CBE PhD Degree Program Descriptions

Fifty-seven (57) semester hours are required for the Ph.D. degree in BME as follows:

1. Fifteen (15) semester hours of BME core graduate courses
2. Fifteen (15) semester hours of approved graduate electives
3. Twenty-seven (27) semester hours of BME 6980, Dissertation
4. Successful completion of BME 8965, Doctoral Preliminary Exam (0) (P/F grade only)
5. Successful defense of an oral and written dissertation - BME 8985, Dissertation Defense (0) (P/F grade only)
6. Registration and attendance at all departmental seminars - BME 5935, Chemical Engineering Seminar (0)

Required Biomedical Engineering Core Graduate Courses (fifteen [15] semester hours):

• ECH 5052 - Research Methods in Chemical Engineering (3)
• ECH 5261 - Advanced Transport Phenomena I (3)
• ECH 5840 - Advanced Chemical Engineering Mathematics I (3)
• ECH 5852 - Advanced Chemical Engineering Computations (3)
• BME 5313 - Fundamentals of Cell Bioengineering (3)

Biomedical Engineering Graduate Electives (fifteen [15] semester hours):

Minimum 6 semester hours are required to be in the biomedical engineering major elective courses list. Students should consult with their faculty advisor to determine the elective courses offered by the department. Typical biomedical engineering elective courses:

• BME 5XXX - Advanced Biomaterials (3)
• BME 5314 - Bioengineering (3)
• BME 5362 - Neural Engineering (3)
• BME 5937r - Special Topics in Biomedical Engineering (3)
• BME 6530 - NMR and MRI Methods in Biology and Medicine (3)
• BME 5142 - Soft Matter Characterization (3)

Find other elective courses in the CBE Approved Graduate Elective List.

Dissertation Hours (twenty-seven [27] semester hours):

• BME 6980 - Dissertation (1- 9) (S/U grade only)

Dissertation Defense (Zero [0] semester hours):

• BME 8985 - Dissertation Defense (0) (P/F grade only)

In addition to the 30 credit hours of coursework and 27 dissertation hours, an oral examination in defense of the dissertation (BME 8985) is required for the biomedical engineering PhD students. At least two hours of dissertation research (BME 5980) must be completed during the term of the dissertation defense.

Degree Requirements

Fifty-seven semester hours and the following requirements must be completed successfully for the award of the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering, as follows:

1. Passing BME 8965 Doctoral Preliminary Examination within two consecutive exam attempts (see Ph.D. preliminary examination requirements below for more details). Successful completion will result in an initial admission to Ph.D. candidacy.
2. Successfully complete Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training as part of the degree requirements by the end of the first fall term.
3. Completion of a minimum of thirty semester hours of advanced coursework (including fifteen semester hours of core coursework and fifteen semester hours of electives).
4. Completion of at least twenty-seven semester hours of dissertation research listed as repeatable course BME 6980 Dissertation.
5. Registration and attendance at all departmental seminars listed as repeatable course BME 5935 Biomedical Engineering Seminar.
6. Select a research topic and faculty advisor(s) by the end of fall semester of first year.
7. Form the full Ph.D. supervisory committee in consultation with the faculty advisor(s) before the Preliminary Exam starts.
8. Submit and defend a prospectus on the dissertation topic to the supervisory committee no later than the end of the spring term of the second year.
9. Complete a one-term teaching assistantship (lab TA) in an approved undergraduate laboratory between 2nd year and the term prior to the graduating term.
10. Presentation of a research topic at one local, regional, national, or international professional meeting.
11. Submission or publication of scholarly articles (minimum of one) based on original dissertation research in peer-reviewed journals.
12. Passing BME 8985 Dissertation Defense. At least two hours of dissertation (BME 6980) must be registered concurrently during the term of the dissertation defense (BME 8985).

No course with a grade below “C” will be counted toward the fulfillment of degree requirements. No more than one course with a grade in the “C” range will be counted toward the fulfillment of degree requirements.

All paperwork associated with the above requirements (see forms) must be submitted in a timely fashion to the Departmental office with appropriate signatures for review by the Graduate Committee and its Chair.

All BME PhD students are required to attend the FSU Program for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) online TA training. This requirement is mandatory regardless of the student's classification as a teaching assistant or research assistant. This workshop is provided before the beginning of the fall semester, with a modified version at the start of the spring semester for out-of-cycle admissions.

Students with a master’s degree in BME from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering may, with approval of the graduate committee and major professor, take six (6) additional approved semester hours beyond the thesis-type master's course requirements to satisfy the thirty (30) semester hours requirement for the PhD. All other requirements must be fulfilled as stated above.

Purpose and Format - Successful Ph.D. candidates will have a sound background in engineering, as well as the creativity and judgment necessary to conduct independent research. The purpose of the Preliminary Examination is to assess these qualities with an emphasis on evaluating the student's potential to conduct an original course of study and investigation. All prospective Ph.D. candidates must enroll in the appropriate Doctoral Preliminary Exam course (either BME 8965 or ECH 8965) for the semester that they intend to take the preliminary examination. Currently, the Preliminary Examination is administered in the 1st spring semester following initial matriculation in the CBE graduate program unless otherwise determined by the CBE Graduate Committee. Second attempts are administered in the following fall semester, provided the graduate committee has approved a second attempt for students who did not pass the first attempt.

Students are admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree after passing the Preliminary Examination. The Doctoral Dissertation Supervisory Committee chair (faculty advisor) will submit the Preliminary Exam Outcomes Assessment form to the CBE graduate coordinator. A student becomes eligible to and must register for dissertation credits (BME 6980 or ECH 6980) the semester after successful completion of the Preliminary Examination and must maintain at least 2 hours of dissertation credits each semester thereafter until defense of the Ph.D. dissertation.

The Preliminary Examination tests the student's ability (1) to define, describe and examine critically relevant literature; (2) to think creatively and to apply basic chemical/biomedical engineering concepts; (3) to communicate in a scholarly and rigorous manner the progress and results of research; and (4) to conduct productive, rigorous and creative scientific investigations.

This exam tests the student's ability to evaluate a fundamental research problem from the literature of chemical or biomedical engineering. Specifically, the student will be asked to:

• Identify the problems addressed in the assigned article;
• Formulate a critical appraisal of the authors' contributions to the problem and the significance of the work;
• Critically evaluate the technical soundness of the approach used and the results obtained;
• Summarize and critique advances in the field since the publication of the assigned article;
• Propose in concrete terms research work that might be done to extend and (if necessary) improve upon the study discussed in the article; and
• Comment on the incorporation of the article's findings into the potential course of dissertation work of the student.

Following the oral presentation, the Doctoral Dissertation Supervisory Committee will evaluate the student's performance in a closed session. Two outcomes are possible: pass or fail. An affirmative majority vote from the committee is required for the student to pass the examination. A pass permits the student to begin or continue research contributing to the Ph.D. dissertation. The committee may also provide recommendations to support the student’s academic progress, such as (but not limited to) the successful completion of specific coursework or completion of a M.S. degree prior to granting full Ph.D. candidacy. These recommendations do not affect the pass status but are intended to enhance the student’s preparation for doctoral research.

Per college policy, the Dean’s office will be notified of the outcome of any examination attempt. With committee approval, the student may have one additional attempt to pass the examination if failing the first attempt. The Preliminary Examination Committee will make a recommendation to the student and the major professor (faculty advisor) regarding the student’s examination performance and the likelihood of future success. The re-examination will be scheduled at the Graduate Committee’s discretion. The second attempt is usually done a semester afterward. Students must register separately for their first and second attempts and receive either a “pass” or a “fail” grade for each attempt. Students can take the examination for admission to candidacy only twice. Failure of the Preliminary Examination on two occasions will eliminate the student from consideration for Ph.D. candidacy and render the student ineligible to continue in the degree.

Upon successful completion of the preliminary exam, the student is admitted to Ph.D. candidacy. For each attempt, the Preliminary Examination Committee chair will report the outcomes on the Ph.D. Preliminary Examination Outcome Assessment form and submission to the Graduate Director and Graduate Coordinator.

All prospective Ph.D. candidates must enroll in the appropriate Preliminary Exam course (either BME 8965 or ECH 8965) for the semester that they intend to take the preliminary examination.