This booklet is for currently enrolled Geroscience PhD students only. Future applicants should visit the USC Leonard Davis School Admission website for the latest program information.
Admission
Students apply to the Geroscience PhD program through the standard admission process at the USC Graduate School. The Geroscience PhD Committee reviews all applications and selects candidates to visit for an in-person or virtual interview. Applicants are assessed on several criteria that include (in no particular order): previous research experience, previous academic performance (GPA), the personal statement in the application, and letters of recommendation provided. The Geroscience PhD Committee also solicits feedback from faculty that participate in the recruitment process. This information becomes a part of the candidate’s application and informs the final selection of applicants for admission.
Each year the program aims to recruit a class of three (3) to eight (8) PhD students, with exceptional qualifications into the PhD program who will spend the Fall and Spring semesters of their first year in the program rotating in two (2) to four (4) laboratories (Lab Rotations) in order to find an advisor/mentor and a ‘home’ for their dissertation research. Under special (rare) circumstances, students with extensive and relevant prior research experience, can enter the Geroscience PhD program through “Direct Admission,” which excludes them from laboratory rotations during the first year in the program and entrance directly into the lab. Under these circumstances, the faculty mentor is expected to provide financial support for all years of training (including the first year). On average, students complete their PhD studies in five (5) years, thus the program anticipates a total enrollment of up to forty (40) Geroscience PhD students at any given time.
Course Work
Year 1
| Fall (12 units) | Spring (12 units) | Summer (6 units) |
| GERO 600 (4)
GERO 602a (2) GERO 603 (2) ——————— GERO 614L (4) |
GERO 601 (4)
GERO 602b (2) GERO 605 (2) ——————— GERO 614L (4) |
——————— GERO 790 (6) |
Year 2
| Fall (12 units) | Spring Semester (12 units) | Summer (6 units) |
| GERO 592 (2)
GERO 604 (2) Optional Elective (4)
——————— GERO 790 (4) |
GERO 592 (2)
GERO 599 (4) (temp course ID) Or GERO 606 (2) Optional Elective (2-4) ——————— GERO 790 (2-4) |
——————— GERO 794 (6) |
Year 3+
| Fall (12 units) | Spring (12 units) | Summer (6 units) |
| (6) Research units and electives as needed | ||
Required Core Courses:
(YEAR 1) GERO 600 (4 units) – Geroscience: Molecular and Cellular Biology. Emphasizes the molecular and cellular biology of aging and age-related pathology and other aspects of basic aging research, including evolutionary biology, demography, epidemiology, and bioinformatics.
(YEAR 1) GERO 601 (4 units) – Molecular Genetics of Aging. Explores concepts of molecular and genetic regulation of healthy aging, lifespan, and age-related diseases.
(YEAR 1) GERO 602a (2 units) and GERO 602b (2 units) – Seminar in Discoveries in Biogerontology. Critical analyses of primary scientific data and interpretations presented in the literature.
(YEAR 1) GERO 603 (2 units) – Research Integrity. Explores scientific integrity, mentoring, scientific record keeping, authorship, peer review, animal and human experimentation, conflict of interest, data ownership and intellectual property, and genetic technology. Satisfies RCR requirements
(YEAR 2) GERO 604 (2 units) – Geroscience Scientific Writing. This is a scientific writing course designed for students in the Geroscience PhD program. The course will focus on scientific writing for F31 grant proposals to the National Institutes on Aging (NIA), but the skills that are developed in this course will translate to other grant and fellowship mechanisms (e.g., NSF GRFP, F99/K00, AFAR). Students will develop the skills needed to synthesize a compelling grant proposal and by the end of the course, students will have completed a proposal that will be ready for submission to the NIH. Skills training, best practices, and workshop for all components of an F31 can also be used for qualifying exam prep.
(YEAR 1) GERO 605 (2 units) – Research and Journal Club Presentation Workshop. Intensive training in journal club and research presentations for graduate students in the Geroscience PhD program. Students present journal club articles on their dissertation research topic then include a presentation of their own work or research plan (and/or data). First year students present work from their rotations in Fall semester. Second year students present work in their lab. All students provide structured peer review (short write-ups).
(YEAR 2) GERO 599 (temporary ID, 4 units) – Statistics and Data Science of Geroscience. A class covering an introduction to coding principles in R, allowing the use of key principles of statistics and data science for use in geroscience research.
(YEAR 2) GERO 592 (2 units, MAX 4) – Multidisciplinary Research Seminar in Aging. Multidisciplinary perspectives on current research in gerontology, including physiology, neurobiology, health and medicine, psychology, sociology, and public policy. Topics and speakers change each semester.
Elective Courses
In general, only 600-level course numbers or 500-level course numbers specifically designated for doctoral students are allowed as electives to satisfy degree requirements. Students may inquire with the Academic Services team if additional courses can be taken to enhance research education.
GERO 606 (2 units) – A bioinformatics lab using a published RNA-seq data set as a testbed for students to learn coding principles, genomic biology, and applied genomic statistics.
GERO 613 (4 units) – Health and Aging. Examination of changes in health related to age, changes in health in populations over time, and the key health issues facing older persons.
GERO 619 (4 units) – Neuroscience of Human Aging. Identifying structural and functional changes, methodologies used, psycho-social and environmental factors, age-related changes and the future of brain aging.
GERO 626 (2 units) – Current Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. Lectures from researchers at the forefront of research in Alzheimer disease and related disorders.
GERO 628 (4 units) – Theories of Aging. An examination of the nature and adequacy of existing explanations of aging. Focus will be on psychological, sociological, and biological paradigms, and on the epistemology of theory.
GERO 640 (4 units) – Data Analysis Strategies. Hands-on experience in developing and testing hypotheses using various types of databases, data management and analysis strategies, and written presentation of findings.
GERO 655 (4.0 units) – Research Training Grant Proposal Development in Gerontology. Integrative grant writing and development of collaborative, interdisciplinary projects in gerontology as studied by biomedical, psychological, and social scientists.
GERO 666 (4 units) – Free Radical Chemistry, Biology, and Medicine. Explores the chemical and physical chemical nature of free radicals and related reactive species. Examines the roles of antioxidants and how they work.
Addition doctoral-level courses in relevant fields and departments can be petitioned for credit (e.g., QBIO, NEUR, BISC, DSR).
Research Units with Summary Writeups
- GERO 614L (4 units, MAX 12) – Laboratory Rotations in the Biology of Aging
- GERO 790 (1-12 units) – Directed Research
- GERO 794 (1-12 units) – Doctoral Dissertation
Each semester, Geroscience PhD students receive academic credit for conducting research required for degree completion. This work is evaluated each semester in a formal write-up submitted for evaluation in the Learning Management System (currently Brightspace). These write-ups can be shared with the student’s committee as part of their assessment of degree progress.
Laboratory Rotations
In the first year, students will rotate through laboratories during the Fall and Spring semesters (one to two labs per semester focused on geroscience research). Based on this, students are expected to select a potential PhD advisor by the first week of May. Official assignment will be by mutual agreement of the student and the faculty mentor. Exceptionally, and only if a suitable lab has not been found by May, a 4–6-week summer rotation can be arranged to identify a host laboratory (noting that classroom-based courses are not taken in the summer to make the shorter rotation timeline feasible). Students should note that summer rotations are not always available and are subject to faculty availability and program approval.
Students that cannot find a faculty mentor to sponsor their PhD studies can be dismissed from the program before the start of the second year of study.
During each rotation, faculty are expected to help students select and design a research project that will allow them to evaluate the student’s performance at the end of the rotation. The written evaluation of the student’s performance must be submitted by the faculty advisor ONLY (although faculty may solicit input from lab members). This document subsequently becomes part of the student’s permanent record.
Only faculty members who are willing and able to accept a PhD student in their laboratory for the full period of dissertation research (on average, 4 additional years of training) should take a student for a laboratory rotation. This is vital as students have only the first year in which to find a permanent mentor and laboratory in which to conduct their dissertation research and should only perform rotations in laboratories that can provide a potential ‘home’. In keeping with this policy, Faculty who accept students for laboratory rotations must be able to demonstrate adequate funding to support the potential dissertation student for at least a three-year period at the current level of support.
Direct Admission to the PhD Program – Under special circumstances, students can enter the Geroscience PhD program through “Direct Admission,” which excludes participation in laboratory rotations during the first year in the program and entering the agreed upon lab immediately. Students are allowed direct admission under the following conditions (ALL must be met):
- The student applies to the Geroscience PhD program under the standard deadline.
- The student is approved, based on established guidelines of excellence for admission.
- The student has an outstanding record of appropriate laboratory research experience.
- The sponsoring faculty demonstrates funding to support the student for at least four years at the current level of support.
- The student is supported by the sponsoring faculty member immediately upon entering the program; Direct admission students do NOT receive financial support in the form of a research assistantship (RAship) from the Geroscience PhD program, nor are they allowed to take a teaching assistantship (TAship) during the first year.
- Faculty of direct admission students must still evaluate these trainees with the same criteria and timing in the first year and beyond.
Once a student-faculty mentor pair is established, students and advisors must submit the Graduate Advisor Selection Form to the School of Gerontology Office of Academic Programs. See Appendix E for forms.
When selecting a mentor, or even a lab to rotate in, PhD students will meet with faculty to discuss several issues.
Some questions that are likely to arise in such meetings are:
- How many graduate students do you advise?
- How would you describe your mentorship style?
- How often do you meet with your PhD students? What do lab meetings/journal clubs look like? What are your expectations for format (raw data, polished presentations, etc.)
- How big is your lab? How do you envision the lab changing over the next 5 years (bigger, smaller, about the same)
- How is diversity (personal, professional, sociological) promoted in the lab?
- How much time do you expect students to take to complete their dissertation? Is there a benchmark that needs to be met (# of papers, time, etc.)
- How will we agree upon my research topic? Is there a specific project you would like me to work on? Are there opportunities to develop preliminary and/or full projects on my own?
- Are there sufficient funds available for the research project?
- What will be the sources of my stipend/funding?
- What level of independence is expected of your graduate students?
- Is there any specific knowledge I need to have before starting to work with you?
- Will I have the opportunity to attend conferences? Publish papers? Present work at colloquia? Are there funds available for me to do so?
- Will I have the opportunity to apply for external fellowships and grants? If so, what type of mentorship is offered for this?
- Are there opportunities for teaching (TAships) – also is this required?
- Are you planning a sabbatical leave soon? If so, what arrangements for continued supervision will be made during your absence?
- What opportunities would I have in this area of research when I graduate?
- How do you typically assist students on the job market?
- Will guidelines be drawn up for working together?
- How will I receive feedback on my progress?
- Will I have the chance to mentor an undergraduate or visiting high school student?
- Are the opportunities for outreach?
- What mechanisms of support are there for lab members (scientific, career development, etc.).
- (Is there anything else you think I should know)
These questions are designed to help the student and the potential advisor determine whether a good match exists. Where appropriate, the student may also want to ask about the order of authorship on publications and intellectual property issues.
The choice of a dissertation advisor (and selection of PhD students) is a decision to be made with a great deal of care and consideration. Discussion of the topics listed above will also give faculty members a sense of what students expect in terms of meetings, feedback, turn-around time on submitted work, etc. Taking time to explore these issues will result in a more productive relationship for both the student and advisor that culminates in a piece of original research, completed within a reasonable time period.
