studies Committee.

Vacation, Absences or Leaves:

Participation in the MCDB Program, without regard to the source of financial support, is to be full time; that is 12 months per year. Participation includes regularly scheduled Program events and registration in the in the graduate school for relevant course work, directed research and dissertation research. Other relevant activity such as detached study, or other off-campus course work may be taken with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee (for pre-candidates) and the research mentor (for both pre-candidates and candidates). Other activity will be viewed as personal and may be undertaken subject to the following policy covering vacations and leaves.

Vacations: Students are entitled to University-designated holidays. Additionally, subject to the discretion and explicit approval of the Graduate Studies Committee, students may take up to two more weeks in the summer when they are supported by MCDB department funds. Once supported by the mentor, vacation time includes University-designated holidays and up to two weeks of additional time. Prearranged total vacation time is ex-pected NOT TO EXCEED 4 weeks per year, including all University breaks and mentor approved vacations. The timing must be discussed with the mentor and Graduate Studies Chair. Any further vacation time should have the additional approval of the mentor, which may be granted without financial support.

Leaves: All requests for Leaves of Absence must be reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee. A formal letter indicating the duration of the leave will be kept in the Graduate Coordinator’s office.

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Candidacy, Academic Candidacy:

The Prelim Committee provides a written evaluation and recommendation to the GSC. The Prelim Committee considers in their recommendation the student’s performance in the research seminar and in the written and oral part of the Prelim Exam.

The GSC of MCDB determines whether or not to recommend the student for advancement to candidacy. This decision is based upon the performance of the student in the Prelim exam, the individual research rotations, the course work, and performance as GSI. It will also depend on the successful identification of a thesis men-tor within the MCDB Department. The GSC will also recommend whether students who did not pass the pre-lim should be terminated from the program or permitted to have another chance to pass it. Students will be notified of the recommendation of the GSC, and may appeal the decision to the MCDB Executive Committee.

The GSC will file a report of its recommendations with the MCDB Executive Committee. The MCDB Executive Committee will discuss all recommendations for termination from the program and any appeals. The GSC rec-ommendations and Executive Committee discussions will be forwarded to the Chair for final action.

Deviations from the Policies and Procedures:

Any deviation to the Policies and Procedures must be requested in advance. A written request must be sub-mitted to and reviewed by the GSC.

Dissertation Committee & Candidacy: Candidate students MUST have a Dissertation Committee established by October 1 of the third year in the doctoral program. Rules governing its membership are described in the Rackham Graduate Student Handbook. A list of the committee members who have agreed to serve in this capacity should be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator. To nominate committee members from outside the university, you must submit: (a), a memorandum from your program Chair describing the individual's qualifica-tions for committee service and (b) a copy of the nominee's curriculum vitae to the Graduate Coordinator. You must have a date for your first committee meeting by December 1 of your third year. You will be expected to submit an abstract of the proposed thesis problem (about 500 words) along with the signed committee meet-ing sheet to the Graduate Coordinator after your first meeting.

A Candidacy Certificate will be issued when it is determined that the student has completed all requirements for the doctorate except for the dissertation. In addition, the combined Department and Rackham require-ments for Candidacy include:

•Submission of an official undergraduate transcript with the degree posted

•Satisfactory completion of any course deficiencies (prerequisites to program)

•Completion of all required graduate coursework (other than 995)

•Completion of at least 4 hours of cognate coursework

•A minimum GPA of 5.0 (“B” average/3.0)

•At least 36 Rackham Fee Totals (or 18 RFT’s with a relevant Master's)

•Recommendation by the dissertation committee.

If all of these requirements have been met, the Graduate Coordinator will complete the necessary paperwork, get the Graduate Studies Committee Chair’s approval, and forward it to Rackham. Any changes in the consti-tution of the Dissertation Committee must be reported to the Graduate Coordinator so that a form for revising a committee may be submitted to Rackham.

Many of the necessary forms can be found at www.rackham/umich.edu/OARD/

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Candidacy, Academic Annual Committee Meetings: Annual meetings are mandatory for all doctoral students in their third year and up. At the meeting, the committee chair and/or co-chairs must summarize the student's progress on the Re-port on Yearly Dissertation Committee Meeting Form and the student must sign the form indicating that he/she has reviewed their comments. The form must then be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator. The Dissertation Committee will be responsible for reporting to the Graduate Affairs Committee whether the stu-dent is making satisfactory progress toward completing the Ph.D.

Travel to Scientific Meetings: The MCDB Program encourages students to present their work at local, regional, and national scientific meetings. The Program provides a contribution of $500 per academic year for 3rd, 4th and 5th year students for student travel to these meetings. Request forms for this money can be obtained from the Graduate Coordinator’s office.

Defense of Dissertation: Upon completion of research, students write a dissertation in accordance with the requirements of the Graduate School. Once the dissertation is read and approved by the committee mem-bers, the student must present an oral defense of the dissertation. It is a policy of the Graduate School that dissertations be published. The Dissertation Handbook is available from the Office of Academic Records and Dissertations in Rackham outlines guidelines for preparing and submitting the dissertation.

Seven-Year Limit: The general progress of individual students in graduate work is monitored annually by the Graduate Studies Committee. A student must complete all doctoral work within seven consecutive years from the date of first enrollment in the Rackham degree program.

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The Dissertation Committee is charged with the supervision of a Candidate's dissertation activities. It should guide and encourage the student in the design and execution of the research program and in the writing of the dissertation. Committee members must file evaluations of the dissertation and certify if the student has passed the oral examination, and has produced a dissertation that is satisfactory in every way. The student chooses a chair or co-chairs that will act as the primary director of the student's research. To-gether they choose other faculty who may be expected to supply a high degree of expertise in the special area of the dissertation, and whose appointment will satisfy the following requirements. All Dissertation Committees must consist of at least four (4) members. At least two of the Committee mem-bers must be regular members from the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Over-all, each Committee must:

1) have a chair or two co-chairs; 2) have an outside member who is a regular member of the Graduate Faculty in a Rackham doctoral

program, who is familiar with the standards for doctoral research, and who, preferably, holds an ap-pointment in a collateral or related field; and

3) include a minimum of three regular members of the Rackham Graduate Faculty.

Memberships on Dissertation Committees are of two types, regular and special as described below: Regular member of the graduate faculty: A regular member of the Rackham Graduate Faculty is any person holding an unmodified appointment at The University of Michigan as Professor, or Associate Professor, or As-sistant Professor with an earned doctorate from an accredited institution (i.e. Visiting Professors, Adjunct Pro-fessors, etc., cannot serve as regular members of a Dissertation Committee). 1. Instructors, lecturers, and primary research scientists who do not hold an appointment as a member of the

regular faculty may serve on the Dissertation Committee provided that they possess an earned doctorate from an accredited institution. They may serve as co-chair if the other co-chair is a regular member of the graduate faculty who is affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program. However, they may not serve as a sole chair or as the outside member of the Committee, with the exception of some primary research staff. For more information, see "Guidelines for Dissertation Committee Formation" at www.rackham.umich.edu/OARD/ DissertationResources. html.

2. Emeritus Professors may serve as co-chair of a Dissertation Committee; they may also serve as sole chair

or cognate member by special arrangement (i.e., the completed Dissertation Committee Form must be ac-companied by a memorandum, signed by the faculty member's Chair and by the Dean of his/her school or college, requesting the appointment and affirming the professor's experience in teaching, advising, and dissertation committee service). They may not serve as the outside member of a Committee unless that appointment was made prior to retirement. For further information, see the Graduate Student Handbook, or the online "Guidelines."

3. Outside Members: The outside member of a Dissertation Committee represents all other Rackham doc-

toral programs and as such must be a regular member of the Graduate Faculty. The presence of an out-side member on a Committee provides an opportunity for the doctoral student to have the advantages of

The Function and Constitution of the Dissertation Committee

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both diversity of outlook among his/her committee members and breadth of expertise. In certain cases it may be possible to have faculty of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology serve as an outside member of the Departmental Dissertation Committee. Such an appointment must be approved by Rackham and meet the following requirements:

a. He or she shall not be a primary affiliate of either the group in the Department with which the Chair-man of the Dissertation Committee is primarily affiliated or that in which the student qualifies.

b. The subject of the research interests and expertise of the outside member shall differ in one or both of the following ways from the dissertation topic of the graduate student for which the Dissertation Com-mittee is appointed.

● in the biological kingdom with which it deals, (animals, protistans, plants, etc.), and/or

● in the level of biological organization (e.g. molecular, organismic, population, etc.) with which it is concerned.

Special Membership: University faculty and staff who do not fall into any of the classes cited above and quali-fied people from outside The University of Michigan whose service on a Dissertation Committee would contrib-ute significantly may be nominated for special membership. (For further information, see the Graduate Stu-dent Handbook or the online "Guidelines" noted above. 1. The nomination of a person to serve on a specific Dissertation Committee is made on the Dissertation

Committee Form. 2. The nominee's expertise in the dissertation topic must be detailed. A curriculum vita should be included

if possible. 3. A Special Member need not be employed by The University of Michigan and need not hold an academic

appointment. No person working toward a graduate degree may serve on a committee until all requirements for his or her degree have been met. A great deal of helpful information and printable forms are available at www.rackham.umich.edu/OARD/ Dis-sertationResources.html.

The Function and Constitution of the Dissertation Committee, Continued

You should plan to achieve Candidacy within four years of your first enrollment in your Rackham doctoral pro-gram (the average time is three years) and you will be expected to complete all requirements for your degree within seven years from the date of first enrollment. Rackham students may request an extension as ex-plained below.

One-Year Extension for Childbearing In recognition of the effects that pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions can have upon the time and energy a woman has to devote to her educational responsibili-ties, and thus her ability to work at the pace or level expected to achieve candidacy and/or completion of the degree, a woman who bears one or more children during her period of study shall, upon written request to the relevant department/program chair and the Dean of the Graduate School, be granted an extension of one year to the maximum time limits to degree and candidacy as established in the Rackham Bulletin and Rack-ham Fellowships guidelines. You can either write a memo or use OARD's "Petition for Modification or Waiver of Regulation" form (available on-line) and note that "This form is submitted per Rackham's policy for a one year extension for childbearing." If you use the Modification or Waiver form, a signature from the faculty is not re-quired. If you have any questions, call 647-6341.

One-Year Extension for Dependent Care The demands of caring for dependents (such as children, ill or in-jured partners, or aging parents) may seriously affect the time and energy graduate students have to devote to their educational responsibilities during their period of study. In recognition of the difficulty of combining edu-cational pursuits with such dependent care demands, a graduate student in such circumstances may, upon written request to the relevant department/program chair and the Dean of the Graduate School, be granted an extension of one year to the maximum time limits to degree and candidacy as established in the Rackham Bulletin and Rackham Fellowships guidelines. You can either write a memo or use OARD's "Petition for Modifi-cation or Waiver of Regulation" form (available on-line). You need to note that you are requesting the one year extension for dependent care and explain the specific reasons for your request. The outcome of this petition is decided by the Department or Program Chair with input, as needed, from Rackham. If you have any questions, call 647-6341.

Extension of Time Limits for Other Reasons To seek an extension of the seven-year time limit for other rea-sons, you should submit to OARD a Petition for Waiver of Regulation, available from the OARD website. In this petition you should describe explicitly the amount of work left to be done for your degree and the month and year in which you plan to defend your dissertation. Include with your request a memorandum from your Disser-tation Chair or Graduate Chair indicating strong support for the extension. OARD will then review the petition and notify you and your department or program of the outcome.

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Rackham Policy on Time Limits and Extensions for Candidacy, Completion of Degree, and Eligibility for Rackham Fellowships

Once you have achieved Candidacy, you may elect one "free" course per full term without paying additional tuition. This course may be elected with either a full term or a half term of MCDB 995 enrollment. For the spring/summer term, this means you may elect either one course for spring half or summer half, or one course for the full spring/summer term. These "free" courses may be elected for credit or for a "visit." If you do not elect a "free" course during a term of MCDB 995 enrollment, you may "bank" the "free" course, then select two "free" courses during a subsequent term of MCDB 995 enrollment. A "banked" course must be used con-currently with a MCDB 995 enrollment, and only one course may be "banked" at any given time (i.e., no more than 2 "free" courses can be taken during any given term). Courses may not be elected in anticipation of fu-ture "banking" (i.e., you cannot elect two "free" courses in one term, planning to take none the following term). When you take a "banked" course, you will initially be assessed tuition for that course. This fee will be adjusted after the Registrar's Office reviews your record to ensure that you have met all the requirements for "banking" the free course. With the exception of a "banked" course, if you elect more than one course with MCDB 995 enrollment you will be assessed the appropriate tuition per credit hour for that and any other course. Such courses, taken and paid for, accumulate RFTs. As stipulated in the GEO contract, students with at least a .25 Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) or Graduate Student Staff Assistant (GSSA) appointment receive a full tuition waiver regardless of candidacy status and have no limitation on the number of courses taken in the term of appointment. The appointing department is responsible for the coverage of fees. Students with Graduate Student Research Assistant (GSRA) appoint-ments should check with their appointing department/program about coverage of fees for any additional courses taken. Please Note: "Free" or "banked" courses taken with MCDB 995 do not count toward Rackham Fee Totals.

Augmented Candidacy Enrollment ("Free Course")

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MCDB mailroom is located in Room 1122 Kraus Natural Science Building

Incoming Graduate Student email group: MCDB.incoming.phd@umich.edu

(first year students)

Current Grad Student email group: MCDB.grad.students@umich.edu

University of Michigan Websites: MCDB homepage: http://www.mcdb.lsa.umich.edu/index.php

Campus Information: http://www.umich.edu/~info/

Arts & Entertainment: http://www.arts.umich.edu/

University Health Service: http://www.uhs.umich.edu/

Michigan Daily: http://www.michigandaily.com/

Michigan Radio: http://michiganradio.org/

Ann Arbor Websites: Arbor Web: http://arborweb.com/

City of Ann Arbor: http://www.ci.ann-arbor.mi.us/index.html

Washtenaw County: http://www.ewashtenaw.org/

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