Advancement to Candidacy Proposal

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING YOUR ADVANCEMENT TO CANDIDACY PROPOSAL

Your proposal should follow a logic similar to that which you used in your minor proposition exam proposal. Contact Dr. Mark Kamps for an Example Proposal.

Title page (1 page).

Specific Aims (1 page). Brief statement of the problem, the specific aims, and a short description of what has been done and yet needs to be done. These aims should encompass the work that you and your advise feel embody a reasonable thesis.

Background & Significance (2-3 pages): Present a clear distillation of the important background information required for committee members to appreciate the major problem you address in your thesis research (2-3 pages). The background & significance section should lead to a concise statement of the open question and the hypothesis or alternative hypotheses.

It is very important for the student to recognize that their committee is there to help them establish a reasonable proposal, but that in order for the committee to have that role, the student must provide the clear background information and clear rational for how the problem will be approached. If these pieces of information are not clear to the committee, the members will be frustrated because they will not have the required information to do their job of advising.

Research Progress and Proposed Research (4-6 pages): Proceed to list your specific aims. Then describe the work you have done to date, including figures showing important data, and models that clarify mechanisms that are being tested or proposed. Within each of the aims, state what has been done, what needs to be done, and how you propose to accomplish it. As in the case for the minor proposition, state alternative techniques you would use if your primary method fails. You may have one or more aim that is completed or almost complete, and you may have one or more aim on which little research has been initiated.

If you have an unreasonable advisor who asks too much, the committee members will recognize that your plan is over-ambitious, and they will ask you to focus it on one or another goal. On the other hand, if your mentor is under-ambitious, the committee may ask for additional experiments or investigations in a second direction. It is to your advantage, therefore, to hammer out with your advisor the framework of a comprehensive, yet focused, proposal.

References (1-2 pages): List key references, usually not more than 20.

Training for Careers in Biomedical Research

Advancement to Candidacy Proposal

Training for Careers in
Biomedical Research