Creating and Revising Your MS Degree Plan

In an article by Scott Travis of the South Florida SunSentinel on January 12th, 2018, eight colleges had to pay back Federal aid dollars (as much as $5.6M for one school) to the US federal government following an external review finding that students received aid. This relatively recent lesson underscores the importance of properly filing your MS degree plan to ensure the health of your financial aid as well as navigate through the program for a timely completion. 

Beginning in Spring 2019, a new procedure will come into effect in filling out the MS degree plan that satisfies both financial aid and "Coursework toward Program of Study" (CPoS) requirements at MTSU. To maximize flexibility of degree plans to be filed, our program offers an 8-19 hour requirement of variable credits for CHEM 6640 "Thesis Research", and a required 5-7 hour variable credit of Chemistry electives. For CPoS and financial aid requirements to be fulfilled, the credit hours should be synchronized with those of the actual courses completed. Failure to do so has hampered past MS students.

New operational procedure for filling out the degree plan to sure fulfillment of both CPoS and financial aid requirements:
The first task you need to do is to fill out hte MS degree plan. [See blog on "Top 11 Things to Know and Do for a Great Start!" and hotlink for the blank degree plan form in point #1 for further details.]  You will fill eventually fill out two versions of your MS degree plan.  Follow these 3 steps.

Step 1: After you have selected your major MS thesis advisor, consult with him/her to determine what appropriate elective courses would be most helpful for your independent research.  These courses constitute the graduate Chemistry elective hours. The combination of these courses will be either 5, 6 or 7 credit hours. If your coursework deviates from the original plan, a revision to the degree plan form must be filed. If you take courses taken outside the degree plan will not be covered  by financial aid. There are a variety of approved graduate electives in the MS program.  Most of our offered courses have a 3-hour credit.  Some courses have 2-hour (e.g., CHEM 6530 "Biochemical Techniques") and 4-hour credits (e.g., BIOL 6380 'Experimental Immunology', BIOL 6290 'Advanced Scanning Electron Microscopy,' etc.). The variable 5-to-7 credit hour range would encompass a combination of two 3-credit hours classes, a combination of 2-credit hour and 3-credit hour courses, or a combination of a 4-credit and 3-credit hour courses.

Step 2: Sign up for 19 credit hours of CHEM 6640 research in your initial plan.  Your final degree plan may likely differ. The 19 credit hours will take into account unexpected circumstances that you will result in more time spent than originally anticipated due to the unpredictable nature of independent research. For example, an important piece of equipment breaking down requiring an extended repair time may hamper the timely completion of your thesis work.  The 19 credit hours also factors in a potential 7th semester graduate teaching assistantship extension, if needed (click here for details).

Step 3: Close to the end of finishing your degree, fill out a Revision to Degree Plan (click here to access form). In this form, you may delete superfluous CHEM 6640 hours or make changes to elective courses in the event that the original target course(s) could not be offered, or that a new direction in your research is needed.

Additional considerations:
Consult with your major thesis advisor when planning your CHEM 6640 credit hours. There is no "cookie cut" way to register for these hours since by nature, independent research is highly variable. The absolute minimum hours acceptable to the graduate school to maintain the standard teaching assistantship is 6 credit hours for the fall semester, 6 credit hours during the spring semester and 1 credit hour for summer. 

You are permitted to sign up for more hours than needed. However, you should take heed that you do not go over the maximum number of allowed CHEM 6640 hours. One suggestion is to sign up for the absolute minimum hours per semester until you reach your terminal semester, and only then, load up on your remaining research hours (again, consult with your major research advisor for your particular case). Going over the cumulative 19 credit hour limit would cause problems with financial aid.

How to Extend a Master's Thesis Embargo

A former MS research student of mine found himself in the predicament of wanting to publish his MS thesis work, but were unable to because their material was posted on the web via ProQuest.  He had inadvertently lost track of the time needed for embargoing their MS theses to allow for publication in peer-reviewed journals. 

It was discovered that his hard-earned data and analysis was posted without password protection, and freely available to all on the web by third parties, e.g., 'Semantic Scholar'.  This is one repository that adds material from ProQuest with the use of Artificially Intelligent program to capture such material for archival.

Fortunately, there is a way to undo some of this premature posting.  What do you do toextend the embargo so you can publish/patent your thesis research?

Step 1: First, contact ProQuest to extend your embargo.  Note that it is possible to request an indefinite embargo.  You should contact them again when you are ready for ProQuest to disseminate your thesis.

Step 2: Contact 'Semantic Scholar' using their "Feedback" box found using the 'Contact' button on the upper right-hand corner of their webpage to send a message.  Include your email address in the message box to ensure you get a response.  You might write something like...

Dear Semantic Scholar:

I am writing to you regarding my posted master’s thesis on your web site:

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/...(remainder of hotlink)

It is on your site as a result of its release from ProQuest, which I have now embargoed for purposes of potential future patent of the technology contained in the work therein. Since public display of this thesis would hamper my efforts for patenting, I request that you remove it from display on your web site.

Sincerely yours,

My student made this request when he discovered a premature posting of his thesis.  Within the next day or so, he received the following response:

We have removed this paper from our site per your request; the PDF itself should disappear within one week. Please be aware though that it can take a bit longer (up to a few weeks) for the change to be reflected on all parts of our system and on other sites like Google Scholar.

We appreciate your patience.

Semantic Scholar Team

www.semanticscholar.org

This entire exchange took place within 48-to-72 hours.  After this email interaction, my student was finally able to move forward with completing and preparing the manuscript for peer-reviewed publication.

Need a 7th Semester Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) Extension?

You must apply for it.  It is not automatically given.

The MS committee examines student requests on a case-by-case basis, and will make a recommendation to the Associate Dean of the MTSU Graduate Studies Office, who will then makes the final decision on granting the extension.  ALL graduate teaching assistant requests will require the following to be provided to the MS Coordinator, Dr. Charles Chusuei (preferably in pdf format):

1) A letter of support from the major research professor detailing reasons why a 7th semester GTA is needed for completion of the thesis work.

2) A rough draft (OK if it is incomplete--it can be a bare bones version) of the student’s MS thesis, that may include introduction and background of the project and available data pertinent to the thesis and preliminary data up to that point.

3) A copy of all teaching evaluations of classes taught up to that point.  This evaluation may be accessed through your MTSU Pipeline account. 
Send these materials to your major research professor, who will then forward them [along with any other information (s)he feels is appropriate] to the MS Coordinator.

Be sure to submit your request with ample time before GTA assignments can be made to the new incoming class of MS students of the following semester to allow the MS committee to make an evaluation. 

Note: Graduate students supported entirely by research assistantships and/or other means (i.e., funding independent of the Graduate Studies) are not asked for these materials in order to continue work beyond the 6th semester. (In these cases, GTA support is in no way involved.)

The purpose of requesting the teaching evaluation is to ensure that the student can continue to effectively function as a GTA.  The purpose of endorsement by the major professor is to ensure that (s)he is in agreement with the student’s extension request as well as provide background to the specifics of the student’s case.  The purpose of requesting the rough draft is two-fold: 
i) To show satisfactory progress towards completing the MS degree, given the circumstances explained by the major professor.
ii) To assist the major professor in the event that either the MS committee does not recommend extension or the MS committee’s positive recommendation is negated by Graduate Studies.  A working MS thesis draft would enable a rapid completion of the degree should the GTA extension request be denied.

3 Pitfalls to Avoid in Publishing Your Thesis Research (including notes on ProQuest)

A good way to establish your scientific authority is to publish your research in respected, peer-reviewed journals.  This will open career doors as a practicing scientist.  At this current stage of your career, you will lean on the advice and mentoring of your major research professor.  As you become more adept at thinking, carrying out experiments, and writing, you will need less and less oversight, and eventually be able to publish independently.

A general rule of thumb is: if it is not original, it is not publishable.  For example, a policy from the American Chemical Society, the largest publisher in the field of Chemistry/Biochemistry states:

"The [ACS journal title] considers for publication only original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. When submitting a manuscript, an author should inform the editor of any prior dissemination of the content in print or electronic format. This includes electronic posting of conference presentations, posters, and preprints on institutional repositories and other web sites. Any content that has been made publicly available, either in print or electronic format, and that contains a significant amount of new information, if made part of a submitted manuscript, may jeopardize the originality of the submission and may preclude consideration for publication."

In other words, premature release of your research data may jeopardize its suitability for publication in respected, peer-reviewed journals. There is a difference between having your results published in an ACS journal versus having them reported in a supermarket tabloid.  To safeguard the quality of the peer-review process, the following precautions should be taken.

1) Do not post good data on social media. New researchers are often excited when they get intriguing results and hence want to disseminate it.  However, posting data on social media in itself may be considered "already published".

2) When presenting work at a scientific conference, do not make copies of original, unpublished research materials and hand them out to your audience. This is especially true when the experiments are easy to duplicate.  Unless you are presenting at a Gordon Research Conference (in which there is a signed agreement under penalty of prosecution), there is nothing to stop another researcher from running back to his/her lab, reproducing your results and sending it off to a journal before you have a chance to complete your work. A few years ago, I had a master's student who did this very thing as potential employers (as well as peers) visited him at an informal poster session.  It is ok to distribute research articles that you have already published for job search/networking purposes.  

3)  Don't forget to request an embargo to protect your intellectual property.  MTSU requires that all Master of Science theses to be archived on ProQuest to complete the degree. An important reminder when archiving thesis on ProQuest:  if the instructions are not exactly followed, you may find that the independent research that you have worked very hard for may have been disseminated on the world wide web. This could potentially preclude any of your efforts to publish in standard peer-reviewed articles and submission of patents.  

It would be wise to search the web yourself to ensure that your work is not prematurely "published" on the web.  One incident that occurred during the 2014-2015 academic year the week before Spring Break was that every single MS thesis from the MTSU Chemistry department was released on the web. Fortunately, this technical glitch was caught and corrected before too much damage was done.  To prevent a thesis from being immediately disseminated (which would preclude publication, patent applications, etc.), the student must request an embargo.  It is not automatically given.

Link to ProQuest: www.etdadmin.com.

The standard options allow graduate students to select up to 2 years wide dissemination of their thesis/dissertation (see image below).  

There is an option to do an indefinite embargo by leaving the end date space blank.  However, this option is hidden from view to the student. The student must ask the ProQuest technical support to include this feature to take advantage of it (see hotlink above).

Only students are able to change their embargo options.  To do so, they must contact the ProQuest Publishing Group. Their phone number is 1-800-521-0600  ext. 77020, and they are open from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern. Their email address is disspub (at) proquest (dot) com. 

If a student is concerned about their document's inclusion in the JEWL Scholar database as well (s)he can change their options in ProQuest, which will carry over to JEWL Scholar.  And then, the student can contact the library's Dean, Dr. Bonnie.Allen (at) mtsu (dot) edu to request the removal of their document.

Applying to the MS Chemistry Program

The following are answers to frequently asked questions from prospective students interested in applying to the  MS Chemistry program at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). 

(1). Where do I go to apply to the Master of Science Chemistry Program at MTSU?

To apply to the MS Chemistry program, go to this website, and follow the instructions therein.

(2). What are good scores to get on the Graduate Record Exam?

To be competitive, you should aim to achieve 50th percentile scores or higher on the Quantitative (which measures mathematical ability) and Verbal sections (which measures reading/critical thinking ability) and an Analytical Writing score of 3.0 or higher (click here to find out what this number means).  Although there isn't an official minimum value for acceptance, please note that in the assignment of graduate teaching assistantships, applicants are ranked according to credentials with GRE scores being one of them. 

The Chemistry MS committee, which reviews applicants will consider these scores along with other credentials you provide to make admissions decisions.  Note that these standards change from year to year for Verbal and Quantitative scores. To get an idea of "how good" your scores are, check the ETS web site.

(3). Is it required to have an undergraduate Chemistry degree to qualify for admission?  
No. A minor in Chemistry with additional coursework in Quantitative Chemical Analysis (CHEM 2300 at MTSU) will suffice.

(4). As an applicant, am I automatically considered for a graduate teaching assistantship (GTA)? 
No. Assistantships are considered separately.  To apply, go to this web page. Admission into the program does not guarantee financial support. There are a limited number of spots, and applications for these positions are competitive. If you don't immediately get a GTA position (and if you qualify) you will be ranked based on your credentials and waiting listed.

The MS committee meets to discuss rankings for GTAs. It is possible to be accepted without support. It would be wise to include favorable, non-required items (e.g., letter of recommendation, etc.) in your application to maximize your ranking.

(5). As an international student (where English is not the official language) I am interested in obtaining a graduate teaching assistantship.  What credentials should I have to qualify for this support?  Is there a minimum TOEFL or IELTS score required?
If you are from any of the following non-US countries, an English proficiency exam is not required: Australia, Barbados, Botswana, Bermuda, Bahamas, Canada, Ireland, Ghana, Grenada, Guam, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, New Zealand, South Africa, Trinidad and Zimbabwe.

For those of you who are not in this category, the minimum requirement for TOEFL is a score of 21 on the speaking section or 6.5 on the IELTS speaking section.  These scores are required by the state for GTA. In the field of Chemistry where there are laboratory practicums involved, laboratory safety is paramount. Relevant to spoken English proficiency, we in the Chemistry department want to prevent accidents that may result from a misunderstanding of instructions given to students by the GTA. Furthermore, it is recommended that you have a total score of at least 39 on the TOEFL and a 12.5 on the IELTS.

One more important detail: do not forget to include the WES evaluation that converts your grades from your undergraduate university to U.S. grading standards.

(6). May I use an unofficial, non-US transcript for evaluation purposes?
International students must submit an evaluation for every non‐U.S. transcript before their application can be fully processed. You can see this requirement on the International Students Admissions page.  A list of accredited evaluation services can be found here. 

(7). What documents do the MS committee look for in considering an applicant for admission? 
The Chemistry MS committee examines your academic transcripts.  Did you take the correct courses to be considered? Do you have the appropriate undergraduate preparation in these subjects: general chemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, biochemistry and analytical chemistry? Your grade point average will be examined as well as your GRE exams. If you are an international student, your English proficiency exams will be considered in the case mentioned in point #4 above. 

(8). Are there particularly good times to apply to the program?

The Chemistry department evaluates applicants on a rolling basis. Note that the MS committee also ranks applicants according to credentials for GTA spots. Preference is given for spring consideration from applications received by October 1st, and summer/fall consideration given for those applications received by March 1st.  

Although it is not required that you apply by these dates, the advantage of doing so is that there would be ample time for you to be considered for GTA positions for ranking purposes. An early application would permit more consultation time to improve your application.

(9). What is an "M number"? Is there a preferred venue for checking my admission status?  
When you apply and become a part of the MTSU community, you will be assigned a personal identification number known as the "M number", which will consist of the letter "M" followed by 8 digits.  You should also obtain an MTSU email account and begin using to communicate with various parties.  In some cases, there may be issues related to privacy of your personal records. To ensure that this information is protected, use your MTSU email address. I know personally of a case in which the email sender of a supposed student was not the student who I thought I was communicating with.

(10). Do you offer the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in "Chemistry"? A non-thesis master's degree?
At this time, no, for either of these options, but...

i) The Chemistry Department participates in various Science PhD programs, namely, in Molecular Biosciences, Math and Science Education, and Computational Sciences (see hotlinks herein).

ii) There has been discussion regarding a coursework-only option (e.g., a Master of Arts in Chemistry), but there are no concrete details at this time.  We are still researching the 'market interest' for it.  If there is an interest, please 'Post a Comment' below and let us know your thoughts.

(11). What research areas are available to me as I navigate through the MS program?

Check out the various faculty pages within the MS Chemistry program web site.  You may contact them regarding possible research opportunities.

Additional questions may be directed to the MS coordinator: chusuei (at) mtsu (dot) edu.