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PhD Defence Process: A Comprehensive Guide

Embarking on the journey toward a PhD is an intellectual odyssey marked by tireless research, countless hours of contemplation, and a fervent commitment to contributing to the body of knowledge in one’s field. As the culmination of this formidable journey, the PhD defence stands as the final frontier, the proverbial bridge between student and scholar.

In this comprehensive guide, we unravel the intricacies of the PhD defence—a momentous occasion that is both a celebration of scholarly achievement and a rigorous evaluation of academic prowess. Join us as we explore the nuances of the defence process, addressing questions about its duration, contemplating the possibility of failure, and delving into the subtle distinctions of language that surround it.

Beyond the formalities, we aim to shed light on the significance of this rite of passage, dispelling misconceptions about its nature. Moreover, we’ll consider the impact of one’s attire on this critical day and share personal experiences and practical tips from those who have successfully navigated the defence journey.

Whether you are on the precipice of your own defence or are simply curious about the process, this guide seeks to demystify the PhD defence, providing a roadmap for success and a nuanced understanding of the pivotal event that marks the transition from student to scholar.

Introduction

A. definition and purpose:, b. overview of the oral examination:, a. general duration of a typical defense, b. factors influencing the duration:, c. preparation and flexibility:, a. preparation and thorough understanding of the research:, b. handling questions effectively:, c. confidence and composure during the presentation:, d. posture of continuous improvement:, a. exploring the possibility of failure:, b. common reasons for failure:, c. steps to mitigate the risk of failure:, d. post-failure resilience:, a. addressing the language variation:, b. conforming to regional preferences:, c. consistency in usage:, d. flexibility and adaptability:, e. navigating language in a globalized academic landscape:, a. debunking myths around the formality of the defense:, b. significance in validating research contributions:, c. post-defense impact:, a. appropriate attire for different settings:, b. professionalism and the impact of appearance:, c. practical tips for dressing success:, b. practical tips for a successful defense:, c. post-defense reflections:, career options after phd.

Embarking on the doctoral journey is a formidable undertaking, where aspiring scholars immerse themselves in the pursuit of knowledge, contributing new insights to their respective fields. At the pinnacle of this academic odyssey lies the PhD defence—a culmination that transcends the boundaries of a mere formality, symbolizing the transformation from a student of a discipline to a recognized contributor to the academic tapestry.

The PhD defence, also known as the viva voce or oral examination, is a pivotal moment in the life of a doctoral candidate.

PhD defence is not merely a ritualistic ceremony; rather, it serves as a platform for scholars to present, defend, and elucidate the findings and implications of their research. The defence is the crucible where ideas are tested, hypotheses scrutinized, and the depth of scholarly understanding is laid bare.

The importance of the PhD defence reverberates throughout the academic landscape. It is not just a capstone event; it is the juncture where academic rigour meets real-world application. The defence is the litmus test of a researcher’s ability to articulate, defend, and contextualize their work—an evaluation that extends beyond the pages of a dissertation.

Beyond its evaluative nature, the defence serves as a rite of passage, validating the years of dedication, perseverance, and intellectual rigour invested in the research endeavour. Success in the defence is a testament to the candidate’s mastery of their subject matter and the originality and impact of their contributions to the academic community.

Furthermore, a successful defence paves the way for future contributions, positioning the scholar as a recognized authority in their field. The defence is not just an endpoint; it is a launchpad, propelling researchers into the next phase of their academic journey as they continue to shape and redefine the boundaries of knowledge.

In essence, the PhD defence is more than a ceremonial checkpoint—it is a transformative experience that validates the intellectual journey, underscores the significance of scholarly contributions, and sets the stage for a continued legacy of academic excellence. As we navigate the intricacies of this process, we invite you to explore the multifaceted dimensions that make the PhD defence an indispensable chapter in the narrative of academic achievement.

What is a PhD Defence?

At its core, a PhD defence is a rigorous and comprehensive examination that marks the culmination of a doctoral candidate’s research journey. It is an essential component of the doctoral process in which the candidate is required to defend their dissertation before a committee of experts in the field. The defence serves multiple purposes, acting as both a showcase of the candidate’s work and an evaluative measure of their understanding, critical thinking, and contributions to the academic domain.

The primary goals of a PhD defence include:

• Presentation of Research: The candidate presents the key findings, methodology, and significance of their research.
• Demonstration of Mastery: The defence assesses the candidate’s depth of understanding, mastery of the subject matter, and ability to engage in scholarly discourse.
• Critical Examination: Committee members rigorously question the candidate, challenging assumptions, testing methodologies, and probing the boundaries of the research.
• Validation of Originality: The defence validates the originality and contribution of the candidate’s work to the existing body of knowledge.

The PhD defence often takes the form of an oral examination, commonly referred to as the viva voce. This oral component adds a dynamic and interactive dimension to the evaluation process. Key elements of the oral examination include:

• Presentation: The candidate typically begins with a formal presentation, summarizing the dissertation’s main components, methodology, and findings. This presentation is an opportunity to showcase the significance and novelty of the research.
• Questioning and Discussion: Following the presentation, the candidate engages in a thorough questioning session with the examination committee. Committee members explore various aspects of the research, challenging the candidates to articulate their rationale, defend their conclusions, and respond to critiques.
• Defence of Methodology: The candidate is often required to defend the chosen research methodology, demonstrating its appropriateness, rigour, and contribution to the field.
• Evaluation of Contributions: Committee members assess the originality and impact of the candidate’s contributions to the academic discipline, seeking to understand how the research advances existing knowledge.

The oral examination is not a mere formality; it is a dynamic exchange that tests the candidate’s intellectual acumen, research skills, and capacity to contribute meaningfully to the scholarly community.

In essence, the PhD defence is a comprehensive and interactive evaluation that encapsulates the essence of a candidate’s research journey, demanding a synthesis of knowledge, clarity of expression, and the ability to navigate the complexities of academic inquiry. As we delve into the specifics of the defence process, we will unravel the layers of preparation and skill required to navigate this transformative academic milestone.

How Long is a PhD Defence?

The duration of a PhD defence can vary widely, but it typically ranges from two to three hours. This time frame encompasses the candidate’s presentation of their research, questioning and discussions with the examination committee, and any additional deliberations or decisions by the committee. However, it’s essential to note that this is a general guideline, and actual defence durations may vary based on numerous factors.

• Sciences and Engineering: Defenses in these fields might lean towards the shorter end of the spectrum, often around two hours. The focus is often on the methodology, results, and technical aspects.
• Humanities and Social Sciences: Given the theoretical and interpretive nature of research in these fields, defences might extend closer to three hours or more. Discussions may delve into philosophical underpinnings and nuanced interpretations.
• Simple vs. Complex Studies: The complexity of the research itself plays a role. Elaborate experiments, extensive datasets, or intricate theoretical frameworks may necessitate a more extended defence.
• Number of Committee Members: A larger committee or one with diverse expertise may lead to more extensive discussions and varied perspectives, potentially elongating the defence.
• Committee Engagement: The level of engagement and probing by committee members can influence the overall duration. In-depth discussions or debates may extend the defence time.
• Cultural Norms: In some countries, the oral defence might be more ceremonial, with less emphasis on intense questioning. In others, a rigorous and extended defence might be the norm.
• Evaluation Practices: Different academic systems have varying evaluation criteria, which can impact the duration of the defence.
• Institutional Guidelines: Some institutions may have specific guidelines on defence durations, influencing the overall time allotted for the process.

Candidates should be well-prepared for a defence of any duration. Adequate preparation not only involves a concise presentation of the research but also anticipates potential questions and engages in thoughtful discussions. Additionally, candidates should be flexible and responsive to the dynamics of the defense, adapting to the pace set by the committee.

Success Factors in a PhD Defence

• Successful defence begins with a deep and comprehensive understanding of the research. Candidates should be well-versed in every aspect of their study, from the theoretical framework to the methodology and findings.
• Thorough preparation involves anticipating potential questions from the examination committee. Candidates should consider the strengths and limitations of their research and be ready to address queries related to methodology, data analysis, and theoretical underpinnings.
• Conducting mock defences with peers or mentors can be invaluable. It helps refine the presentation, exposes potential areas of weakness, and provides an opportunity to practice responding to challenging questions.
• Actively listen to questions without interruption. Understanding the nuances of each question is crucial for providing precise and relevant responses.
• Responses should be clear, concise, and directly address the question. Avoid unnecessary jargon, and strive to convey complex concepts in a manner that is accessible to the entire committee.
• It’s acceptable not to have all the answers. If faced with a question that stumps you, acknowledge it honestly. Expressing a willingness to explore the topic further demonstrates intellectual humility.
• Use questions as opportunities to reinforce key messages from the research. Skillfully link responses back to the core contributions of the study, emphasizing its significance.
• Rehearse the presentation multiple times to build familiarity with the material. This enhances confidence, reduces nervousness, and ensures a smooth and engaging delivery.
• Maintain confident and open body language. Stand tall, make eye contact, and use gestures judiciously. A composed demeanour contributes to a positive impression.
• Acknowledge and manage nervousness. It’s natural to feel some anxiety, but channelling that energy into enthusiasm for presenting your research can turn nervousness into a positive force.
• Engage with the committee through a dynamic and interactive presentation. Invite questions during the presentation to create a more conversational atmosphere.
• Utilize visual aids effectively. Slides or other visual elements should complement the spoken presentation, reinforcing key points without overwhelming the audience.
• View the defence not only as an evaluation but also as an opportunity for continuous improvement. Feedback received during the defence can inform future research endeavours and scholarly pursuits.

In essence, success in a PhD defence hinges on meticulous preparation, adept handling of questions, and projecting confidence and composure during the presentation. A well-prepared and resilient candidate is better positioned to navigate the challenges of the defence, transforming it from a moment of evaluation into an affirmation of scholarly achievement.

Failure in PhD Defence

• While the prospect of failing a PhD defence is relatively rare, it’s essential for candidates to acknowledge that the possibility exists. Understanding this reality can motivate diligent preparation and a proactive approach to mitigate potential risks.
• Failure, if it occurs, should be seen as a learning opportunity rather than a definitive endpoint. It may highlight areas for improvement and offer insights into refining the research and presentation.
• Lack of thorough preparation, including a weak grasp of the research content, inadequate rehearsal, and failure to anticipate potential questions, can contribute to failure.
• Inability to effectively defend the chosen research methodology, including justifying its appropriateness and demonstrating its rigour, can be a critical factor.
• Failing to clearly articulate the original contributions of the research and its significance to the field may lead to a negative assessment.
• Responding defensively to questions, exhibiting a lack of openness to critique, or being unwilling to acknowledge limitations can impact the overall impression.
• Inability to address committee concerns or incorporate constructive feedback received during the defense may contribute to a negative outcome.
• Comprehensive preparation is the cornerstone of success. Candidates should dedicate ample time to understanding every facet of their research, conducting mock defences, and seeking feedback.
• Identify potential weaknesses in the research and address them proactively. Being aware of limitations and articulating plans for addressing them in future work demonstrates foresight.
• Engage with mentors, peers, or advisors before the defence. Solicit constructive feedback on both the content and delivery of the presentation to refine and strengthen the defence.
• Develop strategies to manage stress and nervousness. Techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, or visualization can be effective in maintaining composure during the defence.
• Conduct a pre-defense review of all materials, ensuring that the presentation aligns with the dissertation and that visual aids are clear and supportive.
• Approach the defence with an open and reflective attitude. Embrace critique as an opportunity for improvement rather than as a personal affront.
• Clarify expectations with the examination committee beforehand. Understanding the committee’s focus areas and preferences can guide preparation efforts.
• In the event of failure, candidates should approach the situation with resilience. Seek feedback from the committee, understand the reasons for the outcome, and use the experience as a springboard for improvement.

In summary, while the prospect of failing a PhD defence is uncommon, acknowledging its possibility and taking proactive steps to mitigate risks are crucial elements of a well-rounded defence strategy. By addressing common failure factors through thorough preparation, openness to critique, and a resilient attitude, candidates can increase their chances of a successful defence outcome.

PhD Defense or Defence?

• The choice between “defense” and “defence” is primarily a matter of British English versus American English spelling conventions. “Defense” is the preferred spelling in American English, while “defence” is the British English spelling.
• In the global academic community, both spellings are generally understood and accepted. However, the choice of spelling may be influenced by the academic institution’s language conventions or the preferences of individual scholars.
• Academic institutions may have specific guidelines regarding language conventions, and candidates are often expected to adhere to the institution’s preferred spelling.
• Candidates may also consider the preferences of their advisors or committee members. If there is a consistent spelling convention used within the academic department, it is advisable to align with those preferences.
• Consideration should be given to the spelling conventions of scholarly journals in the candidate’s field. If intending to publish research stemming from the dissertation, aligning with the conventions of target journals is prudent.
• If the defense presentation or dissertation will be shared with an international audience, using a more universally recognized spelling (such as “defense”) may be preferred to ensure clarity and accessibility.
• Regardless of the chosen spelling, it’s crucial to maintain consistency throughout the document. Mixing spellings can distract from the content and may be perceived as an oversight.
• In oral presentations and written correspondence related to the defence, including emails, it’s advisable to maintain consistency with the chosen spelling to present a professional and polished image.
• Recognizing that language conventions can vary, candidates should approach the choice of spelling with flexibility. Being adaptable to the preferences of the academic context and demonstrating an awareness of regional variations reflects a nuanced understanding of language usage.
• With the increasing globalization of academia, an awareness of language variations becomes essential. Scholars often collaborate across borders, and an inclusive approach to language conventions contributes to effective communication and collaboration.

In summary, the choice between “PhD defense” and “PhD defence” boils down to regional language conventions and institutional preferences. Maintaining consistency, being mindful of the target audience, and adapting to the expectations of the academic community contribute to a polished and professional presentation, whether in written documents or oral defences.

Is PhD Defense a Formality?

• While the PhD defence is a structured and ritualistic event, it is far from being a mere formality. It is a critical and substantive part of the doctoral journey, designed to rigorously evaluate the candidate’s research contributions, understanding of the field, and ability to engage in scholarly discourse.
• The defence is not a checkbox to be marked but rather a dynamic process where the candidate’s research is evaluated for its scholarly merit. The committee scrutinizes the originality, significance, and methodology of the research, aiming to ensure it meets the standards of advanced academic work.
• Far from a passive or purely ceremonial event, the defence involves active engagement between the candidate and the examination committee. Questions, discussions, and debates are integral components that enrich the scholarly exchange during the defence.
• The defence serves as a platform for the candidate to demonstrate the originality of their research. Committee members assess the novelty of the contributions, ensuring that the work adds value to the existing body of knowledge.
• Beyond the content, the defence evaluates the methodological rigour of the research. Committee members assess whether the chosen methodology is appropriate, well-executed, and contributes to the validity of the findings.
• Successful completion of the defence affirms the candidate’s ability to contribute meaningfully to the academic discourse in their field. It is an endorsement of the candidate’s position as a knowledgeable and respected scholar.
• The defence process acts as a quality assurance mechanism in academia. It ensures that individuals awarded a doctoral degree have undergone a thorough and rigorous evaluation, upholding the standards of excellence in research and scholarly inquiry.
• Institutions have specific criteria and standards for awarding a PhD. The defence process aligns with these institutional and academic standards, providing a consistent and transparent mechanism for evaluating candidates.
• Successful completion of the defence is a pivotal moment that marks the transition from a doctoral candidate to a recognized scholar. It opens doors to further contributions, collaborations, and opportunities within the academic community.
• Research presented during the defence often forms the basis for future publications. The validation received in the defence enhances the credibility of the research, facilitating its dissemination and impact within the academic community.
• Beyond the academic realm, a successfully defended PhD is a key credential for professional advancement. It enhances one’s standing in the broader professional landscape, opening doors to research positions, teaching opportunities, and leadership roles.

In essence, the PhD defence is a rigorous and meaningful process that goes beyond formalities, playing a crucial role in affirming the academic merit of a candidate’s research and marking the culmination of their journey toward scholarly recognition.

Dressing for Success: PhD Defense Outfit

• For Men: A well-fitted suit in neutral colours (black, navy, grey), a collared dress shirt, a tie, and formal dress shoes.
• For Women: A tailored suit, a blouse or button-down shirt, and closed-toe dress shoes.
• Dress codes can vary based on cultural expectations. It’s advisable to be aware of any cultural nuances within the academic institution and to adapt attire accordingly.
• With the rise of virtual defenses, considerations for attire remain relevant. Even in online settings, dressing professionally contributes to a polished and serious demeanor. Virtual attire can mirror what one would wear in-person, focusing on the upper body visible on camera.
• The attire chosen for a PhD defense contributes to the first impression that a candidate makes on the examination committee. A professional and polished appearance sets a positive tone for the defense.
• Dressing appropriately reflects respect for the gravity of the occasion. It acknowledges the significance of the defense as a formal evaluation of one’s scholarly contributions.
• Wearing professional attire can contribute to a boost in confidence. When individuals feel well-dressed and put-together, it can positively impact their mindset and overall presentation.
• The PhD defense is a serious academic event, and dressing professionally fosters an atmosphere of seriousness and commitment to the scholarly process. It aligns with the respect one accords to academic traditions.
• Institutional norms may influence dress expectations. Some academic institutions may have specific guidelines regarding attire for formal events, and candidates should be aware of and adhere to these norms.
• While adhering to the formality expected in academic settings, individuals can also express their personal style within the bounds of professionalism. It’s about finding a balance between institutional expectations and personal comfort.
• Select and prepare the outfit well in advance to avoid last-minute stress. Ensure that the attire is clean, well-ironed, and in good condition.
• Accessories such as ties, scarves, or jewelry should complement the outfit. However, it’s advisable to keep accessories subtle to maintain a professional appearance.
• While dressing professionally, prioritize comfort. PhD defenses can be mentally demanding, and comfortable attire can contribute to a more confident and composed demeanor.
• Pay attention to grooming, including personal hygiene and haircare. A well-groomed appearance contributes to an overall polished look.
• Start preparation well in advance of the defense date. Know your research inside out, anticipate potential questions, and be ready to discuss the nuances of your methodology, findings, and contributions.
• Conduct mock defenses with peers, mentors, or colleagues. Mock defenses provide an opportunity to receive constructive feedback, practice responses to potential questions, and refine your presentation.
• Strike a balance between confidence and humility. Confidence in presenting your research is essential, but being open to acknowledging limitations and areas for improvement demonstrates intellectual honesty.
• Actively engage with the examination committee during the defense. Listen carefully to questions, respond thoughtfully, and view the defense as a scholarly exchange rather than a mere formality.
• Understand the expertise and backgrounds of the committee members. Tailor your presentation and responses to align with the interests and expectations of your specific audience.
• Practice time management during your presentation. Ensure that you allocate sufficient time to cover key aspects of your research, leaving ample time for questions and discussions.
• It’s normal to feel nervous, but practicing mindfulness and staying calm under pressure is crucial. Take deep breaths, maintain eye contact, and focus on delivering a clear and composed presentation.
• Have a plan for post-defense activities. Whether it’s revisions to the dissertation, publications, or future research endeavors, having a roadmap for what comes next demonstrates foresight and commitment to ongoing scholarly contributions.
• After successfully defending, individuals often emphasize the importance of taking time to reflect on the entire doctoral journey. Acknowledge personal and academic growth, celebrate achievements, and use the experience to inform future scholarly pursuits.

In summary, learning from the experiences of others who have successfully defended offers a wealth of practical wisdom. These insights, combined with thoughtful preparation and a proactive approach, contribute to a successful and fulfilling defense experience.

You have plenty of career options after completing a PhD. For more details, visit my blog posts:

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The journey from a curious researcher to a recognized scholar culminates in the PhD defence—an intellectual odyssey marked by dedication, resilience, and a relentless pursuit of knowledge. As we navigate the intricacies of this pivotal event, it becomes evident that the PhD defence is far more than a ceremonial rite; it is a substantive evaluation that validates the contributions of a researcher to the academic landscape.

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/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="phd defense date"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Understanding deadlines and requirements, major steps.

Understanding the steps and associated deadlines in the dissertation/thesis and degree conferral process is necessary to establish a successful plan and realistic timeframe. The major steps are:

• Complete draft dissertation
• Schedule exam
• Make revisions
• Submit final electronic thesis/dissertation (ETD) to the Graduate School (final submission cannot be prior to your exam date)

Planning Timeline

The Code of Legislation requires students to submit a completed draft for committee review six weeks prior to scheduling the exam. Submission of the final thesis/dissertation must be within 60 days of completing the final exam.  You may not submit your thesis or dissertation prior to completing your M or B exam. Enrollment in future semesters after the date a student passes their M or B exam is not permitted, even if the 60 day submission window falls within a subsequent semester.

December 31, 2023 Conferral Deadlines

• Submit Draft to Committee: First week in October
• Schedule Exam: First week in November
• Take Exam: Mid November
• Complete Revisions: End of November
• Final Submission Deadline to the Graduate School: December 1, 2023

May 26, 2024 Conferral Deadlines

• Submit Draft to Committee: First week in March
• Schedule Exam: First week in April
• Take Exam: Mid April
• Complete Revisions: End of April
• Final Submission Deadline to the Graduate School: May 1, 2024

August 31, 2024 Conferral Deadlines

• Submit Draft to Committee: First week in June
• Schedule Exam: First week in July
• Take Exam: Mid July
• Complete Revisions: End of July
• Final Submission Deadline to the Graduate School: August 1, 2024

December 31, 2024 Conferral Deadlines

• Final Submission Deadline to the Graduate School: December 1, 2024

Use this checklist to guide your process.

• Complete your research.
• Learn about thesis and dissertation formatting guidelines .
• Develop a detailed outline for your approach to writing your dissertation or thesis.
• Write the body of text for the dissertation or thesis.
• Complete your draft thesis/dissertation  six weeks prior to your final examination  and submit to all members of your Special Committee.
• Schedule your final exam  one week before your final examination date , and submit a final draft of your dissertation/thesis to each special committee member.
• Take your final exam (“B” exam), oral dissertation defense for Ph.D. candidates, or (“M” exam) an oral thesis defense for master’s candidates, six to eight weeks before conferral date .
• Make changes as specified by the special committee.
• Submit the final electronic version of dissertation or thesis (ETD) to Graduate School using ProQuest . See  Thesis and Dissertation Submission Process  for instructions.
• Attend  commencement  and celebrate!

13 Tips to Prepare for Your PhD Dissertation Defense

How well do you know your project? Years of experiments, analysis of results, and tons of literature study, leads you to how well you know your research study. And, PhD dissertation defense is a finale to your PhD years. Often, researchers question how to excel at their thesis defense and spend countless hours on it. Days, weeks, months, and probably years of practice to complete your doctorate, needs to surpass the dissertation defense hurdle.

In this article, we will discuss details of how to excel at PhD dissertation defense and list down some interesting tips to prepare for your thesis defense.

Table of Contents

What Is Dissertation Defense?

Dissertation defense or Thesis defense is an opportunity to defend your research study amidst the academic professionals who will evaluate of your academic work. While a thesis defense can sometimes be like a cross-examination session, but in reality you need not fear the thesis defense process and be well prepared.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesHaytonPhDacademy

What are the expectations of committee members.

Choosing the dissertation committee is one of the most important decision for a research student. However, putting your dissertation committee becomes easier once you understand the expectations of committee members.

The basic function of your dissertation committee is to guide you through the process of proposing, writing, and revising your dissertation. Moreover, the committee members serve as mentors, giving constructive feedback on your writing and research, also guiding your revision efforts.

The dissertation committee is usually formed once the academic coursework is completed. Furthermore, by the time you begin your dissertation research, you get acquainted to the faculty members who will serve on your dissertation committee. Ultimately, who serves on your dissertation committee depends upon you.

Some universities allow an outside expert (a former professor or academic mentor) to serve on your committee. It is advisable to choose a faculty member who knows you and your research work.

How to Choose a Dissertation Committee Member?

• Avoid popular and eminent faculty member
• Choose the one you know very well and can approach whenever you need them
• A faculty member whom you can learn from is apt.
• Members of the committee can be your future mentors, co-authors, and research collaborators. Choose them keeping your future in mind.

How to Prepare for Dissertation Defense?

1. Start Your Preparations Early

Thesis defense is not a 3 or 6 months’ exercise. Don’t wait until you have completed all your research objectives. Start your preparation well in advance, and make sure you know all the intricacies of your thesis and reasons to all the research experiments you conducted.

2. Attend Presentations by Other Candidates

Look out for open dissertation presentations at your university. In fact, you can attend open dissertation presentations at other universities too. Firstly, this will help you realize how thesis defense is not a scary process. Secondly, you will get the tricks and hacks on how other researchers are defending their thesis. Finally, you will understand why dissertation defense is necessary for the university, as well as the scientific community.

3. Take Enough Time to Prepare the Slides

Dissertation defense process harder than submitting your thesis well before the deadline. Ideally, you could start preparing the slides after finalizing your thesis. Spend more time in preparing the slides. Make sure you got the right data on the slides and rephrase your inferences, to create a logical flow to your presentation.

4. Structure the Presentation

Do not be haphazard in designing your presentation. Take time to create a good structured presentation. Furthermore, create high-quality slides which impresses the committee members. Make slides that hold your audience’s attention. Keep the presentation thorough and accurate, and use smart art to create better slides.

5. Practice Breathing Techniques

Watch a few TED talk videos and you will notice that speakers and orators are very fluent at their speech. In fact, you will not notice them taking a breath or falling short of breath. The only reason behind such effortless oratory skill is practice — practice in breathing technique.

Moreover, every speaker knows how to control their breath. Long and steady breaths are crucial. Pay attention to your breathing and slow it down. All you need I some practice prior to this moment.

6. Create an Impactful Introduction

The audience expects a lot from you. So your opening statement should enthrall the audience. Furthermore, your thesis should create an impact on the members; they should be thrilled by your thesis and the way you expose it.

The introduction answers most important questions, and most important of all “Is this presentation worth the time?” Therefore, it is important to make a good first impression , because the first few minutes sets the tone for your entire presentation.

7. Maintain Your Own List of Questions

While preparing for the presentation, make a note of all the questions that you ask yourself. Try to approach all the questions from a reader’s point of view. You could pretend like you do not know the topic and think of questions that could help you know the topic much better.

The list of questions will prepare you for the questions the members may pose while trying to understand your research. Attending other candidates’ open discussion will also help you assume the dissertation defense questions.

8. Practice Speech and Body Language

After successfully preparing your slides and practicing, you could start focusing on how you look while presenting your thesis. This exercise is not for your appearance but to know your body language and relax if need be.

Pay attention to your body language. Stand with your back straight, but relax your shoulders. The correct posture will give you the feel of self-confidence. So, observe yourself in the mirror and pay attention to movements you make.

9. Give Mock Presentation

Giving a trial defense in advance is a good practice. The most important factor for the mock defense is its similarity to your real defense, so that you get the experience that prepares for the actual defense.

10. Learn How to Handle Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes. However, it is important to carry on. Do not let the mistakes affect your thesis defense. Take a deep breath and move on to the next point.

11. Do Not Run Through the Presentation

If you are nervous, you would want to end the presentation as soon as possible. However, this situation will give rise to anxiety and you will speak too fast, skipping the essential details. Eventually, creating a fiasco of your dissertation defense .

12. Get Plenty of Rest

Out of the dissertation defense preparation points, this one is extremely important. Obviously, sleeping a day before your big event is hard, but you have to focus and go to bed early, with the clear intentions of getting the rest you deserve.

13. Visualize Yourself Defending Your Thesis

This simple exercise creates an immense impact on your self-confidence. All you have to do is visualize yourself giving a successful presentation each evening before going to sleep. Everyday till the day of your thesis defense, see yourself standing in front of the audience and going from one point to another.

This exercise takes a lot of commitment and persistence, but the results in the end are worth it. Visualization makes you see yourself doing the scary thing of defending your thesis.

If you have taken all these points into consideration, you are ready for your big day. You have worked relentlessly for your PhD degree , and you will definitely give your best in this final step.

Have you completed your thesis defense? How did you prepare for it and how was your experience throughout your dissertation defense ? Do write to us or comment below.

The tips are very useful.I will recomend it to our students.

Excellent. As a therapist trying to help a parent of a candidate, I am very impressed and thankful your concise, clear, action-oriented article. Thank you.

Thanks for your sharing. It is so good. I can learn a lot from your ideas. Hope that in my dissertation defense next time I can pass

The tips are effective. Will definitely apply them in my dissertation.

My dissertation defense is coming up in less than two weeks from now, I find this tips quite instructive, I’ll definitely apply them. Thank you so much.

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PhD Completion Process

Congratulations!

As a PhD student, you have spent spend significant time at the University of Rochester taking courses, completing research in your field, completing milestones and are now ready to complete your degree.

The final requirement in earning a PhD degree is the completion and defense of the doctoral dissertation. Understanding the steps and associated deadlines in the dissertation submission and degree conferral process is necessary to establish a successful plan. For complete descriptions of the process, please review the Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Students .

The page below is organized by before, during and post-oral defense. Please read the page in it’s entirety and email questions you have to [email protected]

Doctoral Qualifying Exam / Admission to Candidacy

All PhD programs must administer a qualifying examination as part of the PhD program requirements. The qualifying examination may be either written or oral or both, at the discretion of the department/program, and must be passed at least six months before the final examination may be taken.

The associate dean of a school certifies that a student has passed the qualifying examinations and is recommended for candidacy.

For more details, please review page 12 of the Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Students .

Planning for the Final Oral Exam / Dissertation Defense

At least six months before you plan to defend your dissertation, you should contact the graduate coordinator of your program for details regarding the submitting the defense. During the months leading up to the anticipated defense, your graduate coordinator will walk you through the process and explain any department specific nuances.

Pay careful attention to the five PhD degree cycle deadlines. In each degree cycle, there is a deadline for the last day to complete your degree requirements.  There are no exceptions to the deadlines. If a deadline is missed, your name cannot be approved by the Council on Graduate Education and presented to the Board of Trustees until the following degree date.

The oral exam/defense/dissertation is approved at multiple levels of the University. Starting with the program, oral exam/defense/dissertation committee, school graduate deans and the University Dean of Graduate Education. You will receive emails a few days before your defense confirming that the approvals for the defense have all been received.

PhD academic calendar

PhD students can reference their specific academic calendar in the drop-downs below.

To enable review by the Graduate Education Offices in the Schools and University Graduate Education, online dissertation committee and program director approvals must be completed the following number of working days before the defense:

• SMD and SON: At least 10 working days before the defense
• AS&E, Warner and Simon: At least 15 working days before the defense
• ESM: At least 20 working days before the defense

A minimum of five working days must elapse between the approval of the candidate’s School Dean to advance the record to University Graduate Education and the day of the defense. This time has been included in the schools’ lead times listed above.

Defenses may be held during regular business hours on any University working day with the exceptions listed below. See calendar below for additional non-working days.

Monday, May 27:  The University is closed in observance of Memorial Day. This day cannot be counted as a working day.

Wednesday, June 19: The University is closed in observance of Juneteenth. This day cannot be counted as a working day.

Thursday, July 4: The University is closed in observance of Independence Day. This day cannot be counted as a working day.

Friday, August 23, 4 p.m.: Last day to submit final corrected dissertation to the ProQuest website to fulfill degree requirements for an August 2024 degree conferral.

Monday, August 26: Fall semester begins.

Saturday, August 31: August 2024 PhD date.

Wednesday, August 28, 4 p.m.: Last day for students who have completed defenses to submit final corrected dissertation for October 2024 degree to the ProQuest website without having to register for Fall 2024. AFTER THIS DATE, SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS FOR DEGREE COMPLETION REQUIRES REGISTRATION FOR THE FALL SEMESTER.

Monday, September 2: The University is closed in observance of Labor Day. This day cannot be counted as a working day

Thursday, September 26, 4 p.m.: Last day to submit final corrected dissertation to the ProQuest website to fulfill degree requirements for an October 2024 degree. NOTE: Students must be registered for the Fall 2024 Semester if submitting documents after August 28.

Friday, October 4: October 2024 PhD conferral date.

Monday, September 2:  The University is closed in observance of Labor Day. This day cannot be counted as a working day.

Wednesday, November 27 through Friday, November 29: The University is closed in observance of Thanksgiving. These three days cannot be counted as working days.

Monday, December 16 at 4 p.m.:  Last day to submit final corrected dissertation to the ProQuest website to fulfill degree requirements for a December degree. NOTE: Students must be registered for the Fall 2024 Semester if submitting final documents after August 28.

Friday, December 13: Last day for dissertation defense registration approval by University Dean of Graduate Education for defenses scheduled January 2, 2025.

Thursday, December 19 through Friday, December 31:  Due to recess and holidays, no dissertation registrations will be completed in the University Graduate Education office. No PhD defenses may be held during this time period.

December 31: December 2024 PhD conferral date.

The March 2025 PhD conferral date will be updated in late spring 2024.

Friday, April 26 , 4 p.m.: Last day to submit final corrected dissertation to the ProQuest website to fulfill degree requirements for a May 2024 degree.

Friday, May 17:  University Doctoral Commencement

Additional Information about Planning for your Defense

Writing your dissertation.

The dissertation process webpage offers several writing resources to help you get started, meet your goals, and complete your thesis/dissertation on time.

You also will want to take full advantage of internal reviews of the dissertation before uploading the thesis for defense registration, in order to minimize the number of errors in the registration version.

Final Oral Examination Committee

Page 11 of the Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Students (“Redbook”) goes into detail about the make-up of the committee.

PhD Committee Matrix

Approval Process for Non-Standard Committee Membership

Approval must be obtained in writing, based on a petition that includes a rationale for the request and a CV of the proposed nonstandard member.

Contact your Graduate Coordinator to start the petition process.

Page 12 of the Regulations and University Policies Concerning Graduate Students (“Redbook”) goes into detail.

Scheduling your Defense

Contact the graduate coordinator of your program for details regarding the scheduling the defense.

Click here to Download a checklist of information needed to schedule defense

Rubric for Oral Defense

Click here to download the Oral Defense Rubric.

After the final oral exam / defense

Submitting your final dissertation.

Approximately, 24 hours after oral exam, an email is sent that details out the next steps. Including uploading the final abstract and dissertation to ProQuest®, submitting a UR Research authorization form, and completing two required surveys.

UR Research Form

The libraries at  University of Rochester, electronically store and publish the dissertations based on a students embargo restrictions.

You can access our database of dissertations on the UR Research page hosted by the library.

Survey Completion

There are two required survey’s for completion of the PhD Process. The University of Rochester PhD Survey and the national Survey of Earned Doctorates. The links to completing these surveys will be included in the completion memo sent post-defense.

We use a service called ProQuest to administer the electronic final thesis/dissertation (ETD) submission. ProQuest provides services that enable strategic acquisition, management and discovery of information collections. Once you have made any necessary revisions and the thesis/dissertation is final, you are ready to begin the submission process.

PhD Completion Confirmation

Once you have completed the steps above, you will receive an email the confirms that all of the requirements have been completed and will include a PhD Completion memo.

We offer both an electronic diploma and a paper copy diploma to students after their graduation date. Information on ordering replacement diplomas is located on the registrar’s webpage .

Commencement

The University holds one doctoral commencement ceremony each year in May. Eligibility to walk in the May ceremony includes students that graduated between August of the previous year through August of the current year. As an example, the May 2023 ceremony is for students who graduated August 2022, October 2022, December 2022, February 2023, May 2023 and August 2023. Doctoral students are only eligible to walk once.

You will receive information about the ceremony that your are eligible to walk in during the Spring semester.

Defense and Dissertation Overview

Once a student’s box is checked, the BPH student should set up a one-on-one “Defense Packet Meeting” with the BPH Associate Director to review the Defense and Dissertation Process, which includes reviewing all required materials, logistics, timing, FAS/Harvard Griffin GSAS Form of the Dissertation, sample forms, and to answer student questions related to these processes.

• Defense Committee Chair: One member of the student’s DAC, often the DAC chair, is required to chair the oral defense. This required holdover from the DAC serves the purpose of providing insight to the examiners regarding the path the student has taken in completing the dissertation research. Their primary role is to assess committee satisfaction with the written dissertation, administer the exam, arbitrate any problems that may arise, and make final recommendations for completion of necessary corrections and additions to the dissertation. No other DAC members can serve on the defense committee .
• At least one member must be a BPH faculty member, often from the same academic department.
• One member of the examination committee must be from outside of Harvard University.
• The fourth member may be from either BPH or another Harvard-affiliated program.
• Co-authors and collaborators cannot be members of the Defense committee

DEFENSE TIMING AND FORMAT

• Students should notify the BPH Program as far in advance as possible with the details of the exam. 
• The student is required to notify the BPH office no later than 3 weeks in advance of the defense with the final dissertation title.
• At least two weeks before the date of exam, defense members should be sent copies of the dissertation for review. A copy of the dissertation should also be sent to the BPH program.
• If any defense committee member foresees problems with the exam, they should contact the chair of the defense committee in advance of the meeting. If major problems are found with the written document, the Committee can decide to postpone the oral defense until satisfactory changes are made. While rare in our program, these occasions can involve the insufficient or improper use of statistical methods, grossly overstated conclusions, insufficient background or discussion, or evidence of plagiarism.
• More details about the timing and format are provided in the “Defense Packet Meeting” held with each student.

STIPEND GUIDELINES

If a student successfully defends the dissertation before the 15th of the month, the stipend will be terminated at the end of that month. If the student successfully defends on or after the 15th, the next month’s stipend will be the final month the student is paid, at the discretion of their advisor.

Students are encouraged to speak to their advisors directly about how they should be paid as they complete their graduate work. If an advisor wishes to pay the student for one additional month, beyond what has been explained above, the advisor must notify the department’s financial administrator. For administrative reasons, a stipend cannot be issued to a student after their graduation/degree conferral date.

ORAL DEFENSE PROCEDURES

Part 1: Public Seminar As part of the exam, the PhD candidate will present a public seminar followed by a private oral examination.  The public presentation lasts no longer than 1 hour, which includes time for the advisor’s introduction, the student’s oral presentation and acknowledgements, and time for audience questions and answers.  The Defense Committee is required to attend the public seminar; however, it is customary for members of the defense committee to hold their questions until the private oral exam.

Part 2: Private Oral Examination A private oral examination follows the public seminar.  Initially, the student will be asked to leave the room for several minutes, along with the dissertation advisor if the dissertation advisor has decided to remain for the private exam.  During this time, the committee will discuss the merits of the dissertation, any issues with the dissertation, and areas they may want to focus on during the oral exam.  The student (and advisor if present) is then asked back into the room for the exam.

Each member of the defense committee will direct questions to the candidate based on their review of the dissertation and presentation of the seminar. The Defense Chair will moderate the discussion between the panel and the student.  The closed defense takes up to two hours and involves detailed technical questions as well as broader questions on the conclusions, impact, and limitations of the research.  Dissertation advisors may be present, but they must not participate in the exam (e.g., answer questions posed by the committee).

At the end of the examination, the student (and advisor if present) is once again asked to step out of the room for several minutes.  The Committee will discuss any revisions needed for the thesis and whether these revisions need to be reviewed and by whom.  Once the committee determines the outcomes, the student will be asked back into the room and the Committee provides the student with any [minor] changes needed to the dissertation. While it is extremely rare for the student to fail at this stage, the committee will provide recommendations to the student on their research, communication skills, and development as a scientist, as well as delineating the required changes to the dissertation.

PREPARING FOR THE DEFENSE/WRITING THE DISSERTATION

Students preparing to write and defend their dissertation must review University requirements as outlined in “ Dissertations ” with guidelines published at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Students are also welcome to visit the BPH Student Lounge (Building 2, Room 113) to look at copies of previous BPH bound dissertations.

Writing the Dissertation Each student must write a comprehensive PhD dissertation on their research topic and the original results of their research. There are a variety of ways a dissertation can be composed, but the core elements described below must be included. The dissertation must show original treatment of the subject, contain a scholarly review of the pertinent literature, provide evidence of independent research of publishable quality, and be clearly, logically, and carefully written. In addition to a compendium of the student’s research, including detailed methods and results, the dissertation must contain a thoughtful discussion of the conclusions, impact, and limitations of the research. The completed work should be critically reviewed by the dissertation advisor before being submitted to the Dissertation Defense Committee.

In some cases, the student has done all of the work in the dissertation; more often portions of the dissertation result from collaborative research. In all dissertations containing collaborative results, the dissertation should indicate concisely who contributed to the work and how.  For example, a chapter containing multi-authored, published work must include a complete reference of the publication and a brief description of the candidate’s and the colleagues’ contributions. For work that is not published but which resulted from multiple researchers, the contributors must be named and respective attributions made clear. This policy allows stylistic flexibility; depending on the amount of collaborative work in the dissertation and the status of publication(s), the attributions can be, preferably, on or accompanying the cover page for each chapter or within an extended acknowledgements section at the end of each chapter. It is recommended that if figures or figure panels are included that are the work of others that the figure panels be clearly identified and the work properly attributed. It is permissible for more than one student to include work from the same collaboration or publication as long as the required attributions are clear, justified, and complete.

Individual chapters can be that of published articles as long as there are also comprehensive Introduction and Conclusion chapters written by the student. While the text can be the same, use of journal reprints as a chapter is not permissible. A word document of the published article must be used, and the pages in the dissertation must be consecutively numbered. Furthermore, the figures and accompanying figure legends must be integrated into the main body of each chapter, preferably following the first mention of the given figure, not clustered at the end of the chapter. Any dissertation that varies significantly from the Graduate School or FAS guidelines, or is not neat and readable, is subject to required stylistic revision before acceptance by the University. (For further information, please visit https://gsas.harvard.edu/academics/dissertations ).

DEFENSE FORMS AND PAPERWORK

Dissertation Acceptance Certificate Before the examination, the BPH Program Office will provide the Defense Committee Chair with a copy of the official Dissertation Acceptance Certificate. This certificate must be signed by all readers of the dissertation at the end of the examination and returned to the BPH Program Office. This certificate will be scanned and sent to the student so it can be inserted as page one of the dissertation prior to the online submission. The student must submit the one original, official copy to the Registrar’s in Cambridge by the appropriate deadline.

If extensive corrections are to be made, the BPH Program Office will hold the certificate until the Defense Committee Chair, and/or assigned reviewer(s) provide a written notification to the BPH Program to confirm that the corrected work has been reviewed and approved.

Dissertation Defense Exam Report The Dissertation Defense Exam Report is completed by the members of the Dissertation Defense Committee to provide a record of any comments or recommendations they may have. The report must be signed by all members immediately after the private exam. The completed report must be submitted to the BPH Program Office at the same time as the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate.

Sample Dissertation Title Page Please click here to see a sample BPH Dissertation Title Page.  Again, please refer to the Dissertation website for guidelines about how to format your dissertation.

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Thesis Defense

Phd thesis defense timeline.

Publication date: July 1, 2015. This calendar is subject to change without notice. Questions regarding the calendar should be directed to the Registrar, Office for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, (585) 275-4522

PDF Version of Timeline

Ph.D. Defense & Graduation

Ready to defend.

At least 6 weeks in advance of your preferred defense date you should email Eileen Hamel, Assistant Director of Graduate Programs, to verify all milestones have been met up to now and to discuss a possible defense date. You should allow sufficient time for your committee to read and prepare comments on your dissertation.  Three weeks is recommended. Please determine an appropriate deadline with your advisor to accommodate the schedules of all committee members.

Dissertation formatting

Graduate School Doctoral Degree Checklist

CICS will announce the event on the CICS Events Calendar . The Graduate School will make the formal announcement to the University's Graduate Faculty three weeks in advance of your defense, therefore, the Graduate School requires that the defense be scheduled a minimum of a month in advance.

1. At least 30 days in advance of the defense date the student must submit a title, abstract, date, time, confirmation of committee names, and Zoom details to Eileen Hamel at [email protected] . If you need assistance with Zoom meeting setup please contact [email protected].

2. Two weeks in advance of the defense, or earlier, the student should sign and submit a   Doctoral Eligiblity Form  to Eileen Hamel at [email protected] . Once your residency requirement  is verified it will be sent to the Associate Chair for Academic Programs and the GPD for signatures and forwarded to the Graduate School.

3. Prepare your signature page according to the formatting guidelines specific to the  UMass Amherst Graduate School . Double check the spelling of names and titles. Before requesting any signatures, you are required to send a draft of your signature page to Kyle Skemer at  [email protected] . It is the student's responsibility to obtain committee signatures. Students are allowed to obtain electronic signatures using  DocuSign  with your @umass.edu id. 

Once all committee signatures are on the document it should be sent to Kyle at  [email protected] . Kyle will obtain the Associate Dean's signature and submit it to the Graduate School.  Students should not request the Associate Dean's signature directly.

The college name should be written as "Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences" ("Robert and Donna Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences" is also acceptable). The Associate Dean's signature line should be written with the name "Ramesh K. Sitaraman, Associate Dean for Educational Programs and Teaching" without hyphenation.

A sample signature page can be viewed  here .

4. Follow the Graduate School Checklist steps for submitting a dissertation to UMass ScholarWorks and completing the Survey of Earned Doctorates.

dissertation defense

In Computer Science, the defense has two components: a defense and a public presentation.  If you combine them, you have an "open defense"; if you do not, you have a "closed defense".  Which you choose must be agreed upon by both you and your committee.  Some faculty members have very strong opinions one way or another.  In either case, there are two components to a defense:

• A public seminar that any member of the University community is invited to attend.
• An interaction between you and your committee, during which they deliberate and decide whether you have successfully defended your dissertation and whether they will insist on any modifications to your dissertation.  All members of your committee must be present on the Amherst campus for this portion of the defense.

In an open defense, the public seminar is attended by your committee who continue the defense after the public audience is excused.  In a closed defense, you and your committee meet privately and you hold a public seminar sometime in the few days surrounding that meeting. Note that by the rules of the Graduate School any member of the University's Graduate Faculty may attend the meeting between you and your committee.  For that reason the time of that meeting is announced publicly well in advance of your defense.  Courtesy suggests that individuals hoping to attend the meeting consult the chair of your committee. In both cases, the committee may pass or fail your oral examination.  (It is extraordinarily rare for someone to fail a defense.)  Your chair will inform the Assistant Director of Graduate Programs of the result of the defense.  At the defense, the committee will also usually specify changes or additions that it requires to the dissertation itself.  After all members are satisfied with the dissertation, they will sign the dissertation's signature page.

Graduation deadlines

The University of Massachusetts Amherst awards graduate degrees in February, May, and September. Please review the Graduate School Doctoral Degree  checklist  for completion of all requirements and deadlines.

May is the only graduation date that students "walk". Students graduating in September, February and May are invited to "walk" at the May graduation ceremonies.

In addition to uploading your thesis to the  Grad School , we also ask that you upload a .pdf file of your thesis to our  publication DB , make sure you change the publication type to "Thesis".

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PhD Graduation Information

The following information and deadlines apply to students who anticipate receiving their PhD degrees at one of the following graduation cycles. Departments/programs may impose additional deadlines.

We only guarantee that we’ll make students official before their graduation date. We cannot rush any graduation procedures for any individual student. Please be patient, and know that you’ll be made official before your graduation date.

Students looking towards their defense should have completed their degree requirements as outlined in the Boston University Bulletin, including the Dissertation Prospectus.

When finishing a degree, students must be registered in the semester in which the final degree requirements are completed; PhD students must also be registered in the preceding semester.

The Dissertation Prospectus Approval Page should be delivered to GRS as soon as it is approved, but no later than 6 months before your dissertation defense.

Please contact the GRS Records office with any questions that are unanswered on this page by emailing [email protected] .

Graduation Checklist

Prior to defense, following defense.

Please find more information about these requirements below

Dissertation Prospectus

After completing all specific degree requirements as outlined in the University Bulletin, including coursework, language requirements, and qualifying examinations, a student must propose a dissertation topic and will work with their program to identify a first, second, and in some programs third, readers for their final oral examination.

The dissertation prospectus, generally a formal paper not exceeding 20 double-spaced (or 10 single-spaced) pages of 12-point font, should be completed before the more extensive phase of dissertation research is undertaken. The readers, the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Chair or Program Director must approve the final draft. Once approved, the program should submit the  Dissertation Prospectus Approval Page to the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Office.

Intent to Graduate

In the semester prior to your intended graduation cycle you must submit the Intent to Graduate Form . This form is forwarded to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and you will receive a confirmation email once it has been processed. You will receive further communication regarding your diploma name and mailing address directly from the Registrar’s office.

Final Oral Exam and Dissertation Draft

Students undergo final oral examinations in which they defend their dissertations as valuable contributions to knowledge in their fields and demonstrate a mastery of their fields of specialization in relation to their dissertations.

Scheduling Defense

As of Spring 2023, GRS is no longer involved in the defense scheduling process. GRS does not need to approve your abstract prior to your defense, and we no longer require any defense scheduling paperwork.

Students should notify their program administrator that they’re defending their dissertation at least three weeks before the defense will be held. The program administrator will assist the student with finding a room to hold the defense, and send a report of examination form to the defense committee to complete after the defense has been held.

The completed report of examination form should then be sent to [email protected] so that GRS can record the successful dissertation defense on the student’s record.

Committee Composition The final oral examination committee must be composed of a total of four or more members, including at least a first and second reader and at least two additional committee members who serve as either designated readers or additional committee members. Each committee also must designate a chair who can serve either as one of the four committee members (although the first reader cannot serve in the role of the committee chair), as an additional committee member, or solely as the chair of the committee.

All committee members are required to attend the final oral examination. Up to one committee member, who is not the chair of the committee or the first reader, can attend via audio/video communication without a proxy during the final oral examination. A proxy must be in attendance for any additional committee members who attend via audio/visual communication.

A designated reader is defined as those committee members who sign the final dissertation approval page; all committee members are expected to read the dissertation prior to the final oral examination even if not appointed as a designated reader. At least two of the committee members must be from the student’s department or graduate program. if, by special arrangement with the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the committee’s first reader is not from the student’s department or program, then at least the chair and the second reader of the committee must be from the student’s department or graduate program. A majority of the committee must be Boston University faculty members who do not require a special appointment. The department chair/program director or the director of graduate studies must approve the membership of the committee.

A special service appointment approved by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, is required for those committee members who are: visiting, adjunct, and *emeritus faculty; Boston University employees not of professorial rank; and examiners from outside Boston University.

*Emeritus faculty members may serve as readers of GRS dissertations or on examination committees within two years of their retirement date without a special service appointment.

Dissertation Formatting The Mugar Library stipulates that all dissertations submitted at Boston University must have consistent formatting. They have created a Dissertation Formatting Guide that outlines these requirements. Additionally, they have created Samples of Preliminary Pages , which will help to show these requirements in practice.

The library’s website also includes other useful resources such as instructional videos and templates. For further questions or field specific requirements we suggest reviewing recently submitted dissertations by peers as approved examples of the formatting requirements.

At least three weeks before your defense you must submit a draft of your dissertation as a .pdf to [email protected] for a format review. Please follow all formatting requirements stated in the library guide while preparing your dissertation draft, and include all required elements such as the preliminary pages, references, and your CV. You will be notified if the format is approved or if any changes are required. It is advised that all formatting issues be resolved before you defend your dissertation. Following your defense, please allow ample time to complete all requirements and content revisions that are required by your committee.

Final Dissertation Submission

Following your final oral examination, when all corrections and revisions required by your committee have been completed, submit your final dissertation electronically through the Electronic Theses & Dissertation (ETD) website .

The submission in the ETD will be reviewed by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS) Records Office, then forwarded to the Mugar Library ETD Administrator for the final format review. If GRS or Mugar Library notifies you of necessary corrections or changes, those edits must be made immediately. When that review is complete, the dissertation will be submitted to ProQuest/UMI.

Embargoing your Dissertation Electronic submissions of PhD dissertations, and their subsequent availability online has made dissertations readily available to everyone and discoverable using simple online searches. While the granting of a PhD has always involved the open publication of a dissertation, this is now true in practice as well as in theory. There has been discussion in the press of how this change is affecting publication, particularly of scholarly books based on a dissertation, with the result that more PhD candidates are asking for their dissertations to remain unavailable for a period after they graduate. This process is called putting an embargo on the dissertation.

In rare circumstances, a student may not wish for their dissertation to be available from ProQuest or the Digital Common immediately after it is submitted to them. Circulation restrictions (referred to by ProQuest as “embargoes”) are granted only in limited circumstances, but may be allowed by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences if the author plans to sell the work to a publisher, apply for a patent, or if the material covers a sensitive subject that cannot be published safely or appropriately at the time.

In such circumstances, you may request a restriction for any period between six months and two years (ProQuest default options are 6 months, one year, or two years.) GRS students may request an embargo of no more than two years. For any time period, you must submit a letter requesting a restriction. The letter must explain the compelling reason for the restriction, the time limit desired, an address where you can be contacted when the time limit expires, and the signed approval of both you and your major advisor. These signatures must be original and in ink. When submitting your dissertation in ETD you must also indicate that you have requested an embargo on your dissertation.

A sample embargo letter can be downloaded here .

These letters are reviewed and if appropriate approved by the Associate Dean. The restriction will start from the date on the letter. Your manuscript will not be available until the restriction is released. No one is permitted to look at your work unless they have your express written permission to do so. Requests to read your manuscript will be forwarded to you. It is your responsibility to respond to them.

For more information, please see the FAQ: Embargoes & Electronic Theses & Dissertations document.

Additional Requirements In addition to submitting the final dissertation in the ETD, you must complete the PhD Contact Information Form and submit the Library Dissertation Processing Fee. The processing fee is $115 and can be submitted via credit card at the link provided under the Submit Electronically section here: http://library.bu.edu/theses .

You must also submit a copy of your dissertation approval page (the third page of your dissertation) with signatures. You can obtain signatures using DocuSign . DocuSign will send your reader approval page to each reader individually, and then automatically send the completed page to GRS.

When uploading your dissertation to ETD, please include an unsigned copy of the approval page. GRS will upload the signed approval page after our review of your dissertation.

Commencement, Diplomas, and Certificates of Completion

All-University Commencement ceremonies are held once each year in May. Graduates will be contacted directly by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GRS) in the spring semester with information on the GRS PhD Hooding Ceremony.

Information on diploma pickup and mailing dates can be found on the Registrar’s website . We encourage you to be sure that your diploma mailing address is up to date on the Student Link to ensure safe receipt of your diploma.

Boston University also offers Certified Electronic Diplomas and Certificates (CeDiploma/CeCertificate) for $11. For more information about CeCredentials and instructions on ordering one, please visit the Registrar’s CeCredential website .

Certificates of Completion are available if you are in need of an official document stating that you have met all degree requirements (including the review of your final dissertation) before the diploma is dispersed. Certificates of Completion can be produced approximately one month prior to the official date of your graduation.

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Dissertation Defenses

As part of the degree requirements for a Ph.D. in computer science or computer engineering, students must pass a final examination given by their advisory committee as described in the graduate catalog. The part of the exam that is related to the presentation of the student's research is public (the dissertation defense).  The final examination may not be administered before the dissertation is available to all members of the student's advisory committee in substantially final form, and all members have had adequate time to review the document. Final corrected copies of the dissertation must be accepted by the thesis clerk no later than one year after the final examination or within the 10-year time limit, whichever occurs first. Failure to do so will result in the degree not being awarded.

Listed below are the major steps that should be completed for Ph.D. dissertation defenses in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. Much of this information is taken from the  graduate catalog ,  Steps to Fulfill Doctoral Degree Requirements  page on the Graduate and Professional School website  and the department's graduate brochure.

Requirements

Final exam deadlines are listed on the  Graduate and Professional School calendar  (usually about eight weeks before graduation).

To be eligible to schedule the final examination, the student must meet the following requirements:

• An approved dissertation proposal must have been submitted to the Graduate and Profesional School at least 15 days before the request to hold the final examination (dissertation defense) is submitted to the Graduate and Profesional School (or about four weeks before the defense). (This is a decrease - it used to be 14 weeks before the defense.)
• All course work on the degree plan must be completed with the exception of any remaining CPSC 691 (Research) hours and the student must be registered for those hours. This means all petitions to change the courses on the degree plan must be filed and approved before the exam can be scheduled.
• The cumulative and degree plan grade point ratios must both be at least 3.00. There cannot be any unabsolved grades of D, F, or U for any course listed on the degree plan. To absolve a deficient grade, the student must have repeated the course at Texas A&M and have achieved a grade of C or better.
• All English proficiency requirements must be satisfied prior to scheduling the examination.
• Students must be registered in the university in the semester or summer term in which the final examination is taken.

Listed below are the steps that should be followed in scheduling and administering final examinations (dissertation defenses) for Ph.D. degrees in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

• The student and the chair of the advisory committee should review the eligibility requirements for the final exam and ensure that the student has satisfied them all. If different courses were taken than are listed on the degree plan, then the appropriate petitions should be filed to make the necessary changes; all such petitions must be approved by the Graduate and Profesional School before the exam can be scheduled. Deadline: several weeks before exam.
• The student should consult with their advisory committee and select a mutually agreeable date and time for the defense. All advisory committee members should attend the final examination. If one of the members cannot attend the examination, he or she must find an appropriate substitute. The committee chair may not be substituted. (Note that the committee member and not the substitute should sign the dissertation approval pages.) Normally two hours should be reserved for the defense. The student is responsible for ensuring that a room is reserved for the defense; the advising office can help with this if needed. To book a room in Peterson, visit the department's room calendar page.   Deadline: Several weeks before the exam.
• The  Request for Final Examination  must be received by the Graduate and Profesional School at least 10 working days before the exam. An electronic copy in plain text (ASCII) of the title and abstract of the dissertation must be emailed to the advising office before  the student brings the request for final examination, already signed by the chair(s), to the advising office for the department approval signature. The advising office will submit the request to the Graduate and Profesional School and they will announce and publicize the defense once the request is approved by the Graduate and Profesional School. Deadline: At least 15 working days before the exam. The additional days are to allow department processing.
• The student should distribute a complete draft ("nearly final form'') of the dissertation to the advisory committee. Deadline: Approximately two weeks before the exam.
• The Graduate and Profesional School will send the advising office a  Report of Final Exam   before  the exam. It should be completed and signed by the advisory committee at the defense. The student's chair should return the  Report of Final Exam  to the advising office and they will submit it to the Graduate and Professional School. If the  Report of Final Exam  is not submitted to the Graduate and Profesional School within 10 working days of the scheduled examination, then a failing grade may be recorded. Deadline: Immediately after the exam (at the latest, within 10 working days of the exam).

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Deadlines for Doctoral Degree Candidates

To be eligible to earn an advanced degree, students must fulfill appropriate requirements as established by their major department and the Graduate School, and have an approved Candidacy Application.  Procedures and final deadlines required by the Graduate School are described below.  Note: Please submit paperwork first to your department and allow time for review before Graduate School deadlines.

Commencement Dates & Requirements​

For may 9, 2024.

• Doctoral students must  apply online to graduate  through  buff portal  on the “apply for graduation” card in order to have the degree awarded in May. This is required whether you plan to attend the university-wide ceremony or not.  PhD students must enter their dissertation title as part of the online graduation application; you may update the title through the portal until this date.  This title will appear on your transcript after your degree is awarded. 
• Doctoral students must complete the PhD dissertation defense or Doctoral final examination by this date.  Notice of the examination must be provided to the Graduate School using the doctoral final examination form two weeks before the exam.
• PhD students must submit the dissertation  with Thesis Approval Form to ProQuest by this deadline. The dissertation must be  submitted electronically  for review and approval by Gradaute School staff by the end of the business day. The single-page  Thesis Approval Form  (TAF) must be uploaded as a supplemental file with the dissertation in order for the submission to be complete. Students whose dissertations are received after this deadline, or those not submitted with the TAF, must apply to graduate at the following semester's commencement.
• PhD and DMA students must fill out the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED)  online  by this deadline.  See additional information about the survey .
• Grade changes must be submitted for incomplete courses taken during previous or current semesters
• Deadline for spring graduates to  update diploma name or address  in Buff Portal

For August 22, 2024*

• Graduate students who plan to have their degrees awarded in August but would like to be listed in the commencement program must  apply online to graduate  through  buff portal  on the “apply for graduation” card.  PhD students must also enter their dissertation title as part of the graduation application.  Though you plan to participate in a May ceremony, please select August as the semester of graduation if that is when your degree will be awarded.
• Doctoral students who have not already done so must  apply online to graduate  through  buff portal  on the “apply for graduation” card in order to have the degree awarded in August. This is required even though there is no university-wide ceremony.  PhD students must enter their dissertation title as part of the online graduation application; you may update the title through the portal until this date.  This title will appear on your transcript after your degree is awarded. 
• Doctoral students must complete the PhD dissertation defense or final examination by this date.  Notice of the examination must be provided to the Graduate School using the doctoral final examination form two weeks before the exam.
• Deadline for summer doctoral graduates to  update diploma name or address  in Buff Portal

*Note: although there is no campus-wide ceremony, students may have degrees awarded in August and December.

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The doctoral defense

The doctoral defense is the final milestone in the program. After you have finished the dissertation, or when you are close to finishing it, you should set a defense date with your doctoral committee. The defense must be publicly announced no later than ten days in advance, and by the time of the announcement the dissertation should be in a final draft stage. To schedule your doctoral defense including reserving a room and announcing your defense, submit the  Doctoral Defense Scheduling Request form . 

During the defense, your will present your dissertation research in a 45-minute presentation. During and immediately after the presentation, your committee members can ask you questions about the content of the paper and presentation. After that, other members of the audience may ask questions also.

When there are no more questions, the dissertation committee will meet to discuss your work, and will render a decision immediately. Note that the committee may ask you for revisions.

After the exam, you need to fill out a form. Contact the Department Office for digital versions of required forms.

What the UCI Catalogue has to say

The UCI Catalogue is the sole authoritative source on academic requirements. About the doctoral defense, it says this:

Requirements for the Ph.D. The requirements for the Ph.D. degree are (1) the student must formally present and defend a written dissertation proposal to a committee of at least three members selected according to Graduate Division requirements. The dissertation proposal presentation may take place as part of the examination for Advancement to Candidacy, in which case, that five-member committee will jointly consider approve the dissertation proposal; (2) the proposal must be approved prior to the final dissertation defense (usually at least three months before to allow time for the candidate to incorporate suggestions and changes required by the committee); (3) the accepted proposal must be archived with the department; (4) prior to the approval of the final version of the dissertation the student is expected to defend the dissertation in a public colloquium announced with at least two weeks’ notice; and (5) all requirements for the Ph.D. degree must be fulfilled within three years after advancement to candidacy.

Policies, Forms and Deadlines

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Graduation Deadlines

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*All oral defenses of a thesis, dissertation, etc. must be scheduled with the Graduate College at least 10 business days before the planned defense date. Please use the official 10-working-day calendar to help you select a date for your defense. Please note that there are certain dates during the academic year during which students cannot hold an oral defense of a thesis or dissertation.  Dates are subject to change without notice.

Graduation procedures

Forms and assistance.

Students are responsible for obtaining the most recent version of the forms and submitting them with the appropriate signatures.

Enrollment requirements

Students must be registered for a minimum of one credit hour during all phases of their graduate education, including the term in which they graduate. This includes periods when students are engaged in research, conducting a doctoral prospectus, working on or defending theses or dissertations, taking comprehensive examinations, taking Graduate Foreign Language Examinations, or in any other way utilizing university resources, facilities or faculty time.

Graduation, format evaluations, and oral defense procedures

Step 1: apply for graduation.

You may apply for graduation through the “Graduation” tab on your My ASU, or by contacting the University Registrar’s Office online, in person or by mail. Information about the graduation application procedures and fees is available online:  students.asu.edu/graduation . If you apply after the deadline for a semester, you will be assessed a late fee and your name will not appear in the commencement program.

Step 2: Submit materials for format evaluation and schedule the oral defense

When you have identified a suitable defense date with your committee and reserved a building and room number, you will request to schedule the defense through the “Defense” tab on your My ASU. The request to schedule a defense must be submitted at least 10 working days before the planned defense date.

In the “Defense” tab you will have a “Schedule my defense” link that will take you to the electronic schedule form. If the link does not appear on your My ASU, please verify that every item below has been completed and contact your academic unit should you need assistance:

You must be defending a Thesis or Dissertation

You must have an approved iPOS (no pending changes or petitions)

You must have met all minimum 3.0 GPA requirements (iPOS, Graduate and Cumulative)

You must have an approved full committee on the iPOS (no pending changes)

All milestone requirements have been satisfied (for example, written comprehensive examination, foreign language examination, etc.)

Doctoral students must have reached candidacy

You must be an active student and currently enrolled

You must submit a complete draft of your document at least ten (10) calendar days before your defense date by uploading your document to your iPOS via your MyASU.

Please note that the supervisory committee usually requests content revisions after they review a document. Regardless, you need to submit your document fully developed with text in each section. You also need to use the Format Tool prior to submitting your document to the format office.

PhD and DMA students must also submit the  Survey of Earned Doctorates  through the website link.

Step 3: Approval to hold the oral defense

Once you have submitted the request to schedule a defense, the request must be approved by the academic unit through the iPOS approval system. 

When the defense has been approved, you will receive an email confirmation and your defense will be highlighted on the  Graduate College Master’s/Doctoral Defense Schedule  website that updates every Monday.

Step 4: Hold the oral defense

Students and supervisory committee chairs must attend the oral defense of the thesis, dissertation or equivalent research document. If, due to unforeseen circumstances, they cannot attend, then the oral defense must be rescheduled to another date.

After the defense, all faculty committee members will input the initial defense results via your iPOS within 10 days. You may monitor the status by checking the Defense Results tab in your iPOS.

Step 5: Submit thesis/dissertation to ETD/ProQuest

Final Document Approval Pathway:

Students submit the final version of their document that has been approved by the supervisory committee and a format reviewer in the Graduate College to ETD/ProQuest.

The approved document is then reviewed by Graduate College format advisors to ensure compliance with format regulations. Additional format revisions may be required.

When final format approval has been granted, the Graduate College notifies ProQuest that the document is ready for publication.

Once the document has been submitted to ProQuest and approved by the ASU format advisors for publication, the document cannot be recalled; no changes may be made to an approved document. Always double check to make sure you have submitted the correct version for publication.

Students may not receive a letter of degree completion from the Graduation Office until ASU has approved the final document and notified ProQuest.

ETD/ProQuest Submission Instructions

Students are required to create a new user account specific to the submission of their document and must use their ASU email address.

Select the appropriate Publishing Option but do not select “Open Publishing” as Graduate College does not allow open publishing. If you select the “Open Publishing” option your ETD submission will be returned to you.

ETD/ProQuest requires all students to submit a PDF version of their final document. ASU Graduate College requires that the PDF document is in compliance with the formatting standards. Students will receive final format approval only after the submitted PDF document has successfully passed a format review. To create a PDF version of the document, students can use the full Adobe suite for free by logging into  asu.edu/myapps , or alternatively, ETD/ProQuest provides a free Word to PDF conversion.

Students have an opportunity to order bound copies of their document for themselves through ETD/ProQuest. They can also go to any third party bindery to obtain bound copies of their document if desired.

Graduation Checklist 

You must complete all degree requirements in order to graduate. If you do not complete all requirements in the semester you intend to graduate, you will need to contact the Graduation Office to request to defer your graduation to the next semester and register for at least one graduate credit for that semester. Please make sure you have addressed the following:

Have you applied for graduation for the correct graduating term?

Is your iPOS approved with a full committee?

Does your iPOS coursework show green checkmarks next to each course? Do all courses have passing grades (no Z or I grades) and does the culminating event show completed? If you need to make corrections, please update and resubmit your iPOS.

Have you maintained continuous enrollment?  Check your iPOS summary page to see if this requirement says "met".

Are there any pending items in your iPOS? There can be no pending items.

Are you registered for the semester in which you are graduating? You must be registered in at least one graduate credit.

Are there any missing grades for courses taken any semester since starting as an ASU graduate student?  All courses must have a grade.

If you are completing a thesis/dissertation (or equivalent). Check your the format tab in your iPOS:

Did you receive final format approval from the Graduate College?

Did your committee enter final defense results on your iPOS?

Did you submit your document to ETD/ProQuest?

If you are a PhD or DMA student, have you submitted your  Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) ?

If you had an internship, did your chair/internship director submit a letter stating that you have completed all requirements of the internship?

• Is your grade point average 3.0 or above for the cumulative, college, and iPOS categories? Check your iPOS.

If you have any questions, please contact your graduate academic advisor.

Preparing for your PhD thesis defence

As you start thinking about the end stages of your PhD, it’s important to understand the processes and timelines related to the thesis defence so that your degree completion is not delayed. Even if your thesis defence seems far away, there are several planning considerations you can consider early on to help the end stages of your PhD go smoothly.

On this page you will find videos, tools, and information about what the PhD thesis defence is , timelines for the PhD thesis defence , and tips for a successful PhD thesis defence .

All PhD students should also ensure that they read the PhD thesis examination regulations and review the thesis preparation guidelines prior to their oral defence. If your thesis defence will be conducted remotely, you should also review the process for a remote thesis defence .

What is the PhD defence?

Understanding the purpose, processes and possible outcomes of the thesis defence can help you feel more prepared for the defence itself. In this video, you’ll learn about what the defence is, who’s there, what happens, and the deliberation and range of possible outcomes.

Transcript - Demystifying the thesis defence at University of Waterloo (PDF)

You may wish to learn more about some of the topics discussed in this video. Here are some helpful links to learn more:

Examination committee members (including the external examiner): Visit the PhD thesis examination regulations section on the  PhD thesis examining committee for more information about the committee members, including information about the external examiner and conflicts of interest.

• Closed thesis defences and non-disclosure agreements: Visit the PhD thesis examination regulations section on guidelines for thesis examination without public disclosure for more information about closed thesis examinations.
• Thesis defence decisions and outcomes: Visit the PhD thesis examination regulations section on  decisions for additional information about decisions and outcomes.
• Thesis submission: Visit the thesis submission webpage for information about the thesis submission process, including approvals that must be obtained before submitting your thesis.
• UWSpace: Visit the Library’s UWSpace webpage for information about what UWSpace is and how to submit, or deposit, your thesis to UWSpace.

Timeline to defence

Early planning considerations.

Well before your defence date, there are several considerations to think about that can help make the end stages of your degree go smoothly and ensure your defence date and degree completion are not delayed:

• Being aware of formatting requirements will save you time on revisions later on – the last thing you want to be doing before submitting your thesis to UWSpace is updating page numbers or your table of contents! Consider using the Microsoft Word or LaTeX thesis template produced by Information Systems & Technology. 
• The Dissertation Boot Camp can help you develop effective writing practices and strategies for completing your thesis, while the three-part Rock Your Thesis workshop series will provide practical guidance for planning, writing, revising, and submitting your thesis project. You can also book an individual appointment to do backwards planning with an advisor. They can help you utilize the planning tools most effectively, while providing hands-on guidance and feedback.  
• If you are using third-party content, including your own previously published work in your thesis, or seeking intellectual property protection (for yourself or another involved party), there may be implications for your thesis or defence. Learn more about copyright for your thesis , and email [email protected] for help with copyright questions related to your thesis.
• Depending on your departmental or discipline’s norms, you may require approval from your entire committee, or just your supervisor. Ensure you talk with your supervisor and/or committee early on to confirm processes and timelines, so you’re not surprised later.
• Depending on your departmental or discipline’s norms, your supervisor may select an external examiner themselves, or they may seek your input. Talk to your supervisor early on about this process, as in some faculties the external examiner may need to be vetted and approved as early as the term before you wish to defend. Remember that there are conflict of interest guidelines around the appointment of the external examiner , and the PhD candidate should not be in communication with the external examiner prior to the defence.
• A PhD thesis must be on display for a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the defence date. To accommodate, you may need to submit your thesis as early as 6-8 weeks prior to your defence. Review your faculty specific backwards planning tool for the thesis submission deadline in your faculty and learn more about the display period in the PhD thesis examination regulations.
• After your successful thesis defence, you will likely have some required revisions to your thesis. It’s important to understand revision timelines , especially if you’re hoping to become “degree complete” before a tuition refund or convocation deadline. Find tuition refund and convocation deadlines in the important dates calendar .
• Following your thesis defence, there are several steps to be taken before your final, approved thesis is accepted in UWSpace. Ensure that you’re aware of these thesis submission steps and timelines in advance.

Backwards planning tools

Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, in collaboration with the Faculties, have prepared faculty specific backwards planning tools to help PhD candidates map out the timelines related to their thesis defence and degree completion.

Select your faculty below to download a PDF copy of the backwards planning tool. We encourage you to discuss your ideal timelines with your supervisor(s) and your department graduate program co-ordinator.

• Faculty of Health backwards planning tool (PDF)
• Faculty of Arts backwards planning tool (PDF)
• Faculty of Engineering backwards planning tool (PDF)
• Faculty of Environment backwards planning tool (PDF)
• Faculty of Mathematics backwards planning tool (PDF)
• Faculty of Science backwards planning tool (PDF)

Tips for success

The PhD thesis defence is the culmination of years of hard work! The tips outlined in this video, compiled from recent PhD graduates and experienced thesis defence chairs, cover tips for preparing for your defence, day-of logistics, and defending successfully.

Transcript - Your Thesis Defence: Tips for Success (PDF)

Will your PhD thesis defence be held remotely? We’ve compiled additional tips for success specifically related to the remote defence.

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Ph.D. Defense and Graduation Procedures

Student seminar.

All doctoral students are required to give a short presentation (20 minutes) during the BME 298 seminar series course. After passing your qualifying exam, you are eligible to present. The department strongly recommends completing your presentation during year four.

The seminar series is managed by Khang Pham, [email protected] . He will assist with all seminar coordination and scheduling.

At least one committee member, preferably your doctoral committee chair, must be present during the seminar to evaluate your presentation. An evaluation sheet must be submitted to the department to fulfill this requirement for graduation.

Defense Announcement

All students are required to advertise their defense publicly to BME students and faculty. Please provide a short abstract, the date, time, the location and/or Zoom details. Please send these details to Dilon Reynolds  at least two weeks prior to your defense date.

Currently, defenses may be conducted in-person, hybrid style or fully virtual. 

Changes to Committee Members

Your Doctoral Committee members should have been indicated on your Ph.D. Form I after you passed your qualifying exam. If changes need to be made to your committee, please notify the graduate academic coordinator, Maggie Mulcare ( [email protected] ) prior to your defense so that the update can be made with Graduate Division.

Submitting Dissertation to ProQuest

Please consult UCI Library for formatting guidelines for the Ph.D. dissertation. Instructions on how to upload your dissertation to ProQuest are here .

Please note that during peak graduation times (the final week of classes, particularly in spring quarter), it may take two to three days for ProQuest to send the final confirmation email that must be submitted to the Graduate Division along with the Ph.D. Form II. Plan accordingly and do not wait until the last minute to submit your dissertation.

Ph.D. Form II via DocuSign

After passing your defense, please complete the DocuSign request form  to initiate your Ph.D. Form II and Ph.D. dissertation checklist via DocuSign. These forms have now been combined into one form.

Please note that all checklist items must be attached to the DocuSign as PDFs before the student signs/submits the form. These items include the Ph.D. exit survey and the confirmation email from ProQuest. The confirmation email will be the second email received from ProQuest, which states that your dissertation has passed all required checks and been approved.

The deadline for the Ph.D. Form II during the normal academic year (fall-spring quarters) is the Friday of the last week of classes.

Students may petition to go on filing fee status in the quarter in which they are graduating, only if they have completed all research/lab work. Students on filing fee status cannot use campus facilities, such as labs or the library, and cannot be actively employed as a graduate student researcher (GSR) or teaching assistant (TA) during the academic year. Students are permitted to be employed over the summer quarter while on filing fee.

During the academic year (fall-spring quarters), the filing fee petition must be completed and submitted prior to the third Friday of classes for that quarter. During the summer, the filing fee deadline is the same as the graduation paperwork deadline and therefore the form should be initiated and submitted at the same time as the Ph.D. form II.

The filing fee is currently $201 and can be paid online here . The receipt must be attached to the DocuSign form before submission.

Please email the graduate academic coordinator, Maggie Mulcare , to initiate the filing fee form via DocuSign.

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Thesis & dissertation information.

Defense Deadlines Spring 2024: May 3, 2024 Summer 2024: August 15, 2024 Fall 2024: December 19, 2024

Publication Requirements 

Before beginning work on a thesis, dissertation, or plan B paper, students should review the online Publication Guide for Graduate Students, request the style manual or journal approved by the supervisory committee and/or department, and watch or attend a thesis/dissertation information session. These resources will guide students in the proper preparation of their manuscript.  

Theses and dissertations may be prepared in either monograph or multiple-paper format. One article or an article-manuscript may not be submitted by itself as an entire thesis or dissertation. The content of a thesis or dissertation must be approved by the student’s supervisory committee. Drafts of sections should be submitted periodically to the major professor for critique. Committee members should be consulted, especially on sections that involve their special expertise. 

Preparation of a thesis, plan B paper, or dissertation is the culminating learning experience for a graduate student. The quality of the product, which should represent the student’s own best work, is the responsibility of the student. Monitoring the quality of the thesis, plan B paper, or dissertation and mentoring the student in writing are responsibilities of the major professor, with the assistance of the supervisory committee. Editing by anyone other than the major professor and the supervisory committee should be limited to mechanics, such as spelling and grammar. 

Coauthoring requirements are listed in the Graduate School Catalog (section G2).  

Access the Publication Guide for Graduate Students

Find Thesis/Dissertation Information Sessions

Defense Process and Requirements

Before semester of defense.

• Review the School of Graduate Studies Publication Guide and attend a thesis/dissertation review information session.
• Review the steps to degree completion for your degree.
• Review your official degree and plan type and ensure they are correct in Banner.
• Review your official committee to make sure it is correct (NO committee changes can be made within 6 weeks of the final defense). 
• Review your file: are your SCAF , POS , and TPA or ACDD forms approved and accurate?
• Discuss how many credits you need for the semester of defense.
• Discuss departmental thesis/dissertation review procedures and timeframe.
• Work with your major professor and committee to determine a timeline for your thesis/dissertation completion. 

Preparing for Defense

• Register for at least three credits the semester of your defense unless otherwise approved by your department.
• International students must be registered as a full-time student throughout the duration of their degree and are not eligible to register for 1 credit unless their final semester falls in the summer semester.
• Conduct a final review of your official forms to make sure they are correct.
• Discuss any departmental requirements.
• Discuss how the defense room is reserved.
• Work with your committee to determine the date and time of your defense.
• Submit your thesis, plan B paper, or dissertation to each committee member at least one month prior to your defense date.
• Reserve a room.
• Check on the progress of approvals on your AFE, follow up with GPC and/or committee members to make sure it is approved in a timely manner.
• If the Appointment for Examination is not fully approved before the date of defense, the defense is not official, and will need to be rescheduled.
• Once an Appointment for Examination has been approved by the committee and the School of Graduate Studies, any changes to the date, time, and/or location require the submission and approval of a new Appointment for Examination. 

After the Defense

• The student should be informed of the defense results at the conclusion of the defense.
• The major professor or designated committee member should inform the GPC of the results of the defense as soon as possible.
• The GPC will then submit the Record of Examination in ServiceNow, and the committee will verify the results of the defense.
• Discuss the ownership of data and authorship rights with your committee. Review and submit the Format & Style form and Authorship & Copyright form .
• If desired, submit an embargo request . 
• Defense Requirements
• Any final defense held without following the proper procedures as listed in the graduate catalog may be invalid.
• All defenses are public.
• *International students must be registered as a full-time student throughout the duration of their degree and are not eligible to register for 1 credit unless their final semester falls in the summer semester.
• Supervisory committees cannot be changed in the 6 weeks prior to defense.
• All committee members must attend the defense at the date and time registered with the School of Graduate Studies.
• While an in-person defense is preferred and recommended, members of the committee may participate remotely with both audio and video interaction. Students should work with their committee members to arrange defense participation and details prior to submitting an Appointment for Examination.
• No committee member should agree to proceed with a defense until they have carefully read and approved the thesis, dissertation, or plan B paper. 
• Submission Process

After your defense, you should submit all of the following documents to your graduate program coordinator/department reviewer: 

(All forms can be found on the Service Now platform)

• Dissertation/Thesis Format and Style/ETD form
• Authorship and Copyright form
• Embargo Request form  (if desired)

Students should also review final semester information for other deadlines and requirements.

Once a student’s thesis, dissertation, or plan B paper has been finalized by the School of Graduate Studies and/or the Library, the School of Graduate Studies will verify that all degree requirements have been met. The School of Graduate Studies will contact you to let you know if anything on the Completion Checklist is incomplete. 

Theses & Dissertations

When you’re completely done editing your thesis/dissertation and your committee has approved it by signing your title page, have your GPC or departmental reviewer submit it for review to the School of Graduate Studies. 

Your paper cannot be checked into the School of Graduate Studies queue for review until all of the required forms are submitted and approved, your GPC has uploaded your completed thesis/dissertation to your review file, and your GPC has emailed the reviewer indicating that everything is in your file. All papers in the queue are processed in the order in which they are added.  Please allow at least three weeks for the initial review of your thesis or dissertation once it has been added to the queue (time to the initial review will vary based on the number of papers in the queue). 

If you formatted chapters in accordance with a particular journal, please also submit to the School of Graduate Studies a sample(s) of target journal styles in PDF format. 

If you want your thesis/dissertation embargoed, you must submit an Embargo form , and a signed physical copy of your final approved paper to the library along with a binding fee once it has passed the School of Graduate Studies review. 

Once your thesis or dissertation has passed the School of Graduate Studies review, it will be submitted to the Library for publication.  No further edits can be made at this point! Library personnel will notify the student and the School of Graduate Studies once the manuscript is accepted. 

Plan B Papers & Projects

Plan B papers and projects are defended but not formally reviewed by the School of Graduate Studies or signed by the Vice Provost of Graduate Studies. Instead, once a student has successfully defended their plan B and their committee has approved the final version of their report/creative project, students will submit their papers or projects directly to the Merrill-Cazier Library and uploaded to DigitalCommons. Library personnel will notify the student and the School of Graduate Studies once the plan B paper or project is accepted. 

On This Page

• Defense Deadlines
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• Defense Process

Graduate Education

Office of graduate and postdoctoral education, phd defense by keaton scherpereel, april 23, 2024.

Title: Enabling Scalable, Versatile, and Robust Control for Robotic Exoskeletons

Date: Tuesday, April 23rd

Time: 1PM EST

Location: Manufacturing Related Disciplines Complex (MRDC) 4211

Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/95274057500

Keaton Scherpereel

Robotics PhD Candidate

School of Mechanical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Aaron Young (Advisor) – School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Omer Inan (Advisor) – School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Gregory Sawicki – School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Matthew Gombolay – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Thomas Ploetz – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Lower-limb exoskeleton technologies—rigid or soft devices that provide assistance to users—show promise in restoring and augmenting human movement. However, current state-of-the-art exoskeleton control primarily addresses consistent, time-repeatable tasks and device-specific, state-machine-based transitions that stand in stark contrast with the fluidity and variability of natural human movement. As I demonstrate in this work, even at its theoretical best, the current control paradigm cannot handle the uncertain and ever-changing environment we live in. In this work, I expand controllers based on deep learning estimates of physiological state to operate in the expansive regime of human activities while also generalizing to novel activities. I show that, when deployed on a hip and knee exoskeleton, these controllers can augment human performance across tasks and time-varying conditions, promising task-agnostic and user-independent control. The process of training these models, however, is device-specific and highly costly in terms of resources and personnel. This threatens to negate its potential for real-world viability. In this work, I also present a novel framework that uses deep domain adaptation to reduce or eliminate the need for costly device-specific data. When deployed on an exoskeleton in real-time, these data-limited models still achieved performance comparable to models with complete access to costly data. These advances are a promising step toward enabling exoskeletons to break the critical task- and device-specific barriers to everyday, outside-laboratory use, and thereby achieve their transformative potential to aid ordinary people.

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May 1 (Wed) @ 11:30am: ”Engineering, Control, and Integration of 2D Based Quantum Defects for Integrated Quantum Photonics,” Kamyar Parto, ECE PhD Defense

Zoom Meeting :  https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/414638234

Solid-state Quantum Emitters (SQEs) are an indispensable resource for quantum photonic platforms. These technologies can be made into compact and efficient modules by leveraging the mature silicon photonics ecosystem; however, suitable quantum emitters have not yet been demonstrated in silicon-based photonics. The development of CMOS-compatible, high-quality quantum emitters capable of on-demand single-photon generation could revolutionize the field of quantum information in the same way the laser has transformed global communications and high-speed data networks.

Two key requirements are necessary to address this challenge: (1) identification of emitters capable of high purity, high indistinguishability, and bright single-photon generation, and (2) the deterministic integration and alignment of such emitters with silicon-based photonic microcavities to achieve efficient on-chip emission. Many platforms have been developed to address the first challenge, including quantum dots, diamond color centers, and defects in two-dimensional materials . The second challenge has been more difficult to overcome and calls for a hetero-integrated approach that integrates materials hosting high-quality emitters into the silicon-photonic fabrication flow.

In recent years, the discovery of defect-based SQEs in 2D materials, most notably WSe2 and h-BN, has given a boost to this effort. In this talk, I will discuss our experiments that shed light on origin of SQEs and resulted in a novel method to site-specifically engineer SQEs in 2D materials with 50 nm spatial resolution, near unity yield, over 95% purity, and record-breaking working temperatures, Next, I'll discuss several advances in photonic integration that resulted in the development of a 2D-compatible photonic platform capable of >46% on-chip single-photon collection efficiency and > 95% single-photon purity at room temperature. This is the first demonstration of microcavity integration of quantum emitters in two-dimensional material emitters with silicon-based photonics, which improved the on-chip coupling efficiency by an order-of-magnitude over previous demonstrations.

Finally, I will provide an outlook to the future of this platform and specifically our progress to integrate our cavity-coupled SQEs into diode structures enabling electrical triggering of single-photons and prototyping the first on-chip quantum light emitting device (qLED).

Kamyar Parto is a Ph.D. candidate and Graduate Student Researcher in Quantum Photonics Lab (QPL) and the Nanoelectronic Research Lab (NRL) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, advised by Prof. Galan Moody and Prof. Kaustav Banerjee. His doctoral research has chronicled in over 28 publications including seven first author papers published in journals including Nature Communications, PRX Quantum, and Nano Letters. He is also a recipient of several awards including the FiOLS Jean Bennet Memorial award, DOE SCGSR award, NSF Quantum Foundry Fellowship, and FiOLS Emil Wolf Finalist.

Hosted by : Prof. Galan Moody, Quantum Photonics Lab and Prof. Kaustav Banerjee, Nanoelectronics Lab

Submitted by : Kamyar Parto < [email protected] >

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PhD Dissertation Defense by: Shaon Bhatta Shuvo

The school of computer science is pleased to present…, artificial intelligence-based approaches for analysis and optimization of complex systems: case studies in computational epidemiology, date: tuesday, april 23, 2024, time: 11:00 am, location: essex hall, room 122.