About the Program
The MCIP Graduate Group offers a comprehensive program of courses and outstanding research opportunities leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, and it participates in joint Ph.D./M.D. and Ph.D./D.V.M. programs. The group is composed of over 80 faculty members drawn from 25 departments, divisions and sections, including the School of Medicine, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Biological Sciences, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The campuswide nature of the group provides the program with exceptional diversity and accommodates students with a broad spectrum of interests, including interdisciplinary approaches. This diversity is reflected in the areas of specialization within the graduate program. These include the general areas of cellular/molecular physiology and systemic physiology as well as the more specialized cardiovascular physiology, comparative physiology, endocrinology, exercise physiology, neurophysiology, reproductive physiology, and the physiology of domestic animals.
Upon admission, students are assigned a graduate advisor who guides them through the program's formal requirements. The student also chooses a major professor who serves as mentor and under whose supervision the dissertation research is conducted. Normally, a student pursuing a Ph.D. degree completes course and teaching requirements during the first two years of the program, passes an oral qualifying examination, and then conducts the dissertation research under the direction of the major professor.