Ph.D. in Biostatistics

Curriculum

To earn a Ph.D. in Biostatistics, students must pass the written Master's exams, complete coursework requirements, pass Ph.D. qualifier exams, and complete a dissertation on a biostatistical topic approved by their supervisory committee. In addition, data analysis experience at a level commensurate with Ph.D. degree coursework is required. Students must spend at least one year in residence as a full-time student after admission to the Ph.D. program.

A minimum of 72 credits beyond the bachelor's degree is required. All credits earned in fulfillment of the Master of Arts in Biostatistics degree at the University at Buffalo count toward this requirement. No more than 30 hours of approved courses can be transferred from another institution. Students who transfer into the Biostatistics Program with a Master's degree and have not taken STA 503, STA 504, STA 521, and STA 522, or the equivalent, are required to take these courses and the credits earned will be accounted for as transferred hours. Other coursework requirements are given below.

The remainder of the required 72 credits may be earned through enrollment in the Ph.D. program's core courses, approved electives that have not been counted to satisfy the requirements of the Master's degree, and STA 700 (Thesis Research). Students may begin receiving credit for doctoral research hours in the semester after passing the qualifying exams.

Core Course Requirements

The following core courses are required for all Biostatistics Ph.D. students:

All students are required to attend the weekly departmental seminar. Full-time students must register for seminar, STA 782.

Elective Requirements

Students must take at least three Ph.D. electives (PE). At least two must come from the following list of advanced Biostatistics courses:

The third elective may be an approved course from outside the Department of Biostatistics. If the non-major elective option is chosen, prior approval of the course by the student's supervisory committee is required. Non-major electives must be graduate level courses on topics that complement the student's education in biostatistics.

Practical Training Requirement

Biostatistics Ph.D. students are required to complete practical training that involves the application of Ph.D. level methods to the health or biological sciences. Students can satisfy this requirement by working under a faculty member in a consulting or collaborative research setting, by participating in an approved external internship program, or by taking statistical consulting credits, STA 589.

Students must submit a detailed written report of their work to their supervisory committee for evaluation. An oral presentation of this report must be given to the committee in the form of a seminar that is announced to all faculty and students of the Department of Biostatistics.

Qualifying Exams

To be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, students must pass three qualifying exams, two written, and one oral.

The written exams, which are called Part I Qualifiers, cover applied and theoretical topics. The applied exam covers the topics taught in STA 641 and STA 642, while the theoretical exam covers STA 621 and STA 622. Students are allowed a maximum of two attempts to pass each Part I exam.

The oral exam, called the Part II Qualifier, can be taken after passing both Part I Qualifiers. The Part II exam is an oral defense of the student's proposed dissertation project. The dissertation proposal must be submitted in writing to members of the student's supervisory committee at least two weeks prior to the oral exam. This exam is conducted by the supervisory committee, but may be attended by any member of the faculty. Immediately after the Part II oral exam, the supervisory committee will decide whether the student is qualified to continue work toward a Ph.D. degree.

Upon successful completion of Part I and II exams, the student may apply for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree according to the rules of the University.

Supervisory Committee

The student's Ph.D. supervisory committee should be appointed as soon as possible following completion of coursework covered by the student's Part I Qualifiers. The committee must consist of at least five members. The Chair and at least three other members must be from the Biostatistics Faculty. At least four must be from the Graduate Faculty, and at least one must be from a different department.

The committee's responsibilities include:

Reviewing and approving the student's program of study. This should be done soon after appointment of the committee;
Conducting the student's Part II oral exam and, thereby, discuss and approve the student's dissertation proposal and plans to carry it out;
Approving, or not, the student for candidacy into the Ph.D. program;
Evaluating the student's progress on the dissertation soon after half of the work has been completed and to make suggestions for completion;
Conducting the final oral exam. For the student to pass this exam, committee members must unanimously agree that the student has successfully defended the dissertation as independent, original, research that furthers the knowledge of biostatistics. Final approval of the dissertation usually follows a successful performance on this oral exam. The committee, however, may pass the student and, in addition, require revisions to the dissertation in form or content. All committee members must indicate their final approval by signing the dissertation and the requisite University forms.

Dissertation and Final Defense

The student must submit their dissertation to their committee at least one month prior to their final defense. The student's major professor then will submit it to an outside reader, chosen by the committee, for evaluation. The final oral exam cannot be scheduled before Graduate School approved after receipt of the outside reader's evaluation. The presentation of the dissertation must be given to the committee at the final oral exam in the form of a seminar announced to all faculty and students of the Department of Biostatistics and, more generally, throughout the University.

A booklet entitled Guidelines for Graduation and Thesis and Dissertation Preparation is available on the web at www.grad.buffalo.edu or from the Graduate School Office of Student Services. Be sure to refer to this document before preparing your thesis/project/dissertation.

Several style manuals are available, including Strunk and White (1995), Turabian (1996) and the University of Chicago Press (1993), which will answer a host of questions regarding the technical aspects of preparing the thesis or dissertation.

Acme Nebrich Bookbindery, 1285 Main Street, Buffalo (885-2999) is one company which does binding. (The Office of Graduate Education provides this information as a service to students and neither endorses nor supports use of this company.) At least two weeks should be allowed for binding the final copy.

One unbound copy of the dissertation must be submitted to the Graduate School, to the Department, and one to the student's major professor.

Copies must be received by the Graduate School and Department by the following deadlines:

Friday before spring classes for a February 1 degree conferral

Last day of spring exams for a June 1 degree conferral

Friday before fall classes for a September 1 degree conferral

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