Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology

University of Tennessee, Memphis

A TYPICAL STUDENT'S PROGRAM

The Objective:

Our objective in designing the graduate program of study is to prepare students for becoming leaders in research, whether in academics, industry, government laboratories, or elsewhere. Research is the process through which knowledge is expanded. Its foundation is creative problem solving. Therefore, training in independent research is the single most important element of graduate education at UT Memphis. It is integrated and complemented with a strong curriculum and an extensive seminar program but research is the centerpiece. The program focuses on five areas: molecular biology, genetics, molecular pathogenesis, immunology, and virology. The curriculum has been carefully labored to fill the specific needs of contemporary investigators. This curriculum minimizes the amount of time students spend in the classroom and maximizes what they get out of the time spent. Our goal is an education that is sufficiently broad-based to be flexible and also sufficiently focused and intense to be of superb quality.

The First Year

    In the first year, students lay the broad foundation of knowledge, the data base, upon which they will build their future skills as investigators. Courses emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of current biomedical research. Simultaneously, students begin to acquire research experience through laboratory rotations. Rotations give students an opportunity to interact with faculty considered as potential mentors; they are selected by mutual agreement between the faculty member and student. Students are assigned desk space in their chosen laboratory, providing them with a sense of "place" and identification with the lab group. Students and faculty together work out the content of the rotation. Rotations offer early exposure to independent research and allow students to observe the various experimental approaches used by different investigators.

    From the outset of their first year, students enhance their knowledge and capabilities of analytical thought through excellent seminar programs. Attendance at weekly invited speakers’ seminars is required of all students throughout their graduate training. In addition, all students must attend weekly departmental seminars and graduate student seminars given by fellow students. In the first semester of residence, students participate in a course of oral communication taught jointly by a member of the Department faculty and a communication arts specialist from the Department of Education. Students learn to present themselves well in public, to give articulate seminars, and to assimilate and evaluate material in literature and the seminars of others. From their second semester onward, students present at least one seminar per year. Students are also encouraged to attend journal clubs.

The Oral Qualifying Examination

    When the first year’s curriculum has been completed, course grades and performance in an oral examination are used to determine the student’s progress. At this point, the student chooses an area of specialization, a major professor to direct thesis research, and a faculty committee possessing relevant expertise to provide additional guidance.

Research in the Second Year and Onward

   As important as up-to-date information is to graduate training, a formal scientific education becomes obsolete in less than a decade. Therefore, while teaching what is currently known, the Department is equally concerned with teaching the scientific method -- the way observations are scrutinized and analyzed and how hypotheses are tested. From the second year until graduation, the program focuses on research. Students begin their thesis research and can participate in elective courses designed to broaden their knowledge base as their schedules permit. All students must participate in special topics seminars to sharpen their ability to interpret experimental data rigorously.

The Preliminary Exam - Writing a Grant

    At the end of the second year, prior to admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. program, students must pass a preliminary examination in which a research proposal is written and defended. The written proposal, indicating the research plan to be followed in their Ph.D. dissertation, is prepared in the standard format used by granting agencies. In the oral portion of the exam, the student defends the experimental design and interpretation of expected results before the faculty committee.

Teaching Experience

    Every student will have a very limited amount of teaching scheduled at some point in his or her years of graduate training, regardless of the source of financial support.

Interdisciplinary Programs

    Through a consortium with the University of Memphis, students who develop unusual interdisciplinary approaches to their research may take advantage of a broad range of courses. For example, joint programs in computer science and biomedical engineering are available. For added convenience and economy, the two institutions offer cross-registration.

Combined M.D./Ph.D. Programs

    For students interested in combining careers in research and medicine, the Medical Science Training Program awards the combined M.D./Ph.D. degrees. This program requires acceptance into the College of Medicine as well as the Graduate School of Medical Sciences and generally requires 6 to 7 years to complete. The first two years of the usual medical curriculum are followed by time devoted to completing research for the doctoral dissertation. The student then finishes by fulfilling the clinical requirements of the medical curriculum in the last two years.