Program Milestones

After the academic requirements of core coursework are completed and students have found a laboratory for their thesis research, the major goal of the GPN training program is to make sure that students move through the research mission with the necessary oversight so that they make a timely transition from a technically competent laboratory member to an independent thinker and research colleague.

There are three steps in the process that are managed by GPN training faculty to make sure that all students are offered the greatest opportunity of achieving their career goals:

  1. The Qualifying Exam that gives them the necessary guidance to produce a competitive training fellowship for submission (NRSA/NSF or equivalent).
  2. Semester meetings of their Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC) that lead to the formal Progress Report and a first author manuscript.
  3. Pre-defense to make sure that they are ready to successfully defend their research and complete the final requirements of the PhD degree. At least one first authored paper is required to schedule the defense.

We have created a Milestone Checklist to help students stay on track with the required program milestones.