Program of Graduate Studies (Master Degree)

This document describes the rules and regulations of the MS Program of the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology, and is intended to complement the document entitled: “Requirements at the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Campus in Partial Fulfillment towards Master of Sciences and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees”.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

Students may enter the graduate program in Microbiology and Medical Zoology after receiving bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from an accredited institution, according to the rules and regulation the University of Puerto Rico. The applicant is expected to have training in:

  1. Biology (a minimum of 8 credit hours) Organic Chemistry (a minimum of 8 credit hours) Analytical Chemistry (a minimum of 4 credit hours) Mathematics (including calculus)
  2. Physics (a minimum of 8 credit hours)

The student must have a grade point average of 3.00 in general and in science courses and must have taken the Graduate Record Examination (General and Advanced in Biology or Chemistry) in order for Department to consider the application. In addition, the student has to be interviewed by at least two Departmental Faculty members. The applicant must be fluent in both Spanish and English. Applicants will be admitted to the Program only on the fall semester. The application deadline for admission is February 15. Admission is subject to the approval by the Departmental Graduate Committee and the Graduate School of Biomedical Science, School of Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico. Only applicants with fully completed application forms and application requirements for the set deadline will be considered for admission.

PROGRAM OF STUDY It will take two to three years of graduate study to earn a master’s degree in Microbiology and Medical Zoology at the Medical Sciences Campus. The student admitted to this program is expected follow a full-time schedule described as follows:

A. First Year

  1. First semester
    (a) Introduction to Medical Microbiology (6 credit hours) MICR 8499.
    (b) Biochemistry (5-7 credits)
  2. Second semester
    (a) Basic Immunology (3 credits hours) MICR 8540
    (b) Introduction to Parasitology (3 credit hours) ZOME 8502
    (c) Two departmental elective courses (5-6 credit hours). See list Departmental elective courses below.

B. Second Year

  • Biostatistics (CBIO 8500) Practice Teaching (MICR 8580) Graduate Seminar (MICR 8590)
  • Thesis Research (MICR 8595)

The student will be required to comply with at least two elective courses of his choice among those listed by the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology. The elective courses to be offered are the following:

(a) Medical Mycology (MICR 8530) (3 credit hours) (b) Microbial Physiology (MICR 8550) (3 credit hours) (c) Microbial Genetics (MICR 8560) (3 credit hours) (d) Virology and Tissue Culture (MICR 8510) (3 credit hours) (e) Diagnostic Microbiology (MICR 8501) (3 credit hours) (f) Protozoa (ZOME 8506) (2 credits) (g) Nematodes (ZOME 8504) (2 credit hours)

(h) Platyhelminthes (ZOME 8505) (2 credit hours)

At least two elective courses will be offered every year. A particular elective course will be offered on alternate years making it possible to offer all electives in Microbiology and Medical Zoology every two to three years. The student will not be required to take more than 6 credits in elective courses. Electives outside of the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology, and any of the courses listed as special problems in a particular field of microbiology and medical zoology can be taken, but these extra courses will not count towards the fulfillment of the 6 credit hours in elective courses. A full-time study load consists of at least 9 semester credit hours of courses as in the Requirements at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Campus in Partial Fulfillment towards Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees or a combination of course and research which amounts to 40 clockhours per week. The students must take one credit of practice teaching. In order to comply with the requisite of practice teaching, the student will have to serve as laboratory proctor under the supervision of a faculty member of the Faculty who will verify that the student has complied with this requisite. The student has to present at least one seminar during the course of his/her studies and before his/her thesis presentation. In addition, he/she has to attend regularly the seminars offered in the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology. A grade will be given for the graduate seminar course when fulfillment of the requisites have been met. The student is required to attend all scientific and academic activities sponsored by the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology (seminars, workshops, etc.) during the course of his/her studies in order to fulfill the two-year residency requirement. If at any time the student is unable to attend, he/she must submit evidence of the cause of his/her absence to the Chairman of the Department. After repeated, unexcused absences, the Chairperson of the Department the Graduate Committee and request, an evaluation of the compliance of the student with the residency requirement. If the student has complied he/she must do so during the next academic year. A total of 24 semester credits of course work plus 6 semester credits of research is the minimum required for the completion of the M.S. Degree Program. Only courses approved with a grade of A, B or P will be taken into account for the total number of credit course work. The Introduction to Medical Microbiology course has to be approved with a B (80.0) or higher grade. If a student obtains a C in the course he/she can request a reposition exam which he/she has to pass with a grade of B or higher. This exam will be given before the last day of late registration. Failure to pass the exam with a B grad automatically cause the suspension of the student from the Graduate Program of the Microbiology and Medical Zoology. Evidence of the reposition exam must be submitted by the course coordinator to the graduate program coordinator before the next late registration period. A student that has a C in any required course must repeat the course. A student with a C in another Departmental course can take another course to substitute the course taken or repeat the course. If a student has a C in Biochemistry courses, he/she must repeat the course or take any other course to substitute for the credits he/she has with a C upon approval of the Departmental Graduate Committee and the Departmental Chairperson. A students whose GPA that falls below 3.0 will be immediately put on probation according to the rules of the Graduate School (“Requirements at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus in Partial fulfillment towards Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees”). A minimum 3.0 GPA is required for graduation.

RESEARCH AND THESIS

After selection of his/her field of choice, the student will consult with the professor in charge as the possibilities of doing research in a particular field. The student will always be encouraged to select his/her field of research at the end of the first year of studies. The student will select a member of the Departmental Faculty to be his/her advisor. The advisor fulfill the criteria established by the Graduate School in the “Requirements at the University of Puerto Medical Sciences Campus in Partial fulfillment towards Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees”. When both parties have agreed to establish an advisor-student relationship, a written communication must be sent by both the student and the advisor so indicating, to the Departmental Chairperson and the Departmental Coordinator of Graduate Studies. This process must be completed before the 30th of June of the first academic year of studies. The professor selected by the student to be his/her thesis advisor, after consultation with the student, will then submit the candidates for the thesis committee to Chairperson of the Department. The thesis advisor has the responsibility of assuring that the committee members selected by the student comply with the requisites listed in “Requirements at the University of Puerto Medical Sciences Campus in Partial fulfillment towards Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees”. The Thesis Committee has to be selected prior to the 30th of September of the second year of studies. The Chairperson will in turn approve them and submit them to the Graduate Program for final approval. The thesis committee will consist of a minimum of two members and the thesis director. Two of them must be members of the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology and one of them from a related field from outside of the Department. A research proposal will be submitted by the student in which he/she describes the aims of his/her research and the methods he/she will use. The student will submit his/her proposal to the thesis committee for approval. The thesis director will inform the Chairperson of the Department of the decision of the thesis committee as to the approval of the proposal, together with a copy of the approved proposal. The Chairperson will then notify officially the Committee of Graduate Studies of the approval of the proposal. Upon the approval of his/her proposal, the student will start working immediately in his/her thesis research.

During the course of his/her research, and together with his/her thesis director, the student is encouraged to meet with his/her thesis research committee whenever he/she feels necessary. However, the student has to meet with the thesis committee annually and when he/she and his/her thesis director feels that the work is completed. The student’s committee then decides if he/she has fulfilled the proposed research requirement. The student is then allowed to proceed with the writing of his/her thesis. The decision of the committee is then forwarded to the Chairperson of the Department.

The Chairperson will ask the Department Graduate Studies Coordinator to certify that the Departmental courses and Graduate Program requirements have been met. The Chairperson of the Department will inform the Graduate School Committee of the student’s status and the schedule for the thesis defense will be issued according to the recommendations of the student and thesis advisor following the “Requirements at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Campus in Partial Fulfillment Towards Master of Science and Doctor of Philosopy Degrees”. The student will submit a preliminary copy of the thesis to the committee for corrections. Once the thesis has been corrected and the student feels he/she is prepared, he/she will ask his/her thesis director to submit a schedule for the final thesis presentation and defense as described in the Rules and Regulations of the Graduate School. During the thesis presentation, the student will take 45 minutes to describe briefly the thesis research, after which the presentation will be opened for questions from the members of the audience on matters pertaining directly to the area of the thesis research. Afterwards, the thesis committee meets in private with the student and members of the committee will conduct a final oral examination of the thesis work. Finally, the student will be excused and the committee will vote as to the final approval of the thesis, content, and presentation. A majority vote in favor will be required for final approval of the thesis and the oral presentation.

If the thesis committee feels that the student has not demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the matters