N&M students are required to complete coursework, seminars and a teaching experience, hold annual committee meetings, and pass a preliminary exam and thesis defense. See drop down menu below to learn more about each program requirement.
Coursework
N&M students must take 10 credits of core coursework, and complete 6 elective credits. See the University Guide for course descriptions and a list of recommended electives.
NS 600: Introductory Seminar in Nutrition (1 cr.)
NS 618: Research Approaches in the Era of Precision Nutrition (3 cr.)
NS 619: Advanced Nutrition: Intermediary Metabolism of Macronutrients (3 cr.)
NS 745: Grant Writing for Nutritional Sciences Research (2 cr.)
NS 799: Practicum in Nutritional Sciences Teaching (1 cr.)
Seminars
N&M students must attend two weekly seminars in Fall and Spring semesters: NS 931: Nutrition Seminar, and NS 731: Research in Progress Seminar. Starting in your second year, you will select one of the following Emphasis Seminars three times and present for a letter grade each time for a total of three credits:
NS 881: Topics in Human Nutrition (offered in Fall)
NS 901: Topics in Nutrition and Metabolism (offered in Fall)
AS 931: Topics in Animal Nutrition (offered in Spring)
N&M students must meet with and receive written feedback from their advisory committee at least once per year. These meetings provide guidance and create accountability for both the student and their committee.
Your first advisory committee meeting must take place prior to the Fall of your second year. Meetings must be within one calendar year of each other. See the handbook for specific committee make up requirements. Students must also maintain an Individual Development Plan (IDP).
Copies of meeting forms and IDPs must be returned to the graduate program manager for internal recordkeeping.
N&M students must obtain at least one semester of classroom teaching experience. This requirement can be fulfilled with an official Teaching Assistantship, or an unofficial Learning Internship. You should expect to spend 7 – 10 hours per week to complete the teaching experience requirement.
There is one preliminary exam that must be completed by Spring semester of your third year. Students are highly encouraged to pass prelims prior to the Fall of Year 3.
You will prepare a written proposal to demonstrate your ability to define a research problem and plan approaches for addressing an area of interest. You must show your ability to develop new hypotheses and to design experiments that test those hypotheses. It is recommended you use the F31 proposal format because it encompasses the essential elements of a description of any proposed research. Once completed, domestic students can submit their F31 proposal to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fellowship funding. See your handbook for additional guidance.
Your advisory committee is also your prelim examination committee. You are responsible for scheduling a meeting of all committee members where you will defend your research proposal, followed by questioning from the committee. You must submit your research proposal to your exam committee for review 2 weeks prior to your prelim defense.
Each committee member will complete an individual evaluation form of the research proposal and defense. After successfully defending, your advisor will complete and submit an overall evaluation form. N&M’s graduate program manager will request prelim warrant signatures.
You must request a prelim warrant from N&M’s graduate program manager at least 3 weeks prior to the exam date using the Preliminary Exam Request Form.
The Doctor of Philosophy, a research degree, requires documentation of your ability for independent investigation presented as a dissertation based on your original research. This dissertation must be submitted to your examining committee 2 weeks before the exam.
You must request a defense warrant from N&M’s graduate program manager at least 3 weeks prior to the exam date using the Defense Warrant Request Form. Let the graduate program manager know the date and time of your defense. Following the defense, an electronic request for warrant signatures needs to be sent to each committee member.
An open oral presentation providing an overview of your dissertation should be planned to take 45-50 minutes. Following your presentation, your committee will meet with you in a closed session to ask questions; this examination period normally takes one to two hours. Students who entered the program in Fall 2023 or later are required to give a full-length (45-50 minute) public seminar immediately before the closed session defense examination conducted by the student’s committee. The campus location of the exit seminar and defense will be determined by the student and their mentor. Students who entered the program before Fall 2023 have the option to hold a public seminar immediately before their defense. A seminar in NS 931 is still required.
Each committee member will fill out a dissertation defense rubric. Return forms to the graduate program manager.
You must be enrolled in the semester, including summer, in which you are defending. At the end of the semester there are dates referred to as the “window period”. If you feel you need to complete your dissertation in the intermediary time between semesters, please talk to the graduate program manager to ensure your enrollment in the correct semester. It is very important to review the Graduate School steps for defending and depositing your dissertation.