Biomedical and Environmental Health Sciences (PhD)

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

Offered by the Department of Biology , in partnership with the Department of Chemistry and Department of Environmental Science , College of Arts and Sciences .

Admission to the Program

In addition to meeting the minimum university requirements for graduate study, applicants must submit a completed graduate application form, three letters of recommendation, and copies of all college transcripts.

Degree Requirements

41 credit hours of approved graduate work, exclusive of BEHS-898 Doctoral Continuing Enrollment (1-9) /BEHS-899 Doctoral Dissertation (9)
Comprehensive Exam: A student, with the help of his/her advisor, chooses a topic for specialization and forms a committee of at least four members (including the advisor), at least two of whom are full-time faculty at American University. The student is given a written or oral examination on this topic prepared and scored by the committee members. A student who fails the comprehensive examination may apply to the program director for one additional attempt
Research Assurances and Research Ethics Training: Appropriate protocol review and oversight of faculty and student research is an essential component of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training on campus. All graduate students who are conducting research in partial fulfillment of a doctoral dissertation are required to participate in RCR training. Application forms and guidelines are available on AU’s Research website. Copies of research assurances must be presented to the BEHS Director with the completed dissertation proposal
Advancement to Candidacy: Students are considered “advanced to candidacy” (or “all-but-dissertation”) when they have completed all required course credits, have passed their comprehensive exam, and have an approved dissertation proposal
Dissertation:
- Committee Approval: Subject to applicable university academic regulations, students must obtain approval for the composition of the committee, normally in the third year. Committees must also include members from at least two different disciplines (e.g., Environmental Science and Chemistry)
- Proposal Defense: Students develop an original research idea and present a proposal, orally, before their research committee, normally at the end of the third year
- Oral Dissertation Defense: When the actual dissertation is nearly finished, an oral defense of the complete draft dissertation is held. The oral defense includes the dissertation committee as well as an outside member that meets the qualifications as stipulated in the applicable university academic regulations. Final approval of the dissertation depends on satisfactory completion of any changes required by the committee members following the oral defense. Dissertations are subject to all applicable university regulations