Curriculum
requirements The curriculum requires a minimum of
64 credits, distributed as follows:
• 12 credit hours in core courses
• Minimum of three credit hours in an advanced statistics,
advanced mathematics, or experimental design course
• Minimum of nine credits in elective
courses
• Minimum of 40 credit hours in directed research (LFSC
697)
Core courses
The following core courses are required of all students in the
program:
• LFSC 510 Biological Complexity
• LFSC 520 Bioinformatics Technologies
• LFSC 630 Integrative Life
Sciences Research
• LFSC 690 Research Seminar
in Integrative Life Sciences (four semesters)
• MICR 510 Scientific Integrity
Statistics, advanced mathematics
and research design
Students are expected to enter the program with a proficiency
in statistics at the introductory graduate level, as exemplified
by the course content of STAT/BIOS 543 Statistical Methods I.
Students not at this level, as evidenced by prior course work,
will be required to take STAT/BIOS 543 or an equivalent course.
All students are required to take a minimum of one graduate-level
course in advanced statistics, advanced mathematics, experimental
design or an area of computational biology. The specific course
taken will depend on the student’s research focus. Students
may choose from among the courses listed below or from other
courses upon approval of their Research Advisory Committee.
• BIOL 606 Quantitative Ecology
• BIOS/STATS 523 Nonparametric Statistics
• BIOS 524 Biostatistical Computing
• BNFO 601 Integrated Bioinformatics
• BIOS 572 Statistical Analysis of Biomedical Data
• ENVS 603 Environmental Research Methods
• LFSC 610 Analytical Methods in Biocomplexity Analysis
• MATH 591 Mathematical Biology
• MATH 617 Applied Mathematics I
• PHTX 691 Research Design and Methods
• STAT 533 Applied Linear Regression
• STAT/BIOS 544 Statistical Methods II
• STAT 623 Discrete Multivariate Analysis
Elective courses
Students are required to earn a minimum of nine credits in elective
courses. The choice of specific courses will depend on each
student’s research interests and will be by approval of
the student’s Research Advisory Committee. Courses from
the many departments on both campuses are available to fulfill
this requirement. Consult the VCU Graduate
and Professional Programs Bulletin for course descriptions.
