Appendices

The objectives of Biology 6003 (Graduate Seminar) are to give students experience in the preparation and presentation of seminars using a variety of media and experience in critiquing research and research presentations. Attendance at the weekly departmental seminar is mandatory for this course. BIOL6003 is mandatory for all M.Sc. students, and Ph.D. students can take the course at the recommendation of their supervisory committee. Refer to Appendix D for Biology 6000 guidelines for the Saint John campus.

The goal of Biol 6103 (PhD Seminar) is to present one exit departmental seminar of a quality that can be used in a job talk. To this end, Biol 6103 should generally be taken in the last year of the degree. Students should consult with the course co-ordinator before signing up for a departmental seminar. Students enrolled in the course are expected to attend one introductory session, and to attend and provide feedback on other students’ practise talks.

The objective of Biology 6910 (Research Methods) is to provide students with a broad introduction to research processes in biology by examining basic steps from general observation and question asking to the formulation of hypotheses and predictions. This includes the preparation and defence of an NSERC-style research proposal.

For details on content and scheduling, contact the Director of Graduate Studies (Fredericton campus) or the Associate Director of Graduate Studies (Saint John campus).

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The purpose of this award is to recognize an exceptional piece of scholarship produced by one of our graduate students. The primary criteria are originality and significant advancement of the field. The award honours one of our former students, Andre J. Levesque, who produced an exceptional thesis on lateglacial climate and vegetation change in Maritime Canada from which two papers were published in Nature.

Eligibility: Any MSc or PhD thesis in Biology at UNB Fredericton.

Nominations: To be made by the final examining committee at the conclusion of the oral defence on a form provided by the DoGS to the Chair of the committee prior to the final defence. Must include signatures of a majority of the examining committee.

Determination: To be made by Graduate Studies Committee in September following the nomination.

Frequency of Award: Any year for which there is a meritorious candidate. This is not an award for the best thesis produced in a given year, i.e., it is not expected that the award will be given out each year.

Value: $200.00

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Preamble:
These guidelines should be adopted before a research project begins. Adoption of standards should hinder unauthorized or unethical use of data and should promote maintenance of professional ethics. Since most Departmental research involves a professor/graduate student relationship with varying contributions from each, this necessitates a clear understanding with respect to authorship. The following guidelines are based on the assumption that research investigations can be divided into 5 basic areas: conception, design (procedures), data collection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. It is recognized that the importance of each area varies considerably among studies. Adoption of these guidelines will help to ensure proper recognition of the contributions of each researcher.
Determination of authors and sequence of authorship of manuscripts should be based on contributions in each area of the research. All authors should have made important contributions in writing and in at least 1 additional area of research.

Guidelines:
1. If the student is given and accepts responsibility in all areas, he/she should be first author of manuscripts, or sole author if the professor has not made substantial contributions to the study in at least 2 of the 5 areas or decides otherwise.
2. If the professor conceives and designs a project and is instrumental in other areas, he/she should be first author.
3. Authorship should not automatically be tied to source of funding for research. All authors should be active participants in the actual workings of a project.
4. Where the person contributing the most to a research study has no intention of publishing the results (usually having departed from the University for a year), another person involved in the study should be able to assume senior authorship if he or she writes the manuscript. In this situation, the person contributing the most should be offered the chance to review the manuscript and be a junior author.

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GTAs are recognized as an important facet of the Biology Department. For our graduate students, they represent both an opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience and a source of income. For our instructors, they provide assistance with the teaching of undergraduate laboratories and tutorials in a variety of ways, such as setting up and dismantling laboratory material, demonstrating various aspects of the laboratory/tutorial, and grading student work.

GTAs are presently valued (2004) at $2122.64 per unit, with a half unit representing an average of 5-6 hours work per week for one 12-week term (i.e., $14.74 to $17.69 per hour). Two GTA units per year are generally available for any graduate student requesting them. A maximum of 3 GTA units per year is allowable, but must be supported in writing by the student's supervisor and is subject to approval by both the Director of Graduate Studies in Biology (DoGS) and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Should funds be limited, priority for GTAs will be given to full-time graduate students in the first 2 years of a MSc or first 4 years of a PhD. Students who hold NSERC postgraduate scholarships (or an equivalent amount of funding) will generally be limited to 1 GTA unit per year, but may request an additional GTA unit if sufficient GTA funds are available.

GTA assignments are made by the DoGS, who will attempt to match any student and instructor requests for specific assignments. GTAs can be denied at the discretion of the DoGS, based on poor academic performance, poor GTA performance, and/or inadequate background. With this in mind, graduate students should be aware that GTAs are a privilege, not a right, and that certain reasonable expectations from instructors must be met in order to accomplish their undergraduate teaching requirements. By the same token, instructors are reminded that no more than an average of 6 hours commitment per week (excluding pre-lab meetings and preparatory reading) is to be expected from graduate students receiving half GTA unit per term. With this in mind, instructors are asked to prepare a written synopsis of their requirements for GTAs, to be given to students assigned to their courses at the start of the term.

Undergraduate student evaluations of graduate student demonstrators will be used to provide feedback to the graduate students on how to improve their demonstrator skills, as well as to provide information for instructors and the DoGS on any problem areas or students. These evaluations will be administered by course instructors, with a copy of the results submitted to both the DoGS and the Chair of Biology. In order to recognize the important role of GTAs in our department, an annual “Demonstrator of the Year “ award, valued at $200, has been established to recognize outstanding service in teaching by graduate students. Nominations can be made by instructors, graduate students, or undergraduate students, and will be evaluated by the Biology Graduate Studies Committee.

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Students must attend all seminars offered in the UNBSJ Biology (6000) Seminar Series for the first two years (M.Sc. students) or three years (Ph.D. students) of their degrees.

Students who are carrying out their studies away from Saint John during September to April may attend an alternate biology seminar series upon approval of the Associate Director of Graduate Studies. Examples of alternate series would be Biology 6000 at UNB Fredericton or series at DFO St. Andrew's or DFO Moncton. In the event that a student is permitted to attend an alternate series, her/his attendance at the alternate series is to be confirmed by her/his supervisor or co-supervisor to the Associate Director of Graduate Studies. In weeks in which an alternate seminar series is not available, Biology 6000 students are required to attend the Biology 6000 seminar on the Saint John campus

M.Sc. students are required to present one Biology 6000 seminar. Ph.D. students are required to present two Biology 6000 seminars. The seminars for M.Sc. students and one of the Ph.D. seminars must not be directly related to thesis work. Generally, M.Sc. students will give their seminars in year two of their studies and Ph.D. students will give their seminars in years two and three of their studies.

Abstracts for the seminars are to be submitted to the Associate Director of Graduate Studies two weeks prior to the seminar date. The abstract should be approximately 250 words and must contain references.

Seminar presentations will be between 30 and 40 minutes in length and will be followed by a question-and-answer period.

Seminars will be evaluated by the Biology 6000 Evaluation Committee, which will consist of the Associate Director of Graduate Studies, the Department chair, one other faculty member, and one graduate student representative (as selected by the graduate students). Alternates for committee members should be arranged when necessary to ensure a full complement of evaluators for each seminar. When applicable, the supervisor of a student presenting a seminar should absent her/himself from the committee by finding an alternate.

Student seminars will be assessed for the following:
a. Clarity of presentation, including appropriate use of visual aids, verbal communication, flow, etc., and
b. Content of presentation - students are required to demonstrate a critical review of a body of scientific literature. Feedback and a grade of Pass/Fail will be given to presenters by the Biology 6000 Evaluation Committee immediately following their presentations.
In cases where the Biology 6000 Evaluation Committee agrees by majority that a presentation was unsatisfactory, the student will be given the opportunity to redo the presentation. Feedback will be given by the committee to assist the student in preparing for her/his revamped presentation.
Students are responsible for arranging the scheduling of their seminar presentation in September of the academic year(s) in which they wish to present. Presentations can be scheduled through the person or committee responsible for seminar scheduling (may change from year to year). If in doubt, students should check with the Associate Director of Graduate Studies.

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All MSc and PhD theses are required to include a vita section. It is not part of the thesis per se, and therefore should not have page numbers and is not included in the Table of Contents. The layout of the vita section is as follows:

Candidate's full name:
Universities attended (with dates and degrees obtained):
Publications:
Conference Presentations:

The most common reasons for a thesis being turned back by the School of Graduate Studies are (a) the correct format for the title page has not been used, and/or (b) margins are not correct. It is therefore critical that you follow the guidelines for thesis preparation exactly as laid out at:

http://www.unb.ca/web/gradschl/guidelines/index.html

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There are insufficient GRA funds to provide support or all graduate students thus a system for allocating these funds must be transparent, logical and fair. These guidelines summarize our practices for GRA allocation. The main motivation for this system is to allow supervisors to have a reasonable way to predict whether their student would be eligible for GRA funding upon admission and to act as an incentive to attract the best students possible to UNB.

1. One GRA will be given to each faculty member with an eligible* full-time graduate student.
2. A GRA will be guaranteed to PGSA/B NSERC award holders as an incentive to bring their award to UNB**. The top-up will be in place for the duration of their NSERC funding and the request must be made before the student starts their graduate program at UNB.
3. All remaining GRAs will be assigned to students and awarded based on their previous academic performance, primarily their undergraduate CGPA. Students will be placed into one of four categories (1 to 4) based on their undergraduate transcript at the time of admission (Category 1=A+ to A average; Category 2= A- average, Category 3 =B+ average; and Category 4= B average). For the assignment of GRAs, students in category 1 will have preference over category 2 etc. Within each category, students will be ranked based on their official admission date with the preference being given to students that have been in the program longer. Students will be placed into one of the four categories by the Biology Graduate Committee at the time the application is accepted. Faculty can view the list in the Biology Graduate office.
4. Once a student is granted a GRA, they will receive GRA support in subsequent years for a maximum of 4 years for a PhD and 2 years for a MSc. No GRA support will be provided for a PhD student after their fourth year in the program for a PhD or after their second year for a MSc student;

*Eligible Student:
- Has a CGPA of at least 3.0/4.3 (B average) upon their admission into the School of Graduate Studies.
- Has maintained a CGPA of 3.0/4.3 at all times during their program and must be maintaining satisfactory progress in their program.
- The student has been in the program for no longer than 4 years for a PhD or 2 years for a MSc.
- Student must be enrolled as a full-time student for the period they hold a GRA
- Students that switch from an MSc to a PhD will be eligible for funding for a maximum of four years, including the time they we MSc candidates.
- Has not been funded up to the departmental minimum ($12,000 above University tuition and fees) by external funding agencies.

** The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) is attempting to provide top-ups for NSERC PGS awards for the purposes of attracting students to UNB. The guaranteed GRA will be provided only if the SGS is unable to fund the student.

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Maintained by: casey@unb.ca
Last Update: 24 February 2011
This document: http://www.unb.ca/web/fredericton/science/biology/Degree_info/Appendices.html

GRADUATE STUDIES IN BIOLOGY APPENDICES

GRADUATE STUDIES IN BIOLOGY
APPENDICES