Preliminary Evaluation

Biomedical Informatics Doctoral Preliminary Evaluation

The preliminary evaluation, to be held at the spring TP Core Faculty Meeting focused on trainee evaluations, will assess appropriate progress in the first year in both coursework and research.

  1. All first-year coursework will be reviewed to ensure minimal grade requirements (3.0 GPA and successfully passing all courses) and to address any performance concerns identified by instructors.
  2. The trainee will make a short presentation (15-20 minutes) to faculty in an open forum, providing an introduction to the trainee’s research.  The goal of this presentation will be to inform the faculty about the trainee’s proposed project, including relevant background, and to establish that the trainee has the potential to succeed in graduate studies.  
  3. The research mentor will provide a letter assessing the trainee’s progress and prospects for success.

 Note that the short presentation (#2) is the only item that is in addition to regular coursework.

Committee:

A standing committee will be formed and will include three TP Core Faculty members. Members will serve for 3 years of staggered terms, with one person rotating off and another on each academic year. Initial members starting in spring of 2020 will start with terms of 1, 2, and 3 years.

The research mentor can be present for the preliminary examination, but will not participate in the voting. If the trainee’s mentor is a member of the committee, an alternate member will be identified.

Evaluation

For the preliminary evaluation, the presentation will be evaluated to ensure that the trainee has begun the process of exploring research topics that may lead to a dissertation, and has an initial plan for making further progress. Evaluation of the presentation will be based on several criteria:

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: Does the trainee have at least a preliminary understanding of the domain knowledge necessary to proceed with the proposed line of investigation?

  • RESEARCH LITERATURE COMPETENCY: Has the trainee demonstrated an ability to review published work and to relate that work to their topic of interest?
  • APPROPRIATENESS: Does the proposed line of inquiry have a strong possibility of leading to a novel contribution to the field of biomedical informatics?
  • POTENTIAL: Does the trainee have the potential to succeed with the proposed work?

Each committee member will evaluate the presentation, providing a grade of acceptable or not acceptable on each, along with an overall final grade.  These results will then be discussed (behind closed doors) by the committee, who will arrive at an overall consensus for each question, and an overall consensus grade.

The committee should provide the trainee with constructive feedback regarding their presentation. Particularly in cases where one or more of the above criteria is deficient, the trainee should be given clear descriptions of any gaps and suggestions as to how those gaps might be addressed.

Results of the presentation evaluation, along with course grades; comments from academic advisors, and other faculty members; and the letter from the research mentor, will be discussed at the annual trainee assessment meeting.  Training program faculty members at that meeting will vote on the status of each trainee.

Outcomes:

The outcome of the preliminary examination will be pass, remediation required, or fail, with remediation required resulting in being placed on probation. In that case, the trainee will have one semester (in the case of the assessment) or until the course is next offered (for the coursework) to remedy the situation.  In the case of a result of remediation required, the training program director will develop a specific plan detailing what must be completed and when. Trainees who receive a grade of fail, or who receive a grade of remediation required and fail to complete the remediation plan, will not be allowed to pursue a PhD, but the trainee may choose to complete an MS degree.

Timing
The preliminary presentation should be completed before the end of May of the second semester of the first year.
Trainee Support/Preparation
The training program will offer at least one workshop during each spring semester to clarify expectations and help trainees plan for the presentation.

Second Year Evaluation

The second-year evaluation is a secondary checkpoint, to be conducted at the end of the second year. This intermediate checkpoint added by BMITP and not required by the University will consist of:

  1. Completion of two semesters of journal club that will include completion of a research review and presentation.
  2. A writing skills assessment in the publication course or publication of a paper as first author.
  3. Presentation of a paper to a committee of three faculty members. This paper will provide a progress update on their research and should be roughly twenty minutes long, with 10 minutes reserved for questions. This presentation will be open to the whole department.

 Note that the presentation of a paper is the only item that is in addition to regular coursework.

Committee:

A standing committee will be formed and will include three TP Core Faculty members. Members will serve for 3 years of staggered terms, with one person rotating off and another on each academic year. Initial members starting in spring of 2020 will start with terms of 1, 2, and 3 years.

The research mentor can be present for the evaluation, but will not participate in the voting. If the trainee’s mentor is a member of the committee, an alternate will be identified.

Evaluation

For the second year evaluation, the presentation will be evaluated to ensure that the trainee has begun the process of exploring research topics that may lead to a dissertation, and has an initial plan for making further progress. Evaluation of the presentation will be based on several criteria: 

  • BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: Does the trainee have at least a preliminary understanding of the domain knowledge necessary to proceed with the proposed line of investigation?
  • RESEARCH LITERATURE COMPETENCY: Has the trainee demonstrated an ability to review published work and to relate that work to their topic of interest?
  • APPROPRIATENESS: Does the proposed line of inquiry have a strong possibility of leading to a novel contribution to the field of biomedical informatics?
  • POTENTIAL: Does the trainee have the potential to succeed with the proposed work?
  • PROGRESS:  Do the results presented suggest that the trainee is making appropriate progress? 

Each committee member will evaluate the presentation, providing a grade of acceptable or not acceptable on each, along with an overall final grade.  These results will then be discussed (behind closed doors) by the committee, who will arrive at an overall consensus for each question, and an overall consensus grade. As with the presentation for the preliminary evaluation, trainees should be provided with feedback describing how any shortcomings might be resolved. 

The second-year evaluation will be graded by the committee, who will provide an overall recommendation to the TP program director.

Outcomes

The outcome of the preliminary examination will be pass, remediation required, or fail, with remediation required resulting in being placed on probation. In that case, the trainee will have one semester (in the case of the assessment) or until the course is next offered (for the coursework) to remedy the situation.  In the case of a result of remediation required, the training program director will develop a specific plan detailing what must be completed and when. Trainees who receive a grade of fail, or who receive a grade of remediation required and fail to complete the remediation plan, will not be allowed to pursue a PhD, but the trainee may choose to complete an MS degree.

The outcome of the interim evaluation will be pass/fail, with a grade of fail requiring completion of a remediation plan developed by the training program director. This remediation must be completed by the end of the second year in order to pass the comprehensive examination (see below).

Timing

These presentations might be scheduled during the DBMI colloquium time slot, during a class, or in a separate time slot as needed.  

Note that the interim evaluation presentation will be conducted in the first semester in the second year.
For most trainees, this will be while they are taking BIONF 2134: Publication and Presentation in Biomedical Informatics, which usually includes a presentation by each trainee. At the discretion of the course director for BIOINF 2134, this presentation might serve to complete the requirements for the interim evaluation. 

 In any case, these presentations will be open to any DBMI trainees, faculty, or staff who wish to attend.