Ph.D. Bioinformatics Speciality
In addition to meeting the home department’s core requirements, the following courses will be curricular components of the Bioinformatics graduate program. For more complete infomation, see the Bioinformatics website

Each student admitted to the Program will have a formal course requirement consisting of 3 quarters of course work, with enrollment in 4 four-unit courses each quarter. One four-unit course in each quarter will be a research rotation in the laboratory of a program faculty mentor. The remaining 9 courses will include 4 compulsory core courses and 5 courses to be chosen from the list of electives provided.

At least one course must be chosen from the Biology field (Numbers 1, 5, 6) and one from the Computer Science field (Numbers 2, 3, 4). The faculty advisor(s) will pay particular attention to deficits in the background of each student and will assist in making appropriate course choices from the elective fields.

Upon completion of formal course requirements, each student will be required to take a written and oral qualifying examination that will admit the student to the candidacy of the Ph.D. program. The Bioinformatics graduate program mandates dual-mentorship and each student will choose his/her mentors based on the research topic of choice. In advance of the qualifying examination each student, in consultation with his/her faculty advisor(s), will establish a dissertation committee of 5 faculty members. The committee will consist of 3 faculty from the student’s home department, at least two of whom are affiliated with the Bioinformatics program, and two other faculty from departments affiliated with the program, or who are themselves members of the program faculty. At least one of the two other committee members must be tenured. The thesis advisors will have the major responsibility for the student’s research and dissertation.

It is anticipated that each student will complete the qualifying examination before the end of the second year of his/her tenure, but no later than the end of the third year. The student is expected to join a research laboratory for completing a thesis dissertation no later than the beginning of the second year of tenure.

Except in the most unusual circumstances, it is mandatory for a student admitted into the Bioinformatics program to complete all the requirements, including the defense of the dissertation, by the end of the sixth year of the program