Master of Science M.S. Degree Requirements
Course Requirements
Please refer to Required Courses listing.
Credit Hours
A minimum of 30 credit hours beyond the student's acquisition of a bachelor's degree, in graduate level courses (5000 - 7000) is required. A minimum of 12 credit hours is required in department offered graduate level courses. No more than 6 credit hours of MCB6971 can be attributed toward the 30 hours required.
Study Loads
Students on Graduate or Teaching Assistantships must register for a minimum of 9 credit hours for Fall and Spring semesters. Minimum registration for the Summer is 6 credit hours. (Minimum study load for domestic "part-time" graduate students not on assistantship is three credits during Fall and Spring and two credits for Summer. (International students not on an assistantship must register for the correct number of credits required to assure compliance with the requirements of their visa). Full-time graduate students, not on appointment, must register for 12 credits in the Fall and Spring semesters and 8 in the Summer semester.
Students are also expected to actively participate in seminars and Journal Colloquy every semester irrespective of their registration status in these courses.
Research Plan Presentation
A written research plan must be submitted and orally defended to the individual's Supervisory Committee before the beginning of the second year of study.
Thesis
The candidate is required to prepare a thesis that shows independent investigation in the chosen research field. The style and format of the thesis must adhere strictly with the rules and abbreviations described in "Instruction for Authors" published in the Journal of Bacteriology or other approved journal. At the student's option, reference citations within the text may be in the form of (author and date) rather than the usual reference number format. This will greatly facilitate changes which may be suggested by the student's committee. If there is any conflict, the format, typing and positioning requirements of the Graduate School Guide take precedence over the journal specifications.
A copy of the thesis is to be provided to the department.
Final Oral Examination
The student must present a departmental seminar of the thesis research to be immediately followed by an oral defense administered by the individual supervisory committee.
Changing Degree Program
Students are accepted and admitted into the department for a specific degree program. If a student admitted to the Master's degree program wishes to change to a Doctoral degree program, the student should request the chairman for approval of this change, in writing, with appropriate supporting material. The supporting material should include approval of this change by the major professor, the student's supervisory committee and the Graduate Oversight Committee.
Constraints on Financial Support
Students seeking financial assistance should know that they can normally expect continued financial support from the Department (or from grants) upon satisfactory progress towards fulfilling their degree requirements. However, this continued financial assistance of graduate students is dependent on the availability of funds within the department. Support will be available only for a maximum of seven (7) semesters (including summer term). If the student fails to complete his/her degree requirements by the end of the above described time period, he/she must petition the Graduate Oversight Committee for approval for the continuation of support. It is anticipated that students entering this program with a B.S. degree normally finish their requirements in 2 -2 1/2 years, respectively.