These policies will help guide you through the Biomaterials MS Program. It was written following The Graduate School policies and School of Dental Medicine Advanced Education Student/Resident Handbook. All enrolled Biomaterials graduate students must review and retain these for future reference.
This graduate program will lead to a Master of Science (M.S.) in Biomaterials. The program is designed to provide background, expertise, and current concepts of basic sciences related to biomaterials and dental research. The Biomaterials Program is an academic, research-oriented graduate program that does not include clinical training. Students in this program must be committed to learning and engaging in research.
As students of this program, you are expected to bear the financial responsibilities for tuition, fees, and all other expenses required by the University for graduate students enrolled in a master's program. The Biomaterials Graduate Program does not provide financial support.
The M.S. degree requires at least 30 credit hours of coursework, a qualifying exam, and a written thesis based on independent research. This is a full-time course, and most students take two years to complete the program. The Biomaterials Program will provide the necessary classes and research training to fulfill all the M.S. degree requirements.
Minimum requirements for the degree:
30 credit hours, including required and elective courses (including substituting courses when approved by the program director and the graduate school)
20 credit hours in didactics:
12 credit hours of required core courses
15 credit hours of elective courses
3 credit hours in culminating experience:
1-12 credit hours of research
1-4 credit hours of thesis guidance
Students must select courses with the advice of their graduate committee and their program director's approval.
Required Core:
All students must take the required courses listed in this section. The program director may grant exemptions or substitutions only upon the student's written request based on valid academic justification.
Culminating Experience:
Elective Courses:
Each student may take credit hours (minimum of 8 credit hours) of elective coursework related to the student's area of research. The Program Director, the Chair of the Graduate Committee, and the Graduate Committee must be consulted when selecting elective coursework. For additional information, the student should consult the university course listings.
Recommended Electives:
A list of all possible electives can be found on the Biomaterials page in The Graduate Catalog.
Students must register every semester for the applicable courses according to established registration procedures and within the deadline dates announced by the Office of the Registrar. A few of these policies are outlined below for your attention.
Graduate students who have completed the 30 credit hours of coursework must register for at least one credit hour each Fall and Spring term until all requirements for the degree are completed. Students must be registered for at least one credit in the term before the degree conferral, as indicated below:
International Students: To maintain your F-1 status, you must comply with ALL of the following requirements:
If continuous registration is not possible, the student must secure a “Graduate Student Petition for a Leave of Absence” from the Office of the Registrar. Students may not be on a leave of absence in the semester immediately preceding degree conferral.
The Biomaterials master’s degree must be completed within four years from the student’s first registration date in that master’s degree program. If approved by the Program Director, a request for an extension of time must be petitioned using the “Petition for an Extension of the Time Limit to Complete a Graduate Degree Program” form. Students typically complete the program in around two years of full-time study, although there are no set guidelines for the minimum period of study.
Graduate students will receive a grade for each class they take at UB. The grade point average (GPA) at UB is the ratio of grade points earned at UB to the number of graded credits. In the Biomaterials Program, letter grades will be utilized to determine GPA. The grading policies used in the Biomaterials Program are within the guidelines established by The Graduate School.
The grading procedures for each formal course will be explicitly evident within each syllabus. The syllabus will also specify whether the class will be graded "S/U," "I," or with a weighted letter grade.
For courses such as "research" and "thesis guidance," the course director may assign “letter grades” or "Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory" (S/U) grades.
An "S" grade indicates the student earned the required credit. "S" grades allow up to 4 credit hours of elective coursework in departments outside SDM. The S grade is awarded when a student's grade would have been equivalent to at least a 3.0 grade point (B letter) or better. Therefore, the S grade is comparable to a 3.0 grade point average.
A "U" grade indicates an unsatisfactory performance.
Graduate students must have an overall "B" (3.0 quality point) average in all formal coursework for the M.S. degree.
Grade Reports: All grades will be available through the MyUB.
More informtion on grades can be found on The Graduate School Policy Library web page.
The academic progress of MS students will be evaluated twice a year. This evaluation will be conducted by the program director, the student's graduate committee major professor, and—if the student is mentored by the program director—a committee member will also be included in the review.
The review will happen every semester in June and December, permitting appropriate time for planning for the following semester and allowing the students to respond to inquiries resulting from the review. In a supportive manner, the Program Director will communicate the academic evaluation to the student in writing.
Some of the components of the evaluation include:
The Graduate School defines good academic standing as a student who is making acceptable progress toward a graduate degree or advanced certificate. All graduate students are expected to remain in good academic standing throughout the entire course of their study. To monitor graduate student academic standing, the chair/DGS/program director in charge of each graduate program will regularly review the academic records of its graduate students. Any graduate student who fails to remain in good academic standing will be placed on academic probation for the subsequent fall or spring term.
The Graduate School’s minimum academic requirements for each graduate student to remain in good academic standing are:
Note: The S grade is awarded only in those instances where a student's letter grade would have been equivalent to at least a 3.0 (B) or better. As such, the S grade is considered equivalent to a 3.0 grade point average.
Students who are not in good academic standing as defined above, or who are put on academic probation, are not eligible to participate in university activities, including athletics.
MS Biomaterials students are required to pursue their training full-time. It is expected that students enrolled in the program will devote each day of the work week (Monday through Friday, except for Holidays), plus any additional time necessary, to working on the required coursework and thesis project.
The program director will supervise the student program initially. The program director will assist the student in planning their program until the student chooses a major professor under whose supervision they will work on selecting elective courses and thesis projects. The major professor must hold a full-time appointment as a faculty member at UB and must be a member of the Graduate Faculty. The Chair of the Research Committee must sign a form accepting the assignment.
The student should consult with the Chair of the Graduate Committee and program director to select two committee members. Committees must be appointed by the end of the first year of enrollment for students in dual-degree programs (e.g., Prosthodontics, Periodontics), and within six months for students enrolled solely in the Biomaterials MS program.
The Student's Committee will guide the master's candidate during the program, including helping the student select elective coursework and a specific thesis research topic. The Chair of the Committee will guide the student through the thesis development, reading drafts of the research project and thesis, helping the student with the data collection and statistical analysis. In addition, the Chair of the committee will provide or obtain the resources necessary for the conduct of the student's research.
As a graduation requirement, the results of the MS candidate research must be presented to the student’s research committee in a traditional thesis format. The thesis must be formatted according to the requirements listed below. Overall, a thesis consists of a more detailed and scholarly work, while the manuscript for publication is usually more concise.
Traditional Thesis: Title page; Dedication (optional); Acknowledgments (optional); Table of contents; Abstract; Introduction; Review of Literature; Objectives & Hypothesis; Materials and Methods; Results; Discussion; Conclusion (s); References; and Supplemental Material (optional).
Every thesis must be prepared with the intent to publish the work in a periodical journal.
Once you have finalized your thesis, the program director will schedule and announce your defense. The initial step is to arrange a mutually agreeable time with the program director and your graduate committee. MS candidates must provide a copy of their thesis to the graduate committee at least 30 days before the defense so that they have enough time to review their work. The sequence for the thesis defense should follow the same procedures for all students.
Defense Procedure:
The Program Director will introduce the candidate. The candidate presents the research. Faculty and guests ask questions, and they are excused from the proceedings. All members of the Graduate Committee Program will ask questions regarding the project and the presentation. In a closed-door session, the MS Candidate is excused while the Graduate Committee members and Program Director discuss and vote on the thesis's acceptability and defense. After this evaluation, the committee will decide (by vote) whether the conferral of the MS degree will be recommended to the Graduate School. The MS candidate will return to the room where the defense was held, and the Chair of the Committee will present the recommendation (pass/fail). The Program Director will conclude the thesis defense proceedings.
If a student fails the thesis defense, the program director will inform the reason(s) for the failure and what will be required to remediate the situation. Should the candidate be asked to defend the thesis again, only the Chair of the Graduate Committee, Graduate Committee members, and the Program Director will conduct the second defense.
After a successful defense, any remaining changes to the thesis must be completed under the direction of the Chait of the Graduate Committee. The student must complete The Graduate School M form and submit it to the Program Director. As a requirement for graduation, MS students must submit their thesis to The Graduate School via the ETD Administrative site. An embargo form can be filled out in case the Graduate Committee and Student want to request a delayed release.
For the master’s degree, specific requirements must be submitted to The Graduate School prior to set deadlines to have your degree conferred. Students must “Apply for Graduation” through HUB by the posted deadline to become a candidate for degree conferral. For more details, students can refer to the step-by-step guide on applying for graduation in HUB.
After completing the thesis (approved by the Program Director), students must submit a completed M-Form for Master's Degrees With Thesis and All PhD Degrees to the Program Director and complete electronic submission of their thesis.
All outstanding accounts owed to the University must be settled before the conferral date and any SDM out-processing procedures must be completed.
To complete BMA701 Thesis Problem, students must first fulfill all lectures and assessments as outlined in the course syllabus. They will receive an Incomplete ('I') grade until they successfully pass the MS Qualifying Research Requirement, which is a requirement of the Biomaterials Program.
The qualifying requirement includes both oral and written components and should be taken no later than the end of the first year of enrollment.
It will be administered by a panel of examiners:
Students must coordinate with their Graduate Committee and the Program Director to schedule the exam at least two months in advance.
Format of the BMA MS Qualifying Research Requirement
The requirement consists of two components: an oral presentation and a written submission, both focused on the student’s thesis research project.
Written Requirement:
Oral Presentation Requirement:
Once the qualifying requirement is fulfilled, the Incomplete ("I") grade for BMA701 will be updated on HUB to reflect the final grade. Further instruction will be provided by the program director during the introductory section for the program.