Departmental Honors Program

Please read carefully!  All of the following requirements supercede those on the 198 petition itself.

The Mentor and Student must agree to and sign off on each of the following requirements:

• A current Degree Progress Report (DPR), initialed by the mentor, must be attached to the 198 petition.  (Petitions are available at 1602A Molecular Science Building.)
• All 198 petitions must include a thoughtful and well-described proposal for research, to be presented to and approved by the Department.  Only projects which involve experimental work related to Departmental disciplines will be approved.
• Students are not allowed to enroll in 198 in the same research laboratory in which they are working for pay.  Exceptions to this rule require prior approval by the Faculty Undergraduate Advisor.
• Applicants must have GPAs of at least 3.2 in the pre-major and 3.5 in the major and have Junior or Senior standing.
• Enrollment is limited only to Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics students who have been approved for the Honors Program by the Departmental Honors Program Director (Dr. Jeffrey H. Miller).  There are no exceptions to this rule. Please attach the MIMG 198 Application, signed by Dr. Miller to your 198 petition.
• Sponsorship from a faculty member from Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG) is required; sponsors from other departments are not permissible.
• Before beginning MIMG 198, the student must have already performed research in the faculty member’s lab in which he/she wishes to do the 198.  This previous experience should be in the form of SRP or MIMG 199.
• Three (3) consecutive quarters of honors research (MIMG 198A, B, and C, each 4 units) must be completed in the same sponsor’s lab.
• Students are REQUIRED to do 12-16 hours of research per week per quarter.
• An Honors Thesis must be submitted by May 1 of the Senior year (or by a specific date determined in consultation with the Departmental Honors Program Director).  See the Honors Thesis Guidelines below for further details and requirements.
• The first quarter of research, 198A, must be taken no later than Spring quarter of the Junior year in order to complete the Thesis by May 1.  The grading basis for the first two quarters, 198A and 198B, will be In Progress (IP).  That is, at the end of each of these quarters, the student will see IP on her/his DPR.  At the end of the third quarter, 198C, the student will receive an Incomplete (I), which will be replaced by a grade once the Thesis has been submitted to Dr. Jeffrey H. Miller and evaluated. The grade that the student receives will then apply to ALL THREE QUARTERS of research.  If a Thesis is not submitted, the I will lapse to F for 198A, B, and C.
• For 198A and 198B, a progress report must be submitted to the Mentor and to the Department by Friday of the 10th week.  This report should be a working draft of the paper that will eventually be your Thesis.
• One (1) quarter Microbiology 191H must be taken in Winter quarter of Senior year.
• Acceptance of these terms must be acknowledged (signed) by the student and the Mentor.
• DON’T FORGET TO ATTACH YOUR CURRENT DPR TO THE 198 PETITION!

191H Proseminar:

MIMG 191H, offered once each year in Winter, is a seminar course that involves reading, discussion, and presentation of current research topics.  The topics vary from year to year and the course may be taken more than once, however only one quarter of 191H may be applied toward the Major.  Students must be in their Senior year in order to enroll in MIMG 191H.

Credit for the Major:

MIMG 198C may be used as one of your electives for the Microbiology Major.  MIMG 191H may be used as ½ elective toward the Major.

Honors Advisor:

Dr. Jeffrey H. Miller
437 Molecular Biology Institute
310/825-8460
email: jhmiller@mbi.ucla.edu

Honors Thesis Guidelines:

The honors Thesis should adequately describe the research carried out during the three (3) quarters of honors work.  The paper should be in the format of a journal paper, please use the format of the Journal of Molecular Biology.  The thesis should have the following sections:

1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Experimental Design
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Materials and Methods
8. Future Experiments
9. References

• The paper should reflect only the student’s own experiments and should be written completely by the student (a copy of a multiauthored publication or paper submitted for publication cannot substitute for an honors Thesis).
• The paper should also include figures, tables, and legends to both.
• The Introduction section should be a short review of the field of study, and should be a minimum of 1500 words with at least fifteen (15) literature citations.
• The Discussion section and Future Experiments section should be a combined minimum of 1500 words.
• It is not a requirement that experiments work or yield a publishable result. It is important to analyze the experiments, and particularly in the case where few results were obtained, to suggest future experiments that might shed light on the problem.  The “Experimental Design” section and the “Future Experiments” section are important for demonstrating an understanding of the experimental system.
• The Introduction and Discussion should show a knowledge of the larger field, and represent a minireview of the topic of the paper.
• The references should include the names of all authors, the journal, beginning and end pages, and the full titles of the articles.
• The Thesis must be read and signed by the Thesis sponsor prior to turning it in to the Department.  All signed theses must be turned in to the head of the Departmental Honors Program, Prof. Jeffrey H. Miller, no later than MAY 1^st of the Senior year (unless otherwise arranged).  The Thesis must receive final approval from Dr. Miller in order to receive departmental honors.  Please feel free to discuss your honors thesis with Dr. Miller at any time.