Information for Current Students

SAS Graduate Studies General Information

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General University of Rochester Graduate Student Information

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BCS Graduate Information

Time Table of Requirements Toward a Degree

This section describes the graduate program requirements on a year-by-year basis.

Year 1

Fall
  • Students typically take two to three courses in their first semester
  • Select a primary research advisor(s) in the fall. While most students will have already chosen their advisor before they arrive in the fall, students may use the semester to finalize their choice in consultation with department faculty.
  • Every first-year student will enroll in BCSC 599 (Professional Development and Career Planning)
Spring
  • Students typically take two to three courses in the Spring semester.
  • By February 1st, each student must select a scientific advisory committee composed of three faculty members, including the student’s primary research advisor. Committee members can include secondary faculty in the department. The student will ask one of the committee members, not their research advisor, to be committee chair. If a student has two research advisors (e.g., a collaborative project), then it is fine for both advisors to be on the committee, but the committee must also include at least one member who is not directly involved in the student’s research. That person would be chair if there are two research advisors on the committee.
  • By May or June, the student arranges a meeting (~60 min) with the Advisory Committee to discuss the student's progress and their readiness for the oral/written presentation to the same committee in Fall of Year 2 (see below).
  • Following the May/June meeting, the chair of the Advisory committee will summarize the student’s progress and the committee’s recommendations and advice for the second year.
  • Typically, students begin the process of defining an initial research project with their advisor in the Fall and are fully engaged in the spring and summer.

Year 2

  • Students will continue with their course work in the second year – typically taking one to three classes each term. Students can petition to take BCSC 582 (described below) in Year 2 with advisor approval.
  • Students will be assigned to TA a class in their second year.
  • Late fall, students will submit a short paper (3-5 pages) and give an oral presentation to their scientific advisory committee describing their research progress and their plans for the coming year. Students must complete the written and oral presentation requirement by December 15th.
  • The chair of the Advisory Committee will again compose a memo to the student summarizing progress, areas of concern, and recommendations and advice for the future.
Qualifying Exam (Year 2 Late Spring/Summer)

Main components:

  • Perspective review paper
  • Oral presentation to department
  • Closed doors oral defense with committee

Year 3

  • Students will complete the remainder of courses required in their third year, depending on their progress in completing the program’s course requirements or their own interests.
  • Students will be TAing a course in either the fall or spring semester.
  • The bulk of this year is devoted to continuing research and developing a dissertation proposal.
  • Spring BCS Lunch Talk: Each student will give a short talk in typical conference format (20min + 10 min for questions) during a BCS lunch. This provides a forum for all of the faculty and students to be aware of your research, and will also serve as a good practice for giving short talks at conferences, handling questions, etc.
  • Students must take BCSC 582, a grant writing workshop, in which they develop a research plan in the form of an NIH predoctoral fellowship proposal.

Year 4

This year is typically devoted to dissertation research. Students will TA a course in either the Fall or Spring term, typically completing their three-term teaching requirement.

BCS Lunch Talk: Fourth-year students give a full length (approximately 50 minute) presentation) which is preparation for a colloquium talk, a type of talk common in job interviews for faculty positions.

Dissertation Proposal: Student forms a dissertation committee of at least three faculty (two BCS faculty members and one outside faculty member). At the end of the term, students defend their dissertation proposal in a closed meeting with their committee. The thesis committee may differ from a student’s advisory committee. Furthermore, the set of faculty serving on the thesis committee is not fixed forever. If a student’s research program subsequently changes, the faculty members on the thesis committee can be modified. At least two weeks prior to the meeting, the student will distribute a thesis proposal to the committee members (see next paragraph). At the meeting, the student will describe the proposed thesis and receive feedback from the thesis committee members. The chair of the committee (a faculty member who is not the student’s primary advisor) will write a memo stating whether or not the student is making adequate progress toward a successful thesis, and providing written feedback to the student. All members of the thesis committee will sign the memo.

The thesis proposal should be a 4-5 page document specifying the plan for the thesis. For each major section of the thesis, it should describe the research questions addressed by that section, the background and significance motivating these research questions, and the research plan for studying the questions. Relevant preliminary data and/or results that the student has obtained can also be described. Hopefully, it will often be the case that the student wrote a grant proposal in BCS 582 (taken during Year 3) that contains many of the materials needed for a thesis proposal.

Year 5

This year is devoted to completing the student’s dissertation research and preparing the dissertation document. Students typically defend their dissertation by the end of their fifth year.

Year 6+

In some circumstances, students require more than five years to complete their dissertation. Funding is contingent on the availability of research funds on a student advisor’s research grants or the ability of a student to obtain funding (e.g. from an NIH training grant). Students must appeal to the college to remain in good standing beyond 7 years.

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BCS Qualifying Examination Process

Main components:

  • Perspective review paper
  • Oral presentation to department
  • Closed doors oral defense with committee

Timeline (for students who started program in Fall; for Spring start, adjust accordingly):

  1. End of spring year 1: Submit initial reading list and topic to committee for approval after discussing during committee meeting
  2. Summer: Read/prepare to write the paper (get feedback from PI throughout)
  3. By September 1st: Committee meeting to approve paper outline (if necessary, can be approved via email)
  4. Fall year 2: Write + submit perspective/review paper to committee by Dec 15th
  5. Early spring year 2: Receive feedback from committee by Jan 15th and revise paper by Feb 15th
  6. Later spring year 2, by May 15th: After paper is approved by committee, have oral presentation to department and closed doors oral defense with committee by end of spring semester (March/April/May)

In extenuating circumstances (on behalf of either student or PI), student and PI can petition to delay the time frame via written request to DGS (requires both student and PI signature, and an explanation). At minimum, all quals components should be done before the end of fall semester year 3 (preceding your 3rd year talk and grant writing course).

Maximum delay timeline:

  • submit review paper draft by Aug 1st
  • get committee feedback by Sept 1st
  • complete revisions by Oct 1st
  • give oral presentation/defense in November/December of year 3

Consequences of delayed completion of qualifying exam: Beyond the maximum delay, the student is placed on administrative (not academic) probation: funding for the student will be entirely through the PI, with no department contribution for the following semester (e.g. spring year 3). If there’s no progress after 2 months of administrative probation, the mentorship committee & DGS will be involved.

Time Commitment:

  • As you begin quals preparations (around the time of year 1 committee meeting), you should discuss the time commitment with your PI. In some cases, it may be ideal to set aside a minimum/maximum time per week. In other cases, you may need to consider upcoming constraints (data collection, conferences, grant submissions, etc.) and plan to vary the time spent on quals per week/month. As you start working, assess whether the time set aside is reasonable and discuss changes with your PI if needed. See mentorship committee if student and PI disagree about time commitment
  • To encourage time management and steady progress, a student run course, BCSC 506, will be held in fall of year 2 where students taking quals will meet ~once a week (2 credits). The course will be TA’d by students who have completed their quals, and the DGS will be the faculty sponsor

Reading list and topic:

  • Initial submission at end of spring year 1
  • At initial submission, the topic can be relatively broad and will narrow as you read and prepare to submit your outline in the fall. Ultimately, the topic of the perspective review should be relatively focused (more depth than breadth).
  • The full reading list for the written portion does not need to be complete at initial submission. It should be a core group of papers relating to the topic you have chosen, and it’s expected to expand as you read and work on writing the paper.
    • Core list of papers for initial submission should be ~15-40 papers: These papers can be chosen by the PI, the student, or a combination of both
    • Ultimately you should expect the written portion to cite approximately 50-100 papers, though in some cases a lot fewer/more citations might be justified by the topic covered.
  • Substantial changes in the topic must get re-approved by the committee.

Outline:

  • Submitted by September 1st of year 2
  • This should demonstrate the student has thought through the key conceptual points of their arguments: not just which literature will be covered, but also their conceptual components (important open questions, approaches or frameworks for future research, etc.) and how they fit together in a cohesive narrative
  • An example might look like a 1-2 page bulleted document outlining the sections and major supporting subtopics, arranged in a logical progression of ideas. This can include examples of supporting literature, but the emphasis is on the student’s ideas, not just listing/summarizing papers

Perspective review paper:

  • Submitted by Dec 15th of year 2, feedback from committee by Jan 15th and revise paper by Feb 15th
  • 5000 - 10,000 words (not including citations, references, tables, and figures)
  • Rather than just summarizing the current literature, a good perspective review needs to clearly demonstrate your perspective on the topic. Good reviews often identify problematic concepts, propose solutions, synthesize important distinctions/concepts/etc. This requires understanding previously described perspectives abstracted from the terminology and framing assumed in those works, and identifying how we might go beyond them
  • For example, you might identify and describe an important open question in the chosen area of research, outline a conceptual approach (details and feasibility of methods are not important to specify) that future research could take to answer this question, and briefly describe what the key outcome measures would be and a pattern of findings that would address the open question. Examples of this genre can be found in journals like Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Trends in Neurosciences, Psychological Review or Current Opinions in Behavioral Sciences
  • However - this paper is not constrained to a specific approach: The committee should determine during approval of the outline whether the conceptual components of the paper (i.e., components going beyond literature summarization) are adequate, regardless of whether the paper matches a common format
  • While the review paper should be more focused on depth than breadth, to encourage preparation for the breadth component of the oral presentation, students must include a 1 page significance statement that considers the broader context of their chosen topic
  • The review does not need to be publishable, but should be written in a format such that it could be submitted for publication (e.g., abstract, introduction, topic sections, discussion, figures with captions, full reference list, etc.)

Oral presentation to department:

  • Spring of Year 2, by May 15th
  • Present the topic of your review in a 20 minute talk (+ 5 min for questions)
  • Your talk should situate your review within the field of cognitive science at a broader level (more breadth than depth)
  • This talk should give others in the department a good introduction to your topic of interest (which will also hopefully make it easier for them to understand/interact with your future research talks)

Closed doors oral defense with committee:

  • Following oral presentation, by May 15th
  • The committee has a chance to ask you more questions relevant to your review topic/how it relates to other parts of cognitive science, etc.
  • Students should expect to be well prepared for the defense through the process of preparing the written portion and presentation to the department. Students will be expected to know the literature presented in their oral presentation and written document and be able to answer questions about that literature. Faculty may ask broader questions to test critical thinking, but with the expectation that students may not know outside literature in detail.
  • Maximum of 45 minutes for questions (divided equally across committee members: 15 min each for 3 members, ~11 min each for 4 members), followed by 15 minutes (without student present) to confer if any revisions are necessary

Criteria for passing:

  • Students must demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the topic under committee examination and make revisions to the written portion where any gaps in knowledge are revealed.
  • The qualifying committee chair must notify student within one month of completion on passage or failure per UR policy in the UR Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Study

Committee Selection:

  • Your quals committee should consist of 3-4 faculty members, including your PI(s). In case of Conflict of Interest (see university graduate regulations) between 2 committee members, a fourth member is required. The chair of the committee cannot be the student's PI (or faculty who have a COI with the student’s PI).
  • The quals committee does not have to be the same committee as your defense committee or 1st/2nd year committee, but it can be.

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Travel and Expense Reimbursement Guidelines

Policies and procedures change frequently and if you have any questions regarding travel policies, please contact Jennifer Gillis or Kathy Corser.

General guidelines apply to all conference reimbursements and departmental expenses.
Login to Workday

Add “Expense Hub” to your Workday Menu. Adding the Expenses App in Workday (PDF)

Must setup your Direct Deposit Payment Election to receive your reimbursements via Direct Deposit.  Payment Election (PDF)

Option to delegate a BCS staff member to assist in processing BCS departmental expenses. Delegations (PDF)

  1. DISCUSS YOUR TRAVEL PLANS WITH YOUR ADVISER PRIOR TO YOUR TRIP! It is YOUR responsibility to make sure your adviser agrees to support your travel BEFORE you spend your own money.  There may be departmental funds for travel, but departmental funding is not guaranteed, so you will likely need funding from your adviser to cover the full amount of your travel expenses.
  2. Foreign travel or plans to include personal travel with your business-related travel must be discussed with Jennifer Gillis BEFORE making any travel
  3. Expense reports MUST be submitted within 60 days from return of the trip (for travel), date of the event (for example, a local meal with a guest speaker) or from the date and item was purchased.  The 60-day rule is to ensure that the University is compliant with IRS regulations.  If expense reports are not filed within 60 days, you will need to be reimbursed through payroll via extra compensation, and this will be considered taxable income.
  4. You must attach receipts for all reimbursements.  Acceptable documentation must contain all the following information:  Name of vendor, location, date, amount of expense and description of the goods. This includes receipts for meals.  The restaurant receipt should detail the food that was ordered at the meal.  If the meal was for you and another BCS student, you must provide the name of the person at the meal
  5. Receipts are not required for expenses less than $50, BUT the employee will still need to provide the following information to be reimbursed for the expense: Name of vendor, location, date, amount of expense and description of the goods. Because you still need to provide all these details, best practice is to attach all receipts to the Expense Report, even if the expense is under $50.
  6. It is possible for the department to direct pay Airfare, Conference Registration, Abstract Fees, Membership Duesand Other Research Related Expenses so that you do not have to use your own funds for these.  In fact, it is highly recommended that you do NOT pay for expenses out of pocket if there is a way to direct pay for the charge. We prefer to avoid students putting out their own money for travel when possible.

Details regarding how to use University funds to direct pay the expenses listed above are explained below.

If a receipt for a purchase greater than $50 is lost, and you are unsuccessful in obtaining a copy of the missing receipt, you will be required to complete a Missing Receipt Form. Bank or credit card statements are not accepted as a substitution of a missing detailed receipt.

In general, the following are the categories of expenses related to conference travel that are allowable for reimbursement. 

Transportation:

For University related business, you are expected to use the most economical mode of travel that is suited for the trip. In the case of flights, you must fly coach or economy.  If you fly business or first class, you will only be reimbursed for the cost of the lower price airfare.  There are some exceptions, but these should be discussed in advance of making reservations for the trip. 

Best Practice for Making Airline Reservations:

The University works with two local travel agencies that you can use for booking flights.  If you book your business-related flight with a University travel agent, you do not have to pay out of pocket for airfare. When you use one of the travel agents, the cost of the airfare is directly charged to the University account covering the expense.  To get the best price on flights, it is recommended that you contact the University travel agent at least 21 days prior to the trip, but for students, the reservation can be made at anytime prior to the trip. Here is the contact information for the two UR approved travel agencies:

DePrez Travel Bureau, Inc.
Phone: 585-442-8900 option 3                                      
Email: UofRtravel@depreztravel.com                       

Town & Country Travel
Phone: (585) 381-2850
Website

It is recommended you book your University business flights with one of these travel agents.  To do this, simply call the travel agency (we have traditionally used Town and Country) to make your reservation and let them know you are a University of Rochester student.  Inform the travel agent you will be reserving the flights with an F-2 Form Airfare request for Students https://rochester.app.box.com/s/e7ned82xwm04s06mrwwepubigdqadr20

For account information required for the F-2, contact Kathy Corser or Jennifer Gillis with your travel plans, and we will provide you with account information and assistance for completing the F-2.

Please note:  If you plan to add any personal travel time into your business trip, please discuss this with Kathy Corser or Jennifer Gillis PRIOR to booking your flight with the travel agent or booking the flight with your own funds if you decide not to use the travel agency.

Special Considerations for Foreign Travel:

UR Staff and students who are traveling abroad on University sponsored or supported activity are required to register their trip with the Office for Global Engagement.

Due to anticipated changes to international travel insurance policy in December 2025 and increased geopolitical risks worldwide, all University-sponsored or supported travel, including faculty and staff business travel, must be registered through the University of Rochester International Travel Registry at least two weeks in advance of departure. Registration enables the University to provide support during emergency response, and it is a critical step to ensuring travelers can access university-provided resources, such as international travel insurance and assistance, abroad.   

All flights (domestic and international) supported with federal funds must be taken on U.S. flag air carriers, regardless of cost or convenience – unless an exception, as listed in the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) is authorized.  The University travel agents are very familiar with the rules surrounding flight restrictions for grant supported travel.  They can ensure you are booked on a flight that is compliant with the Fly American Act.

Lodging Expenses:

You must provide an itemized bill, folio, or proof of stay.  Itemization should include name and location of the hotel, dates of stay, and separate amounts for charges such as lodging, meals, and telephone calls.  You will only be reimbursed for the cost of the room and parking charges if you drove your own vehicle.  Cleaning fees for AirBnB rentals are also okay.  You must provide a detailed receipt, and lodging is only reimbursed AFTER you have returned from the conference.  We are unable to direct pay or reimburse lodging expenses until after the conference. 

NOTE:  If you do not have lodging expenses because you stayed with friends or family, please note this on your reimbursement form.  If lodging expenses were shared with other BCS students, staff or faculty, please let us know that information as well.

Conference Registration, Abstract Fees, and Membership Dues:

If there are fees related to any of these items, please let Kathy Corser or Jennifer Gillis know.  It is possible (and recommended) for us to use a departmental credit card to directly pay for these expenses.  When we pay for these expenses with a purchasing card, you do not have to use your own funds and get reimbursed for the expenses. 

If you do pay for the expense out of pocket, you must turn in the receipt with the Expense Report to be reimbursed for the expense. 

Meals:

For conference travel, the cost of food is only reimbursed when your adviser agrees to pay for this expense.  If your adviser does agree to cover this cost, you will have to choose if you want to be reimbursed for actual meal costs (by turning in actual receipts per the guidelines above) or by the federal per diem rate. The per diem rate can also be used for lodging on INTERNATIONAL travel.  The per diem rates can be checked at the following website:  GSA.gov/Perdiem.  The rates vary by state and city.   Please talk to your adviser about what they will cover for meals when you are at a conference prior to attending.

**ALCOHOL WILL NEVER BE REIMBURSED.**

FYI.  Reimbursement for meals with local visitors or department events is handled differently, so please talk to Kathy Corser or Jennifer Gillis about local meals with visitors.

Miscellanous Allowable Travel Expenses: Receipts needed per the guidelines

  • Taxis, Trains, Shuttles, UBER, Lyft: When University business travel requires the use of a ride hailing service (such as Uber or Lyft), the least costly available arrangement which are suited to the trip are to be used, taking into account the number of passengers, luggage or equipment, etc.
  • Expenses for shipping University equipment or baggage handling and storage
  • Tips for above items
  • Highway and bridge tolls
  • Necessary parking fees
  • Certain specific approved fees from University contracted travel agents

EXPENSES THAT ARE NEVER REIMBURSABLE:

  • Personal entertainment expenses  
  • In-flight/room movies, satellite radio on car rentals, headsets, books, magazines, newspapers, health club fees, hotel movies, social activities, honor/mini bar charges, sporting events, and similar 
  • Expenses associated with your normal commute (for example taking a taxi or ride hailing service because your car broke down on your way into work) 
  • Damages incurred to any form of lodging, rental accommodations or vehicles as a result of engaging in activities not directly related to University business 
  • Charges incurred as a result of changes in travel itinerary made for personal convenience including no-show charges for hotel or car service 
  • Charitable contributions or Donations that do not benefit the University or further the University’s objectives 
  • Babysitting, house-sitting, and pet-sitting/kennel fees 
  • Fees on personal-liability credit cards or accounts  
  • Credit card annual fees, late fees, or finance charges 
  • Traffic fines, court costs, parking violations, and other fees; even if driving a University-owned/leased vehicle 
  • Rental car insurance (Domestic Travel) 

If a University traveler interrupts a business trip or adds days to make a side trip for personal reasons, all expenses that were not incurred for University business must be borne by the traveler and not submitted for reimbursement.

HOW TO GET REIMBURSED:

After you have returned from your trip, you will need to complete an Expense Report.  Create an Expense Report (PDF). For the expense report, you will need to know the "Worktag", which is essentially the account that will be charged for the travel expenses.  Jennifer Gillis can help to provide you with the correct "Worktag" (account) for your travel expenses.  We also understand you may need assistance the first time you are completing the expense report, so please talk to Kathy Corser or Jennifer Gillis for assistance with completing the Expense Report.

STEP 2: After your Expense Report has been completed and approved by all the necessary individuals, and submitted to Accounting, you will receive your reimbursement.

If you have any questions regarding travel policies or need help with completing expense report, please contact Jennifer Gillis or Kathy Corser.

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Teaching Assistant

All students are required to serve as teaching assistants (TAs) three times (twice for credit, BCSC 598). The department will assign courses to the students.

Students must meet with the instructor prior to the semester they are TAing to discuss the teaching assistant contract. The teaching assistant contract will set expectations for attending class, office hours, recitations/review sessions, exam preparation, and grading.

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PhD Dissertation Information

If you have any questions about policies and procedures, please see Kathy Corser.

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