Successfully completing a PhD requires hard work, dedication and paperwork. This timeline and set of resources is meant to help you through this process. It does not supersede any official requirements specified by the UNC Charlotte Graduate School or the Bioinformatics PhD Handbook.
Bioinformatics Handbook: https://cci.charlotte.edu/2023/08/30/bioinformatics/ Graduate School guidelines: https://graduateschool.charlotte.edu/current-students/current-student-resources
Your responsibilities in the first semester of the program are
- Conduct rotation research
- Take courses
- TA for a course
The exact courses you will take depend on when you arrive. The courses you will have to enroll in, regardless are
- BINF 8911 - Research Rotation I
- BINF 8600 - Seminar
- Mentor/Mentee Compact: submitted through Canvas at the beginning of the semester
- Research Rotation Project Poster: presented at the end of the semester
- Research Rotation Project Report: submitted through Canvas at the end of the semester
Your responsibilities in the first semester of the program are
- Conduct rotation research
- Take courses
- TA for a course
The exact courses you will take depend on when you arrive. The courses you will have to enroll in, regardless, are
- BINF 8911 - Research Rotation II
- BINF 8600 - Seminar
- Mentor/Mentee Compact: submitted through Canvas at the beginning of the semester
- Research Rotation Project Poster: presented at the end of the semester
- Research Rotation Project Report: submitted through Canvas at the end of the semester
After the two rotations, you will work with the faculty to officially join a lab.
MILESTONE You must join a lab after your second semester.
The exact courses you will take depend on the electives you would like to take. The courses you will have to enroll in, regardless are
- BINF 8991 - Dissertation Research
- BINF 8600 - Seminar
- Goal Setting: submitted through Canvas at the beginning of the semester & signed by PI and Student
- Self Assessment: submitted through Canvas at the end of the semester & signed by PI and Student
The exact courses you will take depend on the electives you would like to take. The courses you will have to enroll in, regardless are
- BINF 8991 - Dissertation Research
- BINF 8600 - Seminar
- Goal Setting: submitted through Canvas at the beginning of the semester & signed by PI and Student
- Self Assessment: submitted through Canvas at the end of the semester & signed by PI and Student
MILESTONE This milestone must be completed by the end of the 5th semester
The major steps are
- Form your committee
- Submit your QE Committee Form
- Create and share your abstract
- Schedule your written exam
- Schedule your oral exam
- Create a short slide presentation
- Submit the Exam Report of Comprehensive/Qualifying Examination for Doctoral Students
- Form your Dissertation Committee & Submit the form
This committee must consist of only Bioinformatics Department graduate faculty. These faculty must include the following expertise. 1 - Research advisor 2 - Faculty with teaching focus on computational methods (e.g. programming, machine learning, statistics) 3 - Faculty with teaching focus on computational applications (e.g. molecular sequence analysis, structural bioinformatics, genomics) 4 - Faculty of the student’s choice
You should reach out to your potential committee members at least 2-3 months before you aim to take the exam.
Once you have your committee confirmed, you must collect the signatures of all the members on the Qualifying Exam Committee Form via DocuSign and send this to Lauren Slane
This is the one-page description of your current research focus. The faculty crafting questions will use this framework to adapt their question to your proposed research. Therefore, you should think about this as your opportunity to steer the questions in the direction of your expertise.
You should also include a list of the courses you have taken. This provides the faculty with additional context for crafting your questions
Send this to your committee when scheduling your written QE
Do I need a pre-quals meeting with my committee? I will leave this up to you. It is possible to schedule a meeting with the committee where you share your work and we brainstorm potential topics for the written exam. This, however, can delay the timing of your exam as it may be difficult to get everyone in a room at the same time. You may want to speak with your committee members to see if they would like to have a pre-quals meeting.
Your committee members do not need to be present on the date of your written exam. Therefore, you should try to choose a date at least two weeks in advance. The date must be Monday - Thursday (and not a Friday).
Then, email your committee members and ask them to approve the date selected.
Once you have your date, you must e-mail Lauren Slane with the date so she can set up the Canvas site.
After successful completion of your written exam, you will schedule your oral exam. You should schedule two hours for the oral exam.
At the beginning of your oral exam, you will present a few slides on your proposed research. This should be viewed as an opportunity to steer the conversation.
After successful completion of the written and oral QE you will submit this form https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=cd5e88b0-1e33-444f-a743-2bfbffb39324&env=na3&acct=59d75bd1-df03-488d-8312-f568329e13f9&v=2
As you move into dissertation research, you should form your Dissertation Committee as soon as possible. You must have a minimum of four faculty on this committee.
- Three Bioinformatics faculty
- One Graduate School representative who is a tenured faculty member from an outside department
To officially create your committee, you must fill out this form: https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=9724b83d-d6f6-4efe-8aa2-30127fc56435&env=na3&acct=59d75bd1-df03-488d-8312-f568329e13f9&v=2
After you pass your QE, you will have a few semesters to conduct research before you submit your dissertation proposal. During these semesters, you will have the following obligations.
You should have completed the majority of your elective and required courses at this time
- BINF 8991 - Dissertation Research
- BINF 8600 - Seminar
- Meet with your dissertation committee at least once a year
- Goal Setting: submitted through Canvas at the beginning of the semester & signed by PI and Student
- Self Assessment: submitted through Canvas at the end of the semester & signed by PI and Student
MILESTONE This milestone must be completed within two semesters after passing the QE.
The major steps are
- Write your Proposal
- Schedule your Proposal Defense
- Send your Proposal 2 weeks before Proposal Defense
- Create your Proposal Defense Presentation
- Complete Proposal Defense Paperwork
This proposal should be modeled after an NSF or NIH-style grant proposal. You may get feedback on this proposal from your advisor, other students, or committee members. BUT, the work should remain your own.
Schedule your proposal defense for 2-3 hours in person.
The proposal must be sent via email to all committee members 2 weeks prior to the defense.
This will be a summary of your proposal defense. Plan for 15-20 minutes of presentation emphasizing the three potential chapters of your dissertation.
After a successful defense, the proposal defense paperwork must be signed by all members https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=da3e6609-4cd2-49f7-9b03-6895b48f7830&env=na3&acct=59d75bd1-df03-488d-8312-f568329e13f9&v=2
After you pass your QE, you will have a few semesters to conduct research before you submit your dissertation proposal. During these semesters, you will have the following obligations.
You should have completed the majority of your elective and required courses at this time
- BINF 8991 - Dissertation Research OR
- BINF 9800 - For 5th year students and requires an academic petition
- Meet with your dissertation committee at least once a year
- Goal Setting: submitted through Canvas at the beginning of the semester & signed by PI and Student
- Self Assessment: submitted through Canvas at the end of the semester & signed by PI and Student
MILESTONE This milestone must completed within nine (9) calendar years, beginning with the student’s first term in the program
The major steps are
- Attend a Formatting Workshop
- Write your Dissertation
- Schedule your Dissertation Defense
- Apply for Graduation
- Submit Dissertation to iThenticate
- Submit Dissertation defense announcement
- Send Dissertation and iThenticate report to the committee 2 weeks in advance
- Create a Dissertation Defense Presentation
- Defend the Dissertation
- Complete The Final Defense Report for Dissertation on the day of the defense
- Submit signed Dissertation title page.
- Submit your Dissertation
- Complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates
- GRADUATE!
The dissertation has a very specific format, and not adhering to this format will delay graduation. Take a training or watch the youtube videos https://graduateschool.charlotte.edu/current-students/thesis-and-dissertation
Buckle down and write your dissertation
Schedule your dissertation defense for a 3-hour block
The deadline to apply for graduation falls before the deadline for your defense. This deadline is usually within the first six weeks of classes.
You must submit an iThenticate report with your dissertation to your committee. It may take up to 24 hours to get your iThenticate report back
Once you have your date, you must announce the date at least two weeks prior to date of your defense.
You must send your dissertation and iThenticate report to your committee members at least two weeks in advance
Craft your dissertation presentation.
Defend!
Submit the Final Defense Report https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=5f4e1714-f924-4659-bc89-7d68648e9ac0&env=na3&acct=59d75bd1-df03-488d-8312-f568329e13f9&v=2
Submit the DocuSign signed dissertation title page to your college liaison.
Submit your dissertation and pay the fee https://na3.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=c118702d-588b-4fcf-b4a6-0aa0c3c7af67&env=na3&acct=59d75bd1-df03-488d-8312-f568329e13f9&v=2
Complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates https://sed-ncses.org/GradDateRouter.aspx
Hooray!!
Goal is to graduate in Spring 2024
- January - Take the formatting workshop and begin crafting the dissertation
- End January - Start to schedule your defense for before April 9th
- February 13th - Apply for graduation
- March 20th - Submit Dissertation to iThenticate to generate report
- March 24th - Submit Dissertation Defense Announcement
- March 24th - Send Dissertation and iThenticate report to Committee
- April 7th - Defend Dissertation
- April 7th - Submit Final Defense Report
- April 7th - Submit signed Dissertation Title Page
- April 21st - Submit Dissertation
- April 21st - Submit Survey of Earned Doctorates