Complete two approved advanced electives (list below). The two electives may be completed in either the first or second year.
(M.S. students must complete two electives)
| BIOL 200E | Experimental Design | 3 |
| BIOL 200F | Logic and Approaches to Scientific Discovery | 5 |
| BIOL 201 | RNA Processing | 5 |
| BIOL 205 | Epigenetics | 5 |
| BIOL 206 | Introduction to Stem Cell Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 215 | Applied Statistics for Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 217 | Influence of Environment and Experience on Brain Development | 5 |
| BIOL 218 | CRISPR/Cas Technologies | 5 |
| BIOL 220 | STEM Outreach | 2 |
| BIOL 226 | Neural Plasticity and Cognitive Neuroscience | 5 |
| BIOL 228 | Developmental Neurobiology | 5 |
| BIOL 230 | Grant Writing in the Biomedical Sciences | 5 |
| BIOL 247
/BME 247
| Stem Cell Research: Scientific, Ethical, Social, and Legal Issues | 2 |
| BIOL 290 | Career Planning | 2 |
| BME 110 | Computational Biology Tools | 5 |
| BME 130 | Genomes | 5 |
| BME 160 | Research Programming in the Life Sciences | 6 |
| BME 163 | Applied Visualization and Analysis of Scientific Data | 5 |
| BME 263 | Applied Visualization and Analysis of Scientific Data | 5 |
| BME 205 | Bioinformatics Models and Algorithms | 5 |
| BME 229 | Protein and Cell Engineering | 5 |
| BME 230A | Introduction to Computational Genomics and Systems Biology | 5 |
| BME 230B | Advanced Computational Genomics and Systems Biology | 5 |
| BME 237 | Applied RNA Bioinformatics | 5 |
| BME 272 | Precision Medicine | 5 |
| BME 273 | Stem Cell Epi/Genomics | 3 |
| BME 275 | Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology | 5 |
| BME 278 | Stem Cell Biology | 5 |
| CHEM 200A | Advanced Biochemistry: Biophysical Methods | 5 |
| CHEM 200B | Advanced Biochemistry: Macromolecular Structure and Function | 5 |
| CHEM 200C | Advanced Biochemistry: Enzyme Mechanisms and Kinetics | 5 |
| CHEM 230 | Grant Writing in Biomedical Research | 5 |
| CHEM 271 | Chemical Biology | 5 |
| ECE 236 | Optics and Microscopy | 5 |
| ECE 237 | Image Processing and Reconstruction | 5 |
| METX 202 | Advanced Topics in Environmental Health | 5 |
| METX 206A | Advanced Microbiology | 5 |
| METX 210 | Molecular and Cellular Basis of Bacterial Pathogenesis | 5 |
| METX 238 | Inflammation | 5 |
| | PDP, Training in teaching offered by the Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators (ISEE) | |
| STAT 108 | Linear Regression | 5 |
| STAT 205B | Intermediate Classical Inference | 5 |
| STAT 208 | Linear Statistical Models | 5 |
| STAT 266A
/CSE 266A
| Data Visualization and Statistical Programming in R | 3 |
| GRAD 213 | Equity-Minded Mentoring in Higher Education: Fostering Inclusive Research and Learning Environments | 2 |
Students who have had no or very little statistics should audit or take STAT 7 (5 credits) and perhaps also STAT 7L (2 credits) to learn the basics, before taking one of the graduate level courses.
Students may only count one of the following courses toward their graduate electives: BIOL 220, BIOL 230, BIOL 247, BIOL 290, BME 275, CHEM 230, GRAD 213, and PDP (Professional Development Program).
Students may count either ECE 236 or ECE 237, but not both, toward their advanced graduate electives.
Students will also complete at least 20 research units as part of writing the master's thesis.
Write a master’s thesis (Master's Plan I) based on original research. The research should be of sufficient quality to merit publication, but a peer-reviewed publication is not required for graduation. The thesis should include an introduction and discussion, in addition to chapters describing results. Students can include data from jointly authored papers in the results chapters provided that their contributions are substantial and clearly spelled out. The thesis must be completely written by the student.
Present a thesis defense in a departmental seminar. The student will present their research project in a public venue such as a departmental seminar or one of the research clubs (RNA club, chromatin club, neuro club, etc.).