BMEB Curriculum
Bootcamp Activity

Entering graduate cohorts are strongly encouraged to participate in the hands-on “bootcamp” just before the start of the fall quarter. Bootcamp activities include program orientation, laboratory safety training, teaching assistant (TA) training, fellowship advice, cohort building activities, practical advice for navigating graduate school, and a hands-on research project.

M.S. Students must complete a total of at least 41 credits as described below.

Core Courses

Six (5-credit) courses are required

  • BME 205, Bioinformatics Models and Algorithms
  • BME 230A, Intro to Computational Genomics and Systems Biology or
  • BME 229, Protein and Cell Engineering
  • Graduate-Level Quantitative Science Course*
  • Ethics Course
    • BME 80G**, Bioethics in the 21st Century or
    • SOCY 268A, Science and Justice: Experiments in Collaboration
  • Two BME Graduate-Level, 5-credit courses to be selected in consultation with faculty adviser

*Suitable courses for quantitative science and biomolecular engineering graduate electives are to be selected in consultation with the BME Graduate Advising Committee, the student, and the student's faculty adviser.

**BME 80G can be taken to meet the ethics requirement, however, the credits will not be counted toward the overall credit requirement for the M.S. or Ph.D. since it is a lower-division course.

Other Curriculum Requirements

  • Research Experience:  one quarter of independent study (BME 297)

  • Seminars:  a minimum of three seminar courses, including at least one quarter of the 2-credit BME Seminar, BME 280B

No further courses are required. However, with faculty guidance students often choose to take upper-division undergraduate courses or graduate courses outside the department to make up for deficiencies in background areas of particular importance.

With consent of the graduate director, variations in the composition of the required courses may be approved.

Master's Capstone Requirement

M.S. students must complete a one-quarter research project with written report to fulfill the capstone requirement. In consultation with the faculty adviser, the student forms a Master’s capstone reading committee of at least two faculty members (including the adviser), each of whom is provided a copy of the project report. The final project report must be signed by the reading committee before the award of the Master of Science Degree.

The Master's Project Reading Committee requires Biomolecular Engineering (BME) Department approval.  These are the current BME policies on the committee membership.  These policies are in addition to the UCSC Graduate Council requirements in the Graduate Handbook.

Master's Project Reading Committee

The members of the MS Project Reading Committee must include the following:

1. A ladder rank BME faculty member
2. A ladder rank UCSC faculty member (may be BME as well).

A ladder rank faculty (Academic Senate member) holds the title of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor.  Associate Professors and Professors have tenure.

Adequate Progress

Graduate students receiving two or more U (unsatisfactory) grades or grades below B- in courses relevant to the program are not making adequate progress and will be placed on academic probation for the next three quarters of registered enrollment.

Graduate students who fail (unsatisfactory or lower than B-) a relevant course while on probation may be dismissed from the program. Students may appeal their dismissal. Graduate students who fail a relevant course after being removed from probation are immediately returned to academic probation.

Graduate students experiencing circumstances that may adversely affect their academic performance should consult with their adviser and the graduate director.