Graduate Degree Programs

graduate

 

Overview | Requirement Details


Detailed Requirements for the Ph.D Degree in Geology

The University, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and the Department of Geosciences requirements for graduate degrees must be met. It is the student’s obligation to be familiar with and to fulfill these requirements. These requirements include, but are not limited to:

  1. Students desiring to enter our Ph.D. program from another University or completing the M.S. program in our department, must make formal application for admission into the Department of Geoscience’s Ph.D. program.

  2. All Ph.D. students must report in person to the Department prior to the start of their first full semester of study for the Placement Examination. The time, generally one week prior to the start of the semester, will be announced a few months in advance. The purpose of this examination is to determine whether the student has any areas of weakness that require specific course work, independent study, or that can be rectified by some other means.

  3. The student must have a minimum of one continuous academic year (two long semesters) as a full-time student, i.e., consisting of nine (9) hours of credit per semester. A total of thirty (30) hours, twenty-four (24) hours of course work plus six (6) hours of dissertation credit, are the minimum required by the University for the Ph.D. degree. Many of the hours can be independent study. A student working on a dissertation must be continuously enrolled in a minimum of 3 hours of dissertation courses each Fall and Spring semester as well as their final semester.
  4. All supported students (e.g., T.A.s and R.A.s) are required to report to the Department one week prior to the beginning of each semester to meet with the Graduate Committee and review their progress toward the degree and to be advised concerning course work. Additionally, all students receiving financial support from the University must enroll in at least nine (9) hours Fall and Spring semesters and 6 during the Summer. All students seeking a Ph.D. degree in Geology must take at least one course from 3 of the 4 Graduate Core Categories (i.e., Geochemistry/Igneous & Metamorphic Petrology, Sedimentary Geology, Structure/Tectonics, and Applied/Analytical).
  5. Ph.D. applicants are encouraged to formulate their Dissertation Committee promptly in order to ensure proper guidance throughout their research. Any changes to the Dissertation Committee must be approved by the Dean's office the long semester (Fall, Spring, or Summer) prior to defense of the dissertation. The dissertation committee must be chaired by a tenure track faculty member of the Department of Geosciences and have at least two other departmental faculty members on the committee as well as one member external to the department. At least 50% of the committee must be tenure track Geoscience faculty members. Additional faculty and/or appropriate off campus individuals may be a part of the committee.

    Students starting in the Ph.D. program before July 2006: follow sections 6 A & B, students entering the program after July 2006, substitute sections 7 A & B.
  6. Before the completion of three semesters of full-time studies (or equivalent) and removal of all deficiencies, the student will appear for the Candidacy Examination and Dissertation Proposal.
    1. The Candidacy Examination will be an oral exam, approximately 2 hours in length, given during the third week of each semester. It will test the breadth of the candidate’s knowledge within their sub-discipline, (i.e., Geology, Solid Earth Geophysics, or Atmospheric Geophysics). Approval by a majority of the five (5) members of the Examining Committee is required for the student to pass the examination. At the discretion of the Examining Committee, a student who fails the general examination can be permitted to re-take it, however, the exam can not be taken more than twice by the applicant. Re-examination will take place within one (1) month of the initial examination. The student must pass the Candidacy Examination before proceeding to the Dissertation Proposal.
    2. Scheduling of Dissertation Proposal is done by each applicant through the Advising Assistant. The oral Dissertation Proposal will be given during the same semester, after successful passage of the Candidacy Examination. Ph.D. proposals can take place Monday-Friday, with starting times between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., during the Fall and Spring semesters prior to the end of the 11th week of classes during their semester. Proposals cannot occur during Summer terms, vacations, reading days, or final examination periods (nor over spring or inter-semester breaks). Two hours should be allocated for the Dissertation Proposal presentation and questions.

      Proposals are preceded by the distribution and approval of a 5 to 10 page (10 page maximum for text) written description of the dissertation project to the Dissertation Committee. A one page abstract must be posted and distributed to all Faculty members at least one week prior to presentation and a copy of the full proposal filed with the Advising Assistant at that time. The proposal abstract must contain the title, time and place of the proposal, and the names of the committee members. The Dissertation Advisor and at least one other member of the committee must initial the abstract prior to posting, thus indicating that they approve of the presentation of the proposal. Upon successful presentation of the proposal, a copy of the complete proposal with the Dissertation Advisor’s signature indicating approval of the proposal as originally presented or modified must be filed with the Advising Assistant to be placed in the student's permanent academic file.

      The student should demonstrate in the proposal, both in the written and oral presentation, a thorough understanding of the dissertation research, i.e., its anticipated significance, previous work in the area, methods by which pertinent data will be gathered, limitations of the research, possible pitfalls, etc. It is incumbent upon the applicant to convey to the Faculty that the applicant has a thorough understanding of all aspects of the dissertation research. Thus, it is strongly recommended that the applicant review all aspects of the dissertation research, both the written and oral proposal presentations with the dissertation advisor as well as with any other pertinent faculty member(s), other professionals, and/or fellow students.

      The oral presentation, approximately 30 to 45 minutes long, will be followed by a period during which all present can ask questions of the student related to the suitability and feasibility of the project, as well as the student’s ability to perform the research. All faculty present can participate in the deliberations. All Geosciences Faculty as well as other committee members present may vote on the success or failure of the student’s performance in the Dissertation Proposal. Approval by a majority of those voting is needed to pass the proposal. Upon successful presentation of the Dissertation Proposal, the student will be granted Ph.D. Candidacy status.

      The Examining Committee, at their discretion, can allow a student who failed the Dissertation Proposal to re-propose, this, however, can be done no more than once. The second presentation must take place within one (1) month of the initial presentation.

    1. Students, in consultation with members of the faculty, will select three research proposal topics, two of which will be presented during their 3rd semester as Ph.D. applicants. All three topics must be submitted for approvable to the Chair of the Department as well as the Graduate Committee no later than the 9th week of their 2nd semester in the program. The Chair of the Department and the Graduate Committee will decide if the proposals represent sufficient breadth within 10 working days of receipt of the proposal topics. One of these proposals will constitute the Dissertation (major) Proposal. The other two "minor" proposals can be on any subject in the geosciences, but none of the three proposals can be similar in subject matter. Minor and Dissertation proposals can take place Monday-Friday, with starting times between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., during the Fall and Spring semesters. Proposals cannot occur during Summer terms, vacations, reading days, or final examination periods (nor over spring or inter-semester breaks). Scheduling of the minor and Dissertation proposals will be done by the chairs of the respective committees and must be approved by the Department Advising Assistant (to avoid time conflicts with other proposals). The Examining Committee (which is different than the Dissertation Committee) will be composed of 5 faculty members, the Dissertation Advisor plus 4 faculty members selected by the Department Chair and Graduate Committee.

      The two minor proposals will be presented prior to the 10th week of the 3rd semester for full-time Ph.D. applicants. The student should demonstrate in each proposal a thorough understanding of the research, i.e., its anticipated significance, previous work in the area, methods by which pertinent data will be gathered, limitations of the research, possible pitfalls, etc. It is incumbent upon the applicant to convey to the Faculty that the applicant has a thorough understanding of all aspects of the research. Thus, it is strongly recommended that the applicant review both the written and oral proposal presentations with pertinent faculty member(s), other professionals, and/or fellow students. The text of the minor proposals should be 3 to 5 pages in length and are to be submitted to the Examining Committee at least 1 week prior to each oral presentation. For the minor proposals, approximately one and a half (1.5) hours will be allotted for the student's oral presentation (no longer than 30 minutes) and defense (1 hour). All faculty are invited to attend the presentation of the proposal, offer input during the faculty evaluation phase, however, due to time constraints, only Examining Committee members may ask questions and vote on the success or failure of the applicant. Successful defense of both minor proposals is determined by a majority vote of the Examining Committee and is necessary before the applicant can proceed to presentation and defense of the Dissertation Proposal.

      The Examining Committee, at their discretion, can allow a student who failed one or both minor proposals to re-propose, however, this can be done no more than once. The second presentation(s) should take place within 4 weeks of the initial presentation(s).
    2. The Dissertation Proposal will be presented within the first 4 weeks of the students 4th semester in the program. Two hours should be allocated for the Dissertation Proposal presentation and questions. Proposals are preceded by the distribution and approval of a 10 to 20 page (10 page maximum for text with up to 10 additional pages allottted for figures and references) written description of the dissertation project to the Dissertation Committee.

      A one page abstract must be posted and distributed to all Faculty members at least one week prior to presentation and a copy of the full proposal filed with the Advising Assistant at that time. The proposal abstract must contain the title, time and place of the proposal, and the names of the committee members. The Dissertation Advisor and at least one other member of the committee must initial the abstract prior to posting, thus indicating that they approve of the presentation of the proposal. The oral presentation, approximately 30 to 45 minutes long, will be followed by a period during which all present can ask questions of the student related to the suitability and feasibility of the project, as well as the student's ability to perform the research. All faculty are invited to attend and those present can participate in the deliberations. All Geosciences Faculty as well as other committee members present may vote on the success or failure of the student's performance in the Dissertation Proposal. Approval by a majority of those voting is needed to pass the proposal.



      The Dissertation Committee, at their discretion, can allow a student who failed the Dissertation Proposal to re-propose, this, however, can be done no more than once. The second presentation should take place within 4 weeks of the initial presentation.

      Upon successful presentation of the proposal, a copy of the complete proposal with the Dissertation Advisor’s signature indicating approval of the proposal as originally presented, or modified, must be filed with the Advising Assistant to be placed in the student's permanent academic file, and the student will be granted Ph.D. candidate status.
  8. Prior to defense of the dissertation, the student will submit at least one (1) completed manuscript, based on the dissertation research, to a peer-reviewed journal. This manuscript must have been judged publication-ready by the Dissertation Advisor and at least one other faculty member on the Dissertation Committee prior to submission.
  9. A public defense of the complete dissertation research will be presented to the Faculty at large and may be attended by any other interested parties. An abstract, which lists the time and place of the defense, must be distributed to the departmental Faculty and posted publicly at least one week prior to the scheduled date. The Dissertation Advisor and at least one other departmental committee member must initial the notice of defense, thus indicating they approve of the defense. An unbound copy of the final draft, including all illustrations, must be made available in the Departmental Office at least one week prior to the defense date for inspection by the Faculty of the Department of Geosciences. A brochure outlining the format to be followed can be obtained from the Office of the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics. Ph.D. defenses can be given Monday-Friday during the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters with starting times between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Defenses cannot be given during vacations, reading days, or final examination periods (nor over spring or inter-semester breaks). Scheduling of defenses is done through the Advising Assistant. A positive vote by a majority of the Dissertation Committee is required for successful defense of the dissertation.

If the student does not complete and successfully defend the Ph.D dissertation within five years after passing the Candidacy Examination, retaking of the Candidacy Examination may be required.


Sequence and Timing

Fulltime students:

Prior to first full semester in Ph.D. program.

  • Departmental Placement Examination.
First year in program.
  1. Appropriate course work.
  2. Removal of all deficiencies.
  3. Establishment of Dissertation Committee
Second year in program.
  1. Presentation of Research and Dissertation Proposals
  2. Completion of all formal course work.
  3. Initiation of research.
Third & successive year(s).
  1. Submission of a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal
  2. Completion and defense of dissertation.

Part-time students:

Sequence and timing should approximate as closely as possible to those of the fulltime students.

revised 6/06