I. General Information

a. Within the Program, student admissions, fellowship and other financial aid decisions, and various other student affairs matters are handled by the Graduate Affairs Committee.

b. Incoming students must consult with their graduate adviser and major professor to determine if all undergraduate prerequisites have been fulfilled.

c. A student is not required to complete a master's degree (MS) before being admitted into the PhD program. Students initially admitted into the MS program can petition to change to the PhD program without completing the MS degree after satisfactory progress is demonstrated in courses and research. For students not completing the master's thesis, the change to the PhD program must be completed before the ninth quarter of enrollment (3 years) because the qualifying exam is to be scheduled within this same time period (see information on the qualifying examination). To change to the Ph.D. program, the student prepares a petition that is submitted by the graduate adviser to the Graduate Affairs Committee for consideration.

II. Academic requirements for the Master's Degree (MS) in Plant Pathology

There are two plans under which a student may obtain a master's degree, Plan I (by research thesis) and Plan II (by course examination). For either plan, the student must fulfill the course requirements listed below.

Plan I. The student must complete at least a total of 30 units of upper division undergraduate and graduate courses (includes the plant pathology required courses; 12 units must be strictly graduate work) and submit and gain approval of a master's thesis. A thesis committee of 3 faculty members (one of whom is the major professor) is responsible for guiding the student's thesis research and thesis preparation and must approve the final thesis. This committee is recommended by the graduate adviser and must be formally appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies. The thesis committee will replace the guiding committee that is appointed during the student's first year.

Plan II. The student must complete at least 36 units of upper division undergraduate and graduate courses (18 units must be graduate courses in the major subject and no more than 9 of the 18 units may be from research courses (299)). No thesis is required, but the student must pass a comprehensive final examination that is administered by a committee of 3 faculty members (one of whom is the major professor). This committee is nominated by the graduate adviser and formally appointed by the Chair of the Graduate Council.

Course requirements for the Master's degree

All MS students must complete course requirements under a, b, c, and d, below.

a. All MS students must complete the plant pathology core course series:

Plant Pathology 120-------offered each fall and spring quarter

Plant Pathology 201A (298 in 2007) Impacts, Mechanisms and Control of Plant Diseases --------offered each winter quarter

Plant Pathology 201B (298 in 2007) Impacts, Mechanisms and Control of Plant Diseases --------offered each spring quarter

b. All MS students must complete two courses or course sets from the list:

Plant Pathology 224 Pathogenic Fungi-----offered in Spring quarter even-numbered years

Plant Pathology 228 Plant Bacteriology----offered in Fall quarter even years

Plant Pathology 230 & 230L Plant Virology-----offered in Winter quarter odd-numbered years

Two courses from Nematology 201, 203, 204, 205, and 206-----each offered alternate years
c. One of the field courses:

Plant Pathology 206-Diseases of Fruit, Nut, and Vine Crops---offered in Spring quarter odd years,

OR

Plant Pathology 205 – Disease of Vegetable and Grain Crops – offered in Spring quarter of even years.

Additional requirements for the Master's degree

a. Teaching

Students pursuing a master's degree may be asked to serve as a teaching assistant (TA) for one quarter. Students can approach instructors directly regarding the possibility of being a TA for a specific course, but the final decision on appointments of TAs rests with the Department Curriculum Committee.

b. On-campus residence* requirement and time to complete the degree

Students working toward a master's degree must be registered and on campus for at least 3 quarters. The targeted time frame for the completion of the master's degree is 6 quarters (2 years).

*Note: The university defines 'in residence' as being students who are registered in regular university courses for at least four units of upper division or graduate courses in a quarter, or for at least two units of such work in two sessions of Summer Session.

d. Participation in department seminars

All MS students must enroll in the Plant Pathology Departmental general seminar (PLP 290) each quarter unless there is a scheduling conflict with another course.

In addition, students must enroll in at least one offering of the other special Plant Pathology seminars (e.g. PLP 291, PLP 292, PLP 293, NEM 290 etc.) during each year of their enrollment in graduate school. It may be possible to satisfy this requirement by enrolling in another participatory seminar course offered by another Department; discuss this with your Adviser. These special seminars vary in topic and availability and will be announced in communications to graduate students one or two quarters in advance of their presentation and by publication in the UC Davis Class Schedule and Registration Guide.

III. Academic requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degrees (PhD) in Plant Pathology (effective for students entering in Fall 2006)

Course requirements for the PhD

All PhD students must complete course requirements under a, b, c, and d below.

a. All PhD students must complete the plant pathology core course series:

Plant Pathology 120-------offered each fall and spring quarter

Plant Pathology 201A (298 in 2007) Impacts, Mechanisms and Control of Plant Diseases --------offered each Winter quarter

Plant Pathology 201B (298 in 2007) Impacts, Mechanisms and Control of Plant Diseases --------offered each Spring quarter

b. All PhD students must complete three courses or course sets from the list:

Plant Pathology 224 Pathogenic Fungi-----offered in Spring quarter even-numbered years

Plant Pathology 228 Plant Bacteriology----offered in Fall quarter even years

Plant Pathology 230 & 230L Plant Virology-----offered in Winter quarter odd-numbered years

Two courses from Nematology 201, 203, 204, 205, and 206-----each offered alternate years

c. One of the field courses:

Plant Pathology 206-Diseases of Fruit, Nut, and Vine Crops---offered in Spring quarter odd years,

OR

Plant Pathology 205 – Disease of Vegetable and Grain Crops – offered in Spring quarter of even years.

d. Additional courses

All PhD students must complete two additional upper division or graduate level courses on topics related to their research objectives. These courses are to be selected in consultation with your Thesis Adviser and Graduate Adviser. Areas that a student may consider include, but are not limited to, agronomy, biochemistry, bioinformatics, biology and molecular biology of plant pathogens and host-pathogen interactions, biometeorology, ecology and epidemiology of plant disease, etiology and management of plant diseases, genetics, genomics, geographic information systems, hydrology, metabolomics, microbiology, nematology, plant physiology, proteomics, pest control practices, recombinant DNA and transgene expression, soil science, statistics, systems analysis, and viticulture and enology.

(Note: There is no formal university unit requirement for the Ph.D. degree.)

a. Participation in department seminars

All PhD students must enroll in the Plant Pathology Departmental general seminar (290) each quarter.

All PhD students who have not passed their qualifying examination for the PhD must enroll in at least one offering of the other special Plant Pathology seminars (e.g. PLP 291, 292, 293, etc.) during each year of their enrollment in graduate school. . It may be possible to satisfy this requirement by enrolling in another participatory seminar course offered by another Department; discuss this with your Adviser. These special seminars vary in topic and availability and will be announced in communications to graduate students one or two quarters in advance of their presentation and by publication in the UC Davis Class Schedule and Registration Guide.

b. Teaching

Each student is required to be a teaching assistant (TA) for at least one quarter. Students can approach instructors directly regarding the possibility of being a TA for a specific course, but the final decision rests with the Department Curriculum Committee. The Department reserves the right to have a student TA for more than one quarter depending on the circumstances. Students also can be TAs in courses outside of the Plant Pathology Department; however, they should consult their major professor and graduate adviser before accepting such a position.

c. Advancement to Candidacy and Appointment of a Dissertation Committee.

During the course of the student's research, the student should begin to think about the composition of the dissertation committee. The dissertation committee consists of three faculty members one of whom is the Thesis Adviser. Faculty members from outside the Plant Pathology Graduate Program may be members of the dissertation committee. Once the student has passed the qualifying examination, he or she meets with the Thesis Adviser to formally designate a dissertation committee. The dissertation committee may include some or all of the members of the guiding committee, which will be dissolved once the dissertation committee has been approved. The dissertation committee must be approved by the Executive Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. Students are encouraged to meet with their dissertation committee on a regular basis.

d. Dissertation

Each student must submit a dissertation that meets the approval of all members of the thesis committee. The research that is the subject of this dissertation is initiated with the input of the major professor and is conducted under the guidance of this individual and the thesis committee. As soon as a thesis committee has been selected, the student should meet with the committee to obtain further guidance concerning the direction and content of the student's thesis research. During the course of a student's PhD research, the student can request a committee meeting at any time, and, minimally, the thesis committee should meet once per year. The final dissertation must be approved by the dissertation committee and Graduate Studies before the PhD is conferred. There is generally no final or dissertation defense, although the committee may choose to ask the student to defend the dissertation research before the committee. Detailed instructions regarding the form of the dissertation can be obtained from Graduate Studies.

e. Exit seminar.

All students are expected to present to the department a seminar on their dissertation research.

f. On-campus residence requirement and time to complete the degree

Students working toward a PhD must be registered and in university residence for a minimum of six regular quarters. Two consecutive regular Summer Sessions can be substituted for one regular quarter if two units are taken in each Summer Session. The normative time to complete a Ph.D. ranges from 4-6 years and is measured from the time a student begins graduate study at UC Davis. Up to three quarters of non-registered status is allowed.



Qualifying (sometimes called a preliminary) examination for the PhD

i. Purpose of the exam. The purpose of the qualifying examination is to determine if the student has the intellectual capacity and preparation necessary to successfully conduct independent research and complete a doctoral dissertation. Thus the student is expected to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the basic principles of plant pathology and related areas, to effectively present and defend a dissertation proposal that involves novel and independent research, to respond effectively to in-depth questions about their proposal, plant pathology in general, and other fields of science related to their area of study, to interpret data and to propose logical methods for investigating new research problems.

ii. When must the qualifying exam be taken? Students must take the qualifying exam before the beginning of their tenth quarter as a registered student in the Plant Pathology Graduate Program. However, it is often feasible and appropriate for students to take the exam after two years. Ph.D. students should consult with their graduate adviser and major professor concerning the scheduling of their exam. Students who have been admitted into the Plant Pathology Graduate Program for a master's degree and who change their degree goal to a PhD without completing a master's thesis remain subject to the 9-quarter limitation (i.e. you cannot enroll for the 10th quarter without having taken your qualifying exam). Students who complete a master's degree and continue for a Ph.D. have an additional 9 quarters before they must take the qualifying exam. Students must be registered for the quarter in which they take the exam and have a "B" average in all work undertaken in graduate standing and a grade of B or better in each course of the core course series. The student’s Graduate Adviser must certify that all course requirements have been satisfied before the qualifying exam can be taken.

iii. Selection of the Qualifying Examination Committee. The qualifying exam committee consists of 5 members. Four must be faculty members in the Plant Pathology Graduate Program, one of whom serves as the chairperson. One member may be from outside the program (e.g., a faculty member from another UC Davis department or a faculty member from another institution). The student’s Thesis Adviser cannot serve on the qualifying exam committee. Four of the five committee members will be identified by the student in consultation with his/her major professor and Graduate Adviser. The Graduate Adviser will present the proposed qualifying exam committee to the Graduate Affairs Committee, which will approve it or recommend changes. The Graduate Affairs Committee will also be responsible for identifying the fifth member of the qualifying exam committee based, in part, on the relative frequency of service among faculty members and the balance and breadth of expertise of the committee. Once the qualifying exam committee has been approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee, it is forwarded to Graduate Studies, wherein the Chair of the Graduate Council is responsible for final approval.

v. What is the content of the qualifying exam? All students are presumed to possess a strong basic knowledge and understanding of plant pathology. In addition, three specific areas will be defended. These areas (listed below) are usually selected by the student in consultation with the Graduate Adviser and/or Thesis Adviser. Students may propose alternative specialty areas, but these must be approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee.

In the qualifying examination, students should expect to defend their thesis research in detail. Students should prepare a concise dissertation proposal to be given to the members of the qualifying examination committee two weeks before the examination date. This document should be 7-10 pages in length, excluding figures and references. Students are encouraged to seek feedback on their proposal from their qualifying exam committee members prior to their examination. Students should consult the chair of the qualifying exam committee concerning the manner in which the research proposal should be presented during the exam. Approximately one hour of the examination will be devoted to the presentation and defense of the proposal. The committee chair will be responsible for ensuring that the time devoted to this portion of the exam is properly balanced with broader coverage of the subject areas being defended.

Areas for Defense in the Qualifying Examination

1. General Plant Pathology
2. Bacteriology
3. Mycology/Plant Pathogenic Fungi
4. Virology
5. Nematology
6. Host-Pathogen Interaction
7. Epidemiology
8. Soil Microbiology
9. Molecular Biology
10. Genetics
11. Biochemistry/Physiology of Plant Disease
12. Plant Pathogen/Insect Interactions
13. Ecology