Thesis Committee and Program Meeting

The AMP Thesis Committee consists of 4 members of the OSU graduate faculty, at least 2 of whom must be from the Microbiology Program Graduate Faculty.  The committee includes a Graduate Council Representative, who serves as advocate for appropriate process. 

A Program Meeting will be held during the student's first term as a graduate student (year 1 in graduate school). This meeting cannot be held during the senior Undergraduate year.  The Program meeting will cover two aspects:  the proposed coursework (Program of Study) and the proposed research (Thesis Outline).  This meeting will include all members of the committee.  A Program of Study form should be completed during this meeting.

Program of Study (45 graduate credits required; i.e., 500 or 600 level):

  • 12 graduate coursework credits taken as an undergraduate.  For a list of suitable courses, see (link to separate webpage as given below).  These courses should not include the core sequences of 4 courses to be taken the following year (see next point).
  • 12-21 coursework credits consisting of:

a.  The required core sequence of 4 courses (6 credits) to be taken during Year 1 of Graduate School:  MB 511 Scientific Skills, (1 cr, F); MB 512 Highlights of Microbiology, (1 cr, W); MB 513 Microbial Systems, (3 cr, F); GRAD 520, Responsible Conduct of Research (1 cr, all terms and eCampus).

b.  6-15 credits from MB listings or courses relevant to the thesis research offered by other programs IF agreed to by the thesis committee

  • 12 Thesis credits (MB 503):  minimum of 6, maximum of 12 (12 cr recommended).
  • 0-9 "Blanket" credits (XOX course designation excluding Thesis MB 503) from MB 501 Research, MB 505 Reading and Conference, or MB 507 Seminar/Colloquium.
  • Note: 23 of the 45 credits must be graduate stand-alone courses (500/600 level) that are not derived from the 500 component of 400/500 courses.  For example, after the 6 required first year core sequence credits and typical 12 MB 503 thesis credits, 5 further credits must be graduate only. 
  • Note:  Enrollment in MB 501 Research is appropriate before thesis project has been decided.
  • Note: Full time enrollment is 12 credits per term in the academic year and 9 in the summer.  Maximum load permitted is 16 credits.

Thesis Outline

Students must prepare and submit to the thesis committee an outline of the thesis project.  This outline must be sufficiently detailed to enable the thesis committee to evaluate the progress of the student on a yearly basis.

Annual Meeting Requirements

Students are required to meet yearly with their committee to evaluate their progress.  The student and major professor must complete the Annual Graduate Student Progress Report form and return it to the Microbiology Graduate Student Advisor (Dr. Bruce Geller) by the end of December each year. Registration for winter term classes requires departmental approval, which will be given upon receipt of the completed progress report.

Other Requirements

  1. Students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 and will be notified by the Graduate School if their GPA falls below 3.0 for any term.  The cumulative GPA must be at or above 3.0 before the final exam can be taken.  Grades C (=2.0) or below cannot be used as graduate credit.
  2. Candidates do NOT generally serve as a Graduate Teaching Assistant before graduation.

Final Defense

The Graduate Committee will conduct the final examination.  Substitutions may be made if approved by the Program and Graduate School. 

The student must contact members of the committee to arrange the date, time, and place of the defense, and then schedule the exam with the Graduate School not less than two weeks before the examination.  One copy of the pre-text pages of the thesis must be submitted to the Graduate School.  Copies of the thesis should be distributed to all committee members, two weeks prior to the exam.  All members of the graduate committee should be physically present at the required graduate exam (for exceptions, see Remote Participation requirements).

The first part of the exam is the thesis presentation portion and is open to anyone.  After the thesis seminar and open questions, the committee and student will continue in closed session with the oral examination of the thesis work and its relationship to microbiology.

  • The decision on the outcome of the exam will be based on a Scoring Guide rubric.  The committee will use this form to evaluate the student's performance (with specific reference to rubric items) at the conclusion of the defense.
  • It is the responsibility of the student and major professor to provide the Scoring Guide/Rubric Sheet for each graduate committee member and of the major professor to explain its use.  The form will be used in documenting the committee's assessment of the student.  The committee will discuss the student's performance (with specific reference to rubric items) with the student at the conclusion of the defense. 

The major professor will collect completed forms for filing in the Microbiology Office.