Read and understand sections VIII Academic Honesty Policy and IX Graduate Student Honor Code found in the Graduate Student Handbook. Also, all graduate students should try and obtain a copy of Sigma Xi. 1986. Honor in Science. The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park, NC, 41pp. Academic Honesty Policy for the University of Massachusetts is outlined at http://www.umass.edu/honesty

Title IX is a U.S. law that prohibits discrimination in education on the basis of gender. A focus of Title IX is the prevention of sexual misconduct on college campuses. “Sexual Misconduct” includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic or dating violence, and stalking.

To create a caring and compassionate university culture, it is important for all of us to understand the resources that are available and our Title IX reporting responsibilities. Sexual misconduct harms its victims and the entire campus community; it is in the interest of all of us to prevent such offenses.

As a student, you or a peer may be a potential target of Title IX-related violations. If you are also a graduate student employee, you have Title IX reporting obligations as well. Under federal law, graduate student employees who are made aware of a possible incident of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or any other kind of sexual misconduct are required to report it.

If you or someone you know needs to report a possible Title IX offense, please follow these procedures:

• If the accused is a student, the report should be made to Patricia Cardoso, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Dean of Students Office (DOSO): 227 Whitmore Administration Building, telephone (413) 545- 2684 or email at @email
• If the accused is an employee, the report should be made to Kelly Burgess, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (EOD): 243 Lederle GRC Lowrise, telephone (413) 545-3464 or email at @email
• Graduate student employees are not confidential reporters and cannot guarantee confidentiality to anyone reporting a Title IX issue. If a student or employee asks to discuss such a matter in confidence, graduate student employees must state that they may not be able to maintain confidentiality. If you are approached regarding a possible Title IX violation, you might respond in this manner: “While I’m not a confidential source, I respect your privacy rights and will work with the campus Title IX coordinator and other resource areas to provide support.”

 If the individual reporting the incident to you chooses not to continue the conversation, you should encourage them to contact the Dean of Students Office, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, the UMass Police Department (UMPD), the Center for Women and Community (CWC), or the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH). UMPD, CWC, and CCPH are permitted to maintain confidentiality.

Failing to report a possible Title IX offense deprives the campus community of valuable information and will not help victims/survivors to get the resources they need.

You can find extensive additional information about Title IX and the University’s resources and policies by navigating to the UMass Title IX webpage, https://www.umass.edu/titleix

It is expected that your research or special project work will lead to publication in refereed journals. Even though Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations may be copyrighted, you and your major professor have a responsibility to make sure your work is indeed published and made accessible to the broader scientific community.

Typically, you should write the articles stemming from your work. It is expected that your major professor will be included in the author list even if you have done most of the writing. If a year passes after your final defense and the appropriate rough draft(s) is still not written, your major professor is entitled to write the article and assume the first authorship even though you have the copyright to the dissertation or thesis. Determining who should be included and in what order in the author list is sometimes a problem. R. H. Schmidt (Bull. Ecol. Soc. 68:8-10, 1987) gives a worksheet approach to help determine the relative contributions to the five areas of "conception, design, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation." R. A. Day (see reading list) asks "And what do these colleagues do when everything suddenly falls into place as a result of a searching question by the traditional 'guy in the next lab' who had nothing whatever to do with the research?" J. G. Dickson et al. (Wildl. Soc. Bull. 6:260-261, 1978) suggest "if the professor conceives and designs a project and is instrumental in other areas, he should be the first author."

In short, authorship is a tricky business, one that should be discussed at length with your major professor. The best time to discuss authorship is before the start of a project to avoid any misunderstanding and conflicts down the road. Also, Weltzin et al. (Front Ecol. Environ 4(8): 435–441, 2006) recommend communication between coauthors throughout the research process. It is highly recommended to follow the guidelines on publication and research ethics listed by the Ecological Society of America (ESA): https://www.esa.org/about/code-of-ethics.

All oral and poster presentations and publications should acknowledge sources of funding and other support for the research.

For thesis/dissertation degree students, the department expects a digital copy of your thesis/dissertation in pdf format. Your paperwork may be held up by the GPD or Department Head if you don't provide one. Also, you should provide your major advisor a copy of your thesis/dissertation and all research data on a computer disk before graduation.

The Graduate School expects you to finish your program promptly which means within four years for the MS and within seven years for a Ph.D. (assuming the candidate already has the MS). Please note funding restrictions will apply: admitted students ranked in merit by the GPC are guaranteed funding support for their entire PhD (5 years maximum) and MS (2 years maximum).

The first extension is granted automatically, but your major advisor must inform the GPD of this request so that we can approve the extension. A second extension requires a special petition to the Graduate School. To do this, you must write a memo to your major professor that summarizes your progress and the difficulties causing the need for an extension. Your major professor will send a cover memo to the GPD supporting the request, and the GPD will normally forward a copy of this memo as an attachment to his/her notification or request for the SOL extension.

Most research students in the program will receive monetary support in the form of a teaching assistantship (TA) or research assistantship (RA). The amount of stipend varies somewhat among students but is usually sufficient (i.e., 10 hr/week TA) to merit a tuition and partial fee waiver. Note, you must be appointed on a TA or RA amounting to at least 10 hr/week to qualify for a tuition waiver. It is your major professor's responsibility to expedite your appointment as an RA or TA with the office. If you and your major professor do not arrange for an assistantship, you will be responsible for paying tuition, with one exception. If you are receiving a stipend from another source equivalent to a 10-hr TA/RA for work directly related to your academic program, you can apply for a tuition waiver. UMass refers to this as an "externship" see:

https://www.umass.edu/graduate/funding/externship-policies-procedures

For this option, you must complete a special form (obtained from the front office in Graduate School in Goodel Building) documenting your employment and verifying that the work and stipend are directly related to your academic progress. Your employer must sign the form, which is accompanied by a letter from your sponsor on letterhead describing the work to be completed, the amount you will be paid and the period (start and end date) over which the work will be completed. Also, this form and accompanying letter from the sponsor must be submitted each semester separately.

If you don't receive a payroll or expense check when you expect it, don't delay in asking your major professor to help you. Please do not contact the Main Office about your stipend unless your major professor has specifically instructed you to do so.

Any semester that you are not enrolled full-time (at least 9 credits) for coursework, including thesis or dissertation credits (e.g., during semesters you are in the field conducting research), you may need to request full-time status to be eligible to receive fellowships, scholarships, and student loans. Your major advisor must recommend a full-time status to the GPD, who will upgrade your status to full on SPIRE. A memo is no longer needed to request an enrollment status change. Note, this must be done before the last day of add/drop for the semester and does not have to be done during the summer months.

If you are not enrolled for any credits, including thesis or dissertation credits (e.g., during semesters you are in the field/lab conducting research), you must still register for the Continuation (Program) Fee only; otherwise, the Graduate School will automatically drop you from the program. Specifically, to register for Continuation Fee only, you must enroll (via SPIRE) in the following: GRADSCH 999 (note, the specific schedule # changes each semester, therefore check on SPIRE), and you will need to enroll before the last day of add/drop.

IMPORTANT: If you are paying continuation fee only (i.e., not enrolled for course credits, including thesis or dissertation credits) OR you are signed up for less than 5 credits (including thesis or dissertation credits), then you must physically go to the Health Center and sign up for Health Insurance at the beginning of each semester, otherwise it will be dropped automatically. Health Insurance is only automatically carried forward if you are signed up for 5 or more credits.

You need at least two (but more is OK) SSA Graduate Faculty (as approved so by the Graduate School) on your committee. The Chair (almost always your major professor) must be a member or adjunct member of the SSA Graduate Faculty. A second member must also be a member or adjunct member of the SSA Graduate Faculty, who could bring diverse viewpoints to the committee. Additional members can be from outside SSA (e.g., faculty from other departments and universities, agencies, and private industry who are approved by the Graduate School to serve one-time as a Graduate Faculty). At least one member of the committee must be a regular University employee (i.e., not an adjunct faculty member).

UMass Research Associates (holding an MS degree at a minimum) are eligible to serve as members of MS committees, but not on Ph.D. committees. People not listed as UMass Five College Graduate Faculty (e.g., faculty from other institutions or individuals from agencies or industry that hold PhD’s) can be included as "Consulting members" (i.e., non-voting) or "Members" (i.e. voting), but cannot replace either of the two SSA faculty members (i.e., they can be the third or fourth member). If such people are included as "Consultants" or full “Members,” the GPD has to forward a memo to the Graduate School (along with the curriculum vitae, and date of birth) to convince them to allow it. The Graduate School prefers such people to be named as Consultant.

With your assistance, your major professor must forward a committee request memo to the GPD (for professional degrees) and the Graduate School by the GPD (for thesis degrees). Your graduate committee is not officially formed until this memo has been sent to the GPD and Graduate School. You must have an approved committee before you can submit your thesis proposal.

The Ph.D. committee needs to have at least three committee members with Ph.D. and Graduate Faculty Status. Additional members could be appointed depending on the research needs. At least one member must be an “outside of department member,” defined by the graduate school as a UMass Five College Graduate Faculty member, not in your department. Members outside the Five College System could be appointed after approval by the Graduate School as Graduate Faculty. With your assistance, your major professor must forward a committee request memo to the GPD for submission to the Graduate School. Your graduate committee is not officially formed until this memo has been sent to the Graduate School and a letter from the Graduate Dean is received by the student. You must have an approved committee before you can submit your dissertation proposal.

There might be situations when you feel a need to change major advisor or committee members. This could stem from many reasons, including a change in topic, major disagreements, work environment, etc. Changing a committee member can be done by discussing with your major advisor and informing the GPD of any changes to the committee member through a memo to graduate school. In cases that involve changing your major advisor, you are encouraged to discuss it with the GPD or school director on such changes. Discussing such issues with other faculty is encouraged. GPD will try to mediate any issues that can be resolved without changing your major advisor. When mediation does not work, you upon being discussed, the GPD can suggest another advisor in the department to work with. If this option does not work, the GPD will take the administrative role in the advising process by consulting with your original advisor or another faculty for expertise and content approval. When a decision is made by you and a new advisor is identified, GPD will make a recommendation for such changes through a memo to the graduate school. Changes to the graduate committee need to be recommended by the GPD to the graduate school in a new memo.

The minimum course credit requirements for different graduate program are listed below. Please note that your advisor and committee should be satisfied with your course credits. Graduate students must consult with their advisor to determine if they need additional courses based on the research project.

• A minimum of 30 course credits is required.
• At least 6 credits in letter-graded 600-800 series courses are required.
• Required courses include Global Challenges in Agriculture and the Environment (STOCKSCH 650) (3 credits). It is highly recommended for MS degree students with thesis option to take a statistical/biometry course, such as Public Health 640, Statistics 501, or a similar course.
• Master’s thesis is 6-10 credit.
• Up to 6 credit can be taken as independent study.
• Up to 6 credits with ≥ B grade and advisor’s approval can be transferred from other universities. Requests to transfer credits must be filed and approved by your advisor, and by the GPD, and then be sent to the Graduate School.
• The remainder course credits should be graduate-level courses in a major field defined as Plant & Soil Science or Environmental Science, determined primarily by advisor and thesis committee. No Pass/Fail grading in major field is allowed. See the list of available graduate level courses in the appendix.

• A minimum of 30 course credits is required.
• Twenty-one (21) of these must be in major field defined as Plant & Soil Science or Environmental Science courses or closely related courses.
• At least 12 credits in letter-graded 600-800 series courses are required. See the list of available graduate-level courses in the appendix.
• Required courses include Global challenges in Agriculture and the Environment (STOCKSCH 650) (3 credits).
• No more than 6 credits of Independent Study can be taken to meet degree requirements.
• An independent written report or literature review is required. Up to 3 Independent Study credits can be used for this purpose.
• No more than 6 degree credits of grade "B" or better can be transferred from another institution.
• A final General Examination is also required.
• No financial support is committed by the department for the non-thesis MS degree students.

Accelerated Master’s Degree in the Plant and Soil Sciences

Brief Description of the Program

The Stockbridge School of Agriculture (SSA) offers Accelerated Masters of Science degree (AcMS) in the Plant and Soil Science Graduate Program. B.S. students in Stockbridge or interdepartmental majors who wish to continue current undergraduate research projects and complete a M.S. degree efficiently are eligible to enroll in this option.

Course sequence for AcMS and the timeline to completion for students.

Students who already are conducting research or an independent internship/project in SSA or related departments will be eligible for the AcMS option. Also, undergraduate students who are not conducting undergraduate research but would like to continue their education in a non-thesis option are eligible. A minimum of 6 and a maximum of 9 credits at the 500 level courses are required to be completed by the end of the senior year for the AcMS. These credits will be transferable to the MS degree if they are within the student’s indicated area of interest, however, the total number of credits, taken across both bachelors and masters programs, must be at least 150.

Students may apply to the program in the first semester of their junior year, or during their senior year if adequate course and lab work are in progress or completed. Application materials should include two letters of recommendation, of which one letter should be from the student’s research advisor or mentor explicitly assuring that they approve the student’s proposed work. There is no GRE requirement. Applications will be reviewed, and acceptance based on a vote of the PSS Graduate Policy Committee.

Students must complete their degree requirements within 15 months of the completion of their baccalaureate degree.

No financial support is committed by the department for the AcMS degree students. Students are liable to pay the tuition and other mandatory fees required by the program and the Graduate School.

Accelerated M.S Requirements

A minimum of 30 credits (500-level and above) are required. Of these, a minimum of 6 must be completed by the end of the student’s senior year; a maximum of 9 of these credits may be counted towards both student’s BS and AcMS degrees, however the total number of credits, taken across both bachelors and masters programs, must be at least 150. Transfer credits must have a grade of B or above. Students can select either a thesis or nonthesis option.

Thesis Option –minimum 30 credits

• Six to 10 thesis credits can be applied towards the degree.
• A maximum of 6 credits can come from Independent Study (696, 796) courses.
• No Pass/Fail grading in required courses is allowed, except for 700- level seminars and thesis credits.
• The grade-point average of courses submitted for the degree must be 3.0 or above.
• Taking a statistics or biometry course offered by other departments is highly recommended.
• See the list of available graduate-level courses in the appendix.

Table 1: List of required credits for M.S. in Plant & Soil Sciences, Thesis Option 

Non-thesis Option – minimum 30 credits

• All elective credits must be at the 500-level or above.
• A maximum of 6 Practicum/Internship credits are accepted; and a minimum of 3 are required. All Practicum/Internship projects must be approved by the SSA Graduate Program Director. These credits must be taken as a matriculated graduate student.
• No Pass/Fail grading in required courses is allowed, except for 700- level seminars and Practicum/Internship credits. • The grade-point average of courses submitted for the degree must be 3.0 or above.

Table 2: List of required credits for M.S. Plant & Soil Sciences, NonThesis Option

• A minimum of 30 course credits is required.
• Twenty-three (23) of these must be in major field (defined as Soil courses) or closely related courses such as Geology.
• The following courses are required:
  • STOCKSCH 566 (Soil formation) (3 credits)
  • STOCKSCH 575 (Environmental soil chemistry) (3 credits)
• No Pass/Fail grading in major field is allowed.
• At least 12 credits in letter-graded 600-800 series courses are required. See the list of available graduate-level courses in the appendix.
• An independent written report or literature review is required. This may be an in depth literature review, or a report of a research project. The student will present their project to the committee and the graduate faculty in a seminar, followed by the final examination. Six credits of Independent Study are required however, these 6 credits may be taken over the course of study.
• No more than 6 degree credits of grade "B" or better can be transferred from another institution.

M.S. Degree (non-thesis, Off-campus Soils Course Requirements) 

While the Graduate School requires no minimum number of credits for a doctoral program, all doctoral students need to take a minimum of 18 course credits to prepare for the comprehensive exams and to achieve mastery of the subject. On average, doctoral students may take a minimum of two years of coursework to build their knowledge before taking the comprehensive exam.

Doctoral comprehensive exam include both written and oral examination. Your advisor will forward a memo to the GPD recommending members of the Examination/Advisory Committee. This committee may or may not be the same as dissertation committee. Each member of examination committee will give the student a pass/fail grade.

A minimum of 18 course credits is required before the comprehensive exam. However, your advisor and committee may recommend taking more course credits, based on your research project.

• Required courses Global challenges in Agriculture and the Environment (STOCKSCH 650) (3 credits). While biometry is not a required course, it is strongly recommended that Ph.D. candidates take at least one biometry/statistic course such as Public Health 640 or Statistics 501 or other similar course.
• The remainder 15 course credits should be graduate-level courses (500-800 level) in major field defined as Plant & Soil Science and Environmental Science, determined primarily by advisor and thesis committee.
• No Pass/Fail grading in major field is allowed.
• Dissertation is 10 - 18 credits.
• See the list of available graduate-level courses in the appendix.
• Up to 6 credits with ≥ B grade and advisor’s approval can be transferred from other universities.

• You must have prepared and submitted a thesis/dissertation proposal (see “section 3.4 for detail) describing fully the work to be done.
• You must obtain tentative approval of the thesis/dissertation as to subject matter and syntax by all members of the Committee before the defense can be scheduled. Specifically, at least one week before the thesis defense is scheduled or four weeks before the dissertation defense is scheduled, all committee members must email the Committee Chair confirming that they have read the thesis and approve your readiness to proceed to defense. After hearing from all committee members, it is up to the Chair to determine that you are ready to defend and with you coordinate the scheduling of a defense date. Note, the thesis/dissertation need not be in its final version for tentative approval; the Committee may require amendments following the defense.
• A memo requesting that the Final Doctoral Oral Examination be announced must be signed by the GPD or the Department Head/Chair and submitted to the Graduate Student Service Center one month prior to the examination date. Staff at the Graduate Student Service Center will review the requirements below and, if complete, will send an announcement to the Inside UMass "Weekly Bulletin" section of the UMass website:

1. Course work completed
2. Residency requirement satisfied and verified by Department (Residency requirement is two consecutive semesters enrolled as a full time student taking at least 9 credits each semester)
3. Registered for the appropriate number of dissertation (899) credits
4. Preliminary Comprehensive Examination passed
5. Dissertation Committee appointed by the Graduate Dean
6. Dissertation Prospectus/Outline approved and filed with the Graduate School
7. There has been 7 months between submission of Prospectus/Outline and Final Doctoral Oral Examination/Dissertation Defense date 

• Your major professor must distribute an announcement of the defense to all faculty and graduate students in the program at least one week before the defense. The announcement will include your name, thesis/dissertation title, the place and time of the defense, names of the examining committee members (and the Moderator, if there is one), and a list of your graduate courses. Defenses should be scheduled only when the University is open and not on holidays or religious holy days. 
• The entirety of the defense, including the seminar presentation, Q&A involving non-committee members, and examination by the Committee, is by default open to any interested persons, including other students, faculty, and the general public. However, you and your major professor may petition the GPD to have the committee examination portion of the defense closed to students and the public. Faculty cannot be excluded from any portion of the defense. This petition must be received by the GPD, as appropriate, at least one week before the defense. If approved, the Committee Chair will announce the closed exam during their review of the ground rules of the defense at the time of the defense (below).

• The emphasis of the defense will be on your thesis/dissertation and closely related subjects that require you to demonstrate an understanding of how your work fits into the broader context of environmental conservation.
• The Chair will review the ground rules of the defense and introduce you and the committee members.
• You will summarize your research in a seminar presentation. You will be expected to do this in 30-45 minutes.
• The Chair will invite questions from the audience; the presentation and Q&A session are not expected to exceed 60 minutes in total. After questions, there will be a break, and the candidate and committee members will reconvene to begin the formal examination. All other interested persons (faculty, students, public) are free to attend the examination but may not participate (i.e., they may not ask questions).
• You will be asked questions by each member of the committee (including Consultants) with each questioner given 20-40 minutes depending on the number of committee members and the time available. An examiner may yield the floor, with permission of the Chair, if another examiner wants to pursue a line of questioning toward a logical conclusion or to resolve any ambiguities. Note, non-committee members may be present during the examination, but they are not allowed to ask you questions. They may participate in the ensuing discussion if and only if the Chair deems it appropriate and solicits their participation. 
• After the examiners are through, you and all other students and noninvited guests will be asked to leave. 
• Nonvoting faculty and guests may address comments to the Committee. Nonvoting faculty and guests, excepting the moderator and Consultants, will then be asked to leave before the voting.
• Voting: All voting will be by secret, written ballot for PASS or FAIL. Only officially-appointed examiners vote. After a brief discussion, a first ballot will be taken. If the votes are unanimously PASS, no further discussion is necessary, and you will have passed the defense. If there are FAIL votes, there will be further discussion regarding the extent and seriousness of your weakness. There will then be a final vote. The vote must be unanimously PASS for you to pass the defense.
• You will be informed verbally of the result as soon as it is reached. Note, you may pass the defense, but still be required to make changes in the thesis/dissertation before it is signed in its final form.

• The Committee will inform you of any changes required in the thesis/dissertation. All committee members and the Department Head must sign your thesis/dissertation/professional paper in its final form.
• The Chair will notify the Graduate Dean of the date and results of the defense by a memorandum to be co-signed by the GPD.
• If you pass the defense, you must complete and sign the Degree Eligibility Form, obtain the required signatures, and deliver it to the Graduate School (Office of Degree Requirements) along with the required fees. For MS Thesis and Ph.D. Degrees, you must also submit your thesis/dissertation and the accompanying signature page to the Graduate School and see that digital copies are provided for the Department (delivered to the Main Office) and your major professor. Make sure and check on the deadlines set by the Graduate School for delivering theses/dissertations and other materials. Note, thesis/dissertation can now be submitted electronically, so check with the Graduate School for the procedures on submitting electronically.
• Consequences of failure. —If you fail the defense, you may petition (in writing) the Executive Committee of the Department within two weeks of the Examination. If the Executive Committee finds that your Committee has committed one or more procedural errors, it may ask your Committee to reconsider. If there are serious personality conflicts involved, the Executive Committee may ask the GPD to petition the Graduate School for a new committee to be appointed which may conduct a new defense. Also, you may seek help from the Graduate School directly either by contacting the Assistant Dean or by contacting the Graduate Council. Be aware that they may refuse to hear your petition. Be aware also, that if things get to this point, it is most difficult to resolve the situation to everyone's mutual satisfaction. For example, it may prove impossible to find faculty willing to serve on a new committee. Also, you may find help and advice through the university's Ombuds Office. Finally, your Committee may decide to table a FAIL vote and conduct a second (last) defense after allowing you time to make changes in your thesis/dissertation paper and presentation.

For professional MS students, a general exam will be administered by the advisory committee. On passing, your major advisor will complete the relevant memo on the outcome of the general exam and send it to GPD for signature and submission to the graduate school. The graduate school requires this memo for graduation.