Biomedical Informatics, PhD
The Doctor of Philosophy in biomedical informatics (BMI) degree is designed to prepare the next generation of biomedical informatics researchers who are uniquely positioned to advance research and practice in contemporary information and knowledge management that impact biomedical, clinical and translational research, healthcare services, healthcare practice, public health care, and healthcare delivery in general. Our graduates will be prepared to proficiently apply and navigate information and computer technologies to drive innovative solutions across various biomedical domains.
The mission of the PhD program is to build following competencies in our graduates:
- Understanding of theory and application of biomedical informatics, integrating computer science, medicine, biology, and healthcare.
- Building proficiency in analyzing, designing, developing, and implementing cutting-edge biomedical informatics systems and technologies.
- Developing capability to conduct and oversee high-quality, basic and applied research in the BMI domain.
- Establishing solid foundation in academic teaching principles.
- Nurturing comprehensive knowledge of multidisciplinary and emerging areas within biomedical informatics.
Program Related Information
Program Contact
Dhundy (Kiran) Bastola, PhD, Doctoral Program Committee Chair
402.554.4899
Emily Wiemers, Graduate Advisor
402.554.3819
Program Website
Admissions
General Application Requirements and Admission Criteria
Application Deadlines
- Spring 2027: December 1
- Summer 2027: April 1
- Fall 2027: July 1
Other Requirements
- Entrance Exam: Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are required for most applicants but are only one component of a holistic admission decision. GRE requirement may be waived for students on an individual basis based on a review by the Doctoral Program Committee.
- English Language Proficiency: Applicants are required to have a command of oral and written English. Those who do not hold a baccalaureate or other advanced degree from the United States OR a baccalaureate or other advanced degree from a predetermined country on the waiver list, must meet the minimum language proficiency score requirement in order to be considered for admission. Minimum acceptable scores are:
- Internet-based TOEFL: 90, IELTS: 7.0, PTE: 64, Duolingo: 120
- Statement of Purpose (not to exceed two pages) which address the following questions:
- What do you hope to accomplish with a PhD in biomedical informatics?
- Why are you applying to this specific program?
- What background or qualifications do you have that you believe are essential for success in this program?
- What general area or topics do you hope to study?
- What do you expect to be doing five to ten years after completing the doctoral program?
- Writing Sample: Evidence of graduate potential in the form of academic papers, publications, theses or project reports done in an academic or industrial setting.
- Resume: Submit a detailed resume indicating your work experience and background.
- Letters of recommendation: Three letters from references who can provide a thorough evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses regarding your academic work, and who are qualified to assess your likelihood of success in graduate school.
Applicants must follow the formal procedures established for admission to the graduate program at the appropriate NU campus. Applicants must have:
- successfully completed a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution: preference will be given to students with a master's or doctoral degree from a related field.
- demonstrate superior performance in mathematics, including calculus, discrete mathematics and statistics, and a sequence of courses in the theory and practice of one or more information technology areas.
- documented test aptitude, interest and commitment to scholarly activities and research.
- proficiency in English, sufficient to engage in advanced studies.
Evaluation for admission will be based on a portfolio approach that will include the following:
- class standing during the applicant's baccalaureate and master's level studies.
- grade point average in the undergraduate degree that is equivalent to 3.5 or higher.
- verbal, quantitative, and analytic scores on the aptitude tests of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
- letters of recommendation
- other evidence of graduate potential, such as a portfolio of quality of papers or publications, projects, etc., completed by the applicant either in an academic or industrial setting.
- A personal interview, if warranted and feasible.
International students may be assessed for English proficiency and asked to take courses in English as a second language. All students will be encouraged to take courses to improve their technical writing and professional communication skills.
Degree Requirements
The doctoral BMI program typically requires 90 credit hours beyond a baccalaureate degree. It consists of common required foundation/core courses, including doctoral seminars and colloquia, a major field of study, and a cognate/minor field of study in a related discipline.
The doctoral program is divided into four phases from a student's perspective: foundation/core coursework, major field of study/research coursework, additional elective coursework in cognate field/minor field of study (as advised by the student's supervisory committee), and doctoral research and dissertation.
Information Technology Prerequisites
Applicants should have a background in programming languages, data structures, statistics, math or experimental methods (any engineering, computer science related degree). Students with degrees in other disciplines will usually have to take foundation courses. Occasionally, a student's work experience may be sufficient to waive one or more foundation courses.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CSCI 1200 | COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES | 3 |
| CSCI 1204 | COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES LABORATORY | 1 |
| CIST 1400 | INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE I | 3 |
| CSCI 1620 | INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE II | 3 |
| CIST 2500 | INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED STATISTICS FOR IS&T | 3 |
| CSCI 3320 | DATA STRUCTURES | 3 |
| CSCI 8010 | FOUNDATIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE | 3 |
Science Prerequisites
Applicants should have a background in anatomy, physiology, cell biology or equivalent (any health science degree). Students with degrees in other disciplines will usually have to take foundation courses. Occasionally, a student's work experience may be sufficient to waive one or more foundation courses.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BIOL 2140 | GENETICS | 4 |
| BIOL 2740 | HUMAN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY I | 4 |
| BIOL 2840 | HUMAN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY II | 4 |
| BIOL 3020 | MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL | 3 |
| CIST 2500 | INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED STATISTICS FOR IS&T | 3 |
Requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation Courses | 24 | |
| A maximum of 24 credit hours of graduate coursework can be transferred from courses taken in a graduate program prior to admission into the PhD in BMI. All such credit transfers must be approved by the doctoral program committee as part of the student's plan of study. | ||
| Core Courses | ||
| BMI 8100 | INTRODUCTION TO BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS (or equivalent course as determined by the DPC) | 3 |
| ISQA 9010 | FOUNDATIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH | 3 |
| BMI 9200 | TECHNOLGY AND DATA FOUNDATIONS | 3 |
| ISQA 9120 | APPLIED EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND ANALYSIS | 3 |
| CIST 9040 | COLLOQUIUM ON IT RESEARCH | 1 |
| CIST 9050 | COLLOQUIUM ON IT TEACHING | 1 |
| CIST 9060 | COLLOQUIUM ON IT PROFESSION AND ETHICS | 1 |
| BMI 8540 | FOUNDATIONS IN PROGRAMMING FOR BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS | 3 |
| Core Electives | 18 | |
| Core electives play a vital role in enriching the academic journey by providing a blend of foundational knowledge and specialized skills tailored to unique interests and career aspirations. Select 18 credit hours from the list of core electives to allow for customized learning experience. | ||
| PUBLIC HEALTH GENOMICS | ||
| LINEAR ALGEBRA FOR ADVANCED COMPUTING AND AI | ||
| BIOMEDICINE FOR THE NONMEDICAL PROFESSIONAL | ||
| INDEPENDENT RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS | ||
| INDEPENDENT STUDY IN BIOINFORMATICS | ||
| INDEPENDENT RESEARCH IN BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS | ||
| ALGORITHMIC GRAPH THEORY | ||
| DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS II | ||
| PRINCIPLES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | ||
| DATA MANAGEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY IN COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS | ||
| ADVANCED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN | ||
| IT INFRASTRUCTURE & CLOUD COMPUTING | ||
| DATA MANAGEMENT | ||
| DATA MINING: THEORY AND PRACTICE | ||
| APPLIED STATISTICAL MACHINE LEARNING | ||
| STORYTELLING WITH DATA | ||
| BEHAVIORAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS | ||
| DESIGN PROCESS | ||
| FOUNDATIONS OF DIGITAL RESEARCH | ||
| Core Competencies | 12 | |
| SEMINAR IN BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS | ||
| TEACHING PRACTICUM | ||
| SEMINAR ON READINGS IN IT | ||
Additional course approved by the DPC | ||
| Exit Requirement | 18 | |
| DISSERTATION (The dissertation is an original research project conducted and written under the direction of the faculty dissertation committee. A minimum of 18 hours is required.) | ||
| Total Credits | 90 | |
In addition to maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or better in all course work, doctoral students must obtain a grade of B or better in any of the required courses. Any student failing the grade requirements will be prevented from taking the comprehensive examination and/or dismissed from the program.
Students should review the BMI doctoral handbook for more information on doctoral requirements.
Requirements for Admission to Candidacy
Students will follow the general candidacy requirements in the UNO Graduate College. Admission to the graduate program does not necessarily imply admission to candidacy for a higher degree.
To be admitted to candidacy for the doctorate degree, a doctoral student must:
- Successfully complete all coursework with satisfactory grades.
- Pass both parts of the qualifying (comprehensive) examination, consisting of a breadth and a depth (mock grant) component.
- The comprehensive examination can be taken after the student has completed all coursework according to their plan of study. The comprehensive exam consists of a written part that tests the breadth of a student's knowledge, and an oral part that tests the depth of a student's knowledge.
- Breadth Component- Before taking the written part of the exam, students will provide a selection of 3-4 topics from the areas covered in the BMI 8100 Introduction of Biomedical Informatics course. The selected topics should not have significant overlap within the major area of study given in the student’s plan of study. The topics should be selected so that they express a breadth in the areas in the core disciplines of Biomedical Informatics. The doctoral program committee will identify two topics from the set of topics selected by the student and inform the student in advance of the exam. The material related to the topic for preparing for the comprehensive exam (e.g., paper reading list) will already have been provided to the student when the student took the BMI 8100 course. Questions on the selected topics may be set by the faculty presenter(s) of the topic in BMI 8100. Answers will also be evaluated by the topic’s presenter(s), either individually or by a group of faculty members selected by the topic’s presenter(s). Alternatively, the DPC may decide on who sets and evaluates the exam.
• Depth Component- For the depth examination, the student will prepare an NSF or NIH grant style research proposal and defend it. This exercise is called a research proposal, not a thesis proposal. The proposal will normally cover the expected thesis area, but it is not inconceivable that the thesis will eventually be on another topic. The depth exam cannot be taken without successfully passing the breadth exam. The purpose of the depth exam is to make students thoroughly familiar with the theory behind the techniques that they will use; to give them a complete grounding in the literature of their research field (current and historical); and most importantly, to get them to think about their research. After writing the proposal, the student will orally defend the proposal (which must be no later than the end of the student’s fifth semester). During the oral defense student is examined about background and methods used in the proposed work.
- Breadth Component- Before taking the written part of the exam, students will provide a selection of 3-4 topics from the areas covered in the BMI 8100 Introduction of Biomedical Informatics course. The selected topics should not have significant overlap within the major area of study given in the student’s plan of study. The topics should be selected so that they express a breadth in the areas in the core disciplines of Biomedical Informatics. The doctoral program committee will identify two topics from the set of topics selected by the student and inform the student in advance of the exam. The material related to the topic for preparing for the comprehensive exam (e.g., paper reading list) will already have been provided to the student when the student took the BMI 8100 course. Questions on the selected topics may be set by the faculty presenter(s) of the topic in BMI 8100. Answers will also be evaluated by the topic’s presenter(s), either individually or by a group of faculty members selected by the topic’s presenter(s). Alternatively, the DPC may decide on who sets and evaluates the exam.
- The comprehensive examination can be taken after the student has completed all coursework according to their plan of study. The comprehensive exam consists of a written part that tests the breadth of a student's knowledge, and an oral part that tests the depth of a student's knowledge.
- Receive the approval of his/her dissertation proposal before the supervisory committee (oral examination). The dissertation proposal may be partially or entirely derived from the mock grant submitted as a part of the comprehensive examination.
-
At the proposal defense, the student presents an overview of proposal orally. Since all committee members have read the proposal prior to the defense, the oral presentation will consist of 20-30 minutes long presentation by the student. Students will be asked to answer a series of questions related to the proposal material. At the end of the proposal defense, students will be asked to leave the room, and the committee will discuss the student’s performance in the proposal defense and the outcome, which will be communicated to the student.
After the defense, if the defense is satisfactory students will receive either a clear pass (no other action is required on the part of the student) or a conditional pass (additional action is required on the part of the student).
Conditional passes are given if the committee finds there is an area that still needs to be addressed by the student. For example, if a student is deficient in a specific area that the committee feels will be important for the student’s success in the PhD program, they might require the student take an additional course. Re-writing a section of the grant proposal to clarify/correct a point that wasn’t clear in the original version is another common condition that can be assigned to students receiving a “conditional pass”.
- After the student has met these requirements, the supervisory committee will recommend to the Office of Graduate Studies his/her admission to candidacy for the doctorate degree, the recommendation will note the dates of completing the comprehensive exam. Such a recommendation must be filed at least seven months prior to the final oral examination for defending his/her dissertation in the presence of his/her supervisory committee. Following admission to candidacy, the student must register during each academic year semester until he/she receives the doctorate degree. Students not in residence may register for a minimum of one semester hour credit in dissertation. Failure to register during each academic year semester will result in termination of candidacy. The term of candidacy is limited to three years. If the term of candidacy is extended beyond three years (excluding summer terms), the candidate must pass another comprehensive exam.
Dissertation and Final Examination
Dissertation Credits - The dissertation of a Ph.D. candidate is supervised by the chair or co-chairs of the student’s supervisory committee in consultation with other members of the supervisory committee. While completing the dissertation, the candidate should enroll in BMI 9990 (Dissertation in BMI). A minimum of 18 hours is required for graduation. Dissertation course credits should be taken only after the doctoral student advances to candidacy. Under special circumstances, doctoral students can take dissertation credits during the semester they apply for candidacy, but the dissertation credits taken under these circumstances should be kept to a minimum. Dissertation credits cannot be taken if the student does not pass the written part of the comprehensive exam.
The dissertation should treat a subject in-depth from the candidate’s major field of study/research area and as approved by his/her supervisory committee. The student’s dissertation should show his/her technical mastery of the field and create novel material by advancing or modifying knowledge, creating new material, finding new results, drawing new conclusions, or interpreting old material in a new light.
If the dissertation proposal is approved, the student may conduct the dissertation research under the guidance of the dissertation advisor. The student is advised to consult with his/her supervisory committee until the committee accepts the dissertation. After the dissertation research is completed, the dissertation document and/or product must be presented to all the members of the supervisory committee in time to permit review and approval. Manuscripts must be turned in at least thirty days in advance of the final oral examination over the dissertation. The dissertation will be defended at an open meeting conducted by the student's supervisory committee.
Grade Requirements
In addition to maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA for all course work, all doctoral students must obtain a grade of B or better in any of the required courses. Any student failing the grade requirements will be denied from taking the comprehensive examination and/or dismissed from the program.
Exit Requirements
Completing Graduation Requirements
After successfully defending his or her dissertation, the student should obtain signatures from all members of their supervisory committee on the Report on Completion of Degree form and submit the form along with a copy of their title and abstract page to the Office of Graduate Studies.
Teaching Requirement
All PhD students are required to take BMI 9660 (Teaching Practicum) to satisfy their teaching requirement. The BMI 9660 course serves as a platform for students to create and teach an educational module in any STEM field. The student teacher will collaborate with a primary instructor and design a module in an existing course that aligns with the course SLOs and gain hands-on experience delivering the content in a classroom setting under the mentorship of the faculty member teaching the course. The student teacher will also develop the module’s accompanying assessment.
The student will receive mentorship on teaching from the assigned faculty member and discuss the specifics of the module and corresponding assessment at least a semester prior to the implementation.
Residency Requirements
All full-time doctoral students must complete 27 hours within 18 months in order to meet the residency requirement of the university. Part-time students must complete 18 hours during the same period. The residency requirement ensures that progress toward the degree occurs within a reasonably compact time frame, enabling the doctoral student to integrate his or her course work with the dissertation.
Time Limit for Completion fo Degree
A minimum of four years of graduate study is normally required to complete a doctoral program. The maximum time allowed is ten years from admission to the degree program. Students not making satisfactory progress will be counseled out of the program.
Leave of Absence
Under extraordinary circumstances, e.g., medical problems, a student may request a leave of absence from the program for a period of no more than one year. The request must be submitted to and approved by the student’s supervisory committee and/or doctoral program committee. The request should include necessary modifications to the plan of study as a result of the leave. The leave of absence stops the clock for the total time required for the program and the time required to meet the residency requirement. If a student withdraws in mid-semester and is approved for a leave of absence, the clock starts at the beginning of the following semester. A student does not have to have met the residency requirement in order to apply for a leave of absence. If a student does not return to the program within the one year approved for the leave of absence, then the student must submit an application to re-apply to the program. Re-admission to the program is not guaranteed at that point. Please refer to the Graduate Catalog for the complete policy on a leave of absence.