CURRICULUM
Undergraduate
Graduate
Courses
THESIS
Information Regarding the Thesis or Project
A Master's degree is different from a Bachelor's degree for at least two reasons: (a) you are expected to learn more independently than you 
may have as an undergraduate student, and (b) you will develop a Thesis or Project over 1-2 years. This is a larger effort than any undergraduate research you may have conducted. Knowing about these differences in advance, you should be able to better plan your M.S. degree work, in consultation with your advisor.
The closure activity is an oral presentation—open to faculty, students, and guests—of the written master’s thesis or project. Each thesis/project begins with a proposal approved by the student’s master’s committee, which will determine if the project/thesis meets the standards of the profession.
Planning the Thesis or Project
Begin planning your thesis/project early. As you take classes and learn, think first about choosing a general research topic. Read a lot of journal articles, talk to your advisor and think. The year-long sequence of BIO 502 & 503 will help you in this process, but much of it is still your responsibility. Ideally, after the first semester you should have selected a general subject and have conducted some literature review.
By the end of your second semester, you will have developed a proposal with your advisor and assembled an advisory committee. Your advisory committee must be minimally composed of three people: your advisor, another Biology Department faculty member, and a Dean's representative (your advisor can request someone). In addition, you can include someone from off-campus with sufficient qualifications. The maximum recommended committee is five persons.
The Research Proposal
At the end of your second semester, you will present and defend your research proposal to your committee. You will also present your curriculum plan to your committee at that time for their approval. You can then begin working on your thesis or project.
Learn more about Research Proposal requirements >>
Progress
Plan on meeting with your advisory committee at least once each academic year to present a progress summary. Meetings may be scheduled more frequently to assist your progress.
The Manuscript
Each Master's Thesis or Project must include a formal, written manuscript that you write, with editing by your advisor, and an oral presentation open to faculty, students, and guests. The advisory committee reads and comments on your manuscript, and decides whether or not the project is acceptable.
Course Credit
You must enroll in a total of four credit hours for in the Master's Project course (BIO 575), or eight credit hours for the Master's Thesis course (BIO 585) as appropriate. The total credits may be accrued in increments, but you should be aware that UIS requires that graduate students be enrolled in at least one semester of Master's Project or Thesis credit each semester (Fall, Spring) after the first semester of enrollment in that course, until completed.
If the project is not completed by the end of four credit hours of continuing enrollment in BIO 575, students must register to audit one hour of BIO 576 in all subsequent semesters until the project is complete. Likewise, if the thesis is not completed by the time eight hours in BIO 585 is accrued in continuing enrollment, the student must enroll for one hour of audit credit in BIO 586 in each semester until the thesis is complete. Additional information and procedures for completing the master’s closure exercise are available in the Biology Graduate Student Handbook in the program office.
Current Research Ideas
UIS Biology faculty and their students are currently conducting research on the biogeochemistry of floodplain wetland restoration, chemotherapy effects on inner ear sensory cells, amphibian habitat quality, biochemical pathway genetics of clavulinic acid synthesis, oak hybridization, seed bank diversity, hazardous waste sites, microbial genetics, and intracellular symbionts. See individual faculty home pages for details.
A Sample of Recent Thesis Titles:
- The effects of administration of 17 beta-estradiol or 20-hydroxyecdysone on reproduction in Drosophila melanogaster
- Using GIS to determine depressional wetland loss in Champaign County, Illinois
- In vitro antimicrobial activity of designed antimicrobial peptides (DAPs) against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria
- Signalling requirements for CD4 T lymphocytes
- Temporary pond ecosystems: pattern analysis of the organisms present at the Bluff Springs Sand Ponds in relation to environmental variables.
