Date:
To:
25 July 2011
PhD mentors for portal students, department chairs, and BSDP Admissions and
Policy Committee
From: Louis J. De Felice, Ph.D.
Chairman, BSDP Admissions and Policy Committee
Re:
Second year curriculum and requirements
Introduction and Rationale: Portal students will have chosen a laboratory and dissertation advisor by the
beginning of their second year in the graduate program. It is important that all involved individuals and
departments be aware of the specific requirements for coursework, committee formation, candidacy
examinations, and grant preparation. Some timelines and course requirements may differ from those already in
practice, but the BSDP Policy Committee felt it important to have a common set of standards for all Portal
students. In addition, it is essential that everyone involved in graduate student education (student, dissertation
advisor, department chair, departmental graduate program director, and dissertation committee) be engaged
and involved in seeing that the guidelines are followed.
1. Formation of the Graduate Advisory Committee
The advisory committee must be established before the second academic year begins. After obtaining the
willingness of each faculty member to serve, the student enters those faculty members in GradTrak which
automatically generates emails to the advisor, graduate program director, and Associate Dean for approvals.
The committee will determine the student’s course work in the second and all subsequent years, with the
approval and advice of the individual department or program in the context of recommended and required
courses, which vary among departments.
The graduate advisory committee consists of the student’s mentor, two faculty members from the home
department, and two faculty members from other departments.
2. Coursework required or highly recommended by the SOM for all PhD students
A.
Scientific Integrity
All students will enroll in a Scientific Integrity course during their second year in the program. Currently,
the existing Scientific Integrity course (MICR 510, one credit, A-F) is the preferred option; however,
additional equivalent courses are available, see below. All courses are one credit. For additional
information see attached chart.
Fall:
Spring:
Summer:
B.
MICR 510 Scientific Integrity (A-F)
CCTR 690 Research Seminar in Clinical & Translational Sciences (S/U/F)
GRAD 691 Responsible Scientific Conduct (P/F)
Scientific Writing (IBMS 670, one credit, S/U/F) – highly recommended
To provide basic instruction on scientific writing style as well as the appropriate content and
organization of a grant proposal, students will attend a series of lectures in the spring semester of their
second year. By the end of these lectures, students will prepare an outline of their grant proposal
(IBMS 680), which will be evaluated and critiqued by the IBMS 670 faculty.
Lecture titles:
Style and Form of Scientific Writing
What Happens Before You Write: Getting Started
Gathering Information: Web-Based Search Strategies
Managing Reference Material and Search Exercises
Grant Writing I: Hypotheses and Specific Aims
Grant Writing II: Background and Significance
Preliminary Data Organization and Presentation
Grant Writing III: Research Design and Methods
Organizing a Good Scientific Presentation
Course requirements: Attendance at all sessions and submission of a grant outline.
Note: These lectures comprise a section of an existing 2-credit course entitled Scientific Writing and
Granstmanship (ANAT 620). Some programs may elect for their students to enroll in ANAT 620
in place of IBMS 670.
C.
Proposal Preparation (IBMS 680, one credit, S/U/F) – highly recommended
The objective of this course is to ensure the timely completion of the grant proposal to meet the
deadline for the oral defense. Students enroll in IBMS 670 and IBMS 680 concurrently.
Course requirements: Satisfactory completion of a preliminary grant proposal by the end of the spring
semester. The advisor may provide input limited to a discussion of the
philosophy of the project. Beyond this, the grant proposal must represent the
student’s unaided efforts.
3. Candidacy Examinations
The format for the candidacy examinations will be determined by individual Departments and Programs.
However, as part of the examination process, all students will prepare an appropriate NIH-style grant proposal,
not to exceed 12 pages, which the student will defend for their oral examination. The oral examination must be
scheduled online through GradTrak.
Programs and departments may allow the grant proposal to satisfy the written component of the candidacy
exam or they may adopt a separate preliminary procedure. In either case, the candidacy exam must be
completed prior to the start of the third year or in the case of MD/PhD students prior to the start of the second
year in the graduate phase.
4. Fellowship submission
All doctoral students are expected to submit a proposal to an appropriate agency for independent extramural
funding. Submission should take place during the calendar year of the qualifying exam. The student’s advisor
will help identify a suitable agency and refine the proposal for submission.
VCU Responsible Conduct of Research Courses and Training Programs
Note: all courses/workshops, include selected readings in Responsible Conduct of Research, have face-toface case discussions with VCU researchers, and cover the following topics: Subjects Protection; Conflicts of
Interest; collaborative research; peer review and publication; data acquisition, management, sharing and
ownership; research misconduct; and, mentoring and mentorship. Any of these courses meet NSF, NIH and
VCU requirements for Responsible Conduct of Research training.
Term
Title
Instructor
Summer
Responsible
Scientific
Conduct
(GRAD 691)
Scientific
Integrity
(MICR 510)
Research
Seminar in
Clinical &
Translational
Sciences
(CCTR 690)
Macrina
Fall
Spring
Macrina
Macrina
Format
1 credit; hybrid with 2 in-class
sessions (total of 4 hours) that
include case discussions;
online portion requires
interactive writing assignments
1 credit; classroom-based
course; meets for 11 class
sessions
1 credit; Hybrid with 2 in-class
sessions (total of 4 hours) that
include case discussions;
online portion requires
interactive writing assignments
Grade
format
Enrollment
40
P/F
A-F
90
S/U/F
120
Meets NSF Requirements http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rcr.jsp
Meets NIH Requirements http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-019.html
Meets VCU Requirements http://www.research.vcu.edu/vpr/resources/rcr.htm