Curriculum

Students in the rehabilitation science program must meet the general requirements of the university and fulfill the basic program requirements to receive the doctoral degree.

Basic Program Requirements

• Successful completion of curriculum core courses, a minimum of 9 credit hours of research tools courses, a minimum of 6 credit hours of elective courses, and 12 credit hours of doctoral dissertation research.
• Successful completion of the qualifying examination. This examination takes place after the first year of full time course work. The goal of this examination is to assess that a doctoral aspirant has the necessary analytical, communication and writing skills to successfully complete a Ph.D. degree.
• Successful completion of the oral comprehensive examination. This examination is an oral defense of a dissertation proposal written in a research grant format. The following skills are assessed as a part of the examination: the ability to critically synthesize literature on a specific topic, identify gaps in knowledge and design a significant research question to address the gaps, execute an independent research project, understand and use methodology and data analysis techniques, and anticipate experimental outcomes. Students are recognized as formal doctoral candidates after they have passed the comprehensive examination.  
• Successful completion of the final oral examination (dissertation defense). For this examination, the doctoral candidate defends their written dissertation in an oral forum. The written dissertation consists of an introduction chapter, three experimental chapters (on average), and a chapter for the conclusions, clinical application and future directions. The dissertation should be composted at the level of a high quality scholarly work, with experimental chapters being suitable for peer-reviewed publishing as separate manuscripts.

---

Core Courses

The specific number of credit hours for courses REHS 870, REHS 873 and REHS 980 is determined in consultation with the student's academic advisor.

REHS 803	Research Observations (Take a minimum of one semester during the first year.)	1
REHS 805	Seminar in Rehabilitation Science (Take in Fall and Spring semesters for the first three years.)	1
REHS 856	Research Design and Methods I	2
REHS 857	Research Design and Methods II	2
REHS 862	Cellular and Molecular Basis of Rehabilitation	2
REHS 864	Introduction to Rehabilitation Science	3
REHS 866	Developing Research Aims in Rehabilitation Science	2
REHS 870	Teaching Practicum	1-3
REHS 873	Research Practicum	1-3
REHS 889	Grant Writing	3
REHS 980	Graduate Research	1-10

---

Research Tools Courses

Successful completion of a minimum of 9 credit hours of research tools courses as determined in consultation with the student's academic advisor. Courses BIOS 714, BIOS 720, and BIOS 730 (or equivalents) are mandatory.

REHS 760	Introduction to Matlab Programming	1
REHS 970	Instrumented Analysis of Human Biomechanical Function	3
BIOS 714	Fundamentals of Biostatistics I	3
BIOS 720	Analysis of Variance	3
BIOS 730	Applied Linear Regression	3
EPSY 710	Introduction to Statistical Analysis	3
EPSY 711	Lab for Introduction to Statistical Analysis	1
EPSY 810	Regression and ANOVA: General Linear Models	3

---

Elective Course Options

Successful completion of a minimum of 6 credit hours of elective courses as determined in consultation with the student's academic advisor.  Electives may be chosen from this list but are not limited to:

REHS 865	Independent Study (The specific number of credit hours for this course is determined in consultation with the student's academic advisor.)	1-3
REHS 884	Motor Control and Learning	3
REHS 886	Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation	3
REHS 887	Neurorehabilitation	3
ANAT 832	Electron Microscopy Techniques	3
ANAT 845	Graduate Histology	3
GSMC 857	Biographics	1
HSES 805	Laboratory Experiments and Analysis--Exercise Physiology	3
HSES 810	Advanced Exercise Physiology	3
HSES 825	Skeletal Muscle Physiology	3
HSES 872	Exercise and the Cardiovascular System	3
NRSG 870	Designing a Student Learning Environment	3
NRSG 871	Curriculum/Program Planning and Evaluation	3
NRSG 873	Teaching with Technologies	3
NRSG 874	Nurse Educator Preceptorship	3
PHSL 842	Comprehensive Human Physiology	5
PHSL 844	Neurophysiology	3
PHSL 846	Advanced Neuroscience	5
PRVM 868	Biomedical Informatics Driven Clinical Research	3

---

Dissertation Research

Successful completion of a minimum of 12 credit hours. The specific number of credit hours for this course taken in a specific semester is determined in consultation with the student's academic advisor.

REHS 990 Dissertation in Rehabilitation Science

---

Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship

The research skills and responsible scholarship requirement must be completed prior to the semester the oral comprehensive examination is scheduled.

Successful completion of the following courses meets the research skills requirement:

REHS 856	Research Design and Methods I	2
REHS 857	Research Design and Methods II	2

Successful completion of the following courses meets the responsible scholarship requirement:

REHS 856	Research Design and Methods I	2
REHS 857	Research Design and Methods II	2
PRVM 853	Responsible Conduct of Research	1