All first year Ph.D. candidates will complete two laboratory rotations, generally during the fall and spring semesters. These lab rotations are to be taken as the graded, 4-credit courses BIOLOGY 991 and 992, Introduction to Laboratory Research. At the completion of each rotation, each student will present a short talk to the department as part of a Rotation Research Mini-Symposium. In addition, the student will write a short report on the rotation project that is submitted to the rotation advisor and to the Graduate Committee for inclusion in the student's record.

A student has the option to complete a third rotation during the summer of her/his first year. Although summer research courses are taken on an ungraded (S/U) basis, students will still receive a letter grade from their rotation advisors as part of the written rotation evaluation. These grades, together with the evaluation, become part of the students' records and are considered to be equivalent to formally assigned letter grades.

Students who transfer to the Ph.D. program from the M.S. program after their first year, or who enter the Ph.D. program after completing the M.S. in this department, will not be required to complete the rotations.