After successful completion of the departmental Preliminary Examination, all PhD and PharmD/PhD students must submit and orally defend a written Research proposal outlining their proposed dissertation research.

Students should register for PHC 511 Research Proposal in the Spring semester following completion of the Preliminary Examination. If the preliminary examination is written in January, they should use time in Spring semester following the completion of the Preliminary Examination to develop their research ideas and to write the proposal. If the preliminary examination is written in June, they should use time in the Fall semester following the completion of the Preliminary Examination to develop their research ideas and to write the proposal.

The deadline for submission of the Research Proposal  to the Dissertation Committee write-up is June/January 15. The deadline for the oral defense of the Research Proposal is August/March 1st.

Written approval from the Director of Graduate Studies is required if the dates have to be altered because of scheduling conflicts for the committee members.

Failure to meet the submission and defense deadlines will result in a grade of “F” for the proposal.

The research proposal should be written in the format of a National Institutes of Health R01 grant. The most current formatting guidelines should be used. The page limits, line spacing, font size, headings of the different sections should be similar to those currently recommended for National Institutes of Health R01 grants. The instructions and forms can be obtained from the National Institutes of Health site. At this time the link is http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html

The proposal should be submitted to the student’s PhD Dissertation Committee members along with copies of the three most pertinent articles cited in the proposal. The student will defend the proposal orally before the Dissertation Committee. Normally, the defense will consist of a 10-15 minute presentation by the student followed by questions by the Dissertation Committee members.

The advisor’s role in the preparation of the written document is limited to an examination of the Specific Aims proposed by the student. Students should not have access to any written grant proposal of the advisor relevant to the subject matter. The evaluation of the proposed Specific Aims should assess feasibility of the proposed aims, which should occur prior to the actual writing by the student. The advisor should not edit, review or make suggestions for document revision prior to document distribution to all committee members. Additionally, the advisor should give the thesis committee an indication of any other contribution the advisor has made to the thesis proposal.

The Research Proposal will be graded  by letter grade by the Dissertation Committee, based on the content and scientific merit of the written proposal and the student’s ability to orally defend any criticisms and answer the questions posed concerning the proposal and related areas. Each member of the thesis committee is encouraged to prepare a written evaluation of the student’s document and oral defense and distribute it to the student. If the committee requires certain revisions or additions, a written notice shall be transmitted by the Chair of the Dissertation Committee to the student detailing the revisions/additions and the timeframe for submission.

A letter grade will be given by the Dissertation Committee, with the passing grade set at B-, although certain revisions/additions may be required, as specified earlier.

A student who fails the proposal (i.e., with a grade of C+ or below) is required to re-submit the entire proposal within 60 days, and to schedule an oral defense within 30 days thereafter. The Director of Graduate Studies/designate, in consultation with the student, will appoint two additional Department faculty members to serve on the committee. These two additional committee members shall not participate in questioning the student in the defense, but shall participate in the grading process. The grade for this examination must be either a “Pass” or a “Fail” (i.e., no conditional passes). Failure in this second proposal defense automatically terminates the student in the PhD program, and removal of assistantship.