Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, PhD

General Guidelines and Requirements for PhD Degree

• A temporary committee: graduate chair appoints a temporary committee for each PhD student. The committee comprises the student’s supervisor (major advisor), graduate chair, and a faculty member. The committee advises on course work and other academic and research related matters.
• Course work. Students with a previous master’s degree in the biosciences are required to take a minimum of three credits of 400-level (excluding MBBE 499 ) and nine credits of 600-level (excluding MBBE 699 ) courses from the list of approved courses. Students without a master’s degree are required to take an additional two courses (three credits each of 400 and 600-level). The courses must be pre-approved by the major advisor and Graduate Chair. A minimum of 12 credits of MBBE 699 - Directed Research  and one credit of MBBE 800  are also required of all students. MBBE 800  is taken preferably in the final semester. Graduate students are encouraged to take one credit seminar (610 or equivalent) each academic year. They require at least two seminar credits for PhD degree. The dissertation proposal or defense seminar cannot be used to meet this requirement.
• Two-page proposal. Students need to discuss with their major advisors about their research projects and write a two-page proposal. The proposal must be submitted to the graduate chair within the first semester. The proposal should have the following sections: (i) Introduction (background and justification), objectives, and approach. If the scope and objectives of the project are changed or modified later, the temporary committee should be informed and a copy of the revised proposal should be submitted to the graduate chair.
• Qualifying exam: PhD students have to take a qualifying exam within the first, second, or third semester. As a part of this exam, students are asked to write a manuscript from the results obtained within the first one or two semesters.
• Permanent committee: After completing the qualifying exam, a PhD student can form a permanent committee in consultation with his supervisor and the graduate chair. This committee will consist of five faculty members, four of which are MBBE faculty or affiliated cooperating faculty. A fifth member must be from outside the MBBE department, but the member can be an affiliated faculty. It is imperative that the PhD student consults Graduate Division website to determine if the fifth committee member is an eligible external member; failure to do so may invalidate decisions made by the committee.
• Symposium: Students are encouraged to make a poster presentation in any research symposium organized at UH Mānoa in the first year. These include Tester Symposium, Microbiology Symposium, and BioMed Symposium. They must make a presentation in the second year and should continue to make presentations in subsequent years until graduation.
• Other presentations: Students are encouraged to make oral and poster presentations in other national and international conferences. A number of travel scholarships are available from the Graduate Student Organizations. Often the supervisors provide funds for student travel.
• The first manuscript: Students should try to complete the manuscript that was started as a part of the qualifying exam and get it published as soon as possible.
• Committee meetings: Students should meet at least once a year with the committee.
• Proposal seminar: Frequent discussions are encouraged between the student and the major advisor about the progress and direction of research. When a student and the major advisor both agree that the project is going well and there are some good data, the student may be allowed to write a full proposal and then present a proposal seminar. All graduate faculty and students are invited to the proposal seminars. A proposal seminar must not be delayed beyond three years. If it is delayed beyond three years, the graduate chair will discuss with the committee and consider transferring the student to the MS program.
• Revision of dissertation proposal. Sometimes, a project may not go as expected and run into unexpected problems. Under such a situation, the project may have to take a new direction and some of the objectives may have to be modified. The student should invite a committee meeting and present a revised proposal.
• Comprehensive exam: It is an oral exam given by the committee and the graduate chair. The graduate chair or a representative appointed by him serves as the moderator for the exam. The committee will ensure that the student has learnt molecular biosciences or bioengineering and mastered the subject well. The comprehensive exam must not be delayed beyond three years. If it is delayed beyond three years, the graduate chair will discuss with the committee and consider transferring the student to MS program.
• Review of literature: Students are encouraged to conduct an extensive literature review related to his or her research subject. He or she should discuss with his or her supervisor about the main focus of the “review of literature” chapter of his or her dissertation. This must be completed and forwarded to the committee within the first three years.
• Publications: Publications are essential requirements of a PhD degree in MBBE. Students are encouraged to publish several papers in refereed journals. There must be at least one publication as the first author in a standard refereed journal. Only under an exceptional situation, where research subject is very problematic, and the supervisor assures and convinces the committee and the graduate chair that a publication is forthcoming, a student may be considered for graduation without a publication on the day of defense.
• Submission of dissertation to the committee: Students are encouraged to write and submit the ‘Review of Literature’ chapter to the committee well in advance, preferably one year before submitting the complete dissertation. They can also write the chapters ‘Introduction’ and ‘Materials and Method’ in advance. All chapters of the dissertation must be first submitted to and corrected by the major advisor before submitting to the rest of the committee. The committee members may refuse to read the chapters if these were not previously read, corrected, and approved by the major advisor. Graduate Division has a published set of guidelines required by the university. Formatting and the contents of the manuscript must satisfy these requirements, or the dissertation will not be accepted by the university.
• Final dissertation defense: The final dissertation defense seminar is perhaps the most important event for PhD. Therefore, a student must prepare well for this presentation. A student must get approval of the major advisor and the committee for presenting a defense seminar. Graduate Division must be notified in advance by the student through the graduate chair about the date, time, and place of dissertation defense. Graduate faculty and students must be invited to the defense seminar.

List of Approved Courses for MBBE Graduate Students