NOTE: In special cases, the Department Chairperson may authorize a faculty member not holding the rank of assistant professor or above to be a member of a student's guidance committee if that faculty member has special competencies and experiences which contribute specifically to the program of that student.

Selection of the Major Professor
Prior to admission, students are accepted by a major professor according to information obtained from their application for admission and the needs of the faculty member and graduate applicant. Entering students are encouraged to discuss thesis research with several faculty in the Department and to review all program areas of interest to them prior to review of the application for admission. During the first semester of study, a student may transfer to another major professor provided it is agreed upon by the student and the new major professor. If the student does not wish to continue with the assigned major professor, a request for change should be initiated by the student, signed by the student and by both the temporary and the new major professor, and should be sent to the Department Chairperson by the end of the first semester. 

The major professor is ordinarily the student's academic and research advisor. In some cases, it may be appropriate that the student's research program is directed by another faculty member. In that case, the academic advisor will retain the designation of major professor and will be responsible for providing guidance for graduate course work, while the research advisor will direct the thesis research. The graduate student's major professor shall be a FSHN regular faculty member; the research advisor will be a regular faculty member from MSU.

Procedure for Changing Major Professor
Students may change major professors after the first semester. The student must discuss the change with the present major professor and the proposed new major professor before a formal request for change is forwarded to the Department Chairperson. A request for change of major professor must be initiated by the student and must include a statement of the change being requested as well as a brief explanation for the change. The signatures of both the present and the proposed major professors must be on the request. The request for change of major professor will be reviewed and decided upon by the Department Chairperson.

The Department bears no obligation to any student who does not wish to continue working with his/her present major professor and who is unable to obtain the services of another faculty member to serve in this capacity.

Admission Status
Graduate students are admitted into degree programs on Regular status or Provisional status for various reasons. When students on Provisional status complete at least ten semester credits with an average grade of 3.0 or better and satisfy other criteria specified on the graduate admission form, they will be considered for Regular status upon recommendation by their major professor.

Requirements for Admission of B.S. Students into the Ph.D. Program. Students (with only a B.S. or B.A. degree) may be admitted directly into the Ph.D. program in either Food Science or Human Nutrition. These students must provide evidence of exceptional performance as indicated by letters of recommendation, grade point average and GRE scores. There must be strong justification from both the student and the advisor as to why direct admission into the Ph.D. program is desirable. This justification must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies and will be discussed with faculty during a normally scheduled admissions committee meeting. The Director of Graduate Studies will summarize the review and make recommendation to the Chairperson of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition for final approval of admission into the Ph.D. program. Degree requirements will be identical to the requirements for those students entering the Ph.D. program with a M.S. degree. Students currently in the M.S. program can transfer into the Ph.D. program according to the guidelines set forth in the graduate student handbook.

Assistantships
Assistantship support is determined on an individual basis for students on regular admission, depending upon recommendations, availability of funds, fellowship and scholarship support, and grade record. Assistantships are reviewed annually by the Departmental Chairperson and may be renewed if satisfactory progress is being made and funds are available. Recipients of assistantships are considered as university employees and should fill out proper forms (e.g. notification of intent to engage in outside work for pay) when holding off-campus jobs. Students shall be informed by March 31 regarding the status of their assistantship for the ensuing academic year. Assistantships are not generally available to M.S. students on Plan B (non-thesis) programs, including those transferring from Plan A to Plan B.

Departmental graduate assistantship support will be limited to the equivalent of one calendar year for M.S. students, and two calendar years for Ph.D. students. The training grant fellowship and/or graduate school fellowship awards will generally have the same guidelines as the assistantship. To request possible extension of graduate assistantship support, students may petition the Department with an accompanying letter from the major professor. Assistantships will be terminated if the GPA is below 3.0. All courses including collateral will be used to compute the GPA. Continuation of assistantship beyond the first year of support is based on the needs of the department, the graduate student and the previous performance of the graduate student.


Students holding assistantships must register for course credits in accordance with the limits below:

*Including credits in courses numbered 899 or 999; during the summer semester, registration for at least 4 credits is required for all graduate assistants. This qualifies graduate assistants for the use of student health services. 

The minimum registration required of a graduate assistant during the term in which the degree is earned will be limited to the number of credits necessary to complete the program.

Additional benefits to graduate students on assistantships include the following:

• Exemption from out-of-state tuition.
• Tuition for 6 credits is exempted.
• Eligibility to enroll in available health programs.
• Eligibility to enroll for the optional accident coverage.
• Priority in University Housing for newly admitted assistants.
• Eligibility of campus parking permits.
• Two weeks vacation plus official university holidays. 

The following meets University and Departmental definition for assistantship levels:

Level 1 - Entering M.S. or Ph.D. graduate student with less than one year's experience on a graduate assistantship and fewer than 30 credits. 

Level 2 - Second year on an assistantship as an M.S. or Ph.D. graduate student or after earning 30 credits. 

Level 3 - Graduate student earning a Ph.D. degree having received at least two year's experience as a graduate assistant (or equivalent experience at the faculty level) and having passed the comprehensive exam.


The change to Level 3 becomes effective the term following the successful completion of the comprehensive exam. The Record of Comprehensive Exam must be approved by the Department Chairperson prior to the last day of finals each semester. 

If for some reason the exam is taken too late or signatures cannot be obtained to meet approval by the Department Chairperson by the last day of finals, the change to Level 3 will not take effect until a semester later (i.e. two semesters - If Record of Comprehensive Examination is approved too late Fall Semester, the level change would not take place until Summer Semester).

The Research Project
The research project for a thesis or a special problem is normally selected by the student in conference with his/her major professor. It is usually a project that contributes to a research area for which the major professor has funds available to support the graduate student research project.

It is strongly recommended that the student conduct a preliminary literature review to ascertain the state of the art before in-depth laboratory or field experiments are planned.

Space for the project and use of research laboratory facilities will be arranged, when necessary, by the major professor.

All biochemical nutrition students (M.S. plan A and Ph.D.) will undergo an annual review of research progress. The purpose of this meeting is to assist the student in maintaining progress and in developing their full research potential. This review provides the student an opportunity to update all biochemical nutrition research faculty on research progress, and to discuss their data with faculty. The review supplements ongoing interactions between the student and the major professor, guidance committee, lab group discussions, and other activities designed to enhance professional development; the review does not take the place of these important activities. Graduate students can obtain additional information from their advisers.

Each biochemical nutrition graduate student will receive notice of the review schedule and information about the review several months prior to the scheduled review.

Policy on Authorship

• Authorship- A person claiming authorship of a scholarly publication must have met all of the following criteria;

1. Substantial participation in conception and design of the study, development of methodologies, or in analysis and interpretation of data;
2. approval of the version of the manuscript to be submitted for publication;
3. ability to explain and defend methodology and data pertinent to their specific contributions to the study in public or scholarly settings.

• Acknowledgment - Contributions that do not justify authorship should be acknowledged separately in the notes to the manuscript. These may include general supervision of a research group, assistance in obtaining funding, or technical support.
• "Honorary Authorship" - A claim of authorship by, or assignment of authorship to, persons who may have been associated in some way with a study but do not meet the criteria in item 1 may constitute an unethical research practice.
• Allocation of credit and order of authorship- A senior scientist is generally defined as the person who initiates and oversees a project, supervises and advises the junior researchers, and makes intellectual contributions to the project. In the case of graduate student thesis or dissertation research, the senior scientist is usually the student's major professor. 
  

There is no general consensus on author order on scientific papers (Food Technol., 1989). A report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS, 1995) states "In many fields, the earlier a name appears in the list of authors, the greater the implied contribution, but conventions differ greatly among disciplines and among research groups. Sometimes the scientist with the greatest name recognition is listed first, whereas in other fields the research leader's name is always last. In some disciplines, supervisor's names rarely appear on papers, while in others the professor's name appears on almost every paper that comes out of the lab. Some research groups and journals avoid these decisions by simply listing authors alphabetically" (NAS, 1995). "Junior researchers may be listed as coauthors or even senior authors, depending on the work and arrangements within the research team" (NAS, 1995). It is the responsibility of the senior scientist to assure that the contributions of study participants, both colleagues and students, are properly recognized.

Scientific research is a continuous, ever changing process of discovery, much larger than a single paper; as such, it is often impossible to establish a list of authors and order of authors when a project is initiated. Thus, the general publication policy of each senior scientist/faculty member should be discussed openly with all researchers (both colleagues and students) at the outset of a project. Before writing the manuscript, the faculty member should discuss author order with all authors.

• Disputes Over Authorship - Disagreements over authorship, e.g. who has a right to be an author or the order of authorship, should be resolved by the senior scientist in collegial consultation with the other authors. When resolution cannot be reached by this process, the senior scientist should arrange with his or her chairperson for arbitration by a knowledgeable and disinterested third party acceptable to all the authors. If the authors cannot agree on a mutually acceptable arbitrator, then the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies shall appoint an arbitrator. During the arbitration process all the authors are expected to refrain from unilateral actions that may damage the authorship interests and rights of the other authors.
  
  
• Accountability - Every author listed on a publication is presumed to have approved the final version of the manuscript. Each author is responsible for the integrity of the research being reported. Each author should denote approval of the final manuscript in writing using the departmental form: FSHN Authorship Designation. This requirement is waived if a manuscript is submitted to a journal requiring sign-off by all authors as part of the submission process.
  
  
• Plagiarism - Plagiarism is the use of ideas or words of another person without giving appropriate credit (NAS, 1995). The expropriation of another authors's text and the presentation of it as one's own, constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism, in turn, constitutes misconduct in scholarship under University policies and procedures. Plagiarism in scholarly projects should be reported to one's chairperson, dean, or the University Intellectual Integrity Officer.

Other Degree Requirements

Teaching Responsibilities. Students admitted prior to Fall Semester 1992 are required to comply with the following guidelines: A M.S. graduate student is required to assist in teaching at least two courses, and a Ph.D. graduate student is expected to assist in teaching at least three courses during their respective graduate programs. Students admitted Fall Semester 1992 and after are required to comply with the following guidelines: A Ph.D. graduate student is required to assist in teaching one course during their graduate program. 

Performance. If a student's performance and/or progress does not meet departmental requirements, he/she shall be notified by the Department Chairperson or his/her representative. Where the deficiencies endanger the student's status in a degree program, he/she shall be promptly informed. A graduate student will be dismissed if his/her cumulative GPA falls below 3.0 for three consecutive semesters.

Semester Reports. The Graduate Student Semester Report form will become a permanent record of accomplishment and will be maintained in the graduate student's departmental file. The Graduate Student Semester Report must be submitted to the Departmental Office each semester irrespective of the type of appointment. The report for the semester is due on the first day of class of the next semester. Include grade report and a brief (1/2 page) summary of research accomplishments. Important: Submit your completed form to your major professor for his/her comments and signature. The form will be forwarded to the Director of Graduate Studies for his/her final approval. A copy will be returned to you and your major professor. An assistantship appointment cannot be processed unless the Semester Report has been received by the Departmental office.

Independent Study. Students must complete an Application for Independent Study form in order to register for FSC 890 or HNF 890.