Yearly Progress Report and Research Review

A yearly progress report (Research Review form) must be submitted to the Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Studies by May 31 of each academic year. Students should plan to meet with their thesis advisory committee and file a Graduate Student Research Review form (see appendix) in the Education office during each academic year. In the first year of studies, the laboratory rotation evaluations will be used to fulfill this requirement (see D.1.).

The required yearly Research Review form must be completed by the student, and submitted to the committee members, at least two days before the annual student committee meeting (pages 1-3). The form will be sent to the student in an electronic format that will allow it to be typed and saved. The last (Section J, page 4, Committee Report) page of the form will be completed at the meeting. The entire completed form will then be approved by the committee members and the student and forwarded by the advisor to all of the committee members, the student and the Graduate Studies Coordinator (Marianne Arcoraci). The Graduate Studies Coordinator will then forward it to Graduate Education and the Program Director.

This annual meeting with the thesis advisory committee should normally be scheduled on the same day as the student's seminar. It is the students’ responsibility to schedule committee meetings. Note that the student seminar schedule is published in August for the entire academic year and committee meetings should be scheduled at that time.

At the end of the annual thesis committee advisory meeting, the thesis advisor, and any non-voting committee members including, e.g., family members of the advisor, will leave the room to give the student an opportunity to meet privately with the remaining members of the thesis committee. This will give the student the opportunity to obtain mentoring from their committee in the absence of the advisor. The thesis committee members will be responsible for following up on any concerns raised by the student during this time. The graduate program director and the Chair of Biochemistry & Biophysics will help to resolve concerns, and if needed, the University Intercessor will be called in to help.

Guidelines for Annual Student Committee Meeting and Research Review

1. The Annual Research Review form should be sent to student's committee members at least two days before annual student committee meeting (in electronic form). Visit the SMD Forms and Tools Website / Academic Support Section to download Annual Evaluation Form.
2. The student committee meeting should be arranged in advance by the student (complete with a reserved room) and should ideally take place within two weeks after the date of the student seminar. Committee meetings often require up to 2 hours.
3. At the committee meeting, the student should be prepared to:
   • summarize the thesis aims and the progress toward those aims
   • discuss and expand on important points of the seminar, as needed
   • discuss results on other aspects of your thesis work
   • discuss, as necessary, the impact of research in other labs on the ongoing work
   • present and discuss experiments planned in the next year in the context of the overall thesis plan
4. Guidelines for PhD Advisory Committee Meetings and a Syllabus for 595 PhD Research can be found in the appendix.
5. Committee meetings will be limited to faculty attendance only.