BMI Honors Cooperative Program Information
This section contains some advice for students who are currently enrolled in the Biomedical Informatics Honor Cooperative Masters Program. HCP students will need to review the general material for the MS or PhD program as well since the requirements for the degree are identical to the other MS programs.
Background
All Honors Cooperative Programs are programs which are supported by two organizations. The first is the University and within the University, the department or program which offers the academic content. The second is the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD), which offers the support and infrastructure needed to capture the academic content and offer it to students via distance technologies. SCPD's role is to act as facilitator for the student and includes the operation of the classroom studios where lectures are taped, the IT operations needed to stream the electronic media and support distance communications and to provide services as an intermediary between the student and the University if needed. These intermediary services are often needed since University operations assume that students will be physically present on campus. For example, SCPD
- can assist with obtaining your student ID if you cannot come to campus
- will mail out hard copies of class handouts
- offers some technical assistance if your computer malfunctions
- act as a trusted third party - for example if your computer crashes during your Internet administered exam, SCPD maintains logs and can verify some events (this is somewhat system/platform dependent).
- Assist with registration
If you experience problems with class registration, access to Stanford's websites, University ID's, etc... contact SCPD at one of the various methods listed on the SCPD Contact page.
Please note, because of the dual institutional nature of the HCP programs, HCP students are often required to comply with two sets of procedures, deadlines or policies- the University's and SCPD's. You must fulfill the criteria for both sets to be certain of any outcome.
The Biomedical Informatics Program offers the academic content for the HCP MS in BMI. If you have any questions about the degree program or requirements, curriculum, or class content, please contact BMI. If you are already enrolled in a class, you may forward your enquiries to the TA or the instructor. For more general questions about the program, degree requirements, courses or questions about prerequisites, please contact the BMI HCP course advisor:
HCP Student Rights
All HCP students are matriculated graduate students. As such, you have the same right to use University facilities including libraries, athletic facilities, to join student groups, or attend University functions as any other graduate student. Although most HCP students find the commute to campus onerous, you have the option of enrolling in classes which are not taped. Please read the University's policies for graduate students at http://gap.stanford.edu for a more complete discussion of student policies.
Academic Course Advisor
All HCP students in the BMI program are assigned a course advisor. Your course advisor can assist you with planning your course of study, give you advice about specific classes, forward announcements about special events which may be of interest to you. Schedule a discussion with your advisor either in person, via telephone or email every academic quarter.
Time Management
Our experience indicates that HCP students underestimate the time needed per class and overestimate their free time. As a rule of thumb, each academic unit represents 4-5 hours minimum per week, most courses are 3 units and therefore one class requires about 12-15 hours per week. We advise students sign up for one class per quarter, doubling up on courses only under special circumstances. For example, some students have jobs in the field and the skills and knowledge from their studies offer immediate benefit at work. Under these circumstances, their supervisors have regarded study time as work commitment and signing up for multiple courses per quarter has been feasible.
Biomedin 212 Introduction to Biomedical Informatics Research
Most HCP students have the equivalent of all or part of the training included in this class. Contact your academic advisor to discuss the special waiver process for this class.
Requirement for Med 255 waived
All graduate students with NIH funding are required to take Med 255 The Responsible Conduct of Research or the equivalent. Since most HCP students are not funded by NIH, this requirement does not apply.
BMI Events
HCP students are invited to BMI events including seminars, orientations, retreats, student dissertation defenses, cocktail hours, dinners and parties. Please attend!
