This graduate program leads to the Master of Science (MS) degree. It is conducted by the School of Dental Medicine under the sponsorship of The Graduate School of the University at Buffalo (UB). The MS degree is awarded by the University upon recommendation of The Graduate School after certification by the Oral Sciences Program that all requirements for the degree have been completed. 

These Graduate Education Policies apply to all students enrolled in the Oral Sciences, MS Program. They are compatible with The Graduate School policies and the School of Dental Medicine Advanced Education Student/Resident Handbook. All prospective and enrolled Oral Sciences graduate students must thoroughly review these policies.

IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT TO:

•  Read and understand these policies.
• Complete all requirements for the program, including completing all requirements and paperwork for conferral of the degree.

1. The Oral Sciences Program does not provide funds for student financial support via stipends, fellowships, assistantships, tuition waivers, or any other form of support. The Oral Sciences Program will provide the necessary courses and research training to fulfill the Master Degree’s requirements. The students are responsible for tuition, fees, and all other expenses required by the University for graduate students enrolled in a Master’s Program.
2. The Oral Sciences Program is an academic research-oriented graduate program and does not include clinical training. Your enrollment implies a commitment to learn about and to engage in research. The didactic curriculum of the Master’s Program in Oral Sciences may not be directly related to a clinical setting. Rather, the overall design of the program is to provide background, expertise and current concepts of basic sciences as related to dental research and oral biology. A minimum of 30 credit hours of course work, including the satisfactory completion of a written thesis based on independent and original research, is required for the MS degree.
3. There is a minimum residency requirement of 24 credit hours after which transfer credit may be applied to complete the 30-credit hour requirement. Transfer credit must be approved by the Program Director and the student's Graduate Program Committee. Only bona fide graduate courses taken at recognized institutions and completed with grades of "B" or higher are eligible for consideration as transfer credit. Such courses must have been completed within four (4) years of the date of initial enrollment in the Oral Sciences Program. Courses specifically required for the DDS, DMD, or equivalent professional degree may not be used for transfer credit. International students are required to submit an English proficiency score with their application.
4. All credit hours must be in graduate level courses (i.e. 500, 600, 700 numbered courses). The student must formally register for each course in an accurate and timely manner prior to the start of each semester. 800 and 900 numbered courses are not applicable to the Master’s degree.
5. Typical requirements for the degree include the following mix of minimum credit hours:.
   Required Courses: 21 credit hours
   Elective Courses and Culminating Experience: 9
   Total: 30 credit hours
6. Required Courses: All students are to take the required courses listed in the courses list. Exemptions or substitutions may be granted by the Program Director only upon written request from the student based upon valid academic justification. The Program Director will inform the Graduate School of approved substitutions.
7. Elective Courses: Each student may take credit hours of elective course work, usually related to the student's area of research. Elective courses must be chosen after consultation with the student’s Major Professor and Graduate Committee. For additional information, the student should consult departmental and university course listings. These must also be 500, 600, or 700 numbered courses. A sample list of elective courses can be found in the courses list.
8. Any Independent Study or Informal Course to be taken as part of a student's program must be accompanied by a written statement from the prospective course director indicating: area of study, objectives, course requirements, evaluation procedure, and rationale for credit allowance. Such a course must be suitable for level credit and not duplicate content available in formal courses. The taking of Independent Study must have the prior approval of the Program Director. Credits earned in Independent Study courses are NOT applicable to fulfill the minimum number of credit hours (30) required for the Master’s degree.
9. Continuous Registration: Graduate students must register (and pay all tuition and fees) for a minimum of one (1) credit hour each Fall and Spring semester until the degree has been awarded, including the final semester before actual degree conferral. If such registration is impossible or inappropriate at any time, the student must secure a leave of absence, a waiver of continuous registration, or withdraw from The Graduate School. Requests for leaves of absence and waivers of continuous registration must be approved by the Oral Sciences Program Director and by The Graduate School. Leaves of absence are generally only granted for periods of up to one year.
10. The maximum time for completion of the program of study leading to the MS degree in the Oral Sciences is four (4) years. Extension of a student's period of study beyond this limit must be approved by the director and The Graduate School. Although no guidelines are set for a minimum period of study, the typical student takes a minimum of four (4) semesters of full-time status to complete the program.
11. Students who elect to pursue this program on a part-time basis must be prepared to devote a minimum of one full day per week to research activities once the research phase of the program has begun.
12. The Oral Sciences Program follows The Graduate School's Grading, Academic Integrity, Probation, Dismissal and Appeals policies. These can be found on The Graduate School's Policy Library web page and the SDM Advanced Education Student/Resident Handbook web page. 
13. Major Professor: Each student will be responsible for finding a Major Professor that is willing to serve as a research and thesis mentor and is a member or associate member of The Graudate Faculty Roster. Faculty on the roster can be found on the SDM Graduate Faculty Roster web page. In agreeing to be a student's Major Professor for research and thesis, it is implied that the faculty member and their parent academic department will provide or obtain the resources necessary for the successful conduct of the student's research. Before research is started, approval of the Major Professor-student pairing must be obtained from the Program Director. A supervisor will generally be limited to supervising a maximum of 2 MS students per program year, though additional students will be considered on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Program Director.
14. Thesis Committee: The function of this committee is to advise the student on their specific thesis research topic and to evaluate the thesis. This committee will consist of the Major Professor as chair, and two additional faculty members. The committee will be appointed no later than the end of the second semester of enrollment for full-time students or the end of the fourth semester of enrollment for part-time students. Prior to the thesis defense, meetings of the committee will be held as determined by the Major Professor and student, though at a minimum one meeting should be held as research is started and prior to writing the thesis.
15. Human Subjects: Any research that involves human subjects must be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before the investigation is begun.
16. Animal Use: Any research that involves animals must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
17. Thesis requirements and a template are available on The Graduate School Thesis Guidelines web page. Each section of the thesis must be grammatically correct and free of technical, spelling, and typographical errors. Every thesis should be prepared with the intent to publish the work in a recognized refereed journal, although publication is not a requirement for the degree.
    
18. Thesis Defense: The purpose of the defense is to determine whether the candidate for the Oral Sciences MS degree understands and can explain the research problem, hypothesis, protocol, rationale, methodologies, data acquisition, data analysis, results, conclusions, and the implications of the research. The thesis defense will also determine the candidate's overall knowledge of the scientific method, the relevant literature in the field, underlying mechanisms relevant to the research, and basic subject matter in the general area in which the research was conducted.
    
    The student must provide a copy of the thesis to each member of their Thesis Committee and to the Program Director at least two (2) weeks prior to the anticipated date of the defense. The defense will be scheduled by the Program Director after consultation with the Major Professor and the student, and only after all committee members have approved the thesis and have confirmed their permission for the student to defend. A public announcement of the defense will be sent once the date is set.
    
    The format for the thesis defense will be as follows:
    The Major Professor or Program Director introduces candidate.
    Candidate presents a 20-30 minute summary of research.
    Members of Thesis Committee ask questions.
    Major Professor asks questions.
    Oral Sciences faculty and guests ask questions.
    Program Director (or designee) asks questions and concludes the thesis defense 
    
    The defense itself will be chaired by the Program Director or designee. Immediately after conclusion of the formal defense, the Major Professor, the Thesis Committee and the Program Director will meet to vote on the acceptability of the thesis and its defense. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and evaluate the candidate's performance during the defense to evaluate whether the candidate's overall understanding, knowledge base, and explanations are satisfactory.
    
    At the conclusion of this evaluation, a decision will be made whether conferral of the MS degree will be recommended to the Graduate School. In the event that degree conferral cannot be recommended, the candidate will be immediately informed of the reason(s) and what will be required to remediate the situation. Should the candidate be asked to defend the thesis again, only the Major Professor, the Graduate Committee members and the Program Director will conduct the second defense.
    
    After the defense, any remaining changes to the thesis requested by the Thesis Committee must be accomplished under the direction of the Major Professor prior to certification of completion to The Graduate School.
19. The student must provide The Graduate School with an electronic copy of the final thesis before the deadline for the degree conferral. Submission guidlines and a link are available on The Graduate School Thesis Guidelines web page.
20. The student must complete all outstanding requirements by the date determined by The Graduate School prior to degree conferral. All outstanding accounts owed to the University must be settled prior to the conferral of the degree and any SDM Advanced Education out-processing requirements must be complete. Degree conferral deadlines can be found on The Graduate School Thesis Guidelines web page.