Enrolled Student or Resident

MS Degree Requirements

Graduate Faculty

Current Residents

Master's Degree Programs
Enrolled Students

Welcome to the College of Dentistry and the University of Kentucky! We are pleased you decided to continue your studies in Lexington and wish you every success in your graduate career.

The goal of the Master of Science degree program is to educate scholars who are clinically sophisticated and well grounded in research and the biological basis of clinical practice. The program is designed to provide graduates with clinical proficiency in a specialty area, research experience, and exposure to the fundamentals of teaching in dentistry.

This site contains policies, regulations, and requirements for the Master of Science program. Ideally, we would prefer to conduct a graduate program in which no rules are necessary; however, the practical requirements of conducting a strong program leading to a clinical certificate and Master of Science degree necessitate establishing guidelines. This site and the links from it contain information to insure timely, successful program completion. They should be the first resources you consult. Considerable time and effort have gone into their preparation. Please take advantage of them.

This information supplements the Graduate School Bulletin and the University of Kentucky Bulletin. All students should procure both of these publications. The Graduate School Bulletin contains detailed information about specific requirements for courses, degrees, thesis writing, deadlines, and so forth. You also are encouraged to consult specialty specific information available from the individual Graduate Program Directors.

Instructions for Identifying a Research Project and Preparing
a Research Proposal for the Master of Science Degree

Step 1:

1. Meet with your Graduate Program Director to generate a list of potential topics for your research project and potential Advisory Committee members and Chair.
2. Select a topic that interests you.
3. Search the research literature to determine what is known about your subject
4. Is there an unanswered question; a problem that has not been adequately addressed?
5. Make a rough outline of the problem you would like to study
6. Identify a prospective advisory committee and chair.  The committee must have a minimum of 4 members.  Two, including the Chair must hold Graduate Faculty status.  One must be a full Graduate Faculty member.  One member should be qualified to provide any necessary unique expertise in the area of research.  The majority of the committee must be from the student’s program (College of Dentistry), but only two members, or one member and the Chair, can be from the applicant’s division.  When appropriate, projects involving human subjects should have a biostatistician on the committee.
7. Obtain tentative approval of the project and proposed chair/committee by your specialty Graduate Program Director. 

Step 2:
      1.  Prepare a written protocol addressing your question of interest.  This protocol should be no longer than 5 pages and should include the following:

1. The title of your proposed project
2. A concise statement including  the purpose and/or hypothesis, importance and novelty of the study. 
3. The SPECIFIC AIMS of the project;
4. Background and its significance to the Specific Aims
5. Study design and methods
6. Statistical methods and power analysis
7. Timetable of studies
1. when data collection and analysis is to be completed,
2. when final draft of the research is submitted to the committee, and
3. anticipated defense/oral presentation date. Check the Graduate School Guidelines to determine when the final examination must be completed in order to receive a May degree
8. A selected bibliography to support your proposal.

You may also include information regarding availability and location of research facilities and any preliminary data that has been obtained by you or your advisors to support the proposal. (Preliminary data is not required for approval.),

Step 3:
            Submission of the protocol and the proposed Advisory Committee and Chair composition for initial review by the Master of Science Program Protocol Review Committee (Dr. John Novak, Chair).

Step 4:
            Following review and advisement by the Protocol Review Committee, submission of the written protocol and the Advisory Committee and Chair composition to the Graduate Program Director and the Advisory Committee for final approval.   The need for statistical support, completion of human subjects training, IRB approval, laboratory safety training and/or laboratory animal safety training should be identified and documented by the student at this time as well.

The timeframe guidelines for initiation of research and Advisory Committee Meetings for students in residency training programs are as follows:

On or before September 1st of second year a research title, proposal, mentor and committee should be submitted for approval by the protocol review committee.

On or before December 1st of second year a final protocol including completion of all University requirements for research (IRB, HIPAA, training for animal or laboratory research) should be completed as appropriate (see Forms 1-3) and submitted for final signature from the protocol review committee.

Research activity to begin on or before January 1st of second year.

Progress reviews to be completed at Advisory Committee meetings every 6 months and documented with Advisory Committee member signatures on Form 4.

 

FORM 1
(To be completed during first year of residency program)

Date___________________________________________________________________
Candidate’s Name________________________________________________________
Department_____________________________________________________________
Title of Research Proposal_________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Research Advisory Committee: The committee must have a minimum of 4 members.  Two, including the Chair must hold Graduate Faculty status.  One must be a full Graduate Faculty member.  One member should be qualified to provide any necessary unique expertise in the area of research.  The majority of the committee must be from the student’s program (College of Dentistry), but only two members, or one member and the Chair, can be from the applicant’s division.  When appropriate, projects involving human subjects should have a biostatistician on the committee. By signing below, all Advisory Committee members acknowledge that they have read and approved the research protocol and accept responsibility for directing this student’s graduate program thesis/research project.  It also is understood that the advisory committee should actively monitor the student’s research progress at meetings to be held every 6 months.Chair:_______________________________   Signature:_________________________
Member:_____________________________  Signature:_________________________
Member:______________________________Signature:_________________________
Member:______________________________Signature:_________________________
Approval to Commence Research:Advisory Committee Chair:____________________________ Date:_______________Program Director:____________________________________ Date:_______________
MS Protocol Review Committee (Chair):_________________  Date:_______________
Director of Graduate Studies:___________________________ Date:_______________

 

FORM 2
(To be completed for clinical research proposals only)

Date___________________________________________________________________
Candidate’s Name________________________________________________________
Department_____________________________________________________________
Title of Research Proposal_________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Human subjects certification exam completed:               Yes                  No
Copy of certificate attached:                                     Yes                  No
Copies of IRB Protocol and HIPAA form attached:           Yes                  No
Copy of IRB letter of approval attached:                      Yes                  No
Copy of IRB approved Consent form attached               Yes                  No

 

FORM 3
(To be completed for laboratory and animal research proposals only) 

Date___________________________________________________________________
Candidate’s Name________________________________________________________
Department_____________________________________________________________
Title of Research Proposal_________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

I have completed University training in the following topics (http://ehs.uky.edu/classes.html):
Chemical Hygiene Plan/Laboratory Safety:                       Yes                  No
Hazardous Waste:                                                       Yes                  No
Initial Radiation Safety:                                                Yes                  No
Basic Radiation Safety:                                                Yes                  No
Fire Extinguisher Use:                                                  Yes                  No
Copies of Certificates Attached:                                    Yes                  No

For research involving laboratory animals only.
I have Completed University Training in the Following Topics:
 Basic and Species-Specific Animal Use Training:              Yes                  No
Copies of Certificates Attached:                                    Yes                  No

 

FORM 4
(Schedule of Committee Meetings  - to be held every 6 months after initial approval of research proposal)

Date___________________________________________________________________
Candidate’s Name________________________________________________________
Department_____________________________________________________________
Title of Research Proposal_________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Approval of Research Proposal                                    Date:________________________

Progress Review (Year 2)                                             Date:_________________________
Committee Signatures:________________________     __________________________     ________________________      __________________________
Progress Review (Year 2)                                             Date:_________________________
Committee Signatures:________________________     __________________________     ________________________      __________________________
Progress Review (Year 3)                                             Date:_________________________
Committee Signatures:________________________     __________________________     ________________________      __________________________
Approval to Schedule Thesis Defense/Oral Presentation   Date:_____________________
Committee Signatures:________________________     __________________________     ________________________      __________________________

 

 

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Send comments to Sandra Challman , Last Modified: November 30, 2006
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