Integrative Neuroscience Graduate Program

Thesis Research

All INS students must form a thesis committee that is comprised of their advisor, a Chair of the committee (not the advisor) and at least 2 other INS faculty members within 6 months of passing their Candidacy Exams. The committee should meet formally with the student every 6 months to offer advice and monitor progress. All INS students also must develop a thesis proposal for public presentation to the INS faculty and students in their third year. Formulating a thesis proposal early in the thesis research phase allows the student to obtain valuable input from the thesis committee towards developing a rigorous research plan and a defined thesis project. The initial thesis committee will be responsible for providing the student with advice during their dissertation research phase of the program. When the student is ready to graduate, at least 2 additional readers will be added to the committee, one of whom must be from outside the University. The outside member of the thesis committee must not be the student’s future postdoctoral fellowship sponsor. The written thesis should be presented to the thesis committee at least one month before the thesis defense. The written thesis may be presented in one of two forms: 1) the "classic" form consisting of an introductory chapter, method and analysis section, detailed experiments -results and conclusions, overall conclusion or 2) the "compendium" form consisting of an introduction, three or more published full length papers, general discussion. General instructions concerning the Graduate School timetables and instructions can be found on their appropriate web pages.