Biomolecular Sciences
			Description Degree Offered Admission Doctor of Philosophy in Biomolecular Sciences Contact Info

Description

The biomolecular sciences Ph.D. program is an interdisciplinary program supported by the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Health and Public Affairs. The four participating units include the Molecular Biology and Microbiology Department, Biology Department, Chemistry Department, and the Biomolecular Science Center. The program provides doctoral education and training at the interface between the biological and physical sciences. This training produces scientists who are not only capable of doing independent research, but who can also work as part of interdisciplinary teams to solve important problems in the biomolecular sciences.

Degrees Offered

Doctor of Philosophy in Biomolecular Sciences

Admission

For information on general UCF graduate admissions requirements that apply to all prospective students, please visit the Graduate Catalog. Applicants are encouraged to apply online. Please be sure to submit all requested material by the established deadline(s).

Students entering the graduate program with regular status are normally expected to have completed course work generally required for a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, molecular biology, or microbiology.

In addition to the general admission requirements, applicants must provide:

• Official score of at least 1100 (combined) on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which must have been taken within the last five years
• Official transcripts showing a bachelor’s degree and all courses taken for that degree, and any post-baccalaureate education or degree. GPA should be 3.0 or higher.
• Three letters of recommendation
• Statement of research interest and purpose, including a summary of relevant work or research experience
• Resume
• For applicants from countries where English is not the official language, or for an applicant whose bachelor’s degree is not from an accredited U.S. institution, an official score of at least 220 (computer-based test; or equivalent score on the paper-based test) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required.

A personal or telephone interview will also take place whenever possible. Admission is based on an overall assessment of qualifications documented in credentials submitted and the interview. All admissions to graduate status are competitive and based on availability of faculty for sponsoring research.

Application Due Dates

All students applying for fellowships or assistantships must apply by the Fall Priority deadline date.

U.S. Applicants

	Program(s)		Fall Priority		Fall		Spring		Summer
	Doctor of Philosophy in Biomolecular Sciences  Feb 1  Feb 1

International Applicants

	Program(s)		Fall Priority		Fall		Spring		Summer
	Doctor of Philosophy in Biomolecular Sciences  Feb 1  Feb 1

Doctor of Philosophy in Biomolecular Sciences—Minimum 72 Credit Hours

The program is composed of 19 credit hours of required core courses, a minimum of 12 credit hours of electives, a minimum of 15 credit hours of dissertation research, and the balance of required credit hours in additional electives and doctoral research.

Programmatic deficiencies expected of applicants from diverse settings will be addressed early in the program by completion of appropriate course work. No more than six semester credit hours of 4000-level courses may be taken for credit. Students entering with a master’s degree may request that up to 30 semester credit hours of previous course work be accepted toward the requirements for this degree, subject to the approval of the dissertation committee. Students may register for doctoral research until they have been admitted to candidacy, after which they must register for dissertation research.

All entering students who are adequately prepared first take a two-semester interdisciplinary core course to provide an introduction to the interdisciplinary area of biomolecular sciences. In addition, a laboratory rotation will allow students to have a brief but intensive experience working in at least three different faculty members’ research laboratories in order to find a research area of interest for their dissertation. Finally, a sequence of required seminars will immerse students in the literature of the fields and introduce them to the conceptual and technical frameworks in which they will work.

Core Courses—19 Credit Hours

• IDS 7691C Structure-Function-Relationships of Biomolecules I (5 credit hours)
• IDS 7693C Structure-Function-Relationships of Biomolecules II (5 credit hours)
• IDS 7692L Experiments in Biomolecular Sciences (lab ) (3 credit hours)
• IDS 7939L Experiments in Biomolecular Sciences (lab) (1 credit hour)
• IDS 7690 Frontiers in Biomolecular Sciences (four semesters, 1 credit hour each semester)
• MCB 6908 Practice of Biomolecular Science (1 credit hour)

Elective Courses—12 Credit Hours

By the completion of 24 credit hours students must choose a dissertation adviser and establish a program of study. Students are required to complete a minimum of 12 credit hours of electives that will give them the needed background in their area of emphasis. In addition to the electives taken from the list below, the dissertation committee may require the candidate to take any graduate course taught at UCF, if deemed appropriate for the candidate’s area of emphasis.

• CHM 5305 Applied Biological Chemistry (3 credit hours)
• CHM 5450 Polymer Chemistry (3 credit hours)
• CHM 5451C Techniques in Polymer Science (3 credit hours)
• CHS 6251 Applied Organic Synthesis (2 credit hours)
• CHS 6535 Forensic Analysis of Biological Materials (2 credit hours)
• CHS 6535L Forensic Analysis of Biological Materials (3 credit hours)
• CHS 6536 Forensic Analysis of DNA Data (2 credit hours)
• MCB 5205 Infectious Processes (3 credit hours)
• MCB 5225 Molecular Biology of Disease (3 credit hours)
• MCB 5505 Molecular Virology (3 credit hours)
• MCB 5527 Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (3 credit hours)
• MCB 5654 Applied Microbiology (3 credit hours)
• MCB 6226 Molecular Diagnostics (3 credit hours)
• MCB 6407C Laboratory Methods in Molecular Biology (5 credit hours)
• MCB 6417C Microbial Metabolism (3 credit hours)
• MCB 6938 ST: Plant Molecular Biology (3 credit hours)
• PCB 5107C Advanced Cell Biology (4 credit hours)
• PCB 5239 Tumor Biology (3 credit hours)
• PCB 5256C Advanced Developmental Biology (4 credit hours)
• PCB 5665C Human Genetics (4 credit hours)
• PCB 5677 Molecular Evolution (3 credit hours)
• PCB 6585C Advanced Genetics (4 credit hours)
• PCB 6596 Bioinformation and Genomics (3 credit hours)
• PCB 6595 Regulation of Gene Expression (3 credit hours)

Enrollment Requirements

All students receiving assistantships must enroll for nine credit hours in fall and spring and six credit hours in summer before being admitted to candidacy. Students may enroll in dissertation research only after passing the candidacy exam. Once students have been admitted to candidacy and completed all course requirements, they must enroll for at least three credit hours of dissertation research each semester until graduation.

Cumulative/Qualifying Examinations

Cumulative examinations will determine if students should continue with their doctoral studies. Eight exams will be given by program faculty memebers during the second year. Each exam will consist of two questions set by two different faculty members. One will deal with interpretation of data from the literature and the other will require the design of experiments to test a hypothesis. All program faculty members will have an opportunity to evaluate the answers and determine whether the performance is satsifactory. A student must satisfactorily answer eight cumulative questions out of sixteen to be eligible to continue in the Ph.D. exam.

Candidacy Examination

Candidacy to the degree will consist of writing and orally defending a proposal outlining a novel research idea (outside the research area of the thesis) to the advisory committee and program faculty. This ten-page proposal, which will be done in an NIH format, will be developed and written independently by the student and approved by the advisory committee. After passing the candidacy examination, the student can register for dissertation hours.

Dissertation Defense

The dissertation must consist of at least two manuscripts already published, accepted, or ready for publication in a mainstream journal in the field. In case of manuscripts not yet subjected to peer review by the journal, the dissertation committee will determine whether the manuscript meets the standards for publication in a mainstream journal. For more information, see the General Guidelines for Alternative Organization in the Thesis and Dissertation Manual.

Upon completion and approval of the doctoral dissertation by all appropriate faculty and university offices, the student will make a formal presentation of the research findings in seminar format to the dissertation committee and other university faculty and students who may wish to attend. The candidate will answer questions about the subject matter presented and defend the conclusions drawn. The dissertation committee will determine whether or not the candidate has passed this last assessment.

Financial Support

Students accepted in the program are eligible for graduate assistantships, graduate teaching assistantships, and graduate research assistantships. Stipends are currently $18,500 per year. Tuition waivers are provided to all students. Exceptionally qualified students become eligible for university enhancement awards. For more information, see Financing Grad School, which describes the types of financial assistance available at UCF and provides general guidance in planning your graduate finances. The Financial Information section of the Graduate Catalog is another key resource.

Key points about financial support:

• If you’re interested in financial assistance, you’re strongly encouraged to apply for admission early. A complete application for admission, including all supporting documents, must be received by the priority date listed for your program under "Admissions."
• You must be admitted to a graduate program before the university can consider awarding financial assistance to you.
• If you want to be considered for loans and other need-based financial assistance, review the UCF Student Financial Assistance website at http://finaid.ucf.edu and complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form, which is available online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov. Apply early and allow up to six weeks for the FAFSA form to be processed.
• UCF Graduate Studies awards university graduate fellowships, with most decisions based on nominations from the colleges and programs. All admitted graduate students are automatically considered in this nomination process. To be eligible for a fellowship, students must be accepted as a graduate student in a degree program and be enrolled full-time. To receive need-based fellowship awards, the student must have demonstrated need as determined by FAFSA. Merit fellowship awards are not affected by FAFSA determination of need.
• Please note that select fellowships do require students to fill out a fellowship application (either a university fellowship application, an external fellowship application, or a college or school fellowship application).
• For information on assistantships (including teaching, research, and general graduate assistantships) or tuition support, contact the graduate program coordinator of your major.

Contact Info

Antonis Zervos, Ph.D. , Associate Professor
Phone Number: 407-823-4677
biomoldoc@mail.ucf.edu