phd biomedical data science

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• Biomedical Data Science, PhD

The current explosion of biomedical data provides an awesome opportunity to improve understanding of the mechanisms of disease and ultimately to improve human health care. However, fully harnessing the power of high-dimensional, heterogeneous data requires a new blend of skills including programming, data management, data analysis, and machine learning.

Blending the best of statistics and computer sciences, biostatistics and biomedical informatics, this program provides students the training they need to make sense of large-scale biomedical data, and to be scientific leaders in the team science that invariably accompanies such data. Unique features of the program include cross-training in computer science and biostatistics, and research rotations mentored by a program faculty member jointly with a scientific collaborator.

Please consult the table below for key information about this degree program’s admissions requirements. The program may have more detailed admissions requirements, which can be found below the table or on the program’s website.

Graduate admissions is a two-step process between academic programs and the Graduate School. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements of the Graduate School as well as the program(s). Once you have researched the graduate program(s) you are interested in, apply online .

Potential applicants include both those with bachelor’s degrees in an area of data-science (e.g., computer science, statistics), as well as health professionals and clinicians (e.g., MD's, PharmD's, RN's). It is expected that admitted applicants will have demonstrated an aptitude for computer science and math, fundamental programming skills, knowledge of data structures and algorithms, and at least two semesters of college calculus. We will however consider applicants who have a wide range of undergraduate backgrounds; providing opportunities to develop necessary skills immediately upon entering the program.

Applying to the Program

• A formal online application with required fee through the UW–Madison Graduate School
• Three letters of recommendation
• Transcripts from each higher-education institution attended
• A statement of purpose
• International degree-seeking applicants must prove English proficiency using the Graduate School's requirements .
• Evidence of quantitative preparation, including at least two semesters of college calculus (similar to MATH 221 – MATH 222 ) and either a course in linear algebra (similar to MATH 340 ) or courses in programming and data structures

For additional information about admission to the program, see PhD Program in Biomedical Data Science  on the department website.

Graduate School Resources

Resources to help you afford graduate study might include assistantships, fellowships, traineeships, and financial aid.  Further funding information is available from the Graduate School. Be sure to check with your program for individual policies and restrictions related to funding.

Program Resources

The program is designed such that almost all students who are accepted to the program will receive guaranteed funding for five years. This funding may take a number of forms including, but not limited to training grants, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships. For more information about funding opportunities, see Graduate Assistantships .

Minimum Graduate School Requirements

Major requirements.

Review the Graduate School minimum academic progress and degree requirements , in addition to the program requirements listed below.

Mode of Instruction

Mode of instruction definitions.

Accelerated: Accelerated programs are offered at a fast pace that condenses the time to completion. Students typically take enough credits aimed at completing the program in a year or two.

Evening/Weekend: ​Courses meet on the UW–Madison campus only in evenings and/or on weekends to accommodate typical business schedules.  Students have the advantages of face-to-face courses with the flexibility to keep work and other life commitments.

Face-to-Face: Courses typically meet during weekdays on the UW-Madison Campus.

Hybrid: These programs combine face-to-face and online learning formats.  Contact the program for more specific information.

Online: These programs are offered 100% online.  Some programs may require an on-campus orientation or residency experience, but the courses will be facilitated in an online format.

Curricular Requirements

Required courses, graduate school policies.

The  Graduate School’s Academic Policies and Procedures  provide essential information regarding general university policies. Program authority to set degree policies beyond the minimum required by the Graduate School lies with the degree program faculty. Policies set by the academic degree program can be found below.

Major-Specific Policies

Prior coursework, graduate credits earned at other institutions.

With program approval, students are allowed to transfer no more than 9 credits of graduate course work from other institutions toward the graduate degree credit and graduate course work (50%) requirements. Course work earned ten years or more prior to admission to a doctoral degree is not allowed to satisfy requirements.

Undergraduate Credits Earned at Other Institutions or UW-Madison

Refer to the Graduate School: Transfer Credits for Prior Coursework policy.

Credits Earned as a Professional Student at UW-Madison (Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Veterinary careers)

Credits earned as a university special student at uw–madison.

Refer to the Graduate School: Probation policy.

Advisor / Committee

All students are required to conduct a yearly progress report meeting with their advisor, scheduled by December 17 and completed by April 30.

Credits Per Term Allowed

Time Limits

Refer to the Graduate School: Time Limits policy.

Grievances and Appeals

These resources may be helpful in addressing your concerns:

• Bias or Hate Reporting  
• Graduate Assistantship Policies and Procedures
• Office of the Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs
• Employee Assistance (for personal counseling and workplace consultation around communication and conflict involving graduate assistants and other employees, post-doctoral students, faculty and staff)
• Employee Disability Resource Office (for qualified employees or applicants with disabilities to have equal employment opportunities)
• Graduate School (for informal advice at any level of review and for official appeals of program/departmental or school/college grievance decisions)
• Office of Compliance (for class harassment and discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence)
• Office Student Assistance and Support (OSAS)  (for all students to seek grievance assistance and support)
• Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (for conflicts involving students)
• Ombuds Office for Faculty and Staff (for employed graduate students and post-docs, as well as faculty and staff)
• Title IX (for concerns about discrimination)

Grievance Policy for Graduate Programs in the School of Medicine and Public Health

Any student in a School of Medicine and Public Health graduate program who feels that they have been treated unfairly in regards to educational decisions and/or outcomes or issues specific to the graduate program, including academic standing, progress to degree, professional activities, appropriate advising, and a program’s community standards by a faculty member, staff member, postdoc, or student has the right to complain about the treatment and to receive a prompt hearing of the grievance following these grievance procedures. Any student who discusses, inquiries about, or participates in the grievance procedure may do so openly and shall not be subject to intimidation, discipline, or retaliation because of such activity. Each program’s grievance advisor is listed on the “Research” tab of the SMPH intranet .

This policy does not apply to employment-related issues for Graduate Assistants in TA, PA and/or RA appointments.  Graduate Assistants will utilize the Graduate Assistantship Policies and Procedures (GAPP) grievance process to resolve employment-related issues.

This policy does not apply to instances when a graduate student wishes to report research misconduct.  For such reports refer to the UW-Madison Policy for Reporting Research Misconduct for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Research Associates .

Requirements for Programs

The School of Medicine and Public Health Office of Basic Research, Biotechnology and Graduate Studies requires that each graduate program designate a grievance advisor, who should be a tenured faculty member, and will request the name of the grievance advisor annually.  The program director will serve as the alternate grievance advisor in the event that the grievance advisor is named in the grievance.  The program must notify students of the grievance advisor, including posting the grievance advisor’s name on the program’s Guide page and handbook.

The grievance advisor or program director may be approached for possible grievances of all types.  They will spearhead the grievance response process described below for issues specific to the graduate program, including but not limited to academic standing, progress to degree, professional activities, appropriate advising, and a program’s community standards.  They will ensure students are advised on reporting procedures for other types of possible grievances and are supported throughout the reporting process.  Resources on identifying and reporting other issues have been compiled by the Graduate School.

• The student is advised to initiate a written record containing dates, times, persons, and description of activities, and to update this record while completing the procedures described below.
• If the student is comfortable doing so, efforts should be made to resolve complaints informally between individuals before pursuing a formal grievance.
• Should a satisfactory resolution not be achieved, the student should contact the program’s grievance advisor or program director to discuss the complaint. The student may approach the grievance advisor or program director alone or with a UW-Madison faculty or staff member. The grievance advisor or program director should keep a record of contacts with regards to possible grievances.  The first attempt is to help the student informally address the complaint prior to pursuing a formal grievance. The student is also encouraged to talk with their faculty advisor regarding concerns or difficulties.
• If the issue is not resolved to the student’s satisfaction, the student may submit a formal grievance to the grievance advisor or program director in writing, within 60 calendar days from the date the grievant first became aware of, or should have become aware of with the exercise of reasonable diligence, the cause of the grievance.  To the fullest extent possible, a grievance shall contain a clear and concise statement of the grievance and indicate the issue(s) involved, the relief sought, the date(s) the incident or violation took place, and any specific policy involved.
• The grievance advisor or program director will convene a faculty committee composed of at least three members to manage the grievance.  Any faculty member involved in the grievance or who feels that they cannot be impartial may not participate in the committee.  Committee composition should reflect diverse viewpoints within the program.
• The faculty committee, through the grievance advisor or program director, will obtain a written response from the person or persons toward whom the grievance is directed. The grievance advisor or program director will inform this person that their response will be shared with the student filing the grievance.
• The grievance advisor or program director will share the response with the student filing the grievance.
• The faculty committee will make a decision regarding the grievance. The committee’s review shall be fair, impartial, and timely.  The grievance advisor or program director will report on the action taken by the committee in writing to both the student and the person toward whom the grievance was directed.
• The grievant will be notified in writing, within 5 business days of the written appeal, acknowledging receipt of the formal appeal and establishing a timeline for the review to be completed.
• The senior associate dean or their designee may request additional materials and/or arrange meetings with the grievant and/or others.  If meetings occur, the senior associate dean or their designee will meet with both the grievant and the person or persons toward whom the grievance is directed.
• The senior associate dean or their designee will assemble an ad hoc committee of faculty from outside of the student’s graduate program and ask them to prepare a written recommendation on whether to uphold or reverse the decision of the program on the student’s initial grievance.  The committee may request additional materials and/or arrange meetings with the grievant and/or others.  If meetings occur, the committee will meet with both the grievant and the person or persons toward whom the grievance is directed.
• The senior associate dean or their designee will make a final decision within 20 business days of receipt of the committee’s recommendation.
• The SMPH Office of Basic Research, Biotechnology, and Graduate Studies must store documentation of the grievance for seven years. Grievances that set a precedent may be stored indefinitely.
• The student may file an appeal of the School of Medicine and Public Health decision with the Graduate School.  See the Grievances and Appeals section of the Graduate School’s Academic Policies and Procedures .

Steps in the grievance procedures must be initiated and completed within the designated time periods except when modified by mutual consent. If the student fails to initiate the next step in the grievance procedure within the designated time period, the grievance will be considered resolved by the decision at the last completed step.

• Professional Development

Take advantage of the Graduate School's  professional development resources to build skills, thrive academically, and launch your career. 

• Learning Outcomes
• Articulate the biological context of a research question and the scientific relevance of analysis results.
• Communicate with scientific and quantitative (computational and statistical) colleagues about data analysis goals, methods, and results.
• Extract the statistical or computational problems from a scientific problem. Develop, characterize, and implement suitable analysis methods to answer questions from biomedical data. Evaluate the validity of analysis methods.
• Analyze data; extract knowledge and guide decisions based on biomedical data. Organize data and software so that quantitative analyses are meaningful and reproducible.
• Critically evaluate quantitative approaches in the scientific literature.
• Evaluate and develop study designs and recognize limitations and potential biases in research data sets.
• Identify the ethical and regulatory issues surrounding a research project.
• As part of a biological, biomedical or population health investigative team, serve as the leader in the area of rigorous computational and statistical investigation.

Faculty:  Broman, Buchanan, Burnside, Chappell, Chen, Chung, Craven, Dewey, Doan, Dyer, Elwert, Gangnon, Gianola, Gitter, Keles, Kendziorski, Kim, Lu, Mao, Mumford, Newton (chair), Ong,  Palta, Patel, Peissig, Rosa, Rosenberg, Roy, Singh, Sorkness, Tang, Yandell, Velten, Wang, Yu, Zhang, Zhu

• Requirements

Contact Information

Biostatistics and Medical Informatics School of Medicine and Public Health Biomedical Data Science, PhD [email protected] https://www.biostat.wisc.edu/

Shelley Maxted, Graduate Coordinator [email protected] 608-263-4826 4745 Medical Sciences Center 1300 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706

Beth Bierman, Graduate Coordinator [email protected] 608-265-8649 4775b Medical Sciences Center 1300 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706

Sushmita Roy, Director of PhD Program [email protected] 608-316-4453 3168 Discovery Building (WID) 333 N. Randall Ave., Madison, WI 53715

Michael Newton, Biostatistics & Medical Informatics Chair [email protected] 608-262-0086 1245a, K6/434 Medical Sciences Center 1300 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706

Grievance Advisor, Colin Dewey, Professor [email protected] 608-263-7610 2128 Genetics-Biotechnology Center Building 425 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706

Graduate Program Handbook View Here

Graduate School grad.wisc.edu

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PhD in Biomedical Data Science

The current explosion of biomedical data, including Electronic Health Records, biomedical imaging, and genomics/proteomics/metabolomics, provide an opportunity to improve understanding of the mechanisms of disease and ultimately improve  health care. But fully harnessing the power of high-dimensional, heterogeneous data requires a new blend of skills including programming, data management, data analysis and machine learning.

Program Curriculum

The program blends the best of statistics, computer sciences, biostatistics and biomedical informatics. It gives students the training they need to make sense of large-scale biomedical data and to be scientific leaders in the team science that invariably accompanies such data. Unique features of the program include interdisciplinary training and research rotations mentored by program faculty.

Please refer the Graduate Guide for the most current program requirements

PhD Program Plan , a useful guide to help map out course scheduling

Core Topics

Three year-long course sequences (18 credits) will be selected from a set of core topics, including one biostatistics sequence (topics 1-2), and one computer science/informatics sequence (topics 3-6). The third sequence can be selected from any of the listed topics (topics 1-11).

Course requirements include additional credits of electives, which may be taken from the core topics (see above), or other graduate-level courses in biostatistics, computer science, or biomedical sciences. A students’ particular choices will be guided by and subject to the approval of their Academic Advisor.

Biology Training and Breadth

Students will generally specialize in some field of biomedical application (e.g., clinical medicine, genomics, or neuroscience). Thus, their training must include coursework in the biological sciences. In addition, students will need to meet the formal breadth requirements set forth by the Graduate School. These objectives will be achieved by selection of a minor (formal external or distributed), with the further requirement that this minor include at least six credits of biology courses (See list of potential Biology courses Biology Courses  to select from).

Research Ethics Requirement

All students will take a 1-credit Research Ethics course, preferably in Y1 and typically BMI 738 Ethics in Data Science, offered in the spring semester

Additional Requirements

In addition, to contribute to the students’ breadth of knowledge, to build cohesiveness among the students, to train the students in the critical evaluation of the biostatistical, computational, and scientific literature, and to build their professional skills, all students will participate in seminar style courses in Fall of Y2 and Y3:

• Biodata Science Scholarly Literature (BMI 881, 2 credits): including readings, discussion, and presentations on a selected set of primary journal articles from the biostatistics, biomedical informatics, computer science, and biomedical literature. (taken in Y2)
• Biodata Science Profession Skills (BMI 883-884, 2 credits): covering such topics as giving scientific presentations, writing research grants, the publication process (writing scientific articles, reviewing such articles, and responding to reviewers), applying for jobs, employment opportunities in academics and industry, and working with scientific collaborators as part of interdisciplinary teams. (taken in Y3)

Research Rotations

Students will carry out three research rotations in the first year concerning a substantive problem in biomedical data science, advised by a Program Faculty member, in collaboration with an additional UW faculty member from the biological, biomedical, or population health sciences. The aim is for the students to begin to learn the craft of data science research, to expand their understanding of specific biomedical application areas, to gain a deeper exposure to a broad set of problems in biomedical data science, and to ultimately identify an appropriate advisor and to begin to identify a dissertation research topic. Please see the BDS_PhD_Rotation Policy  for details.

Prelim Exam

The PhD training includes an  Oral Preliminary Exam , ideally taken in the student’s third year, on a topic selected with the approval of the student’s advisor. A student is expected to have completed nearly all other course requirements by this time. Please see BDS PhD Prelim Exam Guidelines for details.

Dissertation

In addition, and in accordance with requirements set by the Graduate School at UW- Madison, students must pass a Final Oral Exam (i.e., a Dissertation Defense), following completion of their dissertation research. The primary requirement for the PhD degree is the completion of a significant body of original research and the presentation of this research in a dissertation. The research is carried out under the guidance of a member or members of the Program Faculty. The candidate must defend the dissertation in a Final Oral Exam. The rules for the composition of the Final Oral Exam committee are the same as for the Oral Preliminary Exam, except that, following Graduate School policy, the committee must have at least four members and at least one must be from outside the program.

The highly collaborative faculty in Biostatistics and Medical Informatics offer training to undergraduate, graduate and other students through a variety of flexible mechanisms aimed at attracting the best and brightest students into our innovative fields of quantitative methodology for biomedical investigation, and at training biomedical scientists in the optimal application of our methods to their chosen field of study.

For undergraduates, our summer programs offer the opportunity to gain a foundation in biostatistics or biomedical informatics and to explore research in these areas. Other undergraduates pursue honors work or research rotations with our faculty, either informally or as part of their major.

For students wishing to pursue Master’s or PhD level graduate work in quantitative methodologies in biomedical science, we offer both a  MS Degree Program in Biomedical Data Science   and a Doctoral Degree Program in Biomedical Data Science .

Other opportunities to train with our faculty are available through the graduate programs in Statistics ( Biostatistics Degree Option ) and in Computer Sciences, but also through graduate programs in Clinical Investigation, Genetics, and Population Health Sciences.

To learn more about our graduate and summer programs please contact:

Shelley Maxted (608) 263-4825 [email protected]

• PhD in Biomedical Data Science More
• MS in Biomedical Data Science More
• BDS Graduate Student Handbook More
• Prospective Students More
• Summer Research Opportunity Program More
• BMI Course list More
• BDS Student Leadership Team More

2024-25 Bulletin

Biomedical informatics & data science, phd, biomedical informatics & data science.

Biostatistics and Data Science Research Track:  The goal of the Biostatistics and Data Science track is to train independent and innovative researchers who will contribute to the development and application of cutting-edge statistical and data science methodologies in health science disciplines. The track provides a balance of theory, methods, and applications of biostatistics and data science that are central to modern interdisciplinary research. Under the supervision of advisors, PhD students participate in the design of clinical studies and are involved in the analysis, inference, and interpretation of these studies.

Biomedical Informatics Research Track:  Through the Biomedical Informatics track, students will have training and research opportunities in the five subdisciplines of biomedical informatics as defined by the American Medical Informatics Association ( AMIA ), the largest professional scientific community in the field of biomedical informatics:

• Applied Clinical Informatics (ACI): applying innovative measurement and informatics approaches to inform and improve clinical practice
• Consumer Health Informatics (CHI): investigating consumers' needs and integrating consumers' preferences into health information systems
• Clinical Research Informatics (CRI): managing information related to clinical trials as well as secondary use of clinical data
• Translational Bioinformatics (TBI): developing storage, analytic, and interpretive methods to optimize the transformation of biomedical data
• Population Health Informatics (PopHI): integrating aspects of public health, clinical informatics, and health care delivery

Doctoral Candidacy

To earn a PhD at Washington University, a student must complete all courses required by their department; maintain satisfactory academic progress; pass certain examinations; fulfill residence and Mentored Experience Requirements; write, defend, and submit a dissertation; and file an Intent to Graduate. For a general layout of doctoral degree general requirements in Arts & Sciences, including an explanation of Satisfactory Academic Progress, students should review the Doctoral Degree Academic Information page of the Arts & Sciences Bulletin.

Program Requirements

• Total Units Required: 36 Crediits
• Students are expected to maintain satisfactory academic progress in accordance with academic milestones. Students entering their seventh year in the program will receive a warning letter in regards to reaching their stated degree length. Students entering their eighth year in the program will be required to obtain permission from the Associate Dean of Graduate Education. 
• Note: Students must be enrolled in 9 graduate credits each semester to retain full-time status. As students complete their course work, if enrolled in fewer than 9 graduate credits, they must enroll in a specific Arts & Sciences graduate course that will show 0 units but does count as full-time status. Students should connect with their department to ensure proper enrollment prior to Add/Drop.
• Continued support is guaranteed for the duration of your graduate studies, provided that you maintain satisfactory progress towards completion of the degree. 

Required Courses

This generally consists of four to nine courses in areas fundamental to the student's program. Students are expected to maintain a B average in graduate courses.

DBBS Required Courses

• Biol 5098 Graduate Research Fundamentals
• Biol 5011 Ethics & Research Science

Program Required Courses

• BMI 5302 Introduction to Biomedical Informatics I
• BMI 5303 Introduction to Biomedical Informatics II
• BMI 5304 Introduction to Biomedical Data Science I
• BMI 5305 Introduction to Biomedical Data Science II

Additional Requirements

• Three semesters of advanced electives
• Four semesters of BIDS journal club and seminar series

Laboratory Rotations

Selecting a thesis advisor is the most important decision a student makes in graduate school. To help each student make an informed, thoughtful choice, the Division builds in flexibility to explore options. Students usually participate in three lab rotations during their first year. Additional rotations can be arranged, and rotation lengths are flexible. Students usually begin their thesis research by the end of their first year.

Scientific Scholarship

Keeping abreast of scientific developments is critical for faculty and students alike. The Division offers many ways to stay current. More than 15 weekly biology seminars provide excellent opportunities to meet outstanding scientists from outside Washington University. Several annual symposia bring internationally recognized speakers to campus. Journal clubs meet weekly for students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty to present and discuss current scientific literature. A number of  Interdisciplinary Research Pathways  allow students to enhance their PhD program. Program retreats allow for informal interaction among students and faculty. The Division also provides funds for each student for professional development.

Qualifying Examinations

Progress toward the PhD is contingent upon the student passing examinations that are variously called  preliminary, qualifying, general, comprehensive,  or  major field exams.  The qualifying process varies according to the program. In some programs, it consists of a series of incremental, sequential, and cumulative exams over a considerable time. In others, the exams are held during a relatively short period of time. Exams may be replaced by one or more papers. The program, which determines the structure and schedule of the required examinations, is responsible for notifying the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, of the student’s outcome, whether successful or unsuccessful.

Program-specific information: In the spring and/or summer semesters of Year 2, students must pass a Qualifying Exam (QE). Following a successful QE defense, students will identify and finalize their committee and complete their thesis proposal by December 31 of Year 3.

Mentored Experience Requirements

Doctoral students at Washington University must complete a department-defined Mentored Experience. The Mentored Experience Requirement is a doctoral degree milestone that is notated on the student’s transcript when complete. Each department has an established Mentored Experience Implementation Plan in which the number of units that a student must earn through Mentored Teaching Experience(s) and/or Mentored Professional Experience(s) is defined. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plans outline how doctoral students within the discipline will be mentored to achieve competencies in teaching at basic and advanced levels. Some departments may elect to include Mentored Professional Experiences as an avenue for completing some units of the Mentored Experience Requirement. Doctoral students will enroll in LGS 6XXX Mentored Teaching Experience or LGS 7020 Mentored Professional Experience to signify their progression toward completing the overall Mentored Experience Requirement for the degree.

The Doctoral Dissertation

A Research Advisory Committee (RAC) must be created no later than the end of the student’s third year; departments may set shorter timelines (e.g., by the end of the student's second year) for this requirement. As evidence of the mastery of a specific field of knowledge and of the capacity for original scholarly work, each candidate must complete a dissertation that is approved by their RAC.

A  Title, Scope & Procedure Form for the dissertation must be signed by the committee members and by the program chair. It must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, at least 6 months before the degree is expected to be conferred or before beginning the fifth year of full-time enrollment, whichever is earlier.

A  Doctoral Dissertation Guide & Template  that give instructions regarding the format of the dissertation are available on the website of the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Both should be read carefully at every stage of dissertation preparation.

The Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, requires each student to make the full text of the dissertation available to the committee members for their review at least 1 week before the defense. Most degree programs require 2 or more weeks for the review period; students should check with their faculty.

The Dissertation Defense

Approval of the written dissertation by the RAC is necessary before the student can orally defend their dissertation. The Dissertation Defense Committee that observes and examines the student’s defense consists of at least five members, who normally meet these two, independent criteria:

• Four of the five must be tenured or tenure-track Washington University faculty; one of these four may be a member of the emeritus faculty. The fifth member must have a doctoral degree and an active research program, whether at Washington University, at another university, in government, or in industry.
• Three of the five normally come from the student's degree program; at least one of the five must not.

All committees must be approved by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, regardless of whether they meet the normal criteria.

The committee is appointed by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, upon the request of the degree program. The student is responsible for making the full text of the dissertation accessible to their committee members for their review in advance of the defense. Faculty and graduate students who are interested in the subject of the dissertation are normally welcome to attend all or part of the defense but may ask questions only at the discretion of the committee members. Although there is some variation among degree programs, the defense ordinarily focuses on the dissertation itself and its relation to the student’s field of expertise.

Submission of the Dissertation

After the defense, the student must submit an electronic copy of the dissertation online to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. The submission website requires students to choose among publishing and copyrighting services offered by ProQuest’s ETD Administrator. The degree program is responsible for delivering the final approval form, signed by the committee members at the defense and then by the program chair or director, to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Students who defend their dissertations successfully have not yet completed their PhD requirements; they finish earning their degree only when their dissertation submission has been accepted by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

Visit the Biology & Biomedical Sciences page for additional information about this program.

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