Student Handbook

B-exam

Genetics and Development Graduate Students are expected to produce at least one high quality first-author publication as a condition for obtaining the Ph.D. degree. The oral defense of the Ph.D. thesis (or “B” exam) before the Special Committee occurs after the student has distributed the dissertation to the Special Committee members. (The student must deliver a copy of the thesis to their committee at least one week before the exam.) An open seminar, often scheduled as a Wednesday Field Seminar, is given as close to as possible, if not immediately before, the B-exam.

G&D Research Paper Award

The Field of G&D awards a yearly prize for the best paper first-authored by a graduate student. This $500 prize is generously provided by Frank Meleca of Laboratory Product Sales, and is known as the LPS award. An evaluation committee of four faculty members will pick what they judge to be the best G&D paper published during the 2005 calendar year. Please note that faculty who sponsor students for the award are not eligible to serve on the evaluation committee, which is appointed on an ad hoc basis by the Director of Graduate Studies. All graduate students in the Field who have been first-author on a paper in 2005 are eligible, including previous winners and those who have since left Cornell. If two papers are deemed equivalent, and one of the students had won the award previously, then the award will go to the other student.

A G&D faculty mentor or student should submit five copies of their paper to Diane Colf ( ). Please include with the paper a letter from the mentor outlining both the importance of the paper and the contributions made by the student. The name of the award winner will be announced in May, and will be inscribed on a plaque in the MB&G departmental offices, and a list of all of the student publications for the year will be posted near the plaque.

A notice will be sent in late winter/early spring to both students and faculty calling for applications.