Dear Master's students,

To register for thesis or project credits (BIOL 799 or BIOL 798), you should be at the end of your MS course requirements. Thesis or Project registration is done in the final semester(s).

√ You will first form a committee made up of 3 graduate faculty with your research advisor / P.I. as the Committee Chair. The Chair of your committee can be from another department, as long as they are graduate faculty at Mason.  At least two committee members will be from the School of Systems Biology faculty (SSB) or Mason faculty associated with SSB; the third member can be from another dept or from SSB.  Talk with your research advisor / P.I. for suggestions on who may be appropriate candidates for your thesis or project committee.  A list of SSB faculty can be found on http://ssb.gmu.edu/faculty/research.cfm

√ Have your committee sign the Committee Formation form, found on http://ssb.gmu.edu/students/index.cfm under "Master's Students"

√ Submit a proposal to your committee for approval one semester ahead of your planned BIOL 798 or BIOL 799 registration.  Have your committee members sign the Proposal Approval form and send it to me along with a copy of the approved proposal.  (I will get the department signatures).  I will then email you with the CRN to register for your credits.

For fall 2016 registration the deadline to submit a Committee Formation form with signatures to my office is April 29. The deadline to submit a signed Thesis or Project Proposal Approval form is May 27.  Do not wait until the last minute, because the faculty will be officially on vacation after the spring semester ends!

Forms are found on http://ssb.gmu.edu/students/index.cfm under "Master's Students".  Also review the rubric on that page for proposals to get an idea of what faculty consider to be a successful proposal.

Any questions please let me know.  You must meet the deadlines listed above in order to register for thesis or project credits in fall 2016.

thank you,
Diane St. Germain

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