Each student is expected to participate in on-going research projects. This activity occurs concurrently while undertaking graduate-level studies. Entering students will serve as research assistants in the overall research program of their faculty advisor. Activities include collecting data, developing stimuli, and conducting data analyses. At the end of the first year, the student will prepare and present their research activities at a departmental colloquium. Students may also be involved in presenting the work at a professional or scientific meeting. Students participating in this manner will have some level of authorship for publications resulting from this research activity. Opportunities exist for students to engage in research activities with off-campus research mentors. The registration for off-campus research is HESP 788 (Doctoral Research Externship), which may count toward elective coursework.
There are two primary research requirements within the department: a candidacy research project, and a dissertation. However, the fact that students are only required to conduct a dissertation and a candidacy research project should not be taken as an indication that these research experiences are the only ones in which students will be (or should be) involved. HESP Ph.D. students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to work in established labs within the Department and on campus to conduct as much research as possible during their enrollment as a graduate student. This enriching experience adds to the research skills acquired in the conduct of candidacy and dissertation research. Thus, we encourage doctoral students to participate in a variety of research projects, often in multiple laboratories and research programs, and to be immersed in the culture of their research laboratories and activities.
More specifically, we have the following research-related expectations of our Ph.D. students, in order to allow them to get the best possible graduate experience:
- HESP Ph.D. students should participate in a variety of research projects, beginning in their first year in the PhD. program.
- Students are strongly encouraged to have a "rotation" with at least one other research lab or program in order to gain a broader perspective on research in the field. F inal decisions regarding this experience should be in consultation with the student's PPC and the director of the proposed lab or project.
- HESP Ph.D. students should make periodic presentations at the departmental colloquium series, ideally on an annual basis. Scheduling for such sessions should be guided by the student's PPC. Because presenting your research is an important requirement in the field (and an important part of most job interviews), practice doing so is particularly important.
- Students are expected to regularly attend conferences in their field of study, and to submit an article for publication prior to advancement for candidacy.
IV-A. Candidacy Paper
During the summer session at the end of Year 1, students will initiate their own research project under the close supervision of the faculty advisor, which will culminate as the Candidacy Paper. The research plan for the Candidacy Paper will be implemented during the second year of doctoral study. All research conducted at the University of Maryland or by University of Maryland students at off-campus research facilities must be approved by the faculty liaison to the IRB and/or Department Human Subjects Review Committee (HSR) and the Campus Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research (IRB) in the Graduate School.
The Candidacy Paper must be based on significant original, independent research. This research must be empirical in nature and must be directed by a HESP faculty member, subject to prior approval by the PPC. Generally the director of the Candidacy Paper will be the student's primary advisor, but this is not a requirement; if the director of the paper is not a member of the HESP faculty, there must be a coordinating faculty advisor from HESP. The final draft of the Candidacy Paper, written in a format suitable for publication, must be approved by the PPC. The student will present the research project at a Department seminar and will be strongly encouraged to submit the Candidacy Paper for publication. The Candidacy Paper requirement must be completed before advancing to Candidacy.
All research must be approved by the relevant research assurance committee (e.g., the Institutional Review Board for human subjects, or the Animal Care and Use Committee for research involving vertebrate animals). Research approval for thesis work must be in the students' name, and will need to be provided to the Graduate School.
Students are expected to prepare and present some aspect of their research activities at a department colloquium at the University of Maryland each year. This is a requirement for students post-candidacy, but is strongly recommended during the pre-candidacy period.
Students who completed a Master's thesis or an AuD capstone project at the University of Maryland, College Park, or at another university may petition the faculty to accept the Master's thesis for the Candidacy Paper requirement. Two requirements must be met in order for the student to petition the faculty: 1) the thesis or project must have been completed within the last five years; and 2) the research project must be based on original data collected by the student, or must adhere to stringent criteria for acceptable use of existing databases. The student must petition the faculty to accept the Master's thesis in lieu of the Candidacy Paper requirement during the first year of enrollment in the doctoral program. The student must make a presentation of the research at a Department colloquium. In addition, the faculty will conduct an oral examination of the student, during which the student must orally defend the MA thesis. Decisions by the faculty for acceptance of the MA thesis to substitute for the Candidacy Paper are based on, but not limited to, the following criteria: 1) originality; 2) independence of work; 3) statistical treatment of the data; 4) acceptability for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and/or juried professional meeting; and 5) quality of student's oral defense of the work. Under normal circumstances, case studies, surveys, and literature reviews will not satisfy the criteria for acceptable research for the Candidacy Paper requirement. The Master's thesis must be formally approved by all members of the PPC, following consultation with departmental members of the Graduate Faculty. A decision by the PPC will be made within the first year of the student's enrollment in the program. If the PPC approves the MA thesis, then the student will initiate pilot research projects that will develop into the dissertation, during the second year of doctoral study.
IV-B. The Dissertation
After admission to candidacy, the student is required to register for at least 12 hours of dissertation research in HESP 899, as stipulated by the Graduate School. The doctoral dissertation is the primary evidence of mastery of a field of study; it should represent significant original research of comparable quality to current research in the field.
The student will select a dissertation topic, formulate experimental questions, and plan a research proposal with a primary advisor of the student's choice. The primary advisor, who will become the chairperson of the dissertation committee, should be a full-time member of the HESP Department who holds regular membership on the graduate faculty.
During the preparation of the dissertation proposal, the student and the primary advisor should select the members of the dissertation committee. The dissertation committee will be headed by the primary advisor and will have at least two other full-time members of HESP who are tenure-track faculty. All of these persons may or may not be the same as the members of the PPC. In all other respects, the committee will meet the requirements of the Graduate School. Committee members may be from outside the department, or outside of the university, but any faculty member that is not a regular member of the graduate faculty must go through a formal appointment process before they may serve on a dissertation committee.
The dissertation proposal should be a formal written document and at a minimum should contain (a) a statement of specific aims and experimental questions, (b) background and rationale for the experiments, including a critical review of relevant literature, (c) a detailed description of methodology and proposed data analyses, and (d) pilot data. Students are strongly encouraged to write the dissertation proposal in the form of a grant proposal following requirements of the PHS 398 grant application, or an equivalent federal grant application form, but should discuss this with their research mentor. (In contrast, the final proposal must meet graduate school requirements for doctoral dissertations.) The written proposal should be submitted to the members of the dissertation committee at least two weeks prior to a scheduled proposal evaluation meeting. At the proposal evaluation meeting, the student normally presents an oral summary of the research project and answers any questions from the committee. Approval of the dissertation proposal requires a unanimous vote from the committee. The number of times that the dissertation committee meets with the student will vary.
The final draft of the dissertation should contain (a) a statement of the problem and experimental questions, (b) a detailed review of the literature, (c) a detailed description of the methodology, (d) results, and (e) a discussion section. The written document must be submitted to the members of the dissertation committee at least two weeks prior to the dissertation defense. Approval of the dissertation and its defense requires a unanimous vote from the committee. The final committee must include a Dean's Representative (a tenured faculty member from another department on campus); this individual does not necessarily need to have been part of the proposal process.
The student should follow the Graduate School requirements regarding the writing of the dissertation and the necessary preparations for the oral defense. Students should be familiar with the Graduate Student Academic Handbook and Thesis Manual and should be aware of the deadlines pertaining to filing for a graduate degree (see current Schedule of Classes).
Additional areas of training, and other expectations
In order for students to be fully engaged in the program, the faculty strongly recommend that students participate in Department activities as follows. Although many of these opportunities are not actual program requirements, they are intended to help doctoral students get the most out of their time in the program. A few of these expectations are explained in more depth below, but we nonetheless list them here to allow them to be viewed in a single location.
- Generally, we expect PhD students to pursue their degree full-time. Although we realize that for some students, personal matters may make this difficult at some points along the degree process, we recommend that students plan on making the doctoral program a full-time commitment.
- HESP Ph.D. students should attend the departmental colloquium series regularly. We ask students to sign in as an indication of their attendance. These talks are designed to provide students with a greater sense of the breadth and depth of the field, and are an important component of the learning process.
- HESP Ph.D. students should attend the doctoral student professional issues series offered by our department. These meetings are designed to provide our students with greater knowledge about issues related to academia and the doctoral program.
- HESP Ph.D. students are required to meet with their Program Planning Committee (PPC) annually; more information about this requirement is given below.
- Most HESP Ph.D. students should plan on teaching at least one course during their graduate program. Students who wish to apply to teach specific undergraduate courses are expected to first shadow the instructor as a teaching assistant. The timing of this shadowing experience should be decided in consultation with the PPC, but should generally be within the first 2 years.
- All HESP Ph.D. students are required to develop a teaching portfolio. It is expected that this portfolio will often be developed as part of the teaching experience within the department. Because teaching is an important aspect of being a university professor it is important for all doctoral students to have experience developing their own course.
V-A. Program Planning Committees (PPCs)
Each doctoral student will form a Program and Planning Committee (PPC) to help design and plan their specific program of study. The PPC includes their faculty advisor and at least three other faculty members. The PPC committee membership can change over time as the student progresses through the program, but a minimum of two of the members of the PPC must be regular, full-time tenure-track faculty from the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (including the advisor).
The primary goal of the PPC is to oversee the student's plan of doctoral study and monitor satisfactory progress. Ph.D. students should schedule formal meetings with their PPC at a minimum of once a year. In these meetings, students should expect to discuss their accomplishments during the prior year, including completion of coursework, participation in ongoing or completed research projects, written papers, teaching experiences, and other relevant evidence of progress through the program. This is also an opportunity to report on non-departmental research and scholarly activities. The PPC must approve all course programs and modifications on an annual basis. The PPC will generally meet during the spring semester each year, but may meet more often. The department has developed a "plan of study" template which students and advisors may opt to use to help with these planning sessions (see appendix); regardless of the use of this template, the minutes from the PPC meeting should be added to the student's permanent records.
V-B. Comprehensive Examinations (COMPS)
As specified in the Graduate School Catalog, preliminary examinations, or such other substantial tests as the graduate programs may elect, are frequently prerequisites for admission to candidacy. Comprehensive examinations should occur after the pre-candidacy research project is completed (except by petition).
The COMPS administered by the HESP Department consists of a written take-home examination, generally followed by an oral examination. (Based on the evaluation of the written answers, the committee may determine that an oral examination is unnecessary in order to advance to candidacy; however, the norm is for an exam to include both written and oral components.) Examination questions are prepared, approved and evaluated by all members of the PPC. The COMPS will consist of questions in four broad areas of study, and will likely include, but are not be limited to: 1) evaluation of research methods and design, 2) core knowledge in the basic science of the discipline, 3) new research developments in the discipline (speech, language, or hearing), and 4) the student's specific area of research interest. Each of the four areas will be weighted equally, with the exception of core knowledge, which will be weighted twice that of the other areas. The detailed topic areas will be determined by the PPC in consultation with the student.
All questions that comprise the written comprehensive examination will be given to the student at one time. Thus, the student may choose the order in which to answer the sub-parts of the written examination. Students will have a total of 5 days to complete all questions in the written examination. Students are encouraged to consult with members of their PPC regarding the nature of the written examination.
The oral examination will typically explore areas covered on the written COMPS in more detail, and provide the student with the opportunity to expand on any of the answers completed previously. Related areas of study may also be covered on the oral examination.
Following the oral examination, a decision is made by the PPC regarding a student's performance on both the written and oral portions of the COMPS. A pass constitutes adequate performance in all four topic areas outlined above. A contingent pass is given if a student passes all questions except one, in which case the student must retake the exam in the single failed area. A fail constitutes unsatisfactory performance on two or more questions of the written examination. In this case, the entire COMPS (written and oral portions) may be retaken one additional time. Whenever a student retakes the entire COMPS, failure in any one area would result in dismissal from the program.
V-C. Writing Experiences
Most of the Basic Core Knowledge courses will require in-depth written papers, to be assigned and evaluated by the instructor. Students must take at least two courses prior to candidacy that involve an in-depth written paper; samples of these papers should be made available to the PPC. Students who have already taken the core courses or other HESP courses at other universities can earn credit for these courses by writing the required papers and taking the course examination. In this case, the student's performance will be evaluated by the course instructor, in consultation with members of the PPC. Students who require courses in additional core topic areas may engage in Independent Study on these topics.
NACS regularly offers an in-depth grant-writing seminar for graduate students. Although this is not a credited course and is not a requirement for the graduate program, the HESP faculty strongly recommend that HESP Ph.D. students participate in this learning opportunity.
V-D. Teaching Portfolios
Development of strong teaching skills is another goal of the doctoral program in HESP. These teaching skills will be acquired through a sequential set of experiences, typically beginning with an assignment as a teaching assistant to a faculty mentor relatively early in the doctoral program. Following this, each student will develop original material for an entire course and demonstrate the readiness for teaching the course with a teaching portfolio. The teaching portfolio will contain three elements: (a) a course syllabus, (b) a complete set of course presentations for a full semester course, and (c) a website to support the course. The portfolio might also include a statement of teaching philosophy. The teaching portfolio must be approved by the PPC at some point in the student's program, but ideally either before the student is admitted to candidacy or soon thereafter. It is anticipated that each student will actually teach the course for which these teaching materials are developed. However, the teaching does not have to be done on site (at UMCP). The teaching portfolio can be created as part of a course, rather than being a separate requirement. (For example, faculty members in Kinesiology have offered a course on teaching, in which teaching portfolios are developed as the final class project.) While a teaching portfolio can be created for a course already taught by the department, the notion is that the student is designing a portfolio; thus, simply using another faculty member's existing teaching materials does not meet the spirit of this requirement.
V-E. Evaluation
Evaluation is a continuing and formal process in the Ph.D. program, in which all components of student performance in the program is assessed, including coursework, research, the candidacy paper, the comprehensive exams, the dissertation proposal, and the final dissertation defense. In order to provide each doctoral student with regular appraisals of his/her progress, there will be an annual evaluation of all Ph.D. students in the areas of coursework, research assistantship or teaching assistantship, research projects, and writing. Relevant information provided to the PPC for evaluation includes grade reports, a report from the student's mentors, a sample of the student's written work, and any other relevant information provided by the student. This information should be supplied to the PPC in advance of the annual spring meeting. Following this meeting, the PPC will evaluate the student's progress; in order to be judged as having made satisfactory progress, the student should have made substantial gains in research and coursework since the prior meeting of the PPC. A written report of this meeting will be included in the student's file, with a copy given to the student. The report should be filed with the Department no later than June each year, although the meetings themselves are expected to occur during the academic year.
If a student is not making satisfactory progress toward the Ph.D., the PPC may recommend to the faculty and the Director of Graduate Studies that the student be placed in the category "not in good standing." The faculty may further stipulate certain changes to be made within a specified time frame in order for the student to be returned to "good standing" in the Department. Students who fail to meet stipulated conditions and who remain in the category "not in good standing" are subject to a recommendation for dismissal from the program by the faculty.
Students in the Ph.D. program are strongly encouraged to apply for national scholarships, fellowships, and other educational opportunities. These applications should also be made available to the PPC committee; copies of successful applications should be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies as examples for future students.
APPENDIX I: Summary of program requirements and recommendations
Timeline requirements
Admission to candidacy within 5 years
Completion of degree within 4 years after advancement to candidacy
Curriculum Requirements
Minimum of 50 credits overall, including:
6 credits in Statistics
3 credits in Research Design
2 credits in Ethics of Scientific Research
6 credits in core knowledge areas
3 credits in contemporary research
Minimum of 2 courses with an in-depth written paper
Minimum of 6 credits of candidacy research
Minimum of 12 credits of dissertation research
Research Requirements
Candidacy Research Project
includes defense of project, written final paper, oral presentation of results
Dissertation Research Project
includes defense of proposal and of project, written proposal and written final project
Other requirements
Satisfactory completion of comprehensive exams
Development of a teaching portfolio
Presentation at a departmental colloquium each year post-candidacy
Formation of a program planning committee, and yearly PPC meetings
Other Expectations or Recommendations
Pursuing the degree full-time
Involvement in other research projects
Lab rotation
Teaching a minimum of one course
Attendance at departmental colloquia
Attendance at the doctoral student professional issues series
Periodic colloquium presentations during the precandidacy period
Conference attendance
Participation in an in-depth writing seminar
APPENDIX II:
Faculty in related areas on the UMCP campus:
Biology: Catherine Carr and Art Popper
Electrical Engineering: Shihab Shamma, Carol Espy-Wilson, Jonathan Simon
Linguistics: Valentine Haquard, Norbert Hornstein, Howard Lasnik, Jeffrey Lidz, Collin Phillips, Philip Reznick, Amy Weinberg, Andrea Zukowski,
Human Development: Donald J. Bolger, Nathan Fox, Meredith Rowe, Min Wang
Psychology: Robert Dooling, Lea Dougherty, Michael Dougherty, Cynthia Moss, Elizabeth Redcay, Tracy Riggins, David Yager
Kinesiology : Brad Hatfield, Jose Contreras-Vidal, Jane Clark
Faculty in related areas off campus:
Joshua Bernstein (Walter Reed Army Medical Center)
Carmen Brewer (NIDCD)
Douglas Brungart (Walter Reed Army Medical Center)
Peter Fitzgibbons (Gallaudet)
Ken Grant (Walter Reed Army Medical Center)
Maureen Stone (UMB)
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT INDIVIDUAL FACULTY MEMBERS TO INQUIRE FURTHER ABOUT THEIR AREAS OF RESEARCH SPECIALIZATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DOCTORAL STUDY
Appendix III: Resources for Doctoral students
Space:
Lockers: See Theresa (clinic office) to get assigned locker
Desks (0133) with cubbies: See Valerie (main office) to get a desk assignment.
Note: desk assignments are ONLY for students who actually need a desk to work at; if you simply need a place to store materials, and will spend most of your work time in your lab, please request a locker instead.
Library Carrels: http://www.lib.umd.edu/PUBSERV/carrel_forms.html
Departmental talks:
HESP seminar series: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/hesp/HESPseminar.htm
Note: All doctoral students are expected to attend these talks!
Audiology journal club:
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/hesp/degreePrograms/current/audjournalclub/audjournalclub.htm
Other colloquia/talks on campus:
Neuroscience & Cognitive Science
http://www.nacs.umd.edu/news/seminars.cfm
join listserve at http://www.nacs.umd.edu/community/index.html
Psychology Dept. Cognitive Seminar
Announced on NACS listserve
Cognitive Science
http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/Faculty/pcarruthers/cog-sci.htm
Talks are every other week, but the weeks prior to a talk there is a meeting devoted to discussion of the upcoming speaker's work
Second Language Acquisition & Application
http://www.languages.umd.edu/SLAA/colloquia.htm
CEBH/Research Methods in Psychology
announced via NACS listserve
Center for Children, Relationships and Culture
http://www.education.umd.edu/EDHD/centers/CCRC/colloquia.html
Linguistics Colloquium Series
http://www.ling.umd.edu/events/colloquia/
Blackwell lectures
Annual event. A series of 3 days of talks on contemporary research and debate on language and its ties with cognitive science
Information available at: http://www.ling.umd.edu/index.php
Linguistics Mayfest
Annual workshop: http://www.ling.umd.edu/events/mayfest/
IGERT Lunch Talks
http://languagescience.umd.edu/events/weekly.php
Linguistics also has a number of smaller series in its individual subareas:
Computational Linguistics & Information Processing
http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/research/CLIP/colloq/
Syntax Lunch
http://www.ling.umd.edu/events/syntax/
PFNA: Sound Systems Group
http://ling.umd.edu/pfna/?file=kop1.php
Other training programs/affiliate programs/certificate programs:
Center for Comparative & Evolutionary Biology of Hearing (CEBH)
http://www.cebh.umd.edu/
Neuroscience & Cognitive Science
www.nacs.umd.edu
IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research): Biological and Computational Foundations of Language Diversity
http://languagescience.umd.edu/programs/igert.php
Field Committee on Developmental Science
http://www.devsci.umd.edu/
CASL - Center for the Advanced Study of Language
www.casl.umd.edu
Other resources:
Many resources are available from our PhD program website, at
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/hesp/degreePrograms/current/phd.htm
Center for Teaching Excellence - http://www.cte.umd.edu
Offers a number of valuable resources for graduate students, including CTE-Lilly Graduate Teaching Fellows Program, Grant Writing Seminar for Grad Students, etc.
Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
UMD has an MEG facility as part of Linguistics; it is intended for use by multiple researchers across campus. As such, there is a lab manager in charge, and both computer resources and support for people from other departments.
http://ling.umd.edu/cnl/?page=meg
PhD Completion workshop series
Fridays, 4:30-6:30
Free, but requires preregistration
Workshops on preparing a proposal, preparing a dissertation, writing a CV, IRBs, teaching portfolios, applying for national scholarships & fellowships, conducing a job search, organizing for a job interview, as well as networking and mentorship opportunities.
Dissertation support group
http://www.counseling.umd.edu/LAS/html/dsg.html
ASHA http://www.asha.org/students/academic/doctoral/
MARC program - Mentoring for Academic-Research Careers
8 month program in which you communicate via email with a Mentor
http://www.asha.org/students/gatheringplace/marc/
New century scholars program -
http://www.ashfoundation.org/Foundation/grants/GraduateScholarships.htm
Grad Research Interaction Day (GRID)
Campus-wide, conference style event where research done by graduate students at the University is presented and discussed by faculty and students from many departments and schools
A selection of other Funding Opportunities:
National Scholarships Office - Marie Mount http://www.scholarships.umd.edu/
Although part of Undergraduate Studies, graduate students can also make appointments to meet with staff about opportunities
Departmental doctoral funding application - available at
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/hesp/degreePrograms/current/phd.htm
Please note that students currently enrolled in the program must complete this application in order to be considered for new or a renewal of departmental funding.
Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships
10K for a single semester to finish up
http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/Fellowship/wylie/
CEBH
http://www.cebh.umd.edu/downloadapplications.asp
Goldhaber Travel grant
http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/Fellowship/travelgrants.htm
Other fellowship awards & prizes through the graduate school
http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/Fellowship/special.htm
MCM Fund for Student Research Excellence
Departmental awards for travel or research supplies
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/hesp/degreePrograms/current/MCMFund.htm
William F. Austin Scholarship (in Audiology)
http://www.starkeypro.com/public/learning_center/student_outreach/wfa_scholarship/index.jsp
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201&org=NSF
NIH - National Research Service Award (NRSA)
http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm
