2008-2009 Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees

Applicable only to students admitted during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology.

Admission

Master's Degree

Advising

See under Doctoral Degree.

Areas of Study

See under Doctoral Degree.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

The program consists of at least nine courses in graduate standing, of which at least five must be graduate-level (200-series) courses. The remainder may be courses in the 100, 200, or 500 series. No more than two 596 courses (eight units) may be applied toward the nine courses required for the degree; only one 596 course (four units) may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement. Courses graded S/U may be not be applied toward the minimum requirement unless these courses are not offered for a grade. Specific course requirements are established for each student by the guidance committee.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

The departmental written qualifying examination for the Ph.D. degree, or its equivalent as determined by the Graduate Adviser, serves as the comprehensive examination for the M.A. degree.

Thesis Plan

A thesis reporting the results of an original investigation, prepared in accord with University format requirements in UCLA Policies and Procedures for Thesis Dissertation and Filing, available on the Graduate Division website, is presented to and approved by the master's thesis committee of three faculty members. Before beginning work on the thesis, students must obtain approval of the subject and general plan from the faculty members concerned and from the thesis committee.

Time-to-Degree

The department rarely awards the master's degree except in instances where the student is unable to complete the requirements for the doctorate.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

First-year students are advised through the UCLA ACCESS Program and enter the program in the second year following the selection of a research adviser from the department. The departmental Graduate Adviser also is available to assist students with University and departmental requirements. All academic affairs for Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology graduate students are coordinated by the Graduate Adviser, who is assisted by the administrative staff of the Graduate Affairs Office.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Specific fields of emphasis in the department naturally reflect the research foci of the faculty. These include cell biology, molecular biology, genetics and developmental biology, in both plants and animals; and immunology, neurobiology, and molecular evolution.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

The majority of course requirements are completed during the first year of study through the UCLA ACCESS Program:

Fall Quarter: Chemistry and Biochemistry CM253 and Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics CM248

Winter Quarter: Chemistry and Biochemistry M267A-M267B

Spring Quarter: Two 200-level elective courses and Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology M234

During the first twelve months of residence, students rotate for one quarter through three laboratories. This requirement is normally fulfilled during the student's first year in the UCLA ACCESS Program.

Students may elect, in consultation with their dissertation adviser, to take additional graduate courses or seminars in a particular area of specialization. Students should consult the department for details on the course requirements.

All graduate students in the department are required to take the teaching assistant training course, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology 495, and are expected to teach a two quarters during their graduate careers. Further information on the teaching requirement is included below.

Teaching Experience

Two quarters as a teaching assistant is required. In general, students are expected to serve as teaching assistants for one quarter in the second year and for one quarter in the third year.  If students fail to follow this schedule and fall behind in meeting this requirement, the Graduate Adviser may assign them to a course arbitrarily.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

The written qualifying examination must be passed before taking the University Oral Qualifying examination. The written qualifying examination requirement has two components. The first component consists of two written papers generated in connection with selected courses, including seminar courses. These papers are separate from the formal course requirements for these courses, and do not form part of the course grade. It is the responsibility of the student to arrange with the instructor at the beginning of a course to submit such a paper at the end of the course. This version of the written qualifying examination is used by most Ph.D. programs in the molecular life sciences, and the graduate courses taken by molecular life sciences students all offer the written qualifying examination paper option. These papers are written in the form of a mini-research proposal and are graded as Pass, Rewrite, or Fail. If a rewrite is required, specific criticism is supplied by those grading the paper. A minimum of two such papers with a grade of pass are required. Copies of each paper, with the comments of graders, become part of the student's file. The second component consists of formal constitution of the student's doctoral committee, as well as submission and subsequent presentation of a written proposal of the dissertation research at the first doctoral committee meeting. Students are expected to complete both components of the written qualifying examination by June of the second year of graduate study.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination, to be taken by January of the third year in residence, is composed of two sections: presentation of an independent research proposal, and testing of general knowledge of advanced biology. The examinations are administered by the doctoral committee. Detailed instructions and suggestions are given in the MCDB Ph.D. Handbook .

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

Students are expected to complete the University Oral Qualifying Examination and advance to candidacy no later than the end of Fall Quarter of the third year in residence. Failure to attain candidacy status at this time without a specific exception granted by the chair of the departmental Graduate Committee will be grounds for the recommendation of termination of the student's graduate study. The normative time for the Ph.D. degree is sixteen quarters.

First year

Students complete ACCESS curriculum.

Second year

Students select a research mentor from the departmental faculty.

Students do dissertation research.

Students complete the departmental written qualifying examination, which consists of preparation of one mini-proposal, constitution of a doctoral committee, and a first meeting with the doctoral committee.

Third year

Students complete the University Oral Qualifying Examination, before January 1.

Students do dissertation research.

Fourth year

Students complete the midstream seminar. The seminar is meant to occur halfway between the Oral Qualifying Examination and the final oral examination (defense of the dissertation). Students who are in the program longer than five years must meet with their committee once each year. The midstream seminar must take place before the beginning of the fifth year of doctoral study.

Fifth Year

Students complete dissertation research.

Students complete the final oral examination (defense of the dissertation).

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for termination for unsatisfactory performance as determined by the advisory committee, failure to pass all areas of the departmental written qualifying examination, failure to pass the master's comprehensive examination, failure to maintain a provisional or personal adviser (Ph.D. students) or failure to complete the master's degree within six terms, or failure to complete the doctoral dissertation within eighteen terms of academic residence (see Time-to-Degree). A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the appropriate subgroup or the departmental chair.

Program Requirements

Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology