Student Handbook: Alphabetical Listing of Topics
Academic Calendar:Check the UW academic calendar for dates of instruction, registration, and holidays. Arrival, Paperwork, Keys, etc:Incoming students are expected to begin no later than September 16 (which is when your funding begins), although Autumn Quarter doesn't begin until September 28. This will give you time to look around the labs and meet faculty and students. Other than attending scheduled orientation activities, there is nothing you are required to do during this time other than meet with faculty (to discuss potential lab rotations) and grads and generally get a feel for the department. Most students will arrive earlier in the month to look for housing and acclimate to Seattle. The UW will want proof of Measles vaccination before allowing you to register. Please check the Immunization Website for more details. The UW requires all employees (including students receiving stipends / salaries) to complete an online Affirmative Action Data form: http://www.washington.edu/admin/eoo/aadf/. You'll need to use your UW NetID to access this site. This should be done at some point during your first month in the dept. Please see Brian Giebel (Foege S-340) sometime before classes begin to check in & go over program requirements. There's no need to make an appointment, but giving me a call (206-616-7297) or sending an email (bgiebel [at] u.washington.edu) before you stop by will help, since I'm often away from my desk. You'll also fill out employment paperwork at this time, so please be sure to bring either a passport or photo ID & social security card. International students should bring visa paperwork. International students will need to check in with the UW International Students and Scholars office. This can now be done online: http://iss.washington.edu/stu/ns.html
Asbestos Training :The UW now requires all staff and students to complete asbestos training each year. This can be done online in a few minutes at: http://www.ehs.washington.edu/pubcookie/train/asbestosg/index.shtm
Committee Meetings:Committee meetings should ideally be held twice a year, approximately every six months, but at a minimum at least once per year. At least one of these meetings should be scheduled in conjunction with your Research Reports presentation. It is the responsibility of both the student and the advisor to hold these meetings. The role of the faculty members on the committee is to provide guidance concerning course work, constructive criticism on the student’s thesis research, and help in planning for the timely completion of requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Since it can be difficult to find a time which works for most of your committee members, you would do well to begin planning for this a month or two in advance. Follow this link for conference room schedules. Before each committee meeting the student should prepare a summary / outline of completed work and proposed experiments. This write-up provides a useful basis for the committee meeting, even if an oral report has been given recently. It should be 2-3 pages in length and needs to be given to the committee members at least three week days prior to the meeting. You should prepare a short synopsis (e.g. 15 minutes) to present orally in the meeting. This should be informal and should emphasize your data. Plan to describe what problem you are addressing, why it is important, what you have done so far, and what you are tentatively planning to do in the future (preliminary ideas for your thesis). Budget about an hour total for the meeting. Listen very carefully to what your members suggest, and plan to take their suggestions into account for your thesis proposal. After the meeting, the thesis advisor writes a brief report (this form is available online in fillable pdf and Word verions ) which is discussed with and signed by the student. One signed copy is given to the student and the other is placed in the student’s file. If you prefer, instead of using the form, the report may be emailed to Brian Giebel (bgiebel [ a t ] uw.edu). The student should be copied on the email. This report should include specific research goals for the near future that the committee members agree are appropriate. It helps keep those goals in clear focus and reduces ambiguity about decisions made at the meeting. Please check the Genome Sciences IT page for a details on computing services available via the department. For information on connecting to the UW via proxy server for online access from home, follow this link: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/help/connecting.html Please be aware that some of the labs use PCs while many others use Macs. It's a good idea to arrive with a reasonable degree of proficiency on both platforms. Dissertation Info:Things to Consider While Working on Your Dissertation: Make sure that you keep up on your committee meetings. It is really crucial in these years. You need to be making sure that your are making steady progress on your project, and if you aren't, then you need committee input to help you and your advisor to plan a more productive course. As you accumulate data, put it in final figure form. You will never have a better grasp of the data and how you generated it than you do at the time, and it is really painful to reconstruct the details later. This is the most time-consuming part of writing your thesis. If you do it as you go along, it's pretty straightforward to produce a good thesis. By this time, you would hope to be at least part of a publication. If so, get involved in the writing, in the presentation of your data in figures and the final preparation of the manuscript. This is a skill you need! Writing your work with publication in mind makes your thesis writing straightforward, and you need publications when you finish, whatever you decide to do after your Ph.D. By the middle of the 4th year, you need to be looking ahead to your next step -- a post-doc, a job in industry, a change to another application of your degree? Talk to your advisor, your committee, anyone else who might be helpful -- but begin to make plans! Graduate School Doctoral Degree Requirements: Doctoral Degree checklist Finishing the Dissertation: The Graduate School no longer requires that you submit a hard copy of your thesis. Submission is now electronic. Please see their website for instructions and more information. Work closely with your advisor and committee to plan the culmination of your project. What needs to be done to make a complete story? Begin to create a thesis outline well before the work is complete, as this will help you to prioritize. This outline is feasible and acceptable. You don't need to have completed all of the work, but you need to propose what will comprise your thesis. In general, this critical meeting should be about 6 months before you plan to finish. Set immediate goals, e.g. getting a particular chapter written by a certain deadline. This will break a big task into manageable pieces and assure that you move along at a reasonable pace. Ethics Training :Third year Genome Sciences students and others supported by our training grants are required to take Ethics Training (aka Genome 580), generally offered Spring Quarter each year.
Final Exam (Dissertation Defense):Basic Checklist: 1. Approximately 3-4 months before you plan to defend, contact your committee to see which dates will work for them. It can be very difficult to find a day and time that works for all or most of your committee as well as find a suitable location. It's best to start thinking about this sooner rather than later. 2. Turn in a complete version of your thesis to your reading committee six weeks before you plan to defend. This isn't a hard deadline, but rather, a suggested courtesy to your reading committee members before you submit your final exam request. The exact timing is between you and them. Please also send the names of your reading committee members to Brian if you haven't already done so. 3. Submit your exam request online three weeks before you defend (see below for further details)
The fine print: At least 3-4 months before you expect to finish writing, make sure that your Supervisory Committee members will be available at the time you plan your defense. At least four members of your committee, including your advisor and the Graduate School Representitive, must be there. At this point you should choose a Reading Committee, comprised of your advisor and two other members. Send their names to the graduate program assistant, who will set this up with the Graduate School. There is no hard deadline for this, but it should be done before you apply online to defend. Once you (and your advisor) feel your thesis is complete, submit this completed version of the thesis (with all figures and references...not a draft) to your reading committee. You'll want to give your reading committee time to read your thesis before asking them to approve your defense, but the exact timing is between you and them. Three weeks before asking them to approve your defense is a strongly suggested courtesy. The Graduate School has recently revised procedures to request Final Exams. Here's how it works: 1. Check with your committee members to find a day / time / place that works for them. At least four members of the committee (including the Chair, GSR, and one additional Graduate Faculty member) must be present at both the General and Final Examinations. 2. Once you have determined a time that works for everyone, and once your committee has agreed that you are ready to defend, submit this request online via the Graduate School's new My Grad Program: Student View website. 3. Send Brian Giebel an email ( bgiebel [ a t ] u.washington.edu ) to let him know you've submitted your request, so that he may go into the online system and provide departmental approval. 4. Brian will print out and provide the exam warrant, which your committee members will still need to sign and return after your exam. Brian will then go into the online system to enter the result. Following a successful defense, you must incorporate any appropriate recommended changes into the final version of the dissertation. You should also submit your dissertation the same quarter in which you defend (if this proves impossible, see the registration waiver fee option below).The Graduate School no longer requires that you submit a hard copy of your thesis. Submission is now electronic. Please see their website for instructions and more information. Please also provide an electronic copy (a PDF or Word document is fine) of your thesis to Brian Giebel. Registration as a graduate student is required the quarter the dissertation is defended. However, if you successfully defend but are not able to submit your thesis until the following quarter, you can pay the Graduate Degree Registration Waiver of $250 rather than be forced to register for the following quarter, as was previously the case. Update: The Graduate School has just shortened the time allowed to use this option - please see their website for details. And finally, please discuss your post-graduation plans with your mentor and decide ahead of time whether you will leave the UW immediately after you graduate, or whether you'll stay on in your mentor's lab for a while. Your mentor should contact the department fiscal manager to make salary arrangements, if need be. An important payroll consideration is that you must be on payroll for at least 5 of the 6 pay periods in a given quarter in order for your tuition waiver to remain in place. For example, suppose you defend your dissertation in mid-November. Your grad student appointment must go through at least 5 of the 6 pay periods -- in this case, November 30 -- in order for your tuition waiver to remain in place. General Exam:Successful progression into candidacy for the Ph.D. demands mastery of research approaches and relevant scientific literature. To this end, graduate students in the Department of Genome Sciences are required to write up the plan of their thesis research in the format similar to that required for federal grant proposals. This requirement is intended to encourage thoughtful design of an effective research strategy and comprehensive understanding of the relevant issues at an early stage of the overall research effort. You may expect your mentor to provide assistance with formulating the grant proposal. Your mentor will help provide "big" ideas and act as a sounding board, but not do so much that you aren't challenged. It is thus largely left to the mentor to use his/her judgment. The General Exam includes written and oral components and should be scheduled for Spring Quarter of your second year in the program. It is your responsibility to check with your committee members early enough so that your exam is not delayed (i.e. does not drag on into July or later). Please check with Colin Manoil if you are unable to schedule your exam for Spring Quarter. Please also be aware that noncompliance with with departmental requirements, such as timely completion of the General Exam, could result in termination of Training Grant support and academic probation. UW Graduate School Requirements for attempting your general exam include: - having taken at least 18 graded credits of graduate course work (approved 400 level courses are allowed) Follow this link for written exam guidelines. General Exam procedures have recently been simplified. Here's how it works: 1. General exams should be scheduled for late Spring Quarter (May or June). Check with your committee members to find a day / time / place that works for them. At least four members of the committee (including the Chair, GSR, and one additional Graduate Faculty member) must be present at both the General and Final Examinations. 2. Once you have determined a time that works for everyone, submit this request online via the Graduate School's new My Grad Program: Student View website. 3. Send Brian Giebel an email ( bgiebel [ a t ] u.washington.edu ) to let him know you've submitted your request, so that he may go into the online system and provide departmental approval. Brian will print out and provide the exam warrant, which your committee members will need to sign and return after your exam. Brian will then go into the online system to enter the result. 4. Students must provide the written component of their exam to their committee members a minimum of 3 weeks prior to the oral exam. If this deadline is not met, committee members have the option of asking to be removed from the student’s committee or requiring that the student reschedule the exam. Prior guidelines stating students must submit a thesis proposal to their committee in March and receive feedback from the committee by April have been discontinued. 5. Committee members may ask for revisions within 10 days of receiving the written component. Housing:There is plenty of off-campus housing nearby in the University District. For those choosing to live farther away from campus, it is easy to commute by bike or Seattle's Metro bus service. The central neighborhoods here are considered very desirable places to live but tend to be more expensive than the more distant locations. The neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Green Lake, Ravenna, and Fremont are all great places to live and are a short bus or bike ride from the University. The farther from the city center you go, the lower prices tend to be. Those looking for the least expensive apartments will find them in the north and south end suburbs but will have a longer commute and less interesting surroundings. Advertisements for shared and single-occupancy housing are readily found posted at the University or in local papers. Prices vary, but studios start around $600 and one bedrooms start around $800 per month. Here are some links to rental listings: UW off-campus housing listings Moving to Seattle: Here's some advice from current grads on moving options, should you prefer not to use the classic method of throwing everything you own into an aging hatchback and driving cross-country: "When I moved, I went by Amtrak and had them haul my stuff too. You have to have everything in 50 pounds (or less) boxes, but I think it cost only $200 to move 450 pounds of stuff from Boston, MA to Seattle, WA. Once at king station, you can use one of the mini-van taxis to haul your stuff. Another option, although more expensive, is to use a shipping container like the ReloCube or the Pod. You pack the container yourself and they haul it to your destination, and charge you a nominal fee to store it until you are ready to get your stuff." ABS freight: "When I moved here from Boston I ended up using UPS. If you send your boxes from a UPS store directly to another UPS store the rates are cheaper. I ended up contacting the UPS store in Wallingford and they were able to store my boxes for about a week while I traveled out here. I don't remember the price being exorbitant but it wasn't super cheap either. I do remember that the folks at the Wallingford UPS store were super nice about storing my boxes though." "If you have a car and are able to get stuff to/from an Amtrak station, you can ship things on pallets for relatively cheap. They don't take furniture, but if it is mostly books, clothes, etc it is a really good way to go. I wasn't charged any extra money for the several days of storage at the station in Seattle. Their website doesn't have much information about the program, so its best to just call your local Amtrak station. I think it cost about $250 to ship a 500lb pallet from Milwaukee to Seattle."
Insufficient Academic Progress:You should meet a minimum of once per year (twice per year recommended) with your supervisory committee. If the committee is concerned about your research progress, they will suggest ways to get back on track. If problems persist, your mentor may opt to put you on academic probation. This involves notifying the Graduate School with documentation of the circumstances. It does not normally affect your funding or registration. If problems continue past this point, you may be put on final probation. Students are normally on final probation for one quarter only.After that point, the department will either recommend that you be removed from academic probation or that you leave the program. First year students who do not reach faculty expectations in coursework or lab rotations may also be put on academic probation. The Graduate School's guidelines are posted here: http://www.grad.washington.edu/Acad/gsmemos/gsmemo16.htm
US Citizens and permanent residents should decline the standard UW student insurance coverage while registering for courses. You will automatically receive Graduate Appointee Insurance Program coverage. International Students will automatically receive Graduate Appointee Insurance Program coverage but will also need to sign up for standard UW student insurance each quarter when registering. Please be assured that once the system recognizes that you have GAIP coverage, the standard UW student insurance charge will be removed. This cumbersome system is in place to ensure all international students at UW have insurance coverage. Those needing short-term coverage after graduation might consider The UW Alumni Insurance Program. Journal Club:Your first Journal Club talk should be given Spring Quarter. Journal Club provides a forum for information exchange and for practice in organizing and presenting research material. Journal Club presentations should provide a critique of published experimental or theoretical work. Generally it is only possible to adequately present the material in one or two papers. While it will be necessary to give an introduction which draws upon earlier work, the presentation should not be simply an overview of an area of research. The paper to be presented should be chosen, and the presentation developed, in consultation with the thesis advisor or another faculty member who knows the topic better. First year students will be contacted by a faculty member who will help them prepare for this presentation. Even the most experienced person requires a considerable amount of time for preparation; the paper should be chosen at least two weeks in advance. Lab Rotations:First year students generally rotate through three labs, with the option of a 4th rotation over Summer Quarter if need be. If you decide to do a 4th rotation, please check in immediately with Dr. Colin Manoil (manoil [at] u.washington.edu). Please follow this link for a complete listing of Genome Sciences Training Faculty. When you begin a lab rotation, you should immediately meet with the faculty member to find out what her/his expectations are for your rotation. Be careful not to focus solely on other courses and neglect your lab rotation. This is an important part of your training and you will be expected to spend a significant amount of time in the lab and interact with other lab members as well as the PI. You should meet again with the PI after a few weeks, to be sure you are meeting expectations. The open rotation / transfer policy gives you the flexibility to do your third rotation with a faculty member from any participating department (Biochemistry, Immunology, Microbiology, Pathology). This program also gives you the option of transferring to one of these programs if you find it to be a better match for your interests. For more information, check the School of Medicine website. Libraries:The Health Sciences library is located in the T wing, room 227. You'll need to go to the Health Sciences Library in order to activate your student ID card to be used as a library card. For more information, follow these links:
For information on connecting to the UW via proxy server for online access from home, follow this link: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/howto/connect/ NIH Research Festival:If you are interested in exploring postdoctoral opportunities at the NIH, you should apply to attend the NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival. Office Staff:Administrative staff information is posted here: http://www.gs.washington.edu/office/index.htm Going On Leave:While going on leave is uncommon, students are allowed to go on leave if need be with the permission of their mentor and Dr. Colin Manoil. The procedure for going on leave has changed as of Autumn 2011: 1. Student submits the on-leave request via MyGrad-Student View: http://grad.washington.edu/mygrad/student.htm 2. Please contact Brian Giebel so that he may approve the request. 3. For international students, the request is then sent to the International Student Services Office (ISS) for approval 4. Student is notified by email to submit an online credit card payment for the quarterly $25 nonrefundable fee. On-Leave status is not finalized until payment has been submitted, and must be completed by the last day of instruction for the quarter of leave requested Please see the graduate student union contract for more information on your right to go on leave. 2011 Orientation Activities:The following orientation activities will take place during your first two weeks in the dept:
Outside Funding :All students should apply for outside funding. This should ideally be done early in your first or second year. Your own fellowship will look great on a resume and will also make your thesis advisor very happy... Funding sources include: NIH grants home page - the basic gateway into NIH grants of all types - has information links to forms, instructions, processes etc. See the left side of the page for 'types of grants', F series Predoctoral NIH fellowship (F31) detail instructions - review for the full scoop on how to complete these forms, what gets included in the applications, where To target your NIH search for funding even more specifically, check out the specific NIH institute that might support your work. Review the NIH roadmap (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/) and then check out the NIH home page for institute list: http://www.nih.gov/icd/index.html National Science Foundation funding opportunities can be found at: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/ When to apply: Graduating seniors, prior to or during first year of graduate school, beginning of second year. Deadlines: Various deadlines depending on fellowship; see web site for specific deadline date and GRE deadline date. Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships - http://www7.nationalacademies.org/fordfellowships/index.html Eligibility: U. S. Citizen or national with evidence of superior academic achievement (such as grade point average, class rank, honors, other designations); Award: Approximately 60 Predoctoral Awards at $20,000 per year for up to three years. U. S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) Computational Science Graduate Fellowship - http://www.krellinst.org/csgf/ Eligibility: U.S. Citizen or permanent resident; Students must be planning full-time uninterrupted PhD study at a U. S. University; Students in their first or second year of graduate study in the physical, engineering, computer, mathematical, or life sciences are eligible to apply for the DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. Exceptional senior undergraduates who can meet all the requirements listed here may also apply. When to apply: Graduating seniors or first or second year graduate students. Award: Payment of all tuition and fees; Yearly stipend of $31,200; Allowance of $1,000 annually for research; up to $2,475 for computer workstation; renewable up to four years.
Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship - http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/SCGF/information.html
Community of Science - a search engine for all types of funding opportunities. The site has a search wizard that lets you refine your search to closely match the type of program and research you want to do: Many non-profit organizations are using a web portal for application submission called Proposal Central. This website shows a list of upcoming application deadlines, thesponsors, and provides links to the sponsors so you can find out more. https://proposalcentral.altum.com/ And finally, there is the primary federal application portal, grants.gov. Payroll:Paydates are generally the 10th (for the second half of the preceding month) and 25th (for the first half of the month) of each month, unless these dates fall on a weekend or holiday. Direct deposit may be set up via the Employee Self-Service section of MyUW. Questions may be directed to Linda Loveless (llov [ a t ] uw.edu). Printing Posters:Information on printing posters is available here: http://gs-its.gs.washington.edu/printing/ The Health Sciences Academic Services website provides step by step instructions on how to use PowerPoint to create a poster. Radiation Safety Training:Most of you will end up needing to work with radioactive materials in the course of your thesis work. To become qualified to do so, you will have to undertake formal radiation safety training, and it is best to do that in your first year. Otherwise, you might well end up not being allowed to perform key experiments in your thesis research. Training is offered by Environmental Health; you should check their website for a schedule of courses offered. On the other hand, if your thesis is very unlikely to include any experimental work (such as if it is to be entirely computational), then you might not need this training and do not have to take it now. You may be required to attend other lab safety courses; these will be scheduled for you by the Graduate Program Assistant. Registration / Course Sequence:First Year: You will receive registration information from the UW Graduate School the summer before you begin your studies. You should wait until arrival at the department to register. Be sure not to lose the PAC (Private Access Code) number the Graduate School sends to you with the registration info. You'll use this code to set up your UW NetID, which you'll need for almost everything at the UW, including registration. Online registration: Course registration is done online by going to the "myUW" section on the University of Washington home page. Insurance: US Citizens and permanent residents should decline the standard UW student insurance coverage while registering for courses. Insurance is taken care of by enrolling online at the Graduate Appointee Insurance Programwebsite. Your coverage will begin October 1. Please enroll online by that date so that you don't forget about this. International Students will need to enroll in the insurance plan online at the Graduate Appointee Insurance Program website and also sign up for standard UW student insurance each quarter when registering. Please be assured that once the system recognizes that you have GAIP coverage, the standard UW student insurance charge will be removed, so you won't be charged twice for insurance. Your coverage will begin October 1. Please enroll online by that date so that you don't forget about this.
You will need the 5 digit Schedule Line Number (SLN) which identifies a particular course. These are found on the online time schedule. Some courses will require add codes; you can get these from the graduate program assistant (currently Brian Giebel, Foege S-340, bgiebel [at] u.washington.edu) either in person or via email. Faculty codes used to register for research courses (Genome 501, 600, 800) are now available online. If you are registering for a non-Genome Sciences course that requires an add code, you should get the code from the graduate program assistant in that particular department. Electives: Please keep in mind a graduate school requirement that you complete at least 18 graded credits by the time you take your General Exam, which is done during Spring Quarter of your second year. Some of the core coursework is graded, some is not, so you will need to take some graded electives during your first two years. Generally speaking, any 500-level science course related to your research interests is an acceptable elective. 400-level courses may also be taken for graduate credit. You'll need to check with the Graduate Program Coordinator, Dr. Manoil, to be sure a 400 level course is acceptable. In addition to courses offered by the department, Genome Sciences students often take courses from other programs, including Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Conjoint, Microbiology, Pathology, Molecular - Cellular Biology, and Statistics, among others. You should check the online time schedule to see what's available. You're expected to have some background in Biochemistry. If not, this can be made up by taking electives in these areas during your first year. Please check with Dr. Manoil for suggestions on which courses might be appropriate for you. The department also recommends that you have some background in Statistics - one of the core courses, Genome 560, will fulfill this requirement. You should sign up for a minimum of 10 credits each quarter (except for Summer, when you should sign up for 2 credits). You'll want to vary your credits in Genome Sciences 501 to accomplish this. For example, if your core courses and electives total 6 credits, register for 4 credits in GENOME 501. Registration for more than 10 credits is fine, as long as you don't go over 18. The following course sequence is effective beginning Autumn 2011:
Autumn Quarter:
Winter Quarter:
Spring Quarter:
Summer Quarter:
Second Year: Now that you have chosen your thesis advisor, you'll register for the following courses each quarter of your second year. You should sign up for a minimum of 10 credits each quarter. It's fine to register for more than 10 credits.
GENOME 600 is a variable credit course, so you will adjust these credits to be sure your registration is at least 10 credits, except for Summer Quarter when you should register for 2 credits (you may sign up for additional courses if they are vital to your research, but please advise the graduate program assistant). Third Year and Beyond: Once you've passed your General Exam, you should sign up for
Please be sure to register for a minimum of 10 credits each quarter except for Summer, when you should sign up for 2 credits of GENOME 800. You may sign up for additional courses during the Summer if they are vital to your research. Retirement Plan :You have the option of participating in the Voluntary Investment Progam. Please visit the plan website for more information. Rotation Talks :The Department has recently decided to have first year students give a brief (10 minute) presentation discussing their lab rotation research each quarter. These will be scheduled as part of the Research Reports series during the last two weeks of the quarter. Please check the Research Reports schedule for your presentation date.
Stop Odegaard Library (ground floor) to get your student ID card. You will need to show legal photo identification in order to obtain your ID card. Please note that you will be given a student ID number, and the UW uses these, rather than Social Security Numbers, for identification. Supervisory Committee:Your Supervisory Committee is comprised of a minimum of 4 faculty members chosen by you (including your Thesis Advisor). Your committee should ideally be in place by the end of Autumn Quarter, although there is some flexibility with this. Once you have your committee members lined up, please send their names to Brian Giebel so that he may set this up with the Graduate School. The Graduate School provides information on Doctoral Supervisory Committee roles and responsibilities. One of your committee members is the Graduate School Representitive, whose primary role is to act as your advocate in making sure exams are conducted fairly. As of April 2009, the Graduate School has greatly simplified the requirements for selecting the GSR. Specifically, Affiliate and Adjunct faculty members may now serve as the GSR. There is one important exception regarding Affiliate faculty members: if their primary appointment is via Genome Sciences, they may not serve as your GSR. For example: a faculty member based at FHCRC whose primary UW appointment is via Biology or Biochemistry may serve as your GSR. A faculty member based at FHCRC whose primary UW appointment is via Genome Sciences may not. Criteria for selecting the GSR include:
The GSR's role is to:
Please consider the following requirements when considering potential committee members:
Please give the names of your committee members to the graduate program assistant (currently Brian Giebel in Foege S-340), who will set this up with the Graduate School. The University of Washington Graduate School now requires all graduate students whose thesis research involves human or animal subjects to sign a form (http://www.grad.washington.edu/forms/index.shtml) documenting that they have been advised of human and animal subjects guidelines. Specific questions regarding these guidelines should be directed to your thesis advisor. Forms should be signed and returned to Brian Giebel (Foege S340, Box 355065). This form is now required, when applicable, as part of setting up your supervisory committee. Teaching Assistant:You'll gain teaching experience by serving as a Teaching Assistant for two courses (please note: MD / Ph.D. students need only teach one course during the Ph.D. component of their studies). You can complete this during your third year, or do one course during your third year and the second course during your fourth year. Please plan to attend the Teaching Assistant Conference if this will be your first course (attendance is optional for experienced teaching assistants). You are free to attend any sessions that interest you. International students whose native language is not English are required to meet UW English proficiency requirements. Please resolve this several weeks in advance of your first teaching assignment. Serving as a teaching assistant is an important part of your training. Course instructors will discuss expectations of you at the beginning of the quarter and will be in contact with your thesis advisor to provide an evaluation of your performance. Please be aware that an unsatisfactory performance as a teaching assistant may result in your being required to re-teach the same course or an equivalent during a future quarter. The Graduate School has posted a handbook for teaching assistants that you might find helpful. Choosing a Thesis Advisor:Toward the end of spring quarter, you will choose a Thesis Advisor. Normally, the advisor will be one of the full-time Genome Sciences faculty (Akey, Berg, Borenstein, Brewer, Bruce, Dunham, Eichler, Felsenstein, Fields, Furlong, Green, Hawkins, Jarvik, King, Lee, MacCoss, Manoil, Monnat, Nickerson, Noble, Olson, Pallanck, Queitsch, Shendure, Sibley, J. Stamatoyannopoulos, Swanson, Thomas, Villen, Waterston, Wolf-Yadlin). However, if the desired training opportunity is not available within the department, a request for supervision of thesis research by an adjunct or affiliate faculty member is allowed. It should be recognized that, unlike regular Genome Sciences faculty, adjunct faculty members are not under any obligation to sponsor Ph.D. theses, since they have primary responsibilities in other departments. Once you've selected a chosen a thesis lab, you and your advisor should sign the Summary of Mentor Responsibilities form and submit this to the department grad program assistant. This new requirement is intended to ensure faculty members are aware of their responsibilities to the student. You are encouraged to read the UW Graduate School's guide, "How to Obtain the Mentoring You Need: A Graduate School Guide". Things to consider when choosing a Thesis Advisor -- articles posted on ScienceCareers.org: Transportation:Yay! Seattle finally has light rail. Granted, it's less extensive than one might hope, but it's a start. There is also commuter rail service which is unlikely to be of any use to you unless you live a fair distance north (Everett, Mukilteo, Edmonds) or south (Tacoma, Puyallup, Kent) of Seattle. Another very nice travel option you won't use routinely is the Washington State Ferry System. King County's Metro bus system is extensive, and Seattle is considered one of the country's most bicycle-friendly cities. The UW home page provides info on the U-Pass and other options. Those who choose to drive can look forward to heavy traffic and expensive parking. Health Sciences Shuttle (between UW & Harborview Medical Center) Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Shuttle Travel:Please be sure to read through this entire section before making any travel arrangements. 1. Determine who pays: Please note that training grant travel funds can only be used while you are supported by the grant. They cannot be accessed thereafter. If your funding is coming from your mentor's research grant, your travel funds will need to come from that source. In this case, you do not need to check in with Brian - the person in your lab responsible for purchasing can make your travel arrangements. If for some reason it is easier for you to continue to have Brian make your travel arrangements, you are welcome to do so - just provide him with the lab budget number. 2. Provide an estimate of all travel costs: We are now required to put all travel components on a single purchase order, whenever possible. What this means is that when you are ready to book your flights, please also provide an estimate on your other expenses to Brian or whoever is arranging your travel so that they may all be included on the same purchase order. This would include items like conference registration, hotel, etc. Meals, if not provided by the conference, will be calculated at standard per diem rates. 3. Book your travel: The department must pay for flights and conference registration up front. Please do not pay for these items on your own and then ask to be reimbursed. Once you have checked in with Brian Giebel (if your travel is being paid by a training grant) and are ready to book your travel, please follow the steps below. Please be aware that if you take personal time before or after the conference and this results in a higher airfare, you may be asked to reimburse the difference to the university. Contact the current agency of choice, Tangerine Travel (http://www.vacation.tangerinetravel.com/contact+us/). Please be sure to let them know this will be paid by UW Genome Sciences. Once you’ve been emailed an itinerary, please send this to Brian - or have the travel agent include him on the initial email - so that he may fill out the purchase order paperwork. To pay for your conference registration, provide the registration info needed (either to fill out a form or enroll online) to Brian. 4. Reimbursement: Please note that we will need a copy of your flight itinerary and conference schedule in order to process any reimbursements. Lodging and meals will be reimbursed after your return from the conference. Receipts are required for lodging reimbursement. If your lodging costs are higher than the allowable per diem rate, please include a brief explanation (e.g. it was the designated conference hotel, only place you could find space, etc) along with your receipts. If you are sharing a room, please be aware that this may complicate your reimbursement. Ideally, you should obtain a separate receipt for your share of the lodging, or at the very least, the receipt you submit should have your name on it. In a case like this, you would do well to consult with the GS fiscal staff before departure. Meals will only be reimbursed if they are not provided by the conference, and will be reimbursed at standard per diem rates. Since per diem rates are used, you do not need to save meal receipts. If you choose to skip a conference dinner, etc, you cannot be reimbursed for that particular meal. You will need to provide receipts for ground transportation.
Tuition / Funding:Tuition: Tuition is covered by the department or individual labs, except for approximately $360 in student fees (including the cost of a U-Pass) each quarter, which are the responsibility of the student. Funding: In addition to the tuition waiver, GS grad students also receive salaries / stipends of $27,348 per year. While the gross salary is the same for all students, net amounts vary according to the funding source. Taxes: With the disclaimer that I am not a tax expert and am not offering financial advice, here's essentially how it works: Federal taxes aren't withheld from stipends funded by NIH training grants, since these aren't considered "salaries" per se, but students will owe taxes on this income in April. Often, students who are US citizens / permanent residents receive the majority of their funding from these sources during their first two years in the program. Funds from non-training grant sources are often used to supplement the amount provided by the training grants, and these are generally taxable. For example, you may receive $21,180 of your salary from a training grant -- federal taxes aren't withheld from this. They will, however, be withheld from the remaining amount. Clear as mud. Stipend amounts are listed on form 1098 which you can access via MyUW. International students and U.S. citizens / permanent residents who have been in the program for longer than 2 years are generally funded via research assistant appointments through their thesis labs. Federal taxes are withheld from these salaries, so while gross pay is the same, the net salary will be less. The benefit of sorts is that you won't have to come up with all this cash at tax time. The simplified version: Students funded by RA appointments pay taxes now; students funded by training grants pay taxes in April (or, much more often, make quarterly payments). For more help: The resident tax expert in Student Fiscal Services is Lichang Wong - lichang [ a t ] u.washington.edu. Student Fiscal Services holds tax workshops for graduate students several times each Spring - if your funding source includes a training grant, please consider making time to attend one of these to save yourself some frustration in April. Moving Expenses: You may want to consider deducting moving expenses when figuring your taxes. IRS publication 970 spells out the rules. Their chart indicates you must pay taxes on your stipends, but not for funds spent on textbooks or other supplies. More tax info is available on the UW website. UW NetIDYou'll need a UW NetID to access computing resources, including email, online registration, and access to personal records. Create your NetID by visiting this page: http://www.washington.edu/computing/uwnetid/. You will need the Private Access Code sent to you when you initially accepted admission to the UW. Your NetID is also your UW email address. For example, if your NetID is "stressedout" then your email address will be "stressedout@u.washington.edu". Establishing Washington State Residency:Update 1/31/08: (International students are not allowed to apply for Washington residency, and so need not bother with this) You will need to apply for resident status in your second year by filling out the application posted here: http://www.washington.edu/students/reg/residency.html. The verbiage on the website makes it appear impossible that residency will be granted. However, here's clarification from the Residency Office (unfortunately not posted on their website): "I know the website makes it seem if you take more than 6 credits a quarter, you cannot become a resident. This is due to the presumption you are only here for educational purposes. A student is able to overcome this presumption by obtaining all of their Washington legal ties within the first 30 days, plus having a fulltime job and financial independence. Although TA/RA's are on record as only working 20 hours a week, we are aware that these students typically work more than 20 hours a week. Therefore, we consider a TA/RA who has had an appointment for one year as overcoming the presumption they are here for educational purpose, thus they are allowed to apply (and usually obtain) in-state resident status."
|