Research Project Proposal Requirements
One of the main degree requirements of the MSCI-TS degree is to have students produce a Research Project Proposal (RPP) under the direction of their Supervising Professor (SP) and their Research Supervising Committee (RSC).
The first duty of the Research Supervising Committee will be to assist the student in (1) planning his/her research project, and (2) approving the research proposal for review by the MSCI-TS COGS. It is anticipated that the project/written proposal will be the student’s work. The written proposal should not exceed six double-spaced typewritten pages and should include the following sections:
- Hypothesis
- Specific Aims
- Significance (with background, references, and rationale for the proposed studies)
- Experimental Design (including study population/specimen type(s), number of planned subjects/observations, recruitment/procurement plan for subjects/specimens, methods/procedures to be applied to subjects/specimens, and analytic plan, including statistical software package(s) to be utilized)
- References (not included in the 6-page limit)
Once the written research proposal has been approved by the RSC, the proposal shall be forwarded to the MSCI-TS Academic Coordinator/COGS for review and approval action. The research proposal must be accompanied by:
- RSC List and Signature Approval of Research Project Form
- Supervising Professor’s letter of commitment
- Supervising Professor’s curriculum vitae
- External Expertise-Specific Faculty’s curriculum vitae
- Research Project Proposal
- Research Proposal Assessment Form
- Student/Supervising Professor Compact
After MSCI-TS COGS approval, the student will begin participating in mentored research activities under the direction of the Supervising Professor and register to receive research course credit (TSCI 6097 – Mentored Research in Clinical Investigation). The Research Course is set up for the student to conduct their Mentored Research Project under the guidance of their Supervising Professor.
The MSCI-TS Academic Coordinator will provide the student and Supervising Professor with the Planned Activities Form to be completed and then approved by the MSCI-TS Program Director before enrolling in TSCI 6097, in which the student and Supervising Professor will detail a tentative plan that describes their planned activities for the MSCI-TS COGS approved Research Project Proposal (RPP).
This time is to be spent directly working on the project and includes, but is not limited to, writing consent forms, collecting data, analyzing data, and preparing a manuscript. To receive credit for the course, the student and their Supervising Professor must submit a satisfactory Completion of Planned Activities Form to the MSCI-TS Program Director through the MSCI-TS Academic Coordinator at least two weeks prior to the deadline for submitting grades.