Department of Biostatistics 
The Ph.D. Program
Requirements of the Ph.D. Program
The Ph.D. degree requires successful completion of:
Coursework:
- Core courses
- Electives in Biostatistics and Statistics
- Epidemiology requirement
- Electives in a cognate area
- Qualifying Examinations in Theory and Applications
Dissertation:
- Presentation of proposal for research including an extensive literature review
- Research
- Writing of the dissertation
- Oral defense
After successful completion of the course work and the Qualifying Examinations, the student is advanced to candidacy and begins work on his/her dissertation.
Coursework
Students entering with a relevant Master's degree in Biostatistics or Statistics are likely to have completed several of the courses required for the Ph.D. program. For this reason, we outline two programs of study: one for students with a relevant Master's degree and one for students without a relevant Master's degree. Each student should determine the details of the program of study after consultation with his/her faculty advisor.
The Qualifying Examinations
The Qualifying Examinations are given during a two-day period and consists of one six hour theory exam and one six hour applications exam. Each exam will consist of 6 questions, all of which should be attempted. Both exams will be closed book; the problems do not require a computer. All examination questions focus on material that a person with a Ph.D. in biostatistics is expected to know, regardless of subsequent specialization. The examinations encompass material in the core mathematical statistics, probability, and applied statistics courses in the Ph.D. program in biostatistics. The general level of the Qualifying Examinations if characterized by the following reading and topics lists:
Guidelines for the Theory Examination
Guidelines for the Applications Examination
As a rule, students must be admitted to the Biostatistics PhD program before taking the Qualifying Examinations. This rule may be waived in exceptional circumstances, subject to written consent of the Admission and Candidacy Committees.
The Qualifying Examinations are not individualized to the student. They are prepared and graded by the members of the Candidacy Committee.
The Qualifying Examinations are offered once each year, in June.
A student who has passed neither the theory nor applied examination must take both examinations during the same two-day examination period. If a student passes one examination and fails the other, and the student wishes to continue in the Ph.D. program, then the student must retake the failed examination but need not retake the passed examination. If a student fails either the theory or the applied examination twice, then the student will not be allowed to continue in the Ph.D. program.
Except for special cases, full-time Ph.D. students entering without a relevant Master's degree must take the Qualifying Examinations within two and a half years of entering the program, while students entering with a relevant Master's degree must take them within one year of entering the program. The requirements for part-time students are pro-rated, so that, for example, a half-time student entering with a relevant Master's degree will be required to take the Qualifying Examinations within two years. A student retaking a Qualifying Examination must retake it the next time it is offered. If a student wishes to delay the examinations, he/she must submit a written request to the Candidacy Committee, justifying the delay (such as additional cognate courses in the student's program, illness, or necessity of taking remedial mathematics courses).
Advancement to Candidacy
Advancing to candidacy requires passing the Qualifying Examinations and completing the required coursework. Once these requirements are met, the student should apply for candidacy by submitting the Candidacy Requirements form to the chair of the Candidacy Committee. The Candidacy Committee then makes the final decision regarding advancement.
Departmental Guidelines for Ph.D. Dissertation
Dissertation Committee
In accordance with Graduate School regulations, the dissertation committee must have at least four members, with at least two from within and at least one from outside the Department of Biostatistics. A member whose research interests are closely aligned with those of the student, is the committee chair, unless this member is from outside the Department, in which case this member and a member from within the Department are designated as co-chairs. The dissertation committee is selected by mutual agreement between the student and committee members and is nominated to the Dean of the Graduate School by the Chair of the Department. The Committee directs and reviews the student's doctoral research, conducts the oral defense of the dissertation, and decides whether or not the dissertation is approved.
- PhD candidates should form their dissertation committee within 12 months of reaching candidacy, and it is recommended that meetings with the committee members take place every 6 to 12 months.
- Candidates are expected to present their thesis proposal within 24 months of achieving candidacy. It should be noted that the proposal presents an opportunity to practice writing skills for the thesis and to present the materials to the members of the dissertation committee. The dissertation proposal does not require a complete outline of the dissertation or the very near completion of the work. Rather, the proposal should be presented along the lines of a NIH grant proposal and generally address questions of overall aims, carry out a comprehensive literature review in the research area, present a section on preliminary results, and a detailed plan for additional research. Presentation of the proposal offers a very useful milestone for the student to give a more formal summary of work and to get feedback and comments from the dissertation committee. The additional purpose of the thesis proposal is for the whole committee to review and approve the proposed direction and content of the proposed research.
Dissertation Content
The dissertation research must be a creative and significant original contribution to the field of Biostatistics, involving the development and evaluation of biostatistical methodology that has application to important biomedical problems. In the assessment of the contribution, it is also recognized that development of software and computational techniques for novel statistical methods is an important aspect of scholarly work. Various models for the structure of a dissertation have been used and are acceptable. In some cases, the thesis consists of three separate, often fairly loosely related, papers that are judged to be of publishable quality. A more traditional form of thesis would be one that provides an in depth treatise on a topic, that may look at various facets of a problem and may not easily subdivide into any set number of separate publishable papers. For guidance, students may wish to review the collection of PhD dissertations that have been written in the Department and that are on display in the Departmental library.
Dissertation Submission
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It is the responsibility of the student to see that the dissertation defense is advertised within the Department at least three weeks in advance of the scheduled defense time. In addition, the student is responsible to provide a copy of the submitted dissertation to each member of the dissertation committee at least two weeks in advance of the date of the defense.
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The dissertation should be submitted by the student to the graduate office in the Department at least two weeks prior to the defense. The thesis would then be available for review to any faculty member or student in the Department prior to the defense. The Front Office will send a note to all faculty and students regarding the availability of the thesis and lend it out to anyone interested.
Conduct of Defense (Examination)
- The defense will be chaired by a faculty member from the Department who is not on the dissertation committee. This person would be appointed by the graduate and department chairs. The Chair of the defense will not take part in the assessment of the thesis or the student’s oral defense, but will chair or facilitate the examination.
- More specifically, the chair will call on the candidate for presentation of the dissertation, typically for a 50 minute presentation and then will call on committee members for questions. It is typical to call on the external member(s) of the committee first and then on others on the committee. Once the Committee has completed a first round of questions, the Chair will solicit any questions from the audience. Further questions from the committee will also be invited.
- The defense is to be public; therefore, examination of the candidate by committee members and others should take place with all who are interested present. There would still be time for an ‘in camera’ deliberation of the dissertation committee, and in exceptional circumstances where more information is needed, the committee may decide to meet again with the candidate after the public meeting is completed.
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