Anatomical Sciences & Neurobiology

General Program Requirements

Students should familiarize themselves with the general requirements for the Master's Degree as stated in the current U of L Graduate School Bulletin. Briefly, a minimum of 30 semester hours is required for the Master’s degree of which 15 semester hours must be in courses of the major subject area. At least one-half of the credits counted toward the degree must be of 600 level courses or above. This does not include research credit hours. The Department imposes the following additional requirements:  

Course Requirements
Students will successfully complete two of the following courses within the Department:

In addition, Anatomy Seminar (ASNB 606, 1 credit hr) will be taken for credit each semester prior to candidacy. Additional courses (electives) within the Department or graduate level courses in other departments may be taken to achieve the minimum requirement of 30 credit hours. The student should consult with his/her advisor on the selection of the appropriate electives. The minimum number of hours that must be taken in the fall or spring semester is 9 (6 for summer). The maximum number of hours that may be taken in the fall or spring semester is 12 (or 15 hours if 3 or more are research hours). A maximum of 12 credit hours (including research hours) may be taken in the summer sessions.

Research Hours: Research credit hours may be taken as Laboratory Rotation (ASNB 618, which is graded on a pass/fail basis) prior to choosing a mentor, or Original Investigation (ASNB 619, in which student earn a letter grade), once a mentor is chosen.

After completion of all course work and research hours, students who have not completed the writing of their thesis must maintain candidacy by registering for MAST 600. This registration must be maintained year round (Fall, Spring and Summer) until the degree is awarded. Once a student registers for MAST 600, he/she may not register for additional courses. The statute of limitation for obtaining a Master’s degree is six years maximum.

Original Research
Students will conduct this required research under the direction of a member or associate member of the Departmental faculty (hereafter known as the Thesis Advisor) who is also a member of the Graduate Faculty.  Faculty reserves the right to decline accepting a student.

During the first year of residence, students are required to visit the laboratories of potential Advisors to become acquainted with the faculty and the research opportunities available.  Selection of an Advisor and the initiation of a research project should be concluded prior to the end of the first yearat which time a letter of agreement, signed by both the student and Thesis Advisor, will be filed with the Graduate Program Director.

Students must understand that the thesis Master of Science degree requires more than the completion of a prescribed curriculum of course work. Completion of a Thesis based on original research and its successful oral defense is a requirement for the thesis Master’s degree.  By its nature, original research does not always achieve positive results within a specific period of time.  Therefore, no specific time can be given for the successful completion of this degree. Note that students are advised to complete the majority of their course work in the first year so that adequate time is allotted in the second year to complete their research and thesis.  Specifically, students will be required to engage full-time in research for at least one academic semester plus two summers.

Reading Committee
The composition requirements of, and specific deadlines related to, the Reading Committee appear in the Graduate School Bulletin. Briefly, the Reading Committee is composed of the student’s Advisor and two other professors one of which is from a different department. All three must be members of the graduate faculty.This committee should be established shortly after the student and her/his Advisor agree on a specific research project.  To avoid unnecessary delays the student should regularly consult with her/his Thesis Advisor and committee members concerning the direction and progress of the research project.

Thesis Defense
The M.S. candidate will focus exclusively on completing their research projects and writing a thesis describing the results of their experiments. It is expected that the thesis should contain data sufficient for approximately one publishable manuscript. Upon completion of the thesis, the student will distribute a copy to each committee member. The committee will have two weeks to read the thesis and give approval to schedule a defense date or recommend changes that must be completed prior to scheduling a defense date. Once the thesis is approved by the committee, the student will schedule a Thesis Defense which will consist of an oral presentation to the department (approximately 30 minutes in length) of the research completed during the student’s graduate training. Non-committee members in the audience will then ask questions. The general audience will then be dismissed and the student will defend his/her thesis before the committee. Completion of the M.S. degree will be determined by majority vote of the committee.