Degree Requirements
The PhD degree requires:
1) Approximately 3 years to complete.
2) A minimum of 90 hours of graduate work (30 of these hours can come from your MS degree).
3) Three required courses in the HPL (9 total hrs).
4) One 24 hr cognate or two 15 hr cognates in physiology, biology and/or chemistry.
5) Passing written and oral comprehensive exams, typically toward the end of the second year, before being admitted to candidacy.
6) A dissertation covering a research problem that will contribute new knowledge to the field (10 hrs required, up to 24 hrs total), including an oral defense of the dissertation.
Typical Course Progression
Year 1-Fall Semester
EXSCI 637 Applied Physiology (3 hrs, HPL required course)
CHEM 563 Principles of Biochemistry 1 (3 hrs, cognate course)
Year 1-Spring Semester
EXSCI 603 Exercise Physiology 1 (3 hrs, HPL required course)
CHEM 564 Principles of Biochemistry 2 (3 hrs, cognate course)
Year 1-Summer Sessions
EXSCI 633 Seminar in Exercise Science (3 hrs each 5 week summer session)
Year 2-Fall Semester
EXSCI 630 Exercise Physiology 2 (3 hrs, HPL required course)
BIO 557 Molecular Biology with laboratory (4 hrs, cognate course)
Directed cognate and elective hours (as needed)
Year 2-Spring Semester
PHYSL 640 Medical Physiology (8 hrs, cognate course)
Directed cognate and elective hours (as needed)
Year 2-Summer Sessions
EXSCI 633 Seminar in Exercise Science (3 hrs each 5 week summer session)
Year 3-Fall Semester
DISS 799 Dissertation (up to 12 hrs)
Directed cognate and elective hours (as needed)
Year 3-Spring Semester
DISS 799 Dissertation (up to 12 hrs)
Directed cognate and elective hours (as needed)
Examples of Cognate and Elective Hours
BIOT 590 Intro to Recombinant DNA and RNA Techniques
BIOT 591 Theory and Applications of PCR
BIOT 592 Protein Isolation and Analysis
BIOT 594 Cell Culture Techniques
BIOT 595 DNA Sequencing and Bioinformatics
BIO 556 Cancer Biology
EXSCI 638 Electrocardiography
EDPSY 641 Statistical Methods
EDPSY 642 Intermediate Statistics
EDPSY 645 Intro to Nonparametric Statistics
PHYSL 511 Endocrinology
PHYSL 513 Renal Physiology
PHYSL 514 Cardiovascular Physiology
PHYSL 515 Physiology of Aging
PHYSL 520 Neuroscience