Biomedical Engineering and Physiology (BMEP) – Ph.D. Degree
- Kristin D. Zhao Ph.D., Program Director
- Matthew W. Urban, Ph.D., Associate Program Director
Admission
Appointment Requirements
To be considered for admission to the Ph.D. program, applicants must:
- Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum 3.0 grade point average based on a 4.0 scale and supply the official transcript.
- It is strongly recommended that candidates have completed at least one year of coursework, with demonstrated competence (B average or above), in the following undergraduate courses: biology, calculus, chemistry and physics.
- In addition, foundation courses in biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and physiology are highly recommended. Biomedical Engineering and Physiology students are encouraged to have courses in quantitative science and engineering (e.g., signal processing, computer science, instrumentation).
- Foreign applicants must demonstrate proof of English language proficiency to be considered for an appointment. This can be satisfied via the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or via other method as described on the English Language Proficiency Attestation.
- Each track may establish additional requirements.
- Applications will only be considered for review if they are submitted within the application submission window of September 1 – December 1 each year, for appointment in the following academic year.
Authority to make appointments rests with the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Education Committee. Falsifying or omitting information on or accompanying the application may disqualify an applicant from admission or subject a student to dismissal. The application and supporting documents become the property of MCGSBS upon receipt. The average number of years to degree is 5.2.
Inquiries regarding admission to the MCGSBS Ph.D. Program should be sent to this inquiry form.
Admissions/Financial Support
- PhD students are fully supported through a guaranteed internal fellowship for five years, eliminating the need to identify a faculty member to provide financial support. The annual base stipend for PhD students funded by Mayo Clinic for the 2024-2025 academic year is $40,000, deposited electronically bi-monthly in the student’s bank of choice. The annual tuition fee is waived in full ($27,000).
- Appointment and funding are conditional on remaining actively enrolled in the program, continuously meeting the qualifications, standards and requirements of the program and track.
- Funding may consist of graduate school, external fellowships and/or internal scholarships.
- Students are appointed for five years with designated program start and end dates.
- If required training exceeds the appointment length, a request for extension may be made for consideration. All extension requests require graduate school approval and funding to cover all student costs during the extension period are typically paid by the student’s mentor.
- Training must be completed within a maximum of seven years, regardless of funding availability.
- Students who enter MCGSBS with pre-awarded Mayo department/division funding will continue under the terms of any such arrangements throughout the duration of their PhD training.
Transfer Credits
A total of 21 credits may be transferred into the Ph.D. Program. For more details, see the Credit Transfer and Waiver Policy on the MCGSBS Policies and Procedures intranet site.
Course Work
The curriculum for the Predoctoral degree consists of 73 credits, which can include a maximum of 24 Research credits.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| MGS | ||
| MGS 5000 | Foundational Skills | 1 |
| MGS 5010 | Rigor, Reproducibility, and Experimental Design | 1 |
| MGS 5020 | Statistics for Biomedical Research | 1 |
| MGS 5030 | Core Concepts in Genome Dynamics, Biochemistry, and Cellular Biology 1 | 3 |
| MGS 6000 | Responsible Conduct of Research | 1 |
| MGS 5050 | Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing 1 | 2 |
| MGS 5051 | Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing, Part II | 1 |
| Track Requirements | ||
| BME 5010 | Integrative Physiology of Health and Disease | 6 |
| BME 5020 | Quantitative Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing | 6 |
| BME 5030 | Biomedical Applications of Engineering Principles | 6 |
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars (1cr./ term for 3 terms) | 3 |
| BME 6650 | Biomedical Engineering & Physiology Journal Club (1cr./ term for 3 terms) | 3 |
| Lab Rotations 2 | ||
| 6 credits maximum, a minimum of 3 rotations | ||
| MGS 5102 | Ph.D. Laboratory Rotation | 2 |
| MGS 5107 | Ph.D. Laboratory Rotation | 2 |
| MGS 5108 | Ph.D. Laboratory Rotation | 2 |
| Research | ||
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research (3 cr./qtr x minimum 8 terms) 3 | 24 |
| Advanced Coursework | 9 | |
| Total Hours | 73 | |
- 1
M.D.-Ph.D. students may exclude these in accordance with M.D.-Ph.D. requirements.
- 2
M.D.-Ph.D. students satisfy this requirement with three one-month full-time rotations.
- 3
Must enroll every quarter once a thesis laboratory is selected for remainder of program. Directed research projects under the supervision of a faculty mentor.
Qualifying Exams and Thesis Research
During the first two years of the program, each student is expected to select a laboratory and thesis mentor. This occurs largely as a result of lab rotations. All students must take and satisfactorily pass a written comprehensive qualifying exam preparing an NIH style F award. The oral qualifying exam will include a presentation of proposed research and tests the synthesis of course work and research interests.
By January the second year of the program, it is expected that all students will have selected their thesis mentor. A Thesis Advisory Committee proposal must be submitted to the education committee for approval by February of the 2nd year. The Thesis Advisory Committee must be approved by the Biomedical Engineering & Physiology Education Committee. Students must have their first thesis committee meeting by August of their 3rd year.
Each student is expected to meet with their TAC at least twice a year to discuss progress towards their dissertation research. The TAC will decide when the research has progressed sufficiently so that a dissertation can be written, and the student will then write their dissertation and publicly defend it.
Each student is expected to meet with their TAC at least twice a year to discuss progress towards their dissertation research. The TAC will decide when the research has progressed sufficiently so that a dissertation can be written, and the student will then write their dissertation and publicly defend it.
Thesis Advisory Committee Guidelines
Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) – must consist of five members with any additional members serving as ex-officio. Three committee members must have full faculty (FF) privileges in BMEP track and minimum of two members must be Experienced Examiners (EE) in BMEP track. Two committee members must have mentored a student to degree. The committee for MD-PhD students must include a member of MD-PhD Executive Committee either as voting member or ex-officio.
Proposed TAC membership must be approved by the BMEP Education Committee prior to submitting to the graduate school via the Ph.D. Thesis Advisory Committee eForm on the intranet. Please note any external TAC members require temporary MCGSBS faculty privileges: see the Graduate Faculty Privileges Request Procedure on the MCGSBS Policies and Procedures intranet site.
Written Qualifying Exam Guidelines
The purpose of the Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) is to evaluate the student's ability to apply the knowledge of key principles acquired during graduate study (i.e., MCGSBS and BMEP core coursework) toward generation and exploration of new testable hypotheses in an important area of BMEP research. The format of the WQE will be an NIH F31 proposal (i.e., 6 pages, plus 1 Specific Aim page) or similar grant proposal (Contact Education Committee if you intend to write a grant other than an F-award). The grant proposal will be evaluated to determine the student’s understanding of and ability to integrate the principles of biomedical engineering and physiology, ability to establish a rigorous research plan to address the proposed question and ability for independent thought.
Expectations of Independent Work:
During the preparation of the proposal, it is expected that students will seek the advice and input of their mentor, members of their thesis advisory committee, laboratory members and others. Those providing input should not be involved in drafting, writing or directly editing the proposal but should provide generalized comments, suggestions and direction. The work product should be completed entirely by the student. It is acceptable for a mentor or other consulting individual to provide broad opinions and direction, review drafts and provide general comments, advise students on structure and content, provide topically unrelated grants as examples and be actively engaged in the conceptualization of the broad direction of the project. It is not acceptable for the mentor or another consulting individual to write portions of the proposal, provide direct edits to the proposal (such as proposing new wording, correcting grammar, or adding new or clarifying sentences), solely conceptualize, formulate or dictate the hypotheses and/or aims of the study, or provide closely related grant applications to the student as a guide. If students have closely related grant text prior to initiating the exam, they should not use the text in the preparation of their proposals.
Format and Topic:
WQE topics should be directly related to the student’s proposed thesis research and must be related to Biomedical Engineering and/or Physiology. Students should discuss their proposed WQE topic with their mentor. After agreeing on the topic of the WQE proposal, the topic should be submitted to the BMEP Education Coordinator for approval (see timeline below). The preferred format of the proposal will be modeled on the NIH pre-doctoral F31 application. However, proposals that reflect a design applicable to other pre-doctoral grant applications (e.g., AHA) may also be acceptable. If a student would like to prepare the proposal in a different grant format with the aim of a future submission to that granting agency, a request must be approved by the BMEP Education Committee for the non-NIH grant format at the time of topic approval.
Oral Qualifying Exams
This exam is scheduled to take place in September/October, following the successful completion of the written qualifying exam. The Oral Qualifying Committee is comprised of 4 members appointed by the BMEP education committee and the student’s advisor. Attempts are made to populate the committee with one faculty member from each of the sub-tracks in BMEP.
Within the second year, all students must take and satisfactorily pass an oral qualifying exam. The oral qualifying exam will include a presentation of a proposed research project and tests the student’s synthesis of BMEP course work and their proposed research interests.
Goal of the exam:
Our goal is to evaluate the student’s ability to formulate a scientific approach to a complex research problem, present it clearly and succinctly, defend their scientific and subject-matter choices for the study design, and answer questions that challenge the student’s ability to answer direct or peripheral questions in a logical, scientific and responsive manner.
This is a suggested sequence based on a summer term start. Individual course plans may vary depending on true start date, program, and research interests. Be sure to confirm you have met your requirements using your degree planning tool. Course offerings may vary slightly. Current course offerings are posted in the course catalog. Electives are not shown.
*BMEP Seminar will begin the summer quarter of your first year (no classes in August). You will register for BMEP Seminar beginning the Fall Quarter of your first year, and register for 1 credit in the Fall, Winter and Spring. After the first year, attendance and participation is expected for the duration of your academic career with exception of the term you intend to defend your thesis.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| First Year - Summer Term | ||
| MGS 5000 | Foundational Skills | 1 |
| MGS 5010 | Rigor, Reproducibility, and Experimental Design | 1 |
| MGS 5020 | Statistics for Biomedical Research | 1 |
| MGS 5030 | Core Concepts in Genome Dynamics, Biochemistry, and Cellular Biology | 3 |
| MGS 6000 | Responsible Conduct of Research | 1 |
| MGS 5102 | Ph.D. Laboratory Rotation | 2 |
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| First Year - Fall Term | ||
| MGS 5107 | Ph.D. Laboratory Rotation | 2 |
| MGS 5108 | Ph.D. Laboratory Rotation | 2 |
| MGS 5051 | Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing, Part II | 1 |
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| BME 5010 | Integrative Physiology of Health and Disease | 6 |
| BME 5020 | Quantitative Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing | 6 |
| BME 5030 | Biomedical Applications of Engineering Principles | 6 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| First Year - Winter Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| BME 5011 | 2 | |
| BME 5021 | 2 | |
| BME 5031 | 2 | |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| First Year - Spring Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| BME 5012 | ||
| BME 5022 | ||
| BME 5032 | ||
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Second Year - Summer Term | ||
| MGS 5050 | Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing | 2 |
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| Electives | 1-3 | |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Second Year - Fall Term | ||
| MGS 5051 | Critical Thinking and Scientific Writing, Part II | 1 |
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| Electives | 1-3 | |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Second Year - Winter Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| BME 6650 | Biomedical Engineering & Physiology Journal Club | 1 |
| Electives | 1-3 | |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Second Year - Spring Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| BME 6650 | Biomedical Engineering & Physiology Journal Club | 1 |
| Electives | 1-3 | |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Third Year - Summer Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Third Year - Fall Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Third Year - Winter Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Third Year - Spring Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fourth Year - Summer Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fourth Year - Fall Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fourth Year - Winter Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fourth Year - Spring Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth Year - Summer Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth Year - Fall Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth Year - Winter Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Fifth Year - Spring Term | ||
| BME 6600 | Physiology & Biomedical Engineering Seminars | 1 |
| MGS 6890 | Predoctoral Research | 3 |