Anatomical Sciences & Neurobiology

Students are required to meet the requirements for the Ph.D. degree as described in the current U of L Graduate School Bulletin. The Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology (ASNB) imposes the following additional requirements:

Completion of the nonthesis M.S. degree requirements
Ph.D. students must complete the requirements for the nonthesis M.S. degree, after which they will be considered a Ph.D. candidate.

Annual presentation of research progress
Ph.D. students who have completed their classwork (M.S. and Ph.D. candidates) must present their research accomplishments annually. This presentation should be 30-50 minutes in length, and time and location of the presentation should be formally announced to the department faculty, staff and students at least 1 week prior to the planned presentation.

Teaching requirements
Each Ph.D. candidate must serve as a teaching assistant (T.A.) in at least 1 ASNB core course. The specific course will be chosen by the student and his/her advisory committee.

Dissertation Defense
With the exception of their training in teaching, the Ph.D. candidate will focus exclusively on completing their research projects and writing a dissertation describing the results of their experiments. It is expected that the dissertation should contain data sufficient for approximately three publishable manuscripts. Upon completion of the dissertation, the student will distribute a copy to each Dissertation Committee member. The committee will have two weeks to read the dissertation and give approval to schedule a defense date or recommend changes that must be completed prior to scheduling a defense date. Once the dissertation is approved by the committee, the student will schedule a Dissertation Defense which will consist of an oral presentation to the department (approximately 45 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 dissertation before the committee. Approval by the majority of Dissertation Committee members will signify completion of the Ph.D. degree.