Information for Current Students

The students must select, with mutual agreement, a permanent advisor as soon as possible but no later than the end of their first semester of full-time study. To secure the advisor assignment, students must complete the “Faculty Advisor Agreement” form and obtain their advisor’s signature. Once selected, the student is required to consult with their permanent advisor to plan their coursework and research for each remaining semester and in the preparation of the Application to Candidacy and other forms that must be submitted.  The permanent advisor provides guidance and helps direct the student’s dissertation. The student’s PhD Advisory Committee is chaired by the student's permanent advisor.

Students pursuing the PhD are guided by a dissertation advisory committee. This committee is arranged to oversee all degree requirements for the student, and has the responsibility of evaluating and approving the student’s program of coursework as well as advising the PhD dissertation. The advisory committee, which is responsible for administering the student’s preliminary and qualifying exam. The committee must be composed of a major professor from the Department who must be a member of the University Graduate Faculty, and at least two additional members who hold the rank of assistant professor or higher in the University Graduate Faculty. Note that Associate Members of the Graduate Faculty may not serve on doctoral committees as one of the three required core committee members, but may serve as additional committee members. The advisory committee must be selected by the end of the second semester of study.

This exam is the first step along the path to the PhD. The intent of this exam is to evaluate if the student has the ability to formulate a research problem, to state hypotheses or outline design objectives, to propose a research plan using feasible design, experiment and analysis techniques to either test those hypotheses or achieve the design objectives, and to interpret data (if any, preliminary data are not required). It must be completed within 12 months after the student enters the PhD program.

For this examination, the student must meet with their advisor to select a research topic, prepare a written research plan and give an oral presentation (30-40 min) on this topic. Format and content of this research plan should be decided by the faculty advisor and/or PhD committee members. Typically, the research plan includes the background of the research project, the hypotheses, the preliminary results (if any, not required) and the studies to be performed in the following years. The student is strongly recommended to seek general guidance about the format and content of the research plan expected from the advisor and/or PhD committee members, but the preparation of the research plan and the oral presentation must be completed without input from anyone. Students will be given a minimum of one month to prepare their written document and oral presentation. An electronic or hard copy of the written document must be submitted to the committee members at least 1 week prior to the oral presentation.

The oral presentation should be approximately 30 minutes in length and cover, at a minimum, Background on the topic, Hypotheses, Research completed so far (if any, preliminary results are not required), and Research to be completed. Following the presentation, the student will appear for an oral exam by the committee.

Based on the written research plan, the oral presentation, and the oral exam, the committee will decide whether the student passes or needs to redo the exam or fails. Failure means the student is dismissed from the PhD program and can continue to pursue a MS degree, if they desire. The Examination Committee should report the results of the examination to the student and to the Director of Graduate Studies upon completion of deliberations. The results of the examination must be included on the original BME Preliminary Examination Form. The completed and signed form must be submitted to the BME Academic Coordinator within two business days of the completion of the presentation. Upon acceptance of the proposal and signing of the BME Preliminary Examination Form, the student has completed this stage.

Upon passing the Preliminary Exam, the student should fill out and submit the Application to Candidacy for the PhD degree. 

The Qualifying Exam (QE) is the second step along the path to the PhD. This is to be completed within 12 months of completing the Preliminary Exam. The intent of the qualifying exam is to evaluate student’s overall progress and potential for graduate research as well as their ability to develop an organized research, to conduct research with proper planning and to demonstrate their potential to achieve the research goals.

For this examination, the student must prepare a written research proposal and give an oral presentation on this topic. Format and content of this research proposal should be decided by the faculty advisor and/or PhD committee members. Typically, the research proposal is in the form of a grant application (e.g. NIH F31 Individual Predoctoral Fellows format). The research proposal includes two parts: (1) specific aims and (2) research strategy. The specific aims (1 page) state concisely the background, the hypotheses, and the aims of the proposed research. The research strategy (6-12 pages) states in details the significance, the hypotheses, the preliminary results (required), the innovation and the approaches of the research project. The research proposal can be developed based on the research plan submitted in Preliminary Exam. A template for the research proposal is provided in “Information for Current Students” section. The student is strongly encouraged to seek guidance about the format and content of the research proposal expected from the advisor and/or PhD committee members. The preparation of the research proposal and the oral presentation must be completed without input from anyone. Students will be given a minimum of one month to prepare their written document and presentation. An electronic or hard copy of the written proposal must be submitted to the committee members at least 1 week prior to the oral presentation.

The oral presentation should be 30-45 minutes in length and cover, at a minimum, Background on the topic (significance, innovation, hypotheses), Research completed so far (preliminary results), and Research to be completed (approaches). Following the presentation, the student will appear for an oral exam by the committee.

Based on the written research proposal, the oral presentation and the oral exam, the committee will decide if the student passes, needs to redo, or fails the exam. Pass means the student has completed the exam. Redo allows the student up to one year from the date of the first attempt to redo the exam. Fail means the student is dismissed from the PhD program. The student must turn in a completed and signed QE Form to the BME graduate office.

Upon satisfactory completion of the qualifying examination, the PhD Dissertation Committee will assume responsibility for directing the dissertation work that will be carried out under the guidance of the candidate's major advisor. The dissertation must be original and must represent a significant contribution to the state of knowledge in the candidate's area of concentration.  

A graduate student is officially considered to be a student for the PhD degree only upon successful completion of the departmental PhD qualifying examination.

After successful completion of the Qualifying Exam and before the dissertation defense, PhD students must arrange a Progress Meeting with their PhD advisor/committee members. The Progress Meeting must be completed at least 6 months before the dissertation defense. During the meeting, students will provide the Progress Meeting Form to the committee. The completed Progress Meeting Form must be submitted to the Academic Coordinator. Students will be unable to defend their dissertation if the Progress Meeting requirement has not been met.

The primary purpose of the Application to Candidacy (ATC) is to serve as a useful planning document for the student and the student’s committee, as well as to indicate to the Graduate School the student’s intended degree date. As such, it is important for the student to prepare and submit the Application to Candidacy at an early stage of his or her candidacy, preferably immediately after completion of the preliminary exam for a PhD student. The Application to Candidacy includes a summary of courses that are yet to be applied toward the degree. The Application to Candidacy should only be filed once PhD students have:

1) Secured their Dissertation Committee

2) Successfully completed their Preliminary Examination

3) Completed the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training Requirement (see ATC form for more information)

The following additional points should be noted with regard to the Application to Candidacy:

a) The Application to Candidacy must be accompanied with a preliminary abstract of the dissertation, project, or thesis, a transcript of all coursework listed on the application, and informal course descriptions (for independent study or special topics courses).

b) Major revisions which are necessary in the Application to Candidacy (e.g., significant change in topic or abstract, adding and/or deleting more than two courses, changing major advisor, etc.) must be accomplished by resubmitting the Application to Candidacy to the Graduate School for approval by the divisional committee.

c) Minor changes (e.g., adding and/or deleting one or two courses, changing thesis titles, changing committee members other than the major advisor, etc.) may be made using the Petition to Change Expected Conferral Date/Amend ATC form.

d) The Application to Candidacy for the PhD degree must be filed within one year of passing the PhD qualifying examination. Later filings may delay the student’s graduation.

e) All Applications to Candidacy must be submitted at least six months prior to the expected degree conferral date.

f) An approved Application to Candidacy must be on file before a student may submit a Certification of Full-Time Status Form.

The student must meet at least annually (during Summer typically) with their advisor and/or committee to create and update a checklist of what must be completed before the student can defend his/her dissertation. The results of the review report meeting must be submitted to the BME Academic Coordinator by August 1st of each year. These review reports ensure that the student is making progress toward their degree and are intended to help the student and faculty advisor. The Annual Review Report is located on the Graduate Forms page.

Biomedical Engineering will offer biweekly seminars in both Fall and Spring semesters. The seminars will be offered by experts in various areas of Biomedical Engineering research. A 1-credit hour seminar course (BE 500) will be offered each semester, and PhD students can take this course three times to replace one 3-credit lecture course. PhD students are not required to register for the seminar course, but all are required to attend a certain number of seminars before graduation.

Students enrolled in the seminar course are expected to maintain a 100% in-person attendance rate. Students who have not registered for the seminar course must ensure a minimum attendance of 50% throughout the entirety of their PhD studies. The department will verify compliance with this requirement prior to the student's graduation.

For BME PhD students working at other departments, the BME requirements should have the highest priority over other departments’ requirements, as you will graduate with a PhD degree from BME.

For students located on the North Campus, in-person attendance is required and students must sign the attendance sheet upon entering the room. For students located at south/downtown campus, Zoom attendance is allowable if the student is not registered for the seminar course. Attendance will be taken at the beginning and random times of the seminar in Zoom. All Zoom attendees should turn on the camera.

Attendance exceptions: illness, conference participation, urgent lab experiment commitments. If you anticipate missing a seminar due to one of these reasons, you must email the BME Graduate Director, and include your Faculty Advisor and the BME Graduate Academic Coordinator. Following approval, the seminar absence will be recognized as an attended session.

The final academic requirement to be satisfied by a candidate is the oral PhD defense of his/her dissertation. Thus, the defense must consist of three components—presentation by the candidate, open session for questioning by the audience and committee members, and a closed session for more questions by the committee members and any faculty attending the defense. Passing this examination indicates that the PhD committee is satisfied that the student possesses a true understanding of the material related to and contained in his or her dissertation. The results of the defense are Pass, Fail or Redo. Pass can (and normally does) require edits to the written document with no further presentation needed. Fail means the student has failed the defense and is dismissed from the program without a PhD degree. Redo means the student must significantly edit the dissertation document, including possibly redoing experiments, and schedule a second dissertation defense. Only one redo is allowed.

A draft of the completed dissertation must be submitted to the committee at least 28 days prior to the defense date to provide ample time to read the document. Students must work with their advisor to schedule their defense and coordinate this with the Biomedical Engineering Academic Coordinator. One week prior to the defense date, the Academic Coordinator will contact the student for their Title, Abstract, Committee Members, and to confirm the date/time/location for the defense. General announcements for the PhD dissertation defense will be sent to the department faculty and BME students.

Upon passing the defense, the student must submit a signed Multipurpose Report for Graduate Degree Completion Form, also known as the “M-Form,” to the BME Academic Coordinator. The candidate must also submit a digital copy of the dissertation and two online Doctoral Exit Surveys to the Graduate School, and complete the BME Department Exit Survey online. Moreover, the student must submit to the department one electronic copy of the dissertation. A cover page must be included in the electronic copy, listing the PhD advisor and committee members, with spaces for their signatures.

a) A Master's student admitted on a provisional basis must demonstrate his or her ability to perform satisfactorily at the graduate level before being admitted to degree program as a matriculated student. The Department will specify the conditions in the letter of admission offering provisional status. A grade point average of 3.0 is required in all remedial courses.

b) A graduate student is officially considered to be a student for the PhD degree only upon successful completion of the departmental PhD qualifying examination.

c) A graduate student must earn an average of at least 3.0 for all courses taken for graduate credit which could be applied toward the degree. Accordingly, graduate course work in excess of that applied toward the credit requirement for the degree will be included in the computation of the student's GPA.

d) Satisfactory progress requires a minimum cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. A student is placed on probation if his or her GPA falls below 3.0 at the end of any grading period.

e) The following will constitute grounds for dismissal if:

• a grade of "F" is earned in any course that could be applied towards the degree;
• more than two grades are obtained from among “C,” “D,” and “U” in courses which could be applied to the degree;
• the conditions of provisional admission have not been satisfied within one semester after admission;
• probationary status has not been removed after one semester;
• the cumulative grade point average for courses which could be applied to the degree falls to below 2.5 at the end of any grading period; or,
• the student is found guilty of academic dishonesty according to existing regulations.

A student who has been officially dismissed and who seeks reinstatement must submit a formal request for reinstatement, along with a supporting statement of explanation, to the Chair of the Department. The request shall be reviewed according to the Policies and Procedures of the UB Graduate School.

a)  Informal courses usually include Individual Problems, which are taught on an informal basis and do not have formal catalog descriptions. Graduate Internships are also considered Informal coursework. These courses require a complete narrative description which includes the signatures of the student, instructor/supervisor, and the Director of Graduate Studies/Coordinating Instructor.  

b)  A maximum of 6 credit hours of informal course work may be applied toward the minimum 30 credit hour requirement for the Master's degree.

c)    Excluding those credits applied towards the Master's degree, a maximum of 6 additional credit hours of informal course work may be applied towards the minimum 72 credit hour requirements for the PhD degree. No more than 12 credit hours of Informal coursework can be applied toward the 72 credit hour requirement for the PhD degree.

a) MS degree programs require a 24 credit-hour residency requirement at UB.

b) PhD degree programs require a minimum residency requirement of the equivalent of two complete academic years of full-time study at UB. This includes two semesters of continuous full-time study not already applied to the master’s degree.

c) Students must maintain continuous registration until all degree requirements have been fulfilled. If such registration should be impossible, they must secure a leave of absence.

• Transfer Credits Petition form, official transcripts, and course descriptions of courses intending to transfer are required to be submitted within the student’s first year of study.
• Only courses applicable to the engineering degree are acceptable as transfer credit, and the Department must approve all transfer credits.
• Only those graduate courses completed with grades of "B" or better are eligible for consideration as transfer credit. However, the grade of the transferred course will not be counted towards the student’s grade point average at UB.

Toward MS:

A maximum of 6 credit hours of graduate coursework may be applied toward the minimum 30 credit hour requirement. The other 24 credits must be unique to the BME MS program.

Toward PhD:

A maximum of 36 graduate transfer credits (this normally comes from a master’s degree) may be applied toward the 72 minimum credit hour requirement for the Ph.D. degree– within this 36, only 6 credit hours of thesis or project can be transferred. Of those 36 transferred, only 15 course credits may be applied to the PhD.  This means that 15 lecture credits need to be completed at UB (including BE 501 and BE 502).  Accordingly, at least 42 credits must be unique to the BME PhD program. No more than 12 credit hours of informal courses (e.g., Individual Problems, Seminars) can be applied toward the PhD requirements.  Note that this includes any informal courses taken as part of the Master’s program – e.g. if a student took 6 credit hours of informal courses as part of their MS degree and applied these toward their PhD, the student could take at most 6 more credit hours of informal courses during their PhD.

MS: A minimum of 24 credit hours must be unique to the BME MS program.

PhD: A maximum of 36 credit hours (from a master’s degree) can be credited towards the PhD- within this 36, only 6 credit hours of thesis or project can be credited. No more than 12 credit hours of informal courses (e.g., Individual Problems) can be applied toward the PhD requirements.  Note that this includes any informal courses taken as part of the Master’s program – e.g. if a student took 6 credit hours of informal courses as part of their MS degree and applied these toward their PhD, the student could take at most 6 more credit hours of informal courses during their PhD.

Note: Any 400-level courses taken cannot be retaken at the 500-level to count toward BME Graduate degree requirements.

For the PhD program, it must be completed within seven years from the first registration date in the program, excluding approved leaves of absence. 

A petition for an extension of time limit requires departmental and SEAS approval through the Director of Graduate Studies. The student must be currently making active progress towards the degree. The petition will be presented to the SEAS divisional committee for approval before being submitted to the Graduate School. The petition must clearly delineate reasons for the extension, present a schedule for progress and set a deadline for completion of the program. The extension of time limit is normally granted for a maximum period of one year.

• A petition for leave of absence should be filed prior to the start of the semester in which the leave is to begin.
• Leaves of absence will normally be granted for only one year at a time. 
• Leaves of more than one semester require valid justification and documentation from the student and the student's advisor.   Documented cases of financial hardship, illness, or compulsory military service constitute valid justification.
• A student who leaves the program after completion of some graduate work but has not been given an approved leave of absence must reapply and be readmitted as a new student, according to University guidelines.
• Continued leaves of absence beyond two years will not be granted.

General information regarding graduation from the Graduate School may be found at this link. This includes information regarding deadlines, required forms, and a checklist of requirements.

https://www.buffalo.edu/grad/succeed/graduate/requirements.html

Additionally, all graduating students must complete the Departing Laboratory Student Checklist and submit this form with their signed M-form.