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Ph.D. PROGRAM
The Doctor of Philosophy degree requires 24 graded credits of course work past the bachelor’s degree (including any completed during a Master’s program), plus two Elective Educational Experiences (see below). Students who enter the program already holding a Master’s degree in an engineering discipline from a school other than the University of Virginia must take the core BME courses, completing at least 12 credit hours of graduate level coursework. Students are required to complete an Individual Development Plan (IDP) form annually with their advisors.
Teaching is an integral part of graduate training in Biomedical Engineering. All Ph.D. students must participate 2 BME teaching assistantships in BME undergraduate or graduate courses as part of the academic requirement for the degree, regardless of their source of funding for the stipend or fellowship. MSTP students are required to complete 1 unit of TA. The teaching experience will normally be performed in the second and third years of doctoral study and include one lab-based course and one lecture-based course.
Elective Educational Experiences (EEEs) are intended to encourage students to begin the process of life-long learning essential to a career in Biomedical Engineering. EEEs are intended to cover new material and areas of study that the student has not already covered in previous coursework or research experience or to provide the student with additional depth in a particular area. Two EEEs are required for Ph.D. students, except for MSTP students who require completion of 1. An appropriate EEE is expected to involve roughly the time commitment of a typical graduate course. They must be proposed and approved of by the committee prior to the experience. Possible examples include:
- Taking an additional graduate course beyond the normal course requirements
- Taking an intensive 2-week “short course” to learn a series of specialized techniques
- Completing a summer internship at a biotechnology company.
MSTP (MD/Ph.D.) Students will have medical school physiology courses accepted in lieu of BME 6101. These courses may not have to be replaced with additional credits. MSTP students need to complete at least 18 graded credits, but also need to comply with the SEAS 24 credit requirement for Ph.D. This may be fulfilled with up to 6 graded credits of Independent Research. An EEE with a focus on developing computer programming skills should be completed before the end of the first semester after transitioning to the Ph.D. program if the student does not have sufficient programming experience to succeed in the core graduate BME curriculum. See the graduate program coordinator for details. MSTP students are only required to complete one TAship.
Ph.D. Dissertation Committee
Ph.D. students should begin to arrange for the appointment of a Ph.D. Dissertation Committee in consultation with their Ph.D. advisor and with their Ph.D. advisor’s approval within the first year, and be finalized by July 1st after the second semester in the BME Ph.D. program. Students should consult “Ph.D. Advisory Committee” in the School of Engineering and Applied Science—Academic Rules section of the Record for rules governing thesis committees. All faculty with a primary appointment in BME are considered School of Engineering faculty for this committee. One faculty member from the School of Medicine may substitute for one School of Engineering faculty. Committee chairs must have at least a 25% BME appointment OR have previously served on BME PhD committees of three students through the entirety of the degree process (qualification exam, proposal defense, and dissertation defense). The committee chair may not be the student’s advisor. Two members of the final committee must have 50% or more appointment within BME and may be either faculty or research physicians. One member of the committee must be a UVA faculty or physician who is external to BME with zero percent (0%) appointment in BME. The Dissertation Committee may grow as the student progresses through their Ph.D. career.
Ph.D. Plan of Study
The Ph.D. Plan of Study must be submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator no later than the end of the summer after second semester of doctoral study and is expected by May 1st of the year the student plans to complete the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam.
Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
The Ph.D. Qualifying Exam is an oral exam lasting approximately three hours, which is administered by the student’s Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee. All students should take the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination before the end of the summer after the fourth semester of graduate study (i.e. after their 2nd year). Students may elect to take the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam as early as after the second semester in the Ph.D. program (i.e. after their 1st year). Delayed examination is subject to the approval of the student’s Ph.D. Dissertation Committee. Passage of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam is required to continue the Ph.D. program. At least three (3) members of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee must be present for the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam, but may include more than three members.
At least two of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee members must be primary BME faculty.
Committee chairs must have at least a 25% BME appointment OR have previously served on BME PhD committees of three students through the entirety of the degree process (qualification exam, proposal defense, and dissertation defense). The committee chair may not be the student’s advisor.
If the student’s Ph.D. advisor is BME primary faculty, they may serve as one of the BME faculty members on the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee.
If the Ph.D. advisor is not primary BME faculty, the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee still needs to have at least two primary BME faculty on it.
All members of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee may be primary BME faculty.
The Chair of the committee will coordinate the preparation of three questions, with input from the entire Exam Committee. The oral examination will consist of a set of integrative questions (typically three) that have been provided to the student one week in advance of the oral examination. The questions will be based upon the student’s program of study and topics relevant to his/her/their anticipated dissertation topic. The questions will:
- Assess the ability to integrate a body of advanced knowledge in biomedical engineering
- Include experimental design and hypothesis testing
- Have a design or a quantitative analysis component.
Successful completion of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination will be determined by the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee. Ph.D. students must pass the oral examination to continue in the Ph.D. Program. At the discretion of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Committee, a student may be allowed at most two attempts to pass the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination.
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal
The Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense will assess the quality of the student’s research plan (including hypotheses to be tested, experimental design and methodology). The Ph.D. candidate is expected to complete the dissertation proposal no later than 12 months after the Qualifying Examination. Failure to complete and defend a dissertation proposal by the end of the third year of doctoral study may result in a delay in the completion of the program or even dismissal from the program.
The Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Committee should include a minimum of four (4) members of the UVA faculty, including the student’s faculty advisor. Committee chairs must have at least a 25% BME appointment OR have previously served on BME PhD committees of three students through the entirety of the degree process (qualification exam, proposal defense, and dissertation defense). The committee chair may not be the student’s advisor. Two members of the final committee must have 50% or more appointment within BME and may be either faculty or research physicians. One member of the committee must be a UVA faculty or physician who is external to BME with zero percent (0%) appointment in BME.
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense
The Ph.D. Dissertation Defense is held to demonstrate competence in the field of the dissertation research and to evaluate the quality of the dissertation for publication in scientific journals. The Examining Committee for the dissertation defense is the student’s Ph.D. Dissertation Committee. All five (5) primary members of your committee must be present during the defense. Committee chairs must have at least a 25% BME appointment OR have previously served on BME PhD committees of three students through the entirety of the degree process (qualification exam, proposal defense, and dissertation defense). The committee chair may not be the student’s advisor. Two members of the final committee must have 50% or more appointment within BME and may be either faculty or research physicians. One member of the committee must be a UVA faculty or physician who is external to BME with zero percent (0%) appointment in BME.
The written dissertation will be submitted to the Doctoral Advisory Committee at least two weeks before the final examination. The first 40 minutes is an oral presentation of the thesis which is open to the public. It is followed by a 1-2 hour oral defense before the Doctoral Advisory Committee and interested faculty. In cases of potential failure, possibility for re-examination is determined by the Doctoral Advisory Committee.
Ph.D. Graduate Exit Interview
Following the successful completion of a Ph.D. Dissertation Defense, students will be invited to participate in a 30-minute long Exit Interview with the Graduate Program Director. The purpose of the interview is to obtain feedback from graduates about their experiences in the Ph.D. program in order to inform the Graduate Program Committee about ways to improve the graduate experiences for future students. Graduates will be provided with the interview questions in advance, and invited to edit the documentation of their responses. These will only be shared with the Graduate Program Committee in a de-identified manner.
