Doctoral Degree
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The Doctoral Degree
The doctorate is awarded to candidates who display an in-depth understanding of their area of specialty in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as the ability to make original contributions to the knowledge in that field, as described in the candidate's Ph.D. dissertation. The degree is an affidavit of critical aptitude in scholarship, imaginative enterprise in research, and proficiency in oral and written communication.
Major Requirements
The two key elements to a biochemistry graduate student's education at UCR are the personalized intellectual experience and the breadth of formal course work available. These are achieved by a close student-advisor relationship that begins after the student selects his/her dissertation advisor. Together, the student and the advisor plan how to attack the research problem and devise a coherent series of formal courses to supplement and complement the research experience.
The course requirements in the major consist of in-depth graduate level courses in physical biochemistry, enzymology, molecular biology, and biochemical regulation. In addition to these core courses, there is a unit requirement for course work in special interest areas of biochemistry. In recent years, the advanced offerings have included courses on computer analyses of nucleic acid and protein sequences; molecular evolution; effects of stress on plant metabolism; tutorial in the use of a SPEX spectrofluorometer; recombinant DNA techniques; DNA sequencing methods; biochemical transformations of inorganic metabolites and the mitochondrial genome. These advanced courses are taught by the faculty in their fields of research specialization and by distinguished visiting scientists.
Selection of the Research Advisor
During the first two quarters in residence, first-year students spend two, five week rotations in the laboratory of each research advisor who has vacancies for graduate students. These lab rotations provide an opportunity for the student to become acquainted with the various research projects in the department as well as with the personality and teaching philosophy of each individual laboratory. A description of the research programs of the some 40 faculty members who participate in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program is available. First-year students submit selections of their choices for research advisor to the Graduate Advisor at the end of the second quarter; the Graduate Advisor formulates proposed assignments on the basis of available openings, with the students' first choices receiving the highest priority. The entire faculty approves these assignments.
The Research Advisory Committee
After selecting a research advisor, each student then proposes two additional faculty members who are knowledgeable in the area of the student's thesis project. These two faculty members, together with the research advisor, constitute the student's permanent advisory committee, which usually becomes the dissertation committee when the student is advanced to candidacy. The Research Advisory Committee meets formally on an annual basis to review the student's progress and to offer research advice.
Service as a Teaching Assistant
Every Ph.D. candidate serves a minimum of 2 quarters as a teaching assistant in a general biochemistry lecture and laboratory course. This service is usually completed during the second or third year in the Ph.D. program. All graduate students newly assigned as Teaching Assistants are required to receive training for this position; this training is administered by the Graduate Division's Teaching Assistant Development Program on the Graduate Program's behalf. Each year the outstanding Teaching Assistant in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program is identified and he/she receives the Walton B. Sinclair award (with monetary honorarium).
Qualifying Examination
At the end of the second year of instruction, students take a written comprehensive examination, which covers all areas of basic biochemistry. The written exam is followed in the Fall Quarter by an oral examination which focuses on the student's area of research. The oral qualifying committee is composed of five faculty members, four from within the Graduate Program and one member from an area of the student's interests outside the Program.
Dissertation
The ability to conduct independent investigation is demonstrated by completion of a dissertation in the principal field of study. The student's dissertation committee approves the subject of investigation, reviews the research progress annually and advises the student in the research and writing. Candidates for the Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology are required to defend the thesis research orally before the members of their dissertation committee and to present a general seminar on their research to the Biochemistry Department. Members of the dissertation committee and the Dean of the Graduate Division then must approve the completed dissertation before the final degree is awarded.