Doctor of Philosophy

Since students enter with differing backgrounds, each student is assisted by the first-year advisor in selecting courses and lab rotations in the first year and in choosing a lab for the dissertation research. In addition, the Immunology Startup, a five-day introduction to immunology in early September, exposes incoming Immunology PhD students to various techniques and concepts. Students learn basic laboratory techniques in immunology and participate in in-depth discussions with faculty. The immunology background of the incoming students are assessed to deduce whether they should enroll in Immunol 200 Cellular and Molecular Immunology: An Introductory Course before taking Immunol 201 Advanced Immunology I and Immunol 202 Advanced Immunology II.

All students must be enrolled in exactly ten units during autumn, winter, spring, and summer quarters until reaching Terminal Graduate Residence (TGR) status in the spring or summer quarter of their fourth year. Students must pass all courses they are enrolled in; required and elective courses must be taken for a letter grade, unless a letter grade is not an option when registering for the class. Students must earn a grade of B- or better in all courses applicable to the degree that are taken for a letter grade. Satisfactory completion of each year’s general and track-specific requirements listed below is required. During the first year, degree progress is monitored closely by the first-year advisor in quarterly meetings and by the Stanford Graduate Program Committee in a final advising session in June.

First year Immunology students are required to do at least 3 rotations according to the rules set by the Immunology Training Grant; this applies to all students regardless of their funding mechanism. Each of the 3 rotations must be at least 6 weeks in duration and can last up to a full quarter if needed; a minimum of 6 weeks must be spent in an official rotation in the lab that the student decides to join. At least two of these rotations should be in Immunology labs. It should be noted that if a rotation is not working out, they can be shortened to allow for another rotation to begin, but they should not be shorter than 6 weeks by design. If a rotation ends early, it does not count towards the 3 x 6 weeks requirement. A student should not rotate in more than 4 labs. The goal of the rotations is to be able to join a lab by summer quarter and for some students, after completion of at least 3 rotations lasting a minimum of 6 weeks each. Rotations will no longer be tied to the quarter, allowing students greater flexibility in their rotations.

After joining a lab, students must meet with their thesis advisor within 30 days to complete the Individual Development Plan (IDP). Students continue to complete the IDP annually.

Students apply for any fellowships for which they are eligible (NSF, NDSEG, AHA, NIH NRSA, ASH are just a few).

A specific program of study for each student is developed individually with the first-year advisor.

Candidates for Ph.D. degrees at Stanford must satisfactorily complete a program of study that includes 135 units of graduate course work and research. Students in the MCTI track are expected to complete all their core course requirements by the end of their second year; students in the CSI track should complete their core course work by the end of the third year.

In the third through fifth year, students are required to take IMMUNOL 258 Ethics, Science, and Society, a refresher ethics course that is required by NIH and is offered every other year.

Immediately after the final examination period in Spring Quarter of the first year, first-year immunology graduate students are required to give a presentation on one of their three rotations to the Immunology graduate program committee (Qualifying Examination Process, Part I).  After the rotation presentation, the first-year student will meet with the Stanford Graduate Program Committee in a one-on-one advising session to review degree progress and choice of a Ph.D. thesis lab. 

In Autumn Quarter of the second year, students focus on preparing for Part II of the Qualifying Examination Process, the general oral examination and the Ph.D. thesis dissertation proposal. The Qualifying Exam Part II should be completed by December 17 of year 2. The student is required to pass the oral examination and write a thesis dissertation proposal which is presented to and evaluated by a Qualifying Examination Committee . The PhD advisor is not present for Part II but is required to submit an evaluation and grade for the PhD thesis dissertation written proposal. Upon successful completion of Part II, the student files a petition for PhD candidacy and form their reading dissertation committee.

Qualifying Exam Committee Requirements: The members of this committee are chosen by the student and the PhD advisor. The Qualifying Exam Committee is composed of three faculty members, two of whom must be from the Immunology program faculty and the third faculty member may be from a department outside the program. The thesis advisor is part of the committee but is not present for the qualifying examination. The student should work with the PhD advisor to identify a chair of the committee in advance of the defense. The chair will be responsible for preparing a brief summary of the exam and providing this to the program administrator, the candidate and the PhD advisor after the exam is completed.

Guidelines for the Proposal Paper: For the written proposal, the student will follow the instructions for an NIH research F31 fellowship in terms of format. It is strongly recommended that the student work closely with the Committee, particularly the Faculty Advisor, in preparing a hypothesis-driven thesis proposal. Students should review successful NIH grants prepared by Faculty members.

The Dissertation Reading Committee (generally known as the Ph.D. thesis committee) must be comprised of at least three faculty members who guide the student in the Ph.D. research, and read and approve the final dissertation. Typically, two of the three, or three of the four Dissertation Reading Committee members are from the Immunology Program faculty. The Dissertation Reading Committee must have at least three members and may not have more than five members. In general, all committee members are members of the Stanford University Academic Council, but a non-member may join the Dissertation Reading Committee pending the submission of the Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members form and subsequent approval from the Immunology program directors.

In the first through third years, the student must meet with the Ph.D. thesis committee at least once a year. In the fourth and fifth years, the student is expected to meet twice a year with the Ph.D. thesis committee.  In addition, if requested by the student, a secondary adviser is assigned who can provide additional advice on issues such as career path choices and other non-academic issues.

Individual Development Plan: Graduate students are required to meet with their faculty mentors once a year to discuss an individual development plan (IDP). The IDP is intended to help the students take ownership of their training and professional development. The goals of the IDP are to: 1) pause, reflect and intentionally think on short-, mid- and long-term goals; 2) identify resources that help to achieve these goals; and 3) have open and direct dialogue with the Ph.D. thesis adviser and establish clear expectations and steps.   

Both MCTI and CSI students are required to attend the IMMUNOL 305 Immunology Journal Club for their first through third years. Attendance is optional for fourth year and above graduate students.

Students are required to register for at least 9 quarters of Immunol 305.

Graduate seminars are an important means of attaining a broad and comprehensive exposure to all areas in immunology as well as gaining a professional perspective and competence in the field. First-year students are required to attend all immunology seminars (IMMUNOL 311 Seminar in Immunology).

Students in their second year and above are required to attend 50% of the seminar series each academic year until the last quarter in which their Ph.D. oral defense takes place.

Students are required to attend the Immunology Startup, a five-day introduction to immunology in early September of the first year, which exposes incoming Immunology PhD students to various techniques and concepts. Students learn basic laboratory techniques in immunology and participate in in-depth discussions with faculty.

The annual Scientific Retreat is usually held in Autumn Quarter, and is attended by students, staff, postdocs and faculty of the Stanford immunology community. All immunology graduate students are required to attend.

It is a program requirement that all students present a poster and give a talk on their graduate research before defending.

The Science in Progress (SIP) Talks feature research presentations by senior graduate students to the immunology community. All students must attend SIP talks throughout their entire program, with required attendance for one out of two talks or two out of three talks, depending on how many are scheduled for the respective quarter.

The Science in Progress (SIP) Talks feature research presentations by senior graduate students to the immunology community. All students must give one SIP talk during their program.

Teaching experience and training are part of the graduate curriculum. Each student assists in teaching two courses in the immunology core or electives; one from List A and one from list B. MSTP students are only required to do one List A TAship. A TA match process is held in spring quarter in order to match the graduate student's research and teaching preferences to the appropriate courses.  Before beginning their assigned teaching assistantships, students are required to attend a TA orientation workshop held by VPTL before the teaching quarter begins. Teaching Assistants are also required to register for IMMUNOL 290 Teaching in Immunology under the instructor they are TAing for and in the quarter they are TAing.

By the fourth or fifth year, graduate students are expected to submit a first author paper for publication. This milestone should be completed before the Orals Exam/Defense.

Before embarking on the dissertation defense process, the graduate student must submit a Petition to Defend to the Directors of the Immunology Graduate Program.  Important milestones and degree requirements must be met before proceeding to the oral examination.

In preparation for the Ph.D. orals defense, an Orals Chair is chosen to lead the Orals Committee, which is a distinct committee, but the basic membership is identical to that of the Dissertation Reading Committee.

A substantial draft of the dissertation must be turned in to the student's Oral Committee at least one month before the oral exam is scheduled to take place.

The final written dissertation must be approved by the student's Dissertation Reading Committee and submitted to the Registrar's Office. Upon completion of this final requirement, a student is eligible for conferral of the Ph.D. degree.