General Requirements. The successful completion of the Ph.D. program in The Department of Materials Science and Engineering includes the following segments:
1. The completion of at least 63 units of graduate work beyond the B.S. degree. At least 30 of these units must be earned at The University of Arizona. The 63 units will include:
2. The selection of a faculty advisory committee.
3. The development of a course of study in a Program Planning Committee.
4. The completion of specific courses, including MSE 510 and MSE 572, and at least 9 units of 500 level courses in the Department. The MSE 510 and MSE 572 requirement can only be waived by permission of the Graduate Program Committee after demonstration of proficiency in these subjects at the level of these courses by approval of the instructors.
5. The completion of MSE 501 and MSE 502 and the presentation of a dissertation proposal to satisfy the written part of the Preliminary Examination in the major field.
6. The satisfactory completion of a Preliminary Examination (written and oral parts) in the major and in the minor.
7. The preparation of an acceptable dissertation containing the research work.
8. The satisfactory completion of the Final Examination, including the defense of the dissertation.
Every graduate student is required to enroll in the Colloquium, MSE 595, both Fall and Spring semesters. In addition, each student at the Ph.D. level is required to make one colloquium presentation during the pursuit of this degree.
Program Planning Conference. Each student entering the Ph.D. program shall arrange to have a Program Planning Conference (PPC) during his/her first semester in the program. The Department PPC is used to determine the student’s preparation and general background knowledge in the materials field. The PPC is used as the Qualifying Examination (required by the Graduate College). In the PPC an appointed MSE Department faculty member (Department Head), if an advisor has not been selected, will develop a course of study with the student that will meet the Department’s and student’s objectives. The faculty member may call upon other Department faculty to aid in this process.
In the PPC, details of the student’s previous undergraduate and graduate work will be explored in detail to determine if the student has the proper preparation for the courses in this graduate program. The student may be asked to bring to the Conference information about the courses taken, particularly at other institutions, to help in the evaluation. Such information might be course outlines, syllabi, notes, examinations, grades, etc.
As a result of the Program Planning Conference, the student may be asked to take an eclectic set of undergraduate courses in order to improve his/her subsequent performance in graduate courses in his/her program. In this way, the student will be protected from getting into courses for which he/she is not prepared.
Preliminary Examination. The Preliminary Examination is in two parts:
Both parts of the examination must be passed satisfactorily in order to pass the entire examination.To serve as the written portion of the Preliminary Examination, graduate students will write and defend a formal research proposal. The writing of the research proposal is coupled with the two-semester course, MSE 501 and 502. The graduate students are encouraged to take this course in their second and third semesters. They will submit the research proposal and defend it at the end of MSE 502. The oral defense of the written proposal consists of a public presentation plus a private question session. The examining committee will consist of two of the course instructors, the candidate’s advisor and a member of the faculty chosen by the candidate.
The proposal should:
The proposal should clearly establish that the candidate is capable of independent, original, creative thinking. Students should also demonstrate their ability to integrate knowledge.
A student who demonstrates excellence (as represented by an A) in the course will achieve a successful completion of the written portion of the preliminary examination in the major field when other requirements as set out in the graduate catalogue have been completed.
When the written portions of the Preliminary Examination (in the major and in the minor fields) have been completed satisfactorily and when the student is ready to take the Oral Examination, the Department will officially acknowledge successful completion of the written Preliminary Examination requirements. The student’s advisor will notify the Graduate College and request a date for the Oral Examination. The oral portion of the examination must be taken within 6 months of departmental acknowledgment as required by the Graduate College. The Oral Examination shall be taken no later than 3 months before completion of the dissertation and Final Examination. It should be taken as soon as the student has met all the requirements of the written portions covering the minor field. The Oral Examination will include a brief presentation reporting on progress on the dissertation topic. The presentation will be followed by a question period.
The members of the Oral Examination Committee will be chosen by the candidate.
Dissertation and Final Examination. The dissertation represents the culmination of the candidate’s research. When the candidate submits it to the Committee, the document should be of a very high quality in which the need for further editing should be minimum. The organization and format of the dissertation must be in accord with the requirements of the Graduate College as prescribed in its booklet, "A Manual for Theses and Dissertations." Some latitude is permitted for adherence to practices of technical journals in the candidate’s field of interest. The students should consult with his/her advisor for advice in these specific situations. The presentation is expected to be complete and to include all of the details necessary to make clear the bases used for the theoretical and experimental treatment of the problem. Full use of appendices should be made to support areas dealt with in a condensed manner in the text.
The candidate will submit the proposed dissertation to each member of his/her examining committee for preliminary acceptance and minor editing suggestions of the work. As submitted, however, the proposed dissertation is expected to be complete, in typed form and technically and grammatically correct.
The candidate will arrange a time schedule such that each member of the Examining Committee will have at least three weeks to review the proposed dissertation before the final examination.
The Final Examination will consist of a presentation by the candidate of his/her dissertation in a manner similar to that commonly used at technical meetings in the presentation of technical research papers. The presentation will be followed by a question period in which the Examining Committee may ask questions related to the dissertation and to general matters of the candidate’s field of study.
The report of the Examining Committee will be sent to the Graduate College. If the candidate has passed, the report will be placed in the Graduate College Degree Check office awaiting completion of the final copy of the dissertation. It is the student’s responsibility to make corrections, additions, or deletions required by the Examining Committee. When the Committee approves the final copy, the student submits it to the Graduate college for its approval. The Graduate College will have final approval of the format of this final copy of the dissertation. When approved, the student must supply two additional copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College to be used as the Library copies.
Dissertation Copies. The student is responsible for paying for the preparation and copying of this dissertation. One copy must be provided to the major professor, one copy to the Department, and two copies to the Graduate College.
Ph.D. Minor. Ph.D. students majoring in the MSE Department must choose a minor either in a distinctly different field of study within the Department or preferably in a different department within the University. The selection of a minor area will be done with the approval of the student's advisor in consideration of the student's goals. If taken within the Department, the minor shall consist of a minimum of 12 units of graduate credit courses listed in the Department.
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