Third and Fourth Year






TEACHING  

Teaching assistantships in Biophysics for students beyond the second year will be assigned by Dr. Karen Fleming (Karen.fleming@jhu.edu).  Evaluations will be made by individual course instructors.  Additional teaching opportunities are available for students beyond their 2nd year.
These teaching assistantships for Biology courses are assigned by Cindy Holstein.

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ANNUAL THESIS REVIEWS
In the second year of study and beyond, all students in the CMDB program are required to have an annual Thesis Committee meeting. A student’s review for a particular academic year must be completed by August 31st. No exceptions to this requirement will be made unless the student has a SCHEDULED thesis defense date. Students are responsible for setting up the meetings of the committees, which should be held on the Homewood Campus. If a student fails to meet this requirement, stipend and tuition support will not be provided for the upcoming semester and a student may be terminated from the program.  Before having the annual review, please obtain the appropriate form from the Academic Program Coordinator (see the Appendix for sample forms). 
 
Thesis Committee
After a student has chosen a laboratory for thesis research and has passed the GBO exam, he/she, in consultation with the research advisor, will select a minimum of two additional faculty members to serve on the Thesis Committee.  Often, these two faculty members were also on the student’s GBO committee, but this is not required.  There are no requirements for inside and outside members of the thesis committee, and the members can be from the same or different departments as the thesis advisor. Approval of the students’ advisor and the Graduate Program Director(s) is required for a student to change the members of their Thesis Review Committee.
 
3rd and 4th Years: Thesis Committee Meeting
In subsequent years, the student’s annual committee meeting is usually coupled with the student’s progress report which provides a convenient forum for updating the thesis committee on the thesis research. The student should prepare a short (~2-3 pg.) summary of the progress to date and plans for the coming year, and distribute this summary to the committee members one week before the thesis committee meeting (along with the Student Self-Assessment, below). The thesis committee is expected to evaluate the student’s general knowledge and progress on their thesis research, as well as to offer both general and specific advice on the current research (see Annual Review Evaluation form). 
 
Self-Assessment
To gain feedback regarding scientific and career development, students will complete a self-assessment form prior to each committee meeting. Copies of the completed form should be distributed to committee members prior to the meeting. This self-assessment will be discussed at the committee meeting. Faculty will not sign off on a sucessfully completed meeting unless the self-assessment form has been completed and discussed.


PROGRESS REPORT

Every graduate student in their third year of study and beyond must present a progress report of their research during the academic year. No exceptions to this requirement will be made unless the student has a SCHEDULED thesis defense date. This series was organized to provide students and post-docs with an opportunity to present their results and to promote interaction between laboratories.  Graduate students (beyond the second year) and postdoctoral fellows from all labs will give talks (25 minute talk and 5 minute question period) based on their work.  Graduate students are encouraged to utilize this talk as a preliminary presentation for their Annual Thesis Review.  The progress reports are held on Tuesdays at 12:00 PM in Mudd 100.  Each summer, the Progress Report Coordinator will schedule the talks for the next academic year in conjunction with the research advisors. As with the annual thesis review, failure to participate in the progress reports by August 31 of each year will result in a termination of stipend and tuition support. 

PARTICIPATION IN CMDB AND DEPARTMENTAL EVENTS
 
A number of academic activities occur on a regular basis that constitute a large portion of the training experience in the CMDB Graduate Program.  Progress Reports, departmental seminars and Colloquia present opportunities for one’s horizons to be broadened and to be exposed to a wide array of subjects and experimental approaches.  As a significant adjunct to individual thesis training, student attendance at these activities is mandatory. In addition, individual
labs or groups of investigators with shared interests also have group meetings, journal clubs and other intellectual activities in which a student is expected to participate.
 
Progress Reports are held in Mudd 100 each Tuesday at noon and involve research talks from students in the CMDB program and postdoctoral fellows in the Biology Department. All CMDB students are required to present a Progress Report each year after their second year (see below).  Students are expected to regularly attend the Progress Report talks. 
 
Seminars. The Biology Department (Thursdays at 4PM), Biophysics Department (Mondays at 12PM), Chemistry Department (Wednesdays at 4PM) and Carnegie Institution (Mondays at 12:15PM) each sponsor seminar series which include talks by visitors from other universities.
Attendance at seminars is strongly encouraged, and attending at least one seminar per week is required. Notices concerning seminars in other departments are located on the bulletin board across from Mudd 100 and on each department’s web pages.  The schedule can be found on the Biology Department website at http://www.bio.jhu.edu/ or a Hopkins-wide seminar listing can be found at http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/scical/.
 
Biology Colloquia are held once a month during the academic year. This series involves members of the CMDB Training Faculty. These talks commence at 4:30PM on the first Wednesday of each month (with a few exceptions) and attendance by CMDB students is required. 
 
CMDB Program Retreat. During the Fall semester, there is a retreat for all CMDB students along with faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates from the Biology Department, and training faculty from Carnegie, Chemistry, and Biophysics. During the retreat, members of the Training Faculty will present short talks about the research that is currently being conducted in their laboratories.  Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows also present their work at a poster session. In addition to the stimulating science, the retreat offers a chance for CMDB students to become acquainted with training faculty and other members of our scientific community in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. CMDB students are expected to attend and participate in the retreat during each of their years in the program.



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EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF GRADUATE STUDENTS
At the end of each academic year, the Program Director of the training program will convene the entire Training Faculty to discuss the progress of all graduate students. For first year students, performance in laboratory rotations and the students' coursework record will be evaluated after the first semester by the Program Director, and at the end of the first year by the Training Faculty. As discussed above, any student who receives two grades of C+ or worse during the first year, who has a combined GPA less than 3.0, or who fails to otherwise meet the conditions of a probation, may be subject to dismissal from the program. The performance of students in the second year and beyond will also be reviewed by the CMDB Program Director and the training faculty. Close attention will be paid to the outcome of the annual thesis reviews, as well as to the completion of other degree requirements (above).  Students failing to make adequate progress toward the Ph.D. degree will be placed on probation and may be subject to dismissal from the program.  Students entering the sixth year or greater of
graduate study must present a plan for completion of study, and obtain permission to continue in the program signed by the Program Director, in order to register.