Chemical Biology, Ph.D.

Requirements

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree must complete the CHBY *700 course if this course was not completed at the M.Sc. level. There are no other formal course requirements. All Ph.D. students must also enroll in either the CHBY *701 or CHBY *702 colloquium course. The supervisory committee has the right to assign other courses if these are deemed necessary, and this will be done in consultation with the student’s research supervisor, supervisory committee, and/or the Program Director. Such courses and/or modules may be selected from any other the participating departments. The candidate will be required to participate in the Chemical Biology seminar program. Every candidate must pass a Comprehensive Examination, normally taken between 18 and 20 months after beginning Ph.D. work at McMaster. The Comprehensive Examination will consist of a seminar and oral defence. Candidates must present a thesis which will embody results of original research and give evidence of high scholarship. The candidate will be required to defend the thesis in a final oral examination.

Chemical Biology Program Colloquia and Seminars

All graduate students are expected to attend all program colloquia and seminars. M.Sc. students must register in one of the Chemical Biology Graduate Colloquium courses: CHBY *701 or CHBY *702. CHBY *701 is a non-credit course requiring students to present a seminar without an associated review, while CHBY *702 is a credit course (one half of a full course credit) involving both a seminar and an associated review.

Students enrolled in CHBY *701 will be given a PASS or FAIL grade for their colloquia. In cases involving a FAIL grade, students must repeat the colloquia, and in some cases extra work may be assigned to cover areas of weakness. CHBY *702 will be graded using the standard lettergrade format.

Students entering the Ph.D. program with an external M.Sc. degree must present one seminar during their second year of study (CHBY *701) and a second seminar at the time of the thesis defence. Ph.D. students who transfer from the M.Sc. program are required to take a total of two seminar courses (one prior to transfer and one at the time of their defence), but may take CHBY *702 only once.