Thesis Procedure

After successfully passing the preliminary examination, the student is admitted to Doctoral Candidacy via the UIC Graduate College  and begins development of their thesis, including the composition of their committee in consultation with their mentor  and concentration DGS.

Please keep in mind during this time the UIC Graduate College requires a 3.0/B grade average to successfully complete the program. There isn’t any publication requirement to successfully graduate from the program.

The GEMS program is allowed to modify their thesis procedures as they sit to satisfy the requirements of the program. However, it is imperative the student review the guidelines set forth by the UIC Graduate College https://grad.uic.edu/academic-support/thesis/, including the comprehensive Graduate College Thesis Manual.

Thesis Committee Composition

•   The thesis committee consists of at least five faculty members. The candidate’s primary mentor is one of the committee members.

•   At least two members of the committee must be tenured faculty members at UIC. The procedural chair of the committee must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member and may not be the candidate’s primary mentor.

•   One committee member must be from outside of the student’s Research Concentration. (GEMS faculty members with non-primary affiliation in the student’s Research Concentration are considered “outside”).

•   For a committee member from outside the University, documentation demonstrating that the individual meets equivalent academic standards (e.g., the individual’s curriculum vitae) must be provided.

The thesis committee provides regular input and advice throughout the student’s tenure in the GEMS program. This occurs in the form of formal thesis committee meetings (below). Additionally, students routinely seek scientific or career development advice from committee members, even outside of formal committee meetings. It is important to assemble a committee that has broad scientific expertise and mentoring experience that will help students to progress successfully.

The student is responsible for nominating potential committee members. Students should communicate with these individuals before nominating them. The student’s mentor and DGS must approve the membership of the thesis committee. Any subsequent membership changes also must be approved by the mentor and DGS. At least 3 weeks prior to the thesis defense, the thesis committee must be authorized by the Dean of the Graduate College, upon the recommendation of the student’s DGS. The student is responsible for the timely submission of the form for Graduate College approval: Committee Recommendation Form

This form may change and is set by Graduate College, not GEMS. The GEMS program code is 6047PHD. The student also must add their concentration code to the form as well, i.e. 6047PHD-6052 for a student in the Cancer Biology concentration:

·      Cancer Biology: 6052

·      Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CBRM): 6053

·      Integrative and Translational Physiology (ITP): 6054

·      Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG): 6056

·      Microbiology, Immunity and Inflammation (MII): 6055

·      Neurobiology (Neuro): 6057

Thesis Committee Meetings

•   The first meeting of the student’s thesis committee will occur within six months of the completion of the prelim exam.

•   Thereafter, the thesis committee will meet twice each academic year, as close to six months apart as possible.

•   All thesis committee members must be present for at least one of the two annual committee meetings. Not more than one member may be absent for any meeting.

•   Committee meetings will be held in-person if feasible.

•   If the mentor, student, and committee chair agree, the student can make a written report of recent accomplishments to the committee in lieu of the second yearly meeting. All committee members must provide written feedback for these “in lieu of” meetings, and these comments will be incorporated into a committee report (below).

Reporting Thesis Committee Meetings

•   Students must notify GEMS and the concentration DGS prior to each thesis committee meeting and “in lieu of” meeting.

•   For every meeting, the chair of the committee must prepare and submit a written report to the GEMS office within one week of the meeting via the internal GEMS Thesis Committee Meeting Report. The report must be acknowledged and signed by all attending members of the committee, as well as the student. For “in lieu of” meetings, the written feedback of members will be incorporated into a report, which will be circulated for acknowledgement and approval as above.

Completion

•   In consultation with the mentor, and based on research progress, the student must formally ask the thesis committee for permission to write the dissertation. The granting of permission to write (indicated on the report of the thesis committee from the meeting at which that decision is taken) signifies that the student has made sufficient progress in collecting and analyzing data that a Ph.D. dissertation can be defended successfully. Permission to write may be accompanied by well-defined stipulations, including, but not limited to, the completion of additional experiments that can be completed in a short period of time (not more than 2 months).

•       While the GEMS program does not mandate peer-reviewed publications as a requirement for graduation, the thesis committee may require the compilation and analysis of data for publication(s) prior to granting permission to write.

•   Once permission to write has been granted, the requirement for data compilation/analysis for publication cannot be the sole criterion for delaying thesis defense and graduation.

Thesis Defense

Please refer to the Graduate College guidelines and below timeline: https://grad.uic.edu/academic-support/exams-defense/doctoral-dissertation-defense/  

For full pass defenses, the chair’s approval of the submitted thesis are used as evidence the conditions were met with the date that the chair approved the ETD submission as the “conditions met” date.

Electronic Thesis/Dissertation (ETD) submission is required before the thesis is approved by the Graduate College: https://grad.uic.edu/academic-support/thesis/etd/

Post-Thesis Defense Conditional Pass 

For any conditions placed on a pass (prelim or defense), the best way to make sure the student’s record is updated when they’re met is for the chair (or whoever is responsible for making sure the conditions are met) to email Boyd Bellinger at the Graduate College- larnhe2@uic.edu to let them know. The date the conditions were met need to be stated in the email so the information can be entered into Banner.

Final Housekeeping Requirements for Graduate College to Approve Thesis

The following supplementary items are needed in order to approve the submission:

• iThenticate report (the form at this link: https://uofi.app.box.com/s/vmawsta91p0cgex7g7vk9c552dtpjn6x). If you have already added it to the Box folder you shared with thesischeck@uic.edu, If not, you are welcome to send it directly to Boyd Bellinger, Thesis Specialist- larnhe2@uic.edu.

• Payment of your library thesis fee (https://appserv7.admin.uillinois.edu/FormBuilderSurvey/Survey/uic_graduate_college/fees/uic_thesis_fee/). Boyd will receive an email letting him know when you have paid this.

• Your certificate of completion from the Survey of Earned Doctorates (https://grad.uic.edu/academic-support/thesis/survey-of-earned-doctorates/). Boyd will receive a copy of the certificate when you have completed the survey.