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Soumiya Pal receives his research coat from Antino Allen, Ph.D., program director of the Graduate School's pharmaceutical sciences program and Amanda Stolarz, Ph.D. Image by Evan Lewis

Research Induction Ceremony Celebrates Graduate Students’ Journey to Doctoral Degrees

Sept. 28, 2022 | Mentors and advisors helped 27 UAMS Graduate School students from 10 programs put on their new white lab coats during the school’s annual research induction ceremony Sept. 12.

The ceremony recognizes the graduate students who have passed their formal qualifying examination and are now Ph.D. candidates advancing into the research phase in the pursuit of their doctoral degrees.

About 100 attendees, including the students, their mentors, advisors, program directors and family members, filled the 12^th floor Fred Smith auditorium of the Jackson Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute while 75 faculty, relatives and friends from five countries watched the live stream online.

Last year’s event, which combined the students from 2020 and 2021, was the first time the ceremony was resumed since the COVID-19 pandemic’s arrival in March 2020, but it was limited to just the students, their mentors and program directors. This year, the rest of the Graduate School’s faculty and the students’ family members were also allowed to attend in person. A reception in the lobby was held after the ceremony.

 

“We’re really excited because we haven’t been able to open this event back up like this in three years,” said Graduate School Dean Robert McGehee Jr., Ph.D.

The donning of the students’ coats, each embroidered with their names, acknowledges the accomplishments they’ve already completed as well as a major benchmark — passing their Ph.D. candidacy or qualifying oral exams to become doctoral candidates — as well as setting the stage for the additional work in the research phase that lies ahead, he added.

The national average for obtaining a Ph.D. is about five years, but ours is just under that, McGehee said. He noted that while the UAMS Graduate School may be smaller than others, the spots in its program are highly coveted.

“For every one of the 35 to 40 new students we select each year, there are about 15 others who wanted that seat,” McGehee said, adding that as a small school, the staff is able to get to know the students pretty well and screen them.

The Graduate School also prides itself on its deep diversity.

“Here at UAMS, the Graduate School is the most diverse of all of our colleges,” McGehee said. “We have 17 different countries, including the U.S., represented within our school.”

“We’re not interested in just seeing you graduate; we want to see you graduate well, and I think we are very successful in doing that,” he said.

The research induction ceremony, held each fall for the last 15 years, recognizes the students who have passed their candidacy exam since the previous ceremony.

“When the students have reached this point, it really is a major hurdle to get through,” McGehee said, explaining that this is the point where the students transition from the program directors who helped them get in the program to the major advisors or mentors who will now take over.

“If it’s done right, and I believe we do, the relationship between student and their mentor can last a lifetime,” McGehee said.

After all the students received their lab coats, the ceremony concluded with the group reciting the Affirmation of Scientists, created by Anne Cather, M.D., at West Virginia University School of Medicine, which reminds them to consider the honor, integrity and professionalism involved in research as well as the public trust that should not be violated.

The professional opportunities have expanded for the graduate students through the years, McGehee said.

“In the past, once you received a Ph.D. you either went into academia or went to work for a big pharmaceutical company. Those were your two choices, but that is no longer the case,” he said. “We now have our graduates in all types of positions all over the world.”