Two researchers in lab coats and safety goggles examining a petri dish together at a lab bench

CMB Prospective Faculty

Explore the expectations and opportunities that are part of the faculty experience in the U-M Medical School Cellular & Molecular Biology graduate program.

Learn more by jumping to the sections below:

Faculty Expectations

As an interdisciplinary PhD program, CMB has almost 200 faculty in various departments across many schools and colleges. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, and have a large range of research interests.

For faculty members, CMB has certain participation/service expectations, and taking a CMB student into your lab would of course have its own expectations as well. These expectations are summarized in the documents below.

Approval for CMB Affiliation

Please note, the CMB Program Director typically meets with all prospective faculty before their application is reviewed by the Program Committee. Email [email protected] to schedule a meeting.

The CMB Program Committee reviews faculty applications in their meeting every 2 months, and decides whether to approve the application. The goal of the review is to ensure that faculty members have appropriate resources, projects, and scientific training to provide a strong training environment for Ph.D. students.

Apply for CMB affiliation

Faculty Leadership & Involvement

In addition to required activities and faculty committees, there are a number of ways faculty can become involved in CMB, meet other faculty, recruit students to rotate in or join their lab, and meet potential research collaborators.

  1. CMB 850 Course Directors: Faculty who schedule student presenters and evaluators and serve as advisors for the course.
  2. Rackham Faculty Ally: This individual is designated by CMB and submitted to Rackham as the faculty representative who will attend monthly ASE Task Force meetings, advise the program on access, success and engagement issues (ASE), ensure access and opportunity in admissions and recruitment practices, and if available, attend recruitment conferences, like SACNAS and/or ABRCMS. This individual will also report on committee and program activities annually to Rackham, and submit additional applications for grants as needed. They may also encourage the Recruitment Committee to submit a Rackham grant for recruitment.
  3. Admissions Chairs: Chairs help recruit faculty to the CMB Admissions Committee, coordinate the application review meeting, track and rank offers/interviews, provide outreach to prospective students, and attend important admissions meetings with PIBS.
  1. Prelim Exam Chairs: Coordinate the written and oral exam process and lead the prelim committee and eval process.
  2. Workshop Presenter: Works with CMB leadership to create and schedule a workshop for CMB students for a topic area.
  3. CMB 850 Student Seminar Evaluators: Attends the rehearsal the week before, gives the student presenter feedback, and helps facilitate the student’s seminar and Q&A.
  4. CMB 630 Course Advisor: In the Fall, this individual would be picked by the CMB Short Course Committee based on expertise in a topic area of interest. The faculty member serves as a course advisor, and advises the committee on guest speakers and course planning.
  5. PIBS 503: Research Responsibility Course Discussion Leader helps to facilitate an RCR refresher workshop.
  6. Pharm 502: Grant Writing Course Section Leader helps to facilitate a grant writing course as a section leader.
  7. Poster Presenter/Faculty Rep at a Recruitment Event: Present a poster of your research, or come to just chat with students, as a faculty rep at PIBS interview weekends
  8. Recruitment Rep at SACNAS and/or ABRCMS: Inquire about attending one of these recruitment conferences as a faculty rep for CMB to recruit students to Michigan. All expenses are paid by CMB.
  9. Student Committee Advising: We could always use a faculty advisor for the ASE Task Force, Newsletter Committee, Career Committee, Journal Club or Short Course Committee.
  10. Symposium and/or Retreat Coordinator: This individual works with the CMB program coordinator to approve and host keynote speakers, and advises on other aspects of the event, such as faculty talks, poster session logistics, etc.
  • PIBS Interview Weekends: CMB needs as many faculty as possible to interview candidates and attend program events. CMB also needs a few faculty to present their research at Saturday poster sessions.
  • Preview and Q&A Sessions: faculty may be needed to meet prospective students, talk about the types of research in CMB or answer other questions about joining PIBS/MSTP.
  • Recruitment Travel: CMB faculty are welcome to inquire about traveling to the SACNAS and ABRCMS conferences, or to universities each year to help recruit CMB students.

CMB Program Committee

This committee meets every 2 months and votes on new faculty applications, reviews student issues, and discusses policies and changes to program events and initiatives. Students and faculty serve as representatives and communicate additional discussion items as needed, and represent a variety of departments and schools/colleges.

CMB Admissions Committee

The CMB Admissions Committee includes around 35 faculty and several CMB students, and is in charge of reviewing applications for the Program in Biomedical Science (PIBS) admissions process. Committee members submit evaluations and play an active part in determining who will be offered interviews and ultimately, offers of admission, for the CMB program.