Ph.D. Degree Requirements

The Ph.D. program has been designed to provide students the flexibility to tailor their studies toward their individual research interests while maintaining a common foundational training. Each student’s program of study will be defined by the student, the student’s advisor and the program director, while satisfying certain mandatory requirements of the program. The program of study has been designed to provide students with the fundamental knowledge of the domain and its tools, to provide depth in the key areas of, and tools used, in BMI, and to give them the flexibility to choose courses that meet their individual needs.  A minimum of 24 credits beyond the M.S. degree is required for the Ph.D. degree. Students also select a track to focus on:  Imaging Informatics, Clinical Informatics or Translational Bioinformatics.

Required Courses:

1. 24 approved graduate course credits beyond the M.S. degree requirement.
   • A minimum of 9 graduate credits, excluding BMI 590, BMI 591, BMI 592, BMI 595, BMI 596, BMI 598, BMI 599, BMI 690, BMI 691, BMI 692, BMI 695, BMI 696, BMI 699, BMI 700, BMI 701, and BMI 800, must be taken in the Biomedical Informatics Program (includes all BMI courses and all BMI-Approved Elective courses from other departments).
   • Either BMI 502 or BMI 503, but not both, can be applied toward the course requirements.
   • No more than a total of 4 credits of BMI 692 may be applied toward the Ph.D. degree credit requirements, although all on-campus Ph.D. students who have advanced to candidacy must register for and attend BMI 692 each semester (exemption from BMI 692 is subject to prior approval of the student’s advisor and the graduate program director.)

Transfer Credits:

All requests for transfer of credits require the prior approval of the graduate program director and all requests for transfer of credits beyond 12 graduate credits must also be approved by a majority vote of the primary Biomedical Informatics faculty.  For a student who transferred from another comparable national BMI program and has already completed all course requirements and passed the preliminary written exam, the student can petition the Graduate School to be placed into advanced status (passing preliminary examination equivalent) with prior approval by a majority vote of the primary Biomedical Informatics faculty.

Preliminary Examination:

Students will be required to pass a written preliminary examination. This examination is designed to broaden the multidisciplinary nature of the candidate student base. Biomedical Informatics attracts people working in many domains, often acquiring skills and interests that are not captured by the more conventional curricular track offered in those domains. Naturally, this is also an opportunity to verify the accuracy of the candidate’s claims to quantitative skills as a route to a multidisciplinary curriculum. The examination will be offered at least once every year, usually in April. The preliminary examination will be developed by the student’s advisor in consultation with the student’s examination committee, and must then be approved by the graduate program director prior to being administered. The examination committee will consist of three Biomedical Informatics faculty members. Students will be encouraged to take the preliminary examination the first time it is offered after they begin academic residency. Each student can take the written preliminary examination two times before being disqualified as candidates to this Ph.D. program.

Qualifying Examination: 

This examination is designed to test the student’s ability to utilize his or her background to carry out research in a chosen field of study, and to make clear written and oral presentations of research. As part of the qualifying examination, the student is required to submit a written dissertation proposal (15 page limit) and present it in a public oral examination conducted by the dissertation examining committee. The written dissertation proposal must be distributed to the committee members at least two weeks before the oral examination. The oral examination probes the doctoral student’s ability and examines the progress, direction and methodology of the dissertation research. The student will be examined on the dissertation topic and its objective, the problem formulation, research approach, and knowledge in related areas. A majority of the dissertation examining committee must approve the student’s performance.

Teaching:

Ph.D. students are required to take 3 credits of BMI 698 Practicum in Teaching II or obtain approval of equivalent teaching experience from the Graduate Program Director as part of the degree requirement. BMI 698 is taken under a faculty advisor who is responsible for providing feedback and making a formal evaluation of the student's work. The form of this practicum may include making class presentations, teaching in recitation classes, or preparation and supervision of laboratory classes. All Teaching Assistants are required to take BMI 697 Practicum in Teaching I prior to taking BMI 698. BMI 697 will provide students a background in learning theory, course design, learning styles, content delivery formats, teaching technology, advising, rubrics and assessment.

Advancement to Candidacy:

After passing the preliminary examination, a student will be advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree when he/she has completed all formal coursework, passed the qualifying examination and satisfied all other Ph.D. requirements except the dissertation. These requirements must be completed within one calendar year after passing the written qualifying examination. Advancement to candidacy must be at least one year before the beginning of the semester in which a student plans to defend his/her dissertation.

Dissertation:

The student chooses a dissertation topic in consultation with his/her doctoral dissertation advisor as soon as possible. Dissertation research is an apprenticeship for the candidate, who, under the supervision of the dissertation advisor, independently carries out original work of significance. The dissertation examining committee should be established after the student passes the qualifying examination. The committee must include at least three members from the Department of Biomedical Informatics primary or secondary faculty, including the dissertation advisor, and at least one “outside” member from another program or from outside the University.  This “outside” member may not be a member of the Biomedical Informatics program graduate faculty.  The committee must be approved by the graduate program director upon recommendation by the dissertation advisor. The official recommendation for the appointment of the dissertation examining committee is made to the Dean of the Graduate School.

Dissertation Defense:

Once the dissertation is complete, approval of the dissertation requires a formal oral defense. The formal defense is open to the public. A candidate must fill out the Doctoral Degree Defense Form (available on the Graduate School Web page) with dissertation abstract as well as other relevant details, and submit the Form to the graduate program director at least three weeks in advance of the proposed event. The Form is forwarded by the graduate program director to the dean of the Graduate School. Copies of the dissertation are to be distributed to the committee members at least two weeks before the dissertation defense; one copy is to be kept in the program office for examination by the faculty. The final approval of the dissertation must be by a majority vote of the dissertation examining committee.

Annual Review of Progress:

The student’s advisor must submit a written report to the graduate program director on the student’s progress once per year documenting student progress and accomplishments (e.g., published papers or proceedings, presentations at conferences, fellowships, grants, awards or other honors).

Time Limit/Residency Requirement:

The time limit for a doctoral degree is seven years for a student who has a previous graduate degree or 24 credits of graduate study in such a degree program. For all other students, the time limit for a doctoral degree is seven years after completion of 24 graduate level credits at Stony Brook University.  

Ph.D. Course Table with Track options: