Student Seminar Program
Research Seminar: MEDC 690
Guidelines
- Seminar titles are to be decided by graduate students in consultation with their faculty advisor. Spring seminars should fall under the category of “Methodologies of Medicinal Chemistry Research”. Examples of these seminars include synthetic organic chemistry methods, biophysical chemistry techniques, biochemical methodologies, molecular modeling, computational chemistry techniques, enzyme analysis, structural biology techniques, gene analysis methods, etc. Each topic should be drawn from these broad themes. The chosen topic(s) should not closely or narrowly relate to the student’s graduate research topic.
- Seminar titles for Spring semester (1st Yr PhD and MS students) will be submitted to the coordinator of MEDC 690 before December 1st. Seminar titles for Fall semester (2nd Yr PhD students and others) will be submitted to the coordinator before July 31st. It is strongly advised that MS and PhD graduating students inform the coordinator of MEDC 690 of their intent to present their final research seminar as early as possible.
- The group of students presenting seminar in consultation with the coordinator will determine the dates of presentations. The coordinator’s decision will be final.
- Attendance at each student presentation is important for all MS and PhD students. At least 80% attendance is mandatory.
- One week before the seminar, the student will circulate an abstract to all members of the Department. The seminar abstract is an overview of the presentation. It should be neither too vague nor too detailed. It should highlight importance of the topic that will be presented, its relevance and summarize the highlights of the presentation to follow. It should stand alone (implying that if a reader should be able to grasp important points by reading the abstract alone). The following video may be referred to for additional insight.
- The seminar abstract will contain the following information: the title, date and time of seminar, the presenter’s name, the body of information to be covered in the presentation, and appropriate bibliography. Abstract should be at least 2 and maximally 3 pages long. An inappropriately prepared abstract may be returned to the student for revision and resubmission, and may receive a lower grade. The bibliography should follow J. Med. Chem. Guidelines.
- To reduce paper consumption, circulation of seminar abstract in an electronic format, such as an e-mail attachment, is recommended. For e-mail circulation, the student will provide a copy of the abstract in .pdf format to the Secretary of the Department, who will forward it to all Department members. Also, one copy of the seminar abstract should be prominently displayed on the Department notice board.
- Seminar evaluation will be performed by the faculty, students, post-doctoral fellows, and scientists of the Department.
- An evaluation form will be handed to each student in the beginning of the seminar for grading. An evaluation will not be used, if evaluator’s name section is left blank.
- Each student present for the full seminar will critique the day’s presentation. Evaluation will be performed independently by each student without any discussion at the end of the question and answer session. Evaluation should be completed within 15 minutes of the conclusion of the seminar. Each student is expected to bring his/her writing instrument for this purpose.
- The coordinator of MEDC 690 will review each critique and assign a seminar grade.
- At the end of the semester or year, the evaluations performed by each student will be handed over to both the student’s advisor and the Chairman of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. These evaluations will be deposit in the evaluator’s Department file as a record of his/her teaching and service activities, and may provide useful information for recommendation letters. Students falling short of the 80% attendance will have to undertake compensating activity, which will be decided by the MEDC 690 Seminar Committee.
- Post-doctoral fellows, visiting scholars, etc. are strongly advised to be present for each seminar in the Department. Evaluation of student seminars is not mandatory for these scholars, however, is strongly advised in the interest of their professional development. The evaluations performed by each scholar will form a permanent record of his/her teaching and service activities, and may provide useful information for recommendation letters. The evaluations performed by each post-doctoral fellow and visiting scholar will be collated and handed over to both his/her advisor at the end of the seminar program.
The VCU Bulletin is the official source for academic course and program information.
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