The curriculum is designed to train students who will shape the next generation of discovery in computational biology in academia and industry. Students are required to complete 72 credit hours of academic work toward partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion of dissertation study. Of these, 30+ are formal coursework, and the remaining to be completed with full-time research.
All students are required to take five core graduate courses. The core courses aim at providing a strong common background in computational biology before they specialize in particular research areas
Core Courses
- Machine Learning
- Intro to Computational Structural Biology
- Computational Genomics
- Cellular and Systems Modeling
- Laboratory Methods for Computational Biologists
In addition, all students are required to take five graduate elective courses: a life science/physical science course and an advanced interdisciplinary elective specified for the student’s chosen area of specialization; a quantitative elective from a program-wide menu; and two general electives.
Specialization Areas
- Computational Genomics
- Computational Structural Biology
- Cellular and Systems Modeling
- Bioimage Informatics
For more information on the curriculum, see www.compbio.pitt.edu/curriculum.html.
Other Courses
In addition to core and elective courses, students take complementing courses, if needed, and participate in program seminar, journal clubs, ethics courses and directed studies toward their dissertation projects.
Program Seminar Series
Students enrolled in the program are expected to attend scientific seminars during all years of training. Beginning in their second year and ending in the year before their thesis defense, students present their research progress to fellow students and the faculty on at least an annual basis.
Journal Club
Effective presentation of scientific data is an invaluable aspect of graduate training. Therefore, all first- and second-year students must present a scientific article on a topic (selected by a faculty member) that introduces students to the methodology and applications of computational biology. The talk is made in a format that allows the student to develop basic presentation skills. Students subsequently receive feedback on their talks, thereby improving their presentations skills as their graduate training advances.
Training in Ethics
Ethical conduct and scientific integrity is an essential aspect of research. This is especially important given the competitive nature of funding processes and the high demand for productivity. Hence, the program instructs students on the significance and practice of ethical conduct.
Directed Study
Credits are given for laboratory projects (wet or computer labs) under the direction of the dissertation advisor prior to admission to candidacy for the doctorate.
Scheduling
We anticipate two types of course schedules for students in the program. The default for students who have taken the prerequisites will be to take three courses in each of the first two terms (50-75% time) and spend the remaining time on research. Such students would normally take the core courses in the first year along with one additional course. The third and fourth terms would be split between taking electives and doing research.
Students who enter with some biology or computer science or physical science background but not with sufficient background to take all of the core courses would take a mix of missing prerequisites and core courses in each of the first two terms (approx. 90% time) and spend 10% time on research. These students would then take a mix of remaining core courses and electives in the third and fourth terms (along with 30% research) and finish electives in the fifth and/or sixth terms.
Comprehensive Examination
Students are required to pass a comprehensive examination after completion of their courses, prior to being officially admitted to candidacy to the PhD degree. Students are expected to complete this examination no later than the beginning of the spring term of their third year. The comprehensive examination consists of two parts: a 12-page “grant-style” written proposal of the proposed research, followed by an oral defense of the proposed research.
Post-Comprehensive Qualifying Examination
Students who have been accepted to PhD candidacy conduct research on a full time basis, and are required to complete a minimum of 40 credit hours (9 credits per term) of full-time dissertation study in order to meet the criteria for dissertation defense. Hence, all students will have completed at least 72 credit hours of study prior to graduation, including 29 credit hours of core + elective courses, and at least 40 credit hours of dissertation research.
Completion of Degree
The program is structured in such a way that students can finish their degree within four years of entering their dissertation laboratory. However, it is recognized that the actual time required to attain the degree depends on the specific type of research undertaken and how quickly progress is made in completing the experimental program.
Terminal Masters Degree
The Program does not admit students whose goal is to attain a MS degree. However, it might become necessary for a PhD student to transfer to an MS track for academic reasons or reasons beyond the student’s control, e.g., medical circumstances or a change in family circumstances necessitating a long-distance move.
Training Faculty
The program provides students with cross-disciplinary training in established as well as newly emerging fields of computational biology. Students have access to a community of faculty mentors from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, which not only provides a breadth of research areas for investigation, but also offers the technical and intellectual resources to make rapid progress toward their doctoral degree.
For a list of training faculty, see http://www.compbio.pitt.edu/?page_id=50/
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