Environmental Health Sciences

Students must complete at least one year of graduate residence at the University of California and 17 courses (65 units), at least six (28 units) of which must be graduate courses in the 200 or 500 series. Only one 596 course (four units) and one 598 course (four units) may be applied toward the total course requirement; only four units of either course may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement. Environmental Health Sciences 597 may not be applied toward the degree requirements.

There are 10 mandatory core courses (40 units): Biostatistics 100A, 100B, Epidemiology 100, Environmental Health Sciences C200A, C200C, 200D, C240, C257, 411 (to be taken once a year for two years), and either 596 (for comprehensive examination/report plan) or 598 (for thesis plan). Students must also take one advanced laboratory course (3 or more units) on a topic in or related to environmental health sciences, such as Environmental Health Sciences 207, 410B, M166L, 252F, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics 100L, or Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology 104AL. The advanced laboratory course may be waived with the faculty advisor and Department Chair’s consent if the student has previous lab experience. Students who request to waive the advanced laboratory course are required to submit a blue petition indicating the request to waive the advanced laboratory course with previous lab experience and make up the 3 units with an additional elective course. A mandatory core course may be waived if the student either has taken a similar university-level course elsewhere and/or passes a waiver examination; if a core course is waived, the student should make up the units with an additional elective course.

In addition to the core courses, at least 18 units of elective courses are required and should be selected in consultation with the graduate adviser. 296, 596, 597, 598, or 599 courses may not be counted towards the elective requirement.

Students who have not previously completed a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited degree (bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree) are required to complete Public Health 150: Contemporary Health Issues.

Only courses in which a grade of C or better is received may be applied toward the requirements for a master's degree.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Not required.

Capstone Plan

The comprehensive examination and report option (Plan II) consists of two elements, (1) an examination and (2) a M.S. report. If the student selects the comprehensive examination and report option (Plan II), the candidate must pass a comprehensive examination on the major area of study. This examination is prepared by a committee of at least three faculty members. If the examination is failed, the student may be reexamined once. In addition, the student must complete a research activity while enrolled in Environmental Health Sciences 596 for at least four units. For the M.S. report, the student must either prepare an in-depth written report on this research activity, or submit an article of publishable quality (e.g. externally peer-reviewed journal article or book chapter) that was completed while a student. Either report option must be approved by the full committee.

Thesis Plan

Every master's degree thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research.

If the student selects the thesis option (Plan I), a thesis committee of three faculty members is established. The committee approves the thesis before the student graduates. An article of publishable quality (e.g. externally peer-reviewed journal article or book chapter) may be submitted as the thesis, with appropriate format modification.

Time-to-Degree

Normative time-to-degree from initial enrollment to graduation is six quarters.

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Advising

An academic adviser is assigned to each new student by the head of the department. Student and adviser together agree upon a study list for each academic quarter within the parameters set forth below; any subsequent alterations must be approved both by the adviser and the department chair. During the first year students must set up a two-member guidance committee that includes the academic adviser. One of these members may be from outside the department. The student’s guidance committee is responsible for making course recommendations. Students also must file Doctoral Form 1, which establishes their guidance committee and proposed course of study, by the end of the third quarter of doctoral study.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Students may choose to concentrate on any field of environmental health sciences. Such areas of academic focus may include: air quality; environmental biology; environmental chemistry; environmental health practice and policy; industrial hygiene; toxicology; or water quality. Interdisciplinary research is also recommended.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Students select a course of study upon consultation with their guidance committee. The following courses are required: Environmental Health Sciences C200A and C200C; Environmental Health Sciences 411 (to be taken once a year for two years); Environmental Health Sciences M414 (Fall Quarter of the second year); one full course (four units or more) at the 100 or 200 level in epidemiology; and the appropriate Environmental Health Sciences 296 course for each quarter in residence. Also, proficiency in biostatistics/statistics is required. Each specific, required, letter-graded course may be waived if the student successfully completed an equivalent course with a grade of B or better.

Students who have not previously completed a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited degree (bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree) are required to complete Public Health 150: Contemporary Health Issues.

For students who do not have an undergraduate or graduate degree in the field of public health, the following additional courses are recommended: two full courses in biostatistics/statistics.

Teaching Experience

Teaching experience is recommended but not required for the doctoral degree.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass university written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations, the University Oral Qualifying Examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to university requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

All committee nominations and reconstitutions adhere to the Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution.

Before advancement to candidacy, students must complete the courses required for the doctoral degree (see Course Requirements). Students must also pass a written examination in the area of specialization and the University Oral Qualifying Examination no later than the end of their ninth quarter. The three possible outcomes of each examination are Pass, Retake, and Fail. Normally, no more than one reexamination is allowed. A doctoral committee, consisting of at least four faculty members who hold professorial appointments at UCLA, is nominated when the student is ready to take the University Oral Qualifying Examination. Students should review the current regulations governing doctoral committee membership in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

After passing the University Oral Qualifying Examination, the student is advanced to candidacy and commences work on a dissertation in the principal field of study. The doctoral committee supervises the student's progress toward completion of the dissertation.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

Normative time from initial enrollment to advancement to candidacy is nine quarters (three calendar years), and from advancement to candidacy to filing of dissertation is nine quarters (three calendar years).

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Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Master's

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for academic disqualification for failure to complete the required course work within seven quarters of matriculation, one quarter beyond normative time to advance to master’s candidacy.

Doctoral

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may be recommended for academic disqualification for: failure to maintain a 3.00 grade point average for two consecutive quarters following matriculation into the doctoral program; a second failure in the written qualifying examination; a second failure of either the oral qualifying examination or the final oral examination; or exceeding enrollment time limits.

A student may appeal a recommendation for academic disqualification first to the departmental chair, then to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, then to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and finally to the Dean of the school.

UCLA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and by numerous special agencies. Information regarding the University's accreditation may be obtained from the Office of Academic Planning and Budget, 2107 Murphy Hall.