Overview

The Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 72 credits for completion. Candidates for the Ph.D. are required to enroll full time, participate in Doctoral Colloquium each fall and spring semester (Year 1 and 2), attend PhD seminar each fall and spring semester (every year), fulfill a teaching requirement, be immersed in research, complete written and oral qualifying examinations, as well as complete and defend original dissertation research. Ph.D. students complete required and elective coursework during the first year of two years full-time study and then begin their dissertation research in the third year of full-time study after successfully passing the qualifying examination.

Through doctoral-level research, Ph.D. students will develop expertise on a single topic, design and implement a research project, integrate and interpret complex data, and complete a comprehensive dissertation. Students must plan this carefully. Although students will work closely with faculty advisers, students bear responsibility for developing research of publishable quality. The curriculum and academic progress of all doctoral students is monitored by the Research and Doctoral Studies Committee and the Academic Progression Committee.

The Ph.D. in public health - environmental and occupational health degree is intended to give students in-depth understanding of environmental and occupational health. The environmental/occupational research performed by students in the doctoral program covers the spectrum from toxicologically oriented research to epidemiology, risk assessment, exposure assessment, and policy formation.