Example Curriculum

First Year Courses

This is a typical schedule for the Fall and Spring First year semesters. Although it is possible to take electives in these semesters, the majority of our students limit themselves to our required courses in their first year. After that, we provide three examples to illustrate the different courses graduate students have taken in subsequent years to receive their Ph.D. in BBH.

First Year Fall Semester

BBH 501 Biobehavioral Systems in Health and Development: Theory and Processes (3) Examination of theories and basic processes for understanding individuals as dynamic biobehavioral complex systems functioning through continual interactions.
BBH 505 Behavioral Health Research Strategies (3) Research strategies in behavioral health investigations are examined. Designs and data analytic models relevant to biobehavioral research are included.
BBH 602 Supervised Experience in College Teaching (1-3 per semester, maximum of 6)
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

First Year Spring Semester

BBH 503 Biobehavioral Systems in Health and Development: Processes and Integration (3) Examination and integration of basic processes for understanding individuals as dynamic biobehavioral complex systems functioning through continual interactions.
BBH 504 Behavioral Health Intervention Strategies (3) Evaluation of intervention strategies from a biobehavioral health context. Theories of change processes as they pertain to health are analyzed.
BBH 506/597 (3). Continuation of data analytic models relevant to biobehavioral research.
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
BBH 602 Supervised Experience in College Teaching (1-3 per semester, maximum of 6).

Course Examples for 2nd to 4th year

Below are examples of 2nd-4th year course schedules of students with the following different emphases in their training; this by no means represent the full breadth of interests in our department.

Preventative Health Research

(note it is optional to take courses over the summers)

First Year Summer Semester

BBH 597A: Social Change in Human Development (3 credits)
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
BBH 597B: Applied Methodology (3 credits)

Second Year Fall Semester

BBH 502 Health: Biobehavioral Perspectives (3) Introduction to the role of psychology in maintaining health and in treating nonpsychiatric disorders.
ADTED 550 Qualitative Research in Adult Education (3) Introduction to the theory, principles, and practice of qualitative research.
HDFS 597C: Quantitative Methods in Intervention Science (3 credits)
Pass Candidacy

Second Year Spring Semester

AEE 597B: Multivariate Data Analysis (3 credits)
EDTHP 588: Qualitative Methods II (3 credits)
SOC 597D: Social Networks (3 credits)

Third Year Fall Semester

AEE 551: Basic Applied Data (3 credits)
BBH 551 World Health Promotion (3) Analysis of the various health problems that affect humans throughout the world; emphasis will be placed on personal health issues.
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Third Year Spring Semester

BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
SOC 592 Writing for Publication in the Social Sciences (3) Systematic, collective review of unpublished student manuscripts with an eye toward revision for publication.
Pass Comprehensive Exams

Fourth Year Fall Semester

BBH 601: PhD Full-Time Dissertation Work

Fourth Year Spring Semester

BBH 601: PhD Full-Time Dissertation Work
Defend Dissertation in May

Fourth Year Summer Semester

Graduate in August

Cardiovascular Health

Second Year Fall Semester

BB H 502 Health: Biobehavioral Perspectives (3) Introduction to the role of psychology in maintaining health and in treating nonpsychiatric disorders.
BBH 521 Structural Equation Modeling (3) Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL and Amos. Confirmatory factor analysis; regression and path analysis with manifest/latent variables; special applications.
NUTR 513 Atherosclerosis and Nutrition (2) The etiology and pathophysiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with emphasis on nutritionally-related aspects.
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Second Year Spring Semester

BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
NUTR 597C Survey Data with SAS (3)

Third Year Fall Semester

NUTR 501 Regulation of Nutrient Metabolism I (4) Integration of nutritional, biomedical, biochemical, physiological, and hormonal processes involved in carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism.
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Third Year Spring Semester

NUTR 502 Regulation of Nutrient Metabolism II (3) Complementary to NUTR 501 with an emphasis on metabolic roles of vitamin and mineral elements.
BB H 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Fourth Year Fall Semester

NUTR 520 Readings in Nutrition (1 per semester/maximum of 2) Readings and reports of selected topics in nutrition.
NUTR 600 Thesis Research (1-15) No description.
BBH 602 Supervised Experience in College Teaching (1-3 per semester, maximum of 6)

Fourth Year Spring Semester

NUTR 520 Readings in Nutrition (1 per semester/maximum of 2) Readings and reports of selected topics in nutrition.
NUTR 551 Seminar in Nutrition (1-6) Selected topics and recent advances in nutrition.

Addiction and Health Intervention

First Year Summer Semester:

STAT 500 Applied Statistics (3) Descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, power, estimation, confidence intervals, regression, one- and 2-way ANOVA, Chi-square tests, diagnostics.
STAT 480 Introduction to SAS (1) Introduction to SAS with emphasis on reading, manipulating and summarizing data.

Second Year Fall Semester:

BBH 502 (PSY 502) Health: Biobehavioral Perspectives (3) Introduction to the role of psychology in maintaining health and in treating nonpsychiatric disorders.
STAT 501 Regression Methods (3) Analysis of research data through simple and multiple regression and correlation; polynomial models; indicator variables; step-wise, piece-wise, and logistic regression.
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
BBH 602 Supervised Experience in College Teaching (1-3 per semester, maximum of 6)
Pass Candidacy

Second Year Spring Semster:

AEE 597B: Multivariate Data Analysis (3 credits)
BBH 602 Supervised Experience in College Teaching (1-3 per semester, maximum of 6)
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
Complete Requirements for Master's Degree in Biobehavioral Health

Third Year Fall Semester:

STAT 509 Design and Analysis of Clinical Trials (3) An introduction to the design and statistical analysis of randomized and observational studies in biomedical research.
HDFS 517 Multivariate Study of Change and Human Development (3) Models of development and change derived from empirical research utilizing multivariate research design and procedures.
BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Third Year Spring Semester:

BBH 596 Individual Studies (1-9) Creative projects, including non-thesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
BBH 602 Supervised Experience in College Teaching (1-3 per semester, maximum of 6)
Pass Comprehensive Examination

Fourth Year Fall Semester:

PHS 550 Principles of Epidemiology (3) Topics include measurements, surveillance, outbreak investigation, bias, and study design.
BBH 601: Ph.D. Dissertation Research Full Time (no credit designation)

Fourth Year Spring Semester:

IBIOS 591 Ethics in the Life Sciences (1) An examination of integrity and misconduct in life sciences research, including issues of data collection, publication, authorship, and peer review.
BBH 601: Ph.D. Dissertation Research Full Time (no credit designation)

Fifth Year Fall and Spring Semesters

BBH 601: Ph.D. Dissertation Research Full Time (no credit designation)
Defend Dissertation in Spring
Receive Doctorate in August