Expectations for BNR Doctoral Students
A reasonable goal is to complete a Ph.D. degree in four years.
A Ph.D. dissertation generally consists of three separate studies that link together over a common theme. This typically results in at least three papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
The general ideas for your dissertation research should be developed within your first year. Once you and your advisor agree on a plan for your research, your Program of Study for your planned coursework should be submitted GSC for approval at the start of your second year. You will be expected to attend the BNR meeting and to explain your research plans for your dissertation and how your coursework selection was designed to support your research.
During your first two years, you should be working on the first study of your dissertation to determine if your study is technically feasible and working as you predicted. It is a good idea to take Proposal Writing during your first year to write your IRB proposal for your first study (even though Proposal writing is not a required course for Ph.D. students). Ideally, it is best to have your first paper finished before you do your comprehensive exams and advance to candidacy. This is because once you advance to candidacy, the graduate school allows only two years to complete your dissertation. It typically takes a year to get trained in the lab, plan your dissertation and set up for your first study. After that, the data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing take about one year for each of your three papers. Try to take Proposal Writing before your comprehensive exams as this is excellent preparation.
Ideally, it is best to take your comprehensive exams shortly after your second year and after your first study has been submitted for publication. It is beneficial to have a strong understanding of your research field before you take your Comprehensive Exams because you will be asked to write a research proposal in your area of research for your exam. Comprehensive exams take one month, so plan to do this during a time when you won’t have too many distractions.
After you pass your comprehensive exams and advance to candidacy, you will present your dissertation proposal to your dissertation committee for revisions and approval. It is preferable to have the same committee members on your comprehensive exam committee and dissertation committee if possible because they will be familiar with your work. Discuss this with your advisor. There needs to be three faculty members (with at least two from BNR) on your comprehensive exam committee and three BNR faculty members plus one faculty member from outside the Dept. on your dissertation committee.
Think about who your committee members might be during your first two years as you are designing your initial studies and ask for their input early on, especially if your research involves their area of expertise. This way you will be more likely to have your work that was done prior to candidacy accepted as part of your dissertation research proposal.
Once your proposal is approved by your dissertation committee, you typically will not have another formal committee meeting again before your defense. Again, this is why it is very important to be fully ready to complete your dissertation research before your comprehensive exams. If for some reason a major change needs to be made after the committee has approved your proposal, you should request to meet with your committee again before your defense so that there are no surprises and things run smoothly.
It is best to set your defense date for at least a couple of weeks before the graduation deadline in case major revisions are requested. Your dissertation should be given to your committee three to four weeks prior to the defense and to your advisor four weeks prior to giving it to your committee. This process is easiest if you submit your publications as you go and present your dissertation in manuscript format (see graduate school requirements). In the manuscript format, it is best to include an introductory chapter that precedes the three papers and a conclusion chapter at the end that ties everything together. The more that is published prior to your defense the more impressive it will be.