Student News

Biochemistry's very own MSc student Naif Ahmad Almontashiri (under the supervisor of Dr. Alexandre Stewart) was selected as a 2011 American Society of Human Genetics Trainee Award Semifinalist. Naif has had a very busy 2011-2012 academic year, his work has been successful all over North America;

Presenting two different platform presentations at the Canadian Cardiovasculer Congress meeting in Vancouver in October 2011
Presenting one of the top selected talks at the American Heart Association that was held in Orlando, FL
Discovering a new biomarker for the coronary heart disease, with a US patent pending

For more information about Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology Department events and sucesses, be sure to read the BMI Bulletin at http://bmigsa.ca/, brought to you by the BMI Graduate Student Association!

Financial Support of Graduate Students

The Graduate Program in Biochemistry has for long had a required minimum stipend policy, meaning that a supervisor can accept a student if:

the student has a major scholarship or
if the supervisor was ready to provide a sufficient stipend from his grant to allow the student to study without the necessity of another position for the normal duration of a graduate program.

This funding has to be documented with a Disclosure form (see http://www.med.uottawa.ca/bmi/eng/gradstudies.html), signed by both the student and supervisor(s). The current Biochemistry minimum funding level is $17,850/year at the MSc level and PhD level. We do not have an upper limit on student funding, however if the student receives an external scholarship while be paid from their supervisor's grant, it is the student's responsibility to inform their supervisor and their stipends may be ajusted accordingly.

Support from major scholarships:

Information on FGPS awards is at http://www.grad.uottawa.ca/Default.aspx?tabid=1458, check often to be sure you obtain the latest information and details about upcoming scholarship competitions.

Support from supervisor’s research grant:

The Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology (including those in the HMG stream) at the University of Ottawa expects that all students enrolled in its graduate program will possess or will seek an external stipend. Students who have not yet secured stipends must be supported through research grants held by their supervisors at a minimum level equal to the minimum funding for CIHR Master’s Studentships (2010 - $17,850.00) and will increase in accordance to CIHR standards.

Additional funds received by our students.

Teaching Assistantships (TAs): While we think that some TAing is good training for our students, we do not want our students to support their research activities in this manner and therefore we do not allow these funds to be used in the calculation of the basic stipend, i.e, a supervisor must supply the total minimum stipend to a student without a scholarship even if the student has a TA position. Our large undergraduate program means that numerous TA positions are available for our students in the huge undergrad labs and in most courses. Please refer to the Faculty of Science webpage at http://www.science.uottawa.ca/students-etudiants/grad/apply-teachin-assistantship.html for current opportunities.
Travel: We believe that graduate students are scientists in training and that a key element in modern life science is communication. We attach great importance to this and we therefore spend most of our program budget on student travel to international and national meetings to present papers and to discuss job and postdoctoral opportunities. Please review the Graduate Program's homepage for the latest application forms at http://www.med.uottawa.ca/bmi/eng/gradstudies.html.

For information about this page: Victoria Stewart