Third and Succeeding Years

RCR Requirement

Remember to register for and complete the mandatory 3rd year RCR training (BIOTRAIN 753-online)

Coursework

Third- and Fourth-year students are required to register for MGM 790S (the Monday student research seminar). After the fourth year, students are still expected to attend and participate in seminars regularly. All students must continue to register for CTN.

Finances

When starting your third year, you will change from “non-comp” payroll to faculty staff payroll. A letter will be sent to you, your advisor and your departmental payroll representative. Please contact your departmental business manager to discuss and learn about your payroll status. You are free to consult with the MGM program coordinator to verify that you are being paid properly.

Research

Student’s priority is performing high-quality research and being productive at the lab bench. Becoming an excellent scientist requires focus, motivation, determination and resilience, but most of all, it requires time and commitment to the lab and the research project. Labs usually are funded by multiple agencies or funding sources that demand accountability for the money given to support salaries, stipends, and research activities. This accountability extends from the P.I. to every member of the lab, including students. Thus, MGM students are expected to be productive and to contribute scientifically to their lab group and more broadly to the respective research areas/fields. Expectations of the advisor should be discussed regularly so that the student is aware whether they are meeting expectations. This can also be delineated in the student-mentor compact (see the section on annual committeemeetings).

Conference Travel Awards

Any graduate student enrolled in a Ph.D. granting program who has passed all parts of the preliminary exams and is actively participating in a conference (i.e., presenting a paper or poster, or leading a discussion) is eligible for the grad school conference travel award. Students are limited to one conference travel fellowship per fiscal year (July 1-June 30). Students attending conferences during the academic year must be registered at the time of the conference. For summer conferences, students must be registered for the upcoming fall semester and also must have been registered for the previous spring semester. No exceptions will be made. 

Terms of the Graduate School Award

The Graduate School will provide 70% of the cost of registration fees, primary travel, three nights lodging, and meals for four days (up to $25 a day); the maximum amount to be paid by the Graduate School is $500. The student’s primary department will contribute 30% or a maximum of $300 toward the award. All remaining expenses will be self-pay or PI funded. All conference travel applications must be signed and submitted through the student’s primary department. Please contact the MGM program coordinator with any questions.

Thesis Research in the Lab and Being a Good Citizen

When joining a lab, the student is now a vital part of the lab mission and operation. Each student should make a concerted effort to become integrated into the lab and to contribute positively to the lab productivity and daily procedures. Students who simply “occupy” a lab – those who give little thought or interest to those around them, and to the lab experience diminish opportunities to grow and mature as a scientist and eventual leader. Students are encouraged to purposely look for and undertake actions/activities that will benefit the lab operations and establish the student as an exemplary lab citizen. Remember, postdoctoral mentors and future employers are quite interested in the lab behaviors exhibited by potential candidates, and these qualities are often included in letters of reference written by PhD mentors.

Teaching/TA Opportunities

TA experience is intended to be a quality educational experience in which the student does actual teaching in addition to other course-related activities, such as creating and/or grading homework, problem sets, exams, or other written assignments. At the end of the TA, the student should submit a one-page (minimum) written summary of her/his activities during the course. For those students who are interested in gaining additional teaching experience beyond the TA, there are a number of teaching options available. Naturally, these experiences require more time and effort and should not detract from the student’s research time. Students are encouraged to discuss teaching objectives with their mentor/advisor and to design a mutually acceptable plan to incorporate training in teaching while simultaneously maintaining high research standards and productivity. Be aware that teaching hours will likely necessitate extra hours in the laboratory at night or on weekends. Duke University offers more formal training that goes beyond the typical TA experience of grading exams and holding review sessions. In addition, a more involved TA experience is possible in a number of undergraduate introductory labs. Please contact individual instructors for more details about a TA-ship.

Summer Internships

MGM offers its students an array of internal and external educational experiences. These opportunities may include an externship with private industry partners that provide our student body with non-academic research experience. While these opportunities can provide valuable training for MGM students, they require some administrative consideration before they are undertaken, including:

1. The student must first get approval from the advisor for the externship.
2. The student must notify and provide details of the externship to their thesis committee.
3. The student needs to provide the MGM DGS and program coordinator with a detailed summaryof the externship, specifying how the experience will contribute to their area of research and further their PhD degree.
4. Students wishing to participate in an internship should take BIOTRAIN 898 and BIOTRAIN 899
5. If a student wants to continue their thesis studies in their lab at Duke while working an externship, they must be registered for continuation and pay the tuition remission for that semester.
6. Registered PhD students who continue their thesis studies in the lab during summer can work a
   maximum of 19.9 hours a week in the externship.

It’s best to contact the program DGS prior to embarking on an externship opportunity.