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General Information

Committee Meetings & Progress Report

Students should form their thesis committee and select their committee chair by the first day of Fall classes starting of his or her 3rd year in graduate school for PhD students and the 2nd year for MD/PhD students.  Note: Your second year in the department is your third year in graduate school.

Students should have annual committee meetings and provide their committee with a progress report at least one week prior to each meeting following approval of the thesis topic. The document will consist of a Specific Aims page followed by a description of progress to date organized by Aim. The progress report should include any changes in Aims, a summary of key results, and plans for future experiments.  The report should also communicate the student’s vision for how results could be organized into publications, and the current status of progress towards publications.

To assist you with scheduling your meetings, you may want to try doodle.com or another on-line meeting scheduler.

Committee Meeting Forms

There are two forms that you will need, one is for the Graduate School and is required for graduation.  Part I is the Report of Doctoral Committee Composition, which must be completed by the first day of classes of your third year in Graduate School; and part II is for your Report of Approved Dissertation Project and it should be completed no later than December 31 of your third year in graduate school.  Always let the Student Services Specialist know in advance when you have a meeting so that she may prepare the appropriate form for you to pick up prior to your meeting.  She will need the working title of your dissertation prior to your project approval meeting. 

The second one is a departmental form that helps us keep track of your committee meetings and of your progress.  You will pick up this form from Student Services Specialist before each meeting, give it to your committee chair to complete, keep a copy for yourself and return the original to Student Services Specialist. Click here for an electronic version of this form.

Dissertation Committee Selection

The doctoral dissertation committee should consist of no fewer than five people, at least one of whom shall be named the dissertation advisor and one your committee chair. A majority of each dissertation committee must be regular members of the graduate faculty. At least four of the committee members must be members of the Department (either primary or joint faculty). After your committee is recorded, please let the Student Services Specialist know of any subsequent additions or substitutions of a Faculty member on your committee.  This should be done by the first day of Fall classes starting your 3rd year in graduate school for PhD students and the 2nd year for MD/PhD students.

The thesis committee chair will be a department faculty member different than the research advisor. The duties of the thesis committee chair are as follows:

  • Chair leads all thesis committee meetings, including final defense.
  • Chair opens each thesis committee meeting by separately asking the student and the research advisor, in each other’s absence, to briefly describe for the committee (i) their perception of the student’s progress toward their degree, and (ii) any problems or challenges that may benefit from the advice or intervention of the committee.
  • Chair signs departmental form indicating thesis committee meeting was held.
  • Chair signs the final oral examination and report of final dissertation form.  Also certifies (by initialing box in part IV of form) that dissertation has been approved for electronic submission at time of defense if no edits requested or after any required edits are done.
  • Chair acts as an impartial mediator in any disputes that may arise between the research advisor and the student related to the student’s research or thesis. The student will choose the thesis committee chair in consultation with the research advisor. In order to enhance the independence of the chair, it is suggested that the Chair not be a close collaborator of the research advisor. The thesis committee chair cannot be the spouse or “significant other” of the research advisor.

For a full overview of M&I Thesis Committee Policies, click here.

Note: The thesis committee chair cannot be the spouse or “significant other” of the research advisor; however, such individuals are allowed to serve on the thesis committee.

Dissertation Project Approval and Oral Preliminary Exam

Students will hold a thesis project approval meeting with their thesis committee by December 31 of their second year in the department.  The oral preliminary exam (also known as the doctoral oral examination) centers on the topic of the thesis project, and provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to discuss the fields of science related to your thesis proposal, as well as your ability to analyze problems and design experiments. The exam serves a dual purpose as the initial meeting of the thesis committee. Therefore, a separate decision to approve or disapprove your thesis project will occur in the same meeting.  This document is not a written exam, and will not be graded, but rather serves to provide the committee with useful background reading. However, it is to your advantage to prepare a thoughtful, logical, well-written thesis proposal.

Dissertation Composition

Timing. The decision of when to write the dissertation is a collective one made by you, your advisor, and your committee. The expectation of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology continues to be that all Ph.D. students will conduct sufficient research to result in at least two first-author publications describing original results in high quality, peer reviewed journals. As a minimum standard, to earn the Ph.D. degree we require that (i) a student must make meaningful contributions to and be an author on at least two manuscripts intended for publication in respected, high- quality professional journals or books, (ii) at least one of the two manuscripts must be accepted for publication, and (iii) prior to the private Ph.D. defense, a student must have peer reviews returned for at least one first (or co-first) author primary research manuscript.

Expectations. When you are ready to begin writing your dissertation, you must consult with your advisor, committee chair, and committee members regarding the content and format of your dissertation. It is important that you have a clear understanding of the expectations of all committee members for your dissertation. Students who ignore this step have had their defense postponed while they rewrite their dissertation to meet committee expectations.

Introduction. Chapter 1 is the Introduction. Typically, the Introduction is a narrowly focused review of the material necessary to understand the main body of the dissertation. However, the expected scope of the Introduction should be explicitly discussed with committee members before writing. If the student has written a review article, a suitably modified version may be utilized for the Introduction.

Results. The results chapters are typically published, submitted, or in preparation manuscripts reformatted to meet dissertation guidelines. Note that manuscripts written for journals with severe length restrictions (e.g. Nature or Science) may be too cryptic for a dissertation in their original form and may require suitable expansion and clarification. A student does not need to be the first author or co-first author to include a manuscript in their dissertation. Depending on circumstances, student preference, and committee advice, non first-author manuscripts may be included in the main body of the dissertation, included in the Appendix, or left out of the dissertation. For incomplete projects, we strongly recommend that students write up all available information (introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, references, figures and tables) as a dissertation chapter. This will make it as easy as possible for someone else to complete the project and submit the final manuscript. Writing as much as possible before leaving also protects the student’s position as a potential author on the eventual manuscript. Each results chapter must include a footnote with actual or planned publication information, a list of all actual or planned authors involved in the described research, and a statement specifying the contributions of the student to the project. Such footnotes should also be provided for the Introduction and/or Conclusion if review articles serve as the basis for these chapters, as well as for any manuscripts included in the Appendix.

Conclusion. The final chapter is the Conclusion. The Conclusion typically includes two types of material: (1) putting the results into broader context describing how the student’s research has advanced the field, and (2) describing potential future directions to extend the line of investigation. However, the expected scope of the Conclusion should be explicitly discussed with committee members before writing.

Appendices. The dissertation serves as a formal record of a student’s accomplishments during their Ph.D. studies. Therefore, students can choose to use appendices for material that does not easily fit into the main body of the dissertation (e.g. side projects, publications from time in another lab, intriguing preliminary observations, etc.). Such material can also be left out of the dissertation. What to include or exclude is a subject for conversation with your committee members.

Advisor approval. The student is expected to be the primary author of their dissertation, with advice and editing assistance from their research advisor. The advisor should read and approve the dissertation before distribution to the rest of the committee. Be sure to allow enough time for your advisor to approve your dissertation, given that you must deliver the dissertation to your committee at least two weeks prior to your private defense.

Official guidelines. For the latest Graduate School guidelines on writing your dissertation, please refer to http://gradschool.unc.edu/etdguide/ and for information about the electronic submission of your dissertation please refer to http://gradschool.unc.edu/student/etd/. Also see Appendix H in the Guide to Graduate STudies.

Dissertation Defense – Final Exam

The final defense of your dissertation will take place in two stages only after you have met the minimum publication requirement:

  1. First, a private defense in front of the thesis committee. The student should meet with the committee chair beforehand to discuss and agree upon general expectations for a brief initial presentation of no more than 10 slides. The presentation can include a synopsis of dissertation highlights, but should highlight broader or unresolved aspects of the thesis research and facilitate a forward-thinking conversation. The intent of the presentation is to help the committee assess whether or not the student has become a mature scientist. The committee will engage the student by asking questions arising from the presentation, the dissertation, and if applicable, peer reviews of a manuscript used to satisfy the publication requirement but not yet accepted for publication. If the student passes the defense, then all committee members, including the advisor and chair, will sign the appropriate graduate school document. The thesis committee chair will certify (by initialing the final exam form) that the dissertation has been approved for electronic submission at the time of defense if no edits are requested, or after any required edits are completed and approved.
  2. The student will present a formal public seminar of their research results no sooner than two weeks after their successful private defense.  Thesis committee members are encouraged but not required to attend the public seminar.  A final grade for MCRO 994 will not be submitted until after the required public seminar.

Schedule a date and location that works for you and all of your committee members for your private oral exam. All committee members are expected be present at your final oral defense meeting. If a common date cannot be determined, substitution of a committee member is an alternative after approval by the committee and the advisor. Please notify the Student Services Specialist for formal substitution of a committee member. At least two weeks prior to the final oral exam, give your committee a draft of your dissertation. (If the thesis is not provided to the committee at least two weeks prior to the defense, then the thesis committee may, at their discretion, postpone the defense.

Pick-up the Report of Final Oral Examination form the day before, or the day of the meeting and give it to your committee chair and committee members for their approval and signatures. A majority of the committee members must approve and sign the final dissertation.

The Student Services Specialist will need your abstract, seminar title and logistics at least two weeks prior to your seminar.

For the latest information on writing your dissertation, please see the Thesis and Dissertation Guide.   For information about the electronic submission of your dissertation visit http://gradschool.unc.edu/student/etd/

Ethics

All first year Ph.D. students in the BBSP and School of Medicine are required to participate in formal training discussions on the subject of Scientific Ethics.
All MCRO students who have not yet graduated are required to take MCRO721 Refresher Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research during their fourth year in the department (i.e. 5th year Ph.D. students and 4th year M.D./Ph.D. students).

Grading

As described in the The Graduate School Handbook, grades for graduate students are H (High Pass), P (Pass), L (Low pass), F (Fail), IN (Incomplete), AB (Absent from final exam), and NG (No grade). Students who fail to complete satisfactorily the work in any course ordinarily receive the grade of F. However, if the faculty member teaching the course is satisfied that exceptional circumstances warrant extending the time for completion of course work, the grade of IN may be given and a date set, in writing, for completing the work. A grade of IN indicates that the student has failed to meet the requirements and will turn to an F after the set date, or one year after the IN was received if no date was set. A Graduate Student who receives one grade of F, or nine or more semester hours of L, is ineligible for continued graduate study.

Graduation Requirements

Four semesters in residence, at least six hours of MCRO 994, written and oral exams, committee approval, dissertation topic approval, publication requirement, final oral exam, seminar and dissertation submission and Graduate School exit survey.  There are official Graduate School forms for each of these milestones so please notify the Student Services Specialist, in advance, of each one.  You must also apply for graduation in Connect Carolina by the specified semester deadline. Please see the University Registrar’s Calendar for this date: https://registrar.unc.edu/academic-calendar/

*See Publication Requirement below for complete information.

Graduate School Guidebooks

The Graduate School no longer gives you copies of The Graduate School Handbook or The Thesis and Dissertation Guide. It is strongly recommended that you review these, which you can access here: http://gradschool.unc.edu/publications/.

Health Insurance

A part of your student fees goes towards Campus Health Services (CHS); however, not everything is covered at 100%. Therefore, the department pays for you to have a 12-month comprehensive plan (GSHIP) underwritten by Blue Cross and Blue Shield.  After the initial sign-up period, you will receive policy information and an insurance card. You will be asked prior to each sign-up period if you do, or do not want this coverage.

NOTE:  This BCBS GSHIP health insurance plan is different from the mandatory health plan that UNC requires of all students.  You must waive out of the mandatory plan each semester or you will be responsible for the premium.

Information Request

Awards

Please remember to inform the Student Services Specialist anytime that you receive a fellowship, award, honor or distinction from inside or outside of the university. It would be very helpful to have this information soon after it happens so that it can be included in the graduate student database and extracted when needed.

Presentations

Please remember to inform the Student Services Specialist of when, what and where you’ve presented your research outside of the department.

Publications

Please inform the Student Services Specialist when your manuscript(s) have been accepted and where they have been accepted.

Post Graduate Work

Please notify the Student Services Specialist about your plans of employment or post-doctoral fellowship and contact information.

Laboratory Rotations

Rotations into laboratories in year one are meant to acquaint the graduate student with the mentor, the field of research and scientific environment. The object is to determine after year one, which particular laboratory will be your field of research for your dissertation. Rotations are arranged with the BBSP. At the end of your rotations, the BBSP will help formalize your designated lab and transfer your name to our department.

MD/Ph.D. Students

MD/Ph.D. students are required to take three courses, including MCRO 795 and at least one must be a seminar/tutorial, and to TA once. The timing of the other activities (prelim exams, committee formation, etc.) is usually accelerated by one year for MD/Ph.D. students compared to regular Ph.D. students.

NC Residency for Tuition Purposes & Tuition Remission

Upon arrival in NC, all out of state students need to begin the steps to become NC Residents for Tuition Purposes. After you have lived here for 12-months, you are required by the department to apply for NC Residency for Tuition Purposes every Fall and Spring semester until you are granted in-state residency. Students who do not provide their paperwork showing that they applied may NOT be eligible to receive a department tuition remission; therefore it is imperative that you take steps to become a NC Residency for Tuition. Tuition remissions are allocated funds from the Legislature to pay the out-of-state portion of tuition, off setting the tuition cost for your PI and/or the department, and are limited.

Outside Employment

If you are receiving a stipend from the department, outside employment is not allowed, this includes teaching assistantships in other departments. However, in certain instances an exception may be made for TA’ing with prior approval from the Director of Graduate Studies and your advisor. A reduction in stipend will occur. Please contact the Director of Graduate Studies for information.

Minimum Publication Requirement

The expectation of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology continues to be that all Ph.D. students will conduct sufficient research to result in at least two first-author publications describing original results in high quality, peer reviewed journals. As a minimum standard, to earn the Ph.D. degree we require that (i) a student must make meaningful contributions to and be an author on at least two manuscripts intended for publication in respected, high-quality professional journals or books, (ii) at least one of the two manuscripts must be accepted for publication, and (iii) prior to the private Ph.D. defense, a student must have peer reviews returned for at least one first (or co-first) author primary research manuscript. Parts ii and iii cannot be satisfied with the same manuscript. If a manuscript used to meet part iii is not accepted for publication by the time of the doctoral defense, then the peer reviews will be submitted to the dissertation committee for discussion at the defense along with the dissertation.  The student will submit to the dissertation committee a brief description of their specific contributions to the two manuscripts used to fulfill the publication requirement. Prior to the Ph.D. defense, the dissertation committee will decide (in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies if necessary) whether the two manuscripts meet the part i standards of “meaningful contribution” and “respected, high-quality professional journals or books”. The dissertation committee chair will inform the Director of Graduate Studies and the Student Services Specialist when the publication requirement is met, as well as the basis for the committee’s decision.  Each chapter in the dissertation other than the Introduction and Conclusion must list all actual or planned authors involved in the described research and include a statement specifying the contributions of the student to the project.

Preliminary Examinations

Written Exam

The written preliminary exam (also known as the doctoral written examination) consists of a research proposal, written in a format similar to a NIH pre- or postdoctoral fellowship proposal. The proposal is written whenever the student likes over the course of the Spring semester and the subsequent three and a half weeks.

Oral Exam

The oral preliminary exam (also known as the doctoral oral examination) centers on the topic of the thesis project, and provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to discuss the fields of science related to your thesis proposal, as well as your ability to analyze problems and design experiments. The exam serves a dual purpose as the initial meeting of the thesis committee. Therefore, a separate decision to approve or disapprove your thesis project will occur in the same meeting.

Seminars

Tuesday Departmental Seminars

On most Tuesdays throughout the Fall and Spring semesters, a guest speaker from other universities, research institutes or industry visits the department, meets with faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students, and presents a seminar. This provides excellent opportunities for students to meet outstanding scientists from outside the University of North Carolina scientific community. All students are required to attend at least two-thirds of the Tuesday Seminars each semester throughout their tenure in the department.

Monday Student Seminars

Beginning in your third year you will be required to give a seminar once a year in the Monday Seminar series for graduate students. You will be assigned a seminar date beginning in your third year. These seminars are meant to be a formal short (30 min.) PowerPoint presentation describing the goals and progress of your dissertation research. Currently, two students from different areas of study (virology, immunology, etc.) are assigned to present a short seminar on the same date.
This seminar is intended to be a progress report. It is also an opportunity for feedback/critique from fellow graduate students. Another objective is to practice the task of relating your detailed research topic to an audience of peers whose own interests and expertise may not be identical to your own.

All students are required to attend at least two-thirds of the Monday Student Seminars each semester.

Teaching Assistantship

You are required to be a teaching assistant in a lab of one of our courses, MCRO 251 or 515, for a total of two semesters during your second year and your third year. Gina Donato, Coordinator of Teaching Labs, is in charge of making these assignments and overseeing all TA’s.

Travel Award

We have a two-tiered program to provide support for departmental students who will be presenting their research at national/international scientific conferences. A travel award of $1000 is available for selective, high-profile conferences that have limited attendance (e.g., most Gordon Research Conferences, FASEB Summer Research Conferences, Keystone Symposia, etc.). For larger unrestricted meetings (e.g., ASM or ASV or AAI annual meetings) or for narrowly focused meetings (e.g., the Herpesvirus Workshop, the Pseudomonas Conference, etc.), the Department will contribute $500 towards the student’s travel expenses. A graduate student is eligible for this one-time award after approval of the dissertation research proposal by his/her dissertation committee.

Please send your request to Student Services Specialist including your invitation letter and abstract.

For other funding resources visit the Graduate Funding Information Center http://gradfunding.web.unc.edu/

Graduate School Funding

The Graduate School offers fellowships and grants to eligible graduate students, including recruitment awards for incoming students (such as the prestigious Royster Society of Fellows) and dissertation completion, off-campus research, summer research and other awards for current students. These awards include:

  • Graduate Tuition Incentive Scholarship: Helps to cover the cost of in-state tuition for master’s and doctoral students who receive eligible external funding awards.
  • Graduate Student Transportation Grant: Assists graduate students with some of the transportation costs necessary for travel to a regional, national, or international academic conference or professional society meeting to present their thesis or dissertation research.
  • Graduate Student Opportunity Fund: Assists students with unusual and unexpected academic expenses.
  • Dissertation Completion Fellowship: Supports doctoral students engaged in research and writing toward the completion of their dissertations. Includes a non-service stipend, tuition, fees, and health insurance during a student’s final year.
  • Off-Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship: Supports doctoral students conducting dissertation research away from the Chapel Hill campus. Includes a non-service stipend, tuition, fees, and health insurance.

For more information about funding opportunities from The Graduate School, visit https://gradschool.unc.edu/funding/gradschool/fellowshipsandgrants.html

Travel Abroad Requirements

All university-affiliated international travel must be registered in the UNC Global Travel Registry (http://globaltravel.unc.edu). This applies to all UNC students, faculty, and staff. The Global Travel Registry is UNC-Chapel Hill’s central reporting and communication system for students, faculty, and staff traveling abroad. Students on approved programs offered through the Office of Study Abroad website or through their professional school administrator are pre-registered and do not need to complete their registration independently.

Tuition and Fees

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology will pay your tuition and fees directly to the University Cashier’s Office via GradStar. When you receive your tuition and fee bill from the Cashier’s Office, check it over for anything that you are responsible for paying (i.e., library fines, Campus Health charges, parking tickets, etc.) and take care of it prior to the start of registration so a hold is not placed on your account, or your registration gets cancelled. You will receive several bills before your tuition and fees are actually electronically paid. Rest assured that your tuition and fees will be paid.

Upon Degree Completion

  • Turn in all keys and your key card and ask to be removed from the departmental network after transferring your files to another lab member or PI.
  • Change your address in ConnectCarolina so that you will receive your W-2, diploma, etc. Go to https://connectcarolina.unc.edu/ and link to your Student Center.
  • Request a transcript from the Registrar’s Office or print off your grade summary from ConnectCarolina. More than likely you’ll need this information in the future when you’re completing Fellowship applications and the department cannot provide you with a copy.
  • Give a copy of your current curriculum vitae to the Student Services Specialist to close out your file.
  • Leave your forwarding address with the Student Services Specialist and change your current & permanent address in ConnectCarolina.
  • Let the Student Services Specialist know where and what position you will be going to and each subsequent position thereafter. We won’t ask for money, we just like to know what our alum are “doing now”. It is also a frequently asked question of prospective students and of training grant reports.
  • Complete the exit interview survey sent to you from the Graduate School or they will not release your diploma.
  • Sign your ECRT before departing. Email Ecrt_help@unc.edu
  • Update alumni record: https://alumni.unc.edu/resources/documents-and-records/update-your-address/
  • Alumni Email Forwarding service: https://alumni.unc.edu/resources/documents-and-records/update-your-address/update-your-email-address/