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Dissertation Committee: Roles, Functions, and How to Choose

The path to a dissertation is filled with choices that determine the quality of your experience as a student as well as the future strength of your professional network. 

Choosing your dissertation committee is one of the most important decisions–and one of the most fraught–that you’ll make as a graduate student. With the stakes being so high, many doctoral students worry about making a misstep and getting it wrong. 

Fear not! Putting together your dissertation committee becomes easier once you know the right questions to ask: of potential committee members, of your dissertation chair, and of yourself. While forming your dissertation committee can be challenging, striking the right balance will lead to a richly rewarding academic experience that will pay dividends throughout your career. Do your homework, and you’ll be just fine. 

Dissertation Committee Questions

• What does a dissertation committee do?
• Who serves on your dissertation committee?
• How do you choose dissertation committee members?
• What can you expect from your dissertation committee? 

What Does a Dissertation Committee Do?

The basic function of your dissertation committee, which typically consists of five members, is to guide you through the process of proposing, writing, and revising your dissertation.  

Dissertation committee members serve in a mentoring capacity, offering constructive feedback on your writing and research, as well as guiding your revision efforts. They are also the gatekeepers of the ivory tower, and the ultimate judges of whether or not your dissertation passes muster. 

The dissertation committee is usually formed once your academic coursework is completed. It is not uncommon in the humanities and social sciences for dissertation committee members to also write and evaluate qualifying exams, and of course serve as faculty. By the time you begin working on your dissertation, you may know the faculty members who will serve on your dissertation committee quite well. 

Who Serves on Your Dissertation Committee? 

To a degree, who serves on your dissertation committee is up to you. Dissertation committees usually consist mostly of faculty members from the doctoral student’s home department, though this can vary due to the rise of interdisciplinary programs. 

Some universities also allow an outside expert–a former professor or academic mentor from another university–to serve on your committee. It’s advisable to choose faculty members who know you and who are familiar with your work. 

While it’s a good idea to have a mix of faculty members, it’s also important to be mindful about the roles they can play. For instance, I always advise graduate students working in quantitative fields to have a statistician on their committee. When there’s big data to crunch, it never hurts to have a stats expert in your corner. You’ll also want at least one faculty member–besides your chair–whose research is in the same relative area as yours, or adjacent to it. 

How to Choose Dissertation Committee Members

Think Carefully. It’s tempting to approach a faculty member who is a superstar in their field (if not, necessarily, in yours) to lend a little extra sparkle to your own academic credentials. Or perhaps the kindly professor you can always count on for an easy A. Or even the faculty member you’d like to be friends with after graduate school. Right? 

Not so fast. Here are some things to keep in mind when building your dissertation committee dream team: 

• Avoid Superstars. Though the prospect of having your department’s most eminent name on your committee sounds exciting, their star power comes with a price. Between guest lectures, books, keynotes, and conference travel, their time is not their own, and it won’t be yours, either. Choose dissertation committee members who have time for you. 
• Choose faculty members you know, like, and can learn from. It’s not a bad idea to approach a professor whose coursework challenged you. One of the professors who served on my committee was such an exacting grader that my term papers for her courses were accepted for publication without revision (academia’s most coveted mythical creature). 
• Keep your eyes on the future. Members of your dissertation committee can be your mentors, co-authors, and research collaborators throughout your career. Choose them wisely. 

Forming Your Dissertation Committee

Reaching out to potential dissertation committee members and formally asking them to serve on your dissertation committee can be a surprisingly taxing process. It takes some planning, and you’ll want to put some thought into it before making the big ask. While being asked to serve on a dissertation committee won’t come as a surprise to most faculty–they know the drill–these are some considerations to know going in:

• Talk to your advisor before approaching anyone to be on your committee. Remember, your advisor knows their colleagues in a way that you don’t, and is also aware of departmental politics, potential personality conflicts, and which faculty members are a good fit on a dissertation committee. Trust your advisor’s judgement. 
• Know what you’re asking. Serving on a dissertation committee is a big time commitment for any faculty member. If they say yes to being on your committee, it means they are invested in you and your research, and they want to play a role in your future. It doesn’t hurt to send a thank-you note. 
• Don’t sweat it if they say no. It does not reflect on you as a student or a scholar. A good faculty member is aware of their limitations, and they probably just don’t have the time or bandwidth to take on another big commitment. Thank them and move on. 

Expectations

Once your dissertation committee is formed, it’s time to get down to business. As a faculty member, I love serving on dissertation committees because doing so gives me the chance to work with grad students one on one as they journey into new frontiers and carve a place for themselves in academia. It is a deep, rich learning experience, and it’s thrilling to watch students transform into scholars. 

Even though researching and writing a dissertation is the most challenging work you’ll ever do, recognize this time for the opportunity it truly represents. In your dissertation committee, you have a panel of experts all to yourself, and they’re eager to help you knock your dissertation out of the park. This is the experience of a lifetime; take advantage of your dissertation committee’s time and talent, and channel that energy and goodwill into your development as a scholar. 

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Courtney Watson, Ph.D.

Courtney Watson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at Radford University Carilion, in Roanoke, Virginia. Her areas of expertise include undergraduate and graduate curriculum development for writing courses in the health sciences and American literature with a focus on literary travel, tourism, and heritage economies. Her writing and academic scholarship has been widely published in places that include  Studies in American Culture ,  Dialogue , and  The Virginia Quarterly Review . Her research on the integration of humanities into STEM education will be published by Routledge in an upcoming collection. Dr. Watson has also been nominated by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Rising Star Award, and she is a past winner of the National Society of Arts & Letters Regional Short Story Prize, as well as institutional awards for scholarly research and excellence in teaching. Throughout her career in higher education, Dr. Watson has served in faculty governance and administration as a frequent committee chair and program chair. As a higher education consultant, she has served as a subject matter expert, an evaluator, and a contributor to white papers exploring program development, enrollment research, and educational mergers and acquisitions.

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Guidelines for Dissertation Committee Service

It is recommended that the membership of the dissertation committee be submitted to the graduate school for approval at least six months prior to the student’s oral defense

The Graduate Faculty

For dissertation committee purposes, “the graduate faculty” consists of persons who are tenure or tenure-track instructional faculty holding an “unmodified” (i.e., not visiting, adjunct, etc.) appointment at the University of Michigan as professor, associate professor, or assistant professor with an earned doctorate from an accredited institution.

Composition of the Dissertation Committee

Dissertation committees must have at least four members, three of whom are members of the graduate faculty ( see definition above ), and two of whom are from the doctoral candidate’s home program. Furthermore, each committee:

• Must have a sole chair or two co-chairs
• Must have a cognate member who is familiar with the standards for doctoral research and holds at least a .50 appointment in a Rackham doctoral program, other than the student’s home department/program (except IDP programs.)
• May include a university faculty member who is not graduate faculty ( see definition above ), a university staff member, or a qualified individual outside the university to provide expertise in the candidate’s discipline

Roles of the Chair (or Co-chairs) and Cognate Member

The chair (or each co-chair) is responsible for guiding and encouraging the candidate’s design and execution of an original, high quality, doctoral-level research project. The end result of this effort is expected to be a dissertation that makes a substantive contribution to the candidate’s discipline.

The cognate member’s role is to broaden the scholarly representation of the dissertation committee beyond the candidate’s home program. The cognate member also serves the graduate school and its faculty by providing a non-specialist’s perspective on the quality of the dissertation.

Eligibility for Service on Dissertation Committees

Nominations for dissertation committee service are made by means of the Dissertation Committee form , which must be signed by the chair of the doctoral candidate’s program. All nominations must be approved by the graduate school and are subject to the following guidelines:

• Graduate faculty ( see definition above )—i.e., professors, associate professors, and assistant professors—affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program and who hold an earned doctorate from an accredited institution may serve as a member of the committee, or as sole chair, co-chair, or cognate member.
• Graduate faculty ( see definition above ) not affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program may serve on dissertation committees. They may also serve as co-chair with a member of the graduate faculty ( see definition above ) affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program, but not as sole chair or cognate member.
• Instructors and lecturers who have no appointment as members as graduate faculty ( see definition above ) may serve on dissertation committees if they hold an earned doctorate from an accredited institution. They may also serve as co-chair with a member of the graduate faculty ( see definition above ) affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program, but not as sole chair or cognate member.
• Retired and emeriti professors who were affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program may serve on dissertation committees. They may also serve as co-chair or, by special arrangement ( see Special Membership ), as sole chair or cognate member.
• Research professors (RP,i.e., research professors and research associate professors) who are affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program may serve on dissertation committees if they hold an earned doctorate from an accredited institution. They may serve as a co-chair, regular member or by special arrangement as a sole chair.
• Research scientists, associate research scientists, assistant research scientists, research assistant professors, and research investigators who are affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program may serve on dissertation committees if they hold an earned doctorate from an accredited institution ( see Special Membership ). They may not serve as sole chair or cognate member.
• All those who do not have an earned doctorate, whether affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program or not, must be approved for dissertation committee service on a case by case basis. If approved, they may serve as a member of the committee, as the sole chair, co-chair, or cognate member.
• University faculty and staff not included in the preceding categories and qualified individuals outside the university whose service is desirable may serve on dissertation committees, subject to review on a case by case basis. They may also serve as co-chair with a member of the graduate faculty (see definition above) affiliated with a Rackham doctoral program, but not as sole chair or cognate member.

N.B. No person working toward a doctoral degree may serve on a dissertation committee until all requirements for the degree have been met.

N.B. University faculty who were approved to serve as sole chair or cognate member but who are no longer affiliated with the university may not continue to serve as the sole chair or as the cognate member. The faculty member may serve as a co-chair or as a regular member based upon the eligibility guidelines for dissertation committee service.

Special Membership on the Dissertation Committee

University faculty and staff who are not graduate faculty (see definition above), and qualified people from outside the University of Michigan who may or may not hold academic appointments and whose service on the Dissertation Committee would contribute significantly, may be nominated for special membership by submitting:

• Dissertation Committee form
• A memo detailing the nominee’s expertise in the dissertation topic
• A vita or resume
• Experience in serving on, and chairing dissertation committees (decision-making experience as chair is required)
• Service as a teacher of formal courses or seminars
• Served as a counselor or advisor for doctoral students

Previous experience as a cognate is not required for nomination as cognate (cognate criteria must be met).

• Dissertation Committee Form
• Dissertation Committee Worksheet for Students to submit to Program

4.8.1 Doctoral Degrees, Dissertations & Dissertation Reading Committees: Policy

Main navigation.

• 1. Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee
• 2. Dissertation Preparation and Submission
• 3. Certificate of Final Reading
• 4. Deadlines

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Last updated on: Monday, March 7, 2022

Completion of a satisfactory dissertation is a university requirement for conferral of a doctoral degree. Policy and procedures for presentation, review and approval of the dissertation are included here.

Submission of an approved doctoral dissertation to the degree program and the Committee on Graduate Studies is required for the PhD and JSD degrees. The doctoral dissertation is expected to be an original contribution to scholarship or scientific knowledge, to exemplify the highest standards of the discipline, and to be of lasting value to the intellectual community. Every doctoral dissertation is read and approved by members of the Stanford faculty to ensure that standards for programmtic and university quality are met. Standards for professional presentation of doctoral work have been established by the Committee on Graduate Studies.

An approved doctoral dissertation is required for the PhD and JSD degrees. Every doctoral dissertation is read and approved by the three members of the student’s doctoral dissertation reading committee.

Authority: 

• Committee on Graduate Studies (policy)
• Office of the Registrar  via Stanford Services & Support (implementation)
• Degree Program Office (implementation)
• Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education  (exceptions)

Applicability: 

PhD & JSD students and programs.

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4.8.2 Doctoral Degrees, Dissertations & Dissertation Reading Committees: Implementation

1. Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee

The doctoral dissertation reading committee consists of the principal dissertation advisor and, typically, two other readers. The doctoral dissertation reading committee must have three members and may not have more than five members. At least one member must be from the student’s degree program. Normally, all committee members are members of the Stanford University Academic Council or are emeritus Academic Council members; the principal dissertation advisor must be an Academic Council member. Professors who have recently become emeritus and have been recalled to active duty may serve as principal dissertation advisors, though they are no longer current members of the Academic Council.

A non-Academic Council member (including former Academic Council members) may replace only one of three required members of dissertation reading committees. However, emeritus faculty, whether recalled to active duty or not, count as an Academic Council member on dissertation reading and oral defense committees (clarified by the Committee on Graduate Studies in 2011; see SenD#6535).

The reading committee, as proposed by the student and agreed to by the prospective members, is endorsed by the chair of the major department on the  Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee form . This form must be submitted before approval of Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status or before scheduling a university oral examination that is a defense of the dissertation. The reading committee may be appointed earlier, according to the degree program timetable for doctoral programs. All subsequent changes to the reading committee must be approved by the chair of the major department. The reading committee must conform to university requirements at the time of degree conferral.

Principal Dissertation Advisors and Co-Advisors

Any member of the Academic Council may serve as the principal dissertation advisor. A non-Academic Council member, former Academic Council member, or emeritus Academic Council member may serve as co-advisor with the appointment of a principal dissertation advisor who is currently on the Academic Council. This is to ensure representation for the student in the degree program by someone playing a major advisor role in completion of the dissertation. Professors who became emeritus within two years of the student’s anticipated degree completion and who have been recalled to active duty may serve as principal dissertation advisors, though they are no longer current members of the Academic Council. The reading committee must conform to university requirements at the time of degree conferral.

Requests for further exceptions to the requirement that the principal dissertation advisor be a current member of the Academic Council, for example for recently retired emeritus professors who are still actively engaged on campus, but not recalled to active duty, will be reviewed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

At their discretion, students may request the appointment of co-advisors who are both members of the Academic Council.

Non-Academic Council Dissertation Reading Committee Membership

The student's department chair or faculty director of graduate studies may, in some cases, approve the appointment of a reader who is not a current or emeritus member of the Academic Council, if that person is particularly well qualified to consult on the dissertation topic and holds a PhD or equivalent foreign degree, via the  Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members . Former Stanford Academic Council members and non-Academic Council members may thus, on occasion, serve on a reading committee. However, the majority of the examiners must be current or emeritus Academic Council members. More specifically: 

• If the dissertation reading committee has three or four members, only one non-Academic Council member (including former Academic Council members) may be appointed to the dissertation reading committee. 
• If the reading committee has five members, up to two non-Academic Council members may be appointed to the dissertation reading committee.

Emeritus Stanford faculty, though no longer current members of the Academic Council, count as Academic Council members on dissertation reading committees (see SenD#6535, 2011).

Prospective committee members in the following categories may be approved without submission of a curriculum vitae: former Academic Council member, visiting professor, visiting associate professor, visiting assistant professor, and senior Stanford University officer who holds a PhD but does not have an academic appointment. 

A curriculum vita is required for prospective committee members in the following categories: senior research associate, senior lecturer, consulting professor, consulting associate professor, consulting assistant professor, acting professor, acting associate professor, acting assistant professor, senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, members of the professoriate at other universities, and distinguished scholars who may currently hold no academic title. The curriculum vita should include a summary of education, professional experience, publications, and academic or other honors.

Exceptions for individuals whose terminal degree is not the PhD or equivalent foreign degree may be granted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE). Requests for this exception must be approved and submitted to VPGE by the student’s department chair or faculty director of graduate studies. The prospective committee member’s curriculum vitae and a brief description of their contributions to the student's research should be submitted  via email  to the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

Changing Membership

Students may petition to add or remove members of the reading committee or change principal dissertation advisors. The resulting committee must conform to university requirements at the time of degree conferral.

In the rare case where a student’s dissertation research on an approved project is in an advanced stage and the principal dissertation advisor is no longer available, every reasonable effort must be made to appoint a new advisor, usually from the student’s reading committee. This may also require that a new member be added to the reading committee before the draft dissertation is evaluated, to keep the reconstituted committee in compliance with the university requirements for its composition. Advisor changes are made with the  Change of Dissertation Adviser or Reading Committee Member form  (see  GAP 3.3 Academic Advising ).

In the event that a student’s principal dissertation advisor leaves Stanford University or becomes emeritus and has not been recalled to active duty, that advisor may continue to work with the graduate student as a co-advisor and serve on the oral and dissertation reading committees, with the appointment of a principal dissertation advisor who is currently a member of the Academic Council. Professors who have recently become emeritus and have been recalled to active duty may serve as principal dissertation advisor, though they are no longer members of the Academic Council. Requests for further exceptions to the requirement that the principal dissertation advisor be a current member of the Academic Council (for example for recently retired emeritus professors who are still actively engaged on campus) will be reviewed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

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2. Dissertation Preparation and Submission

The doctoral dissertation must be an original contribution to scholarship or scientific knowledge and must exemplify the highest standards of the discipline. If it is judged to meet this standard, the dissertation is approved for the degree program by the doctoral dissertation reading committee. Information about dissertation format, references, use of published and co-authored work, as well as copyright is on the Registrar's Office website on Format Requirements for eDissertation .

Approvals should be obtained through the electronic signature process (students may submit email confirmations of dissertation approvals from each member of their committee).

Dissertations should be submitted electronically, following the guidelines in:

• Directions for Preparing Doctoral Dissertations for Electronic Submission
• Directions for Preparing Engineer Theses for Electronic Submission

Previously published dissertations should not be used as a guide for preparation of the manuscript. The signed dissertation copies and accompanying documents must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar on or before the quarterly deadline indicated in the university’s academic calendar. A fee is charged for the microfilming and binding of the dissertation copies. 

Students are required to either be enrolled full-time or on Graduation Quarter in the term they submit the dissertation (see  GAP 3.1 Registration, Enrollment, and Academic Progress ). The period between the last day of final exams of one term and the first day of the subsequent term is considered an extension of the earlier term. At the time the dissertation is submitted, an Application to Graduate must be on file (filed in Axess), all of the degree program requirements must be complete, and candidacy must be valid through the term of degree conferral.

Dissertations in a Language Other than English 

Dissertations must be in English. Exceptions to permit dissertations in a language other than English are granted by the school dean upon a written request from the chair of the student’s major department.  The student is required to submit directly to the Student Services Center a paper copy of the approval letter (or email message chain) from the school dean.  Approval for writing a dissertation in another language is normally granted only in cases where the other language or literature in that language is also the subject of the discipline. Approval is routinely granted for dissertations in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, within degree program specifications. Dissertations written in another language must include an extended summary in English (usually 15-20 pages in length). 

When submitting electronically a dissertation in a language other than English, the student should upload the English summary as a supplemental file.  When submitting such a dissertation on paper, the student is required to submit the abstract for ProQuest in English.

3. Certificate of Final Reading

One reading committee member, who must be a current member of the Academic Council, reads the dissertation in its final form and certifies on the  Certificate of Final Reading  that degree program and university specifications, described below, have been met. Typically, the principal dissertation advisor serves as final reader though another member of the committee who is a current Academic Council member may provide the final signature.

• All suggested changes have been taken into account and incorporated into the manuscript where appropriate. 
• If the manuscript includes joint group research, the student's contribution is clearly explained in an introduction.
• Format complies with university requirements.
• If previously published materials are included in the dissertation, publication sources are indicated, written permission has been obtained for copyrighted materials, and all of the dissertation format requirements have been met.
• The dissertation is ready-for-publication in appearance and ready for microfilming and binding.

4. Deadlines

The deadline for submission of dissertations for degree conferral in each term is specified by the  university academic calendar . The final dissertation must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar on or before the quarterly deadlines if degree conferral is desired. 

Some degree programs may set earlier deadlines for the submission of dissertations.

Dissertation deadlines are strictly enforced and no exceptions are made. Students are strongly encouraged to submit their dissertations at least two weeks prior to the deadline to ensure that all requirements can be met in time for the conferral of the degree.

Related Policies

• GAP 3.1 Registration, Enrollment, and Academic Progress
• GAP 3.3 Academic Advising
• GAP 4.7 Doctoral Degrees, University Oral Examinations & Committees

Related Student Services Sections

• Doctor of Philosophy: Dissertation

Related Information and Forms

• Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee form
• Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members
• General Information on Dissertation and Thesis Submission
• Directions for Preparing Engineer Theses for Electronic Submission
• Certificate of Final Reading of Dissertation
• Doctoral Dissertation Agreement Form - UMI/ProQuest
• Change of Dissertation Adviser or Reading Committee Member
• Application to Graduate  (in  Axess )
• Request for Statement of Completion
• Format Requirements for eDissertation

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• Subject Matter Expert

Committee Member

Committee chair.

The chair schedules the comprehensive exams, delivers feedback and results of the comprehensive exams, acts as an instructor, oversees the production of the thesis/dissertation, communicates feedback from the subject matter expert and committee member, schedules the dissertation defense, meets monthly via Zoom with the student/candidate throughout the research courses, and reviews work for publication quality.  The chair deals directly with the student on the quality of the paper, the presentation, the flow, the sequence, and the conclusions.  

The role of the committee chair includes the following responsibilities:

• scheduling the comprehensive exams,
• communicating the grades and feedback from the doctoral comprehensive exam,
• overseeing the production of the dissertation,
• managing the timeline and schedule for completion of each phase of the dissertation in the courses.
• acting as an instructor in the courses,
• contacting the student/candidate regarding setting and meeting deadlines in the dissertation process,
• directing the timely and successful completion of each assignment,
• working directly with the SME and committee member to garner added perspective, feedback, and constructive criticism to strengthen the dissertation,
• communicating with the student/candidate to convey feedback, insights, added perspective, and constructive commentary provided by the committee member and SME,
• confirming with the SME that the content of the dissertation is factual and accurate,
• advising the student on formatting, sequencing, and organizing the thesis/dissertation,
• ensuring the academic quality of the thesis/dissertation, including each of the assignments in courses.
• facilitating final approval of the thesis/dissertation by making sure that all committee members sign the approval form, and
• scheduling and leading the thesis/dissertation oral defense and publication.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

All members of the committee are subject matter experts (SMEs). The title of this particular member of the committee emphasizes and highlights specific responsibilities within the committee dynamic.  The SME should be in constant contact with the student regarding  content  of the dissertation.  This is the person the student turns to in order to test ideas and conclusions and to ensure the appropriateness, relevance, significance, and accuracy of the dissertation’s content in order to meet university and academic standards.

The SME also certifies the accurate reporting of that material to the chair and determines the factual nature of the work.  The SME knows the subject closely and acts as the student’s sounding board.  The SME does not establish timelines, length of the thesis/dissertation, etc.  The role of SME includes the following responsibilities:

• consistently consulting with the student/candidate regarding the relevance and significance of the research content,
• regularly discussing content with the student/candidate to test ideas and conclusions,
• updating the committee chair about discussions with the student/candidate and about any suggestions or recommendations resulting from those discussions, and
• confirming the accuracy, appropriateness, relevance, and significance of the research focus and content with the committee chair.

One additional committee member works for the committee chair.  The committee member advises and assists the committee chair in every aspect of the project.  The committee member interacts directly with the chair, not the student.  This prevents conflicting information from being sent to the student and presents a unified stance during the process.  The chair and the committee member work out all responses presented to the student and resolve any conflicting guidance before the student is contacted.  If conflicts cannot be resolved, the chair makes the ultimate decision.  The chair and the committee member work together constantly, but the chair is the face of the university to the student.  The role of the committee member includes the following responsibilities:

• interacting with the chair to provide added insight, perspective, and feedback to be shared with the student, and
• determining responses, suggestions, and constructive criticism that will be shared with the student through the chair.
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Dissertation advisors and committee.

• Academics & Research
• Rules & Regulations

The Dissertation Committee

Each program should make clear in its handbook how students go about selecting their dissertation advisors and/or committees, and set a timetable for doing so. Programs should be structured so that each student always has an advisor; leaving a gap between advice from the DGS and advice from the preliminary examination committee and/or dissertation advisor tends to prolong time to degree and increase attrition.

Chairs and DGSs need to be aware of the advising and mentoring relationships in their graduate programs. Monitoring the progress of each student is the responsibility of the program and not simply that of the faculty advisor. The dissertation chair and the other faculty members of a dissertation committee should meet with the student on a regular basis, and certainly a minimum of once a semester.

Policy on Advisors who have left Brown

Subject to the approval of the chair of the department, faculty who leave Brown may continue to serve as dissertation or thesis advisors for students whom they were advising at the time of their departure. Under normal circumstances, when a faculty member leaves, his or her advisees will be required to seek a new advisor. The program must be mindful of the need to provide students with some on-campus supervision and contact in the cases where a non-resident advisor continues service.

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The Dissertation Committee

The academic experience is greatly enhanced if faculty members other than the direct advisor are readily and formally available for consultation and discussion with the graduate student. To provide this element of supervision, a dissertation committee must be put in place for the Ph.D. student early in the dissertation stage. The graduate group is responsible for monitoring the progress of the student through the dissertation committee, as follows:

• A dissertation committee must consist of at least three faculty (including at least two members of the graduate group). While some graduate groups require all members of the dissertation committee be members of the graduate group or affiliated department, others encourage/require appointment of a faculty member from another department to encourage an interdisciplinary perspective. Students should be sure to review the policy about the composition of dissertation committee as they are building their committee.
• It is required that the dissertation committee meet with the student, as a committee, at least once per year to assess the student’s progress in the program and to provide advice on future work.
• The committee submits a written report to the graduate group chair, at least once per year, detailing its observations of the student’s progress and its recommendations.
• The student must be given the opportunity to respond to the committee’s report/recommendation and to append a response to the committee’s report.
• Copies of the report shall be given to the student and kept by the graduate group.
• This annual progress report will be used, in part, to determine the mark given for the student’s dissertation status course.

The Graduate Group is responsible for ensuring that the membership of the dissertation committee is recorded in the student’s official University record. The graduate division office at the home school will monitor compliance with this requirement through reports and an annual audit of the official student file.

Advising on Embargo Options

An important point of guidance from the advisor and dissertation committee – that is sometimes overlooked in the later stage of completion -- is to counsel the student on whether to embargo the dissertation. Penn requires open access publication of dissertations in the University’s institutional repository, ScholarlyCommons . Open access publication provides a wide audience, can help to market ideas to potential employers, and can help make plagiarism or theft much easier to detect. The open access dissertation will be available via the internet, including full text searching through search engines like Google. In cases where papers are in press, patents are pending, or where there are other intellectual property concerns, it may be beneficial to delay publication (commonly referred to as an "embargo"). Students should discuss embargo options with their advisor and their dissertation committee who can help to decide whether a delay in publication is necessary or advisable. Refer to the Dissertation Embargo Guidelines for more information about embargo options.

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Forming an Interdisciplinary Dissertation Committee

Doctoral students in interdisciplinary programs face unique challenges in forming dissertation committees. Based on our experience as directors of three such programs (Public Health Genetics, Urban Design and Planning, and Astrobiology), we offer the following suggestions.

Your first challenge

Find the optimal set of members — especially the right chair (or two co-chairs) for your committee. Committee members need to:

• be the best match for your intellectual interests
• have the expertise to help you succeed in designing and completing your dissertation
• be able to help you prepare for your career

In planning for a dissertation, you should consult extensively with faculty members in your program for guidance about:

• potential research questions
• planning/timing methodology
• potential committee members

The role of the committee

The final decision about the appropriate content of your project rests with the dissertation supervisory committee. You should work closely with the committee (especially the chair) to determine your project’s scope and content. The committee will guide your research and should meet regularly with you. Being sure you and your committee agree on what is meant by “regular” meetings is also a good idea. You may find it useful to meet individually with the members and obtain their feedback at several stages of your dissertation process. The interdisciplinary nature of your work may require that feedback at an advanced stage of your dissertation will be provided by the committee in an integrated form. You may want to discuss with your chair how the committee could produce a collective memo integrating their shared feedback.

The composition of dissertation committees

The dissertation supervisory committee must have at least four members, including the chair and the Graduate School representative (GSR). At least three committee members (including the chair and the GSR) must be UW graduate faculty members with an endorsement to chair doctoral committees; a majority of your committee members must be graduate faculty members, identifiable through the  Graduate Faculty Locator .

Committee members should include faculty expertise in your dissertation’s core fields. You might consider having five members, especially if your project involves different disciplines requiring advice and guidance in all areas. Four committee members must attend general and final exams — so having five on your committee provides flexibility if one member cannot attend. However, having more than four committee members may make it more difficult for them to find time to work together.

Selecting a Graduate School representative

You must select the Graduate School representative for your committee by consulting with your chair, other committee members, and/or program directors. The GSR votes and represents the interests of the Graduate School. GSR requirements:

• be a graduate faculty member
• have an endorsement to chair doctoral committees
• no conflict of interest with you or your committee chair

Also, the GSR may not have an official faculty appointment within your committee chair’s department(s) or the department in which your program is housed. This can be challenging for students in interdisciplinary programs. Exceptions to this rule can be made, with appropriate justification, by petition to the dean of the Graduate School.

by Professor Emeritus Melissa Austin, Public Health Genetics; Marina Alberti, professor, Urban Design and Planning; and Woody Sullivan, professor, Astrobiology

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Proposal and Dissertation Policies and Guidelines

Doctoral studies, phd students, edd students, dissertation policies and guidelines for phd students, appointment of a dissertation committee.

In order to officially request the appointment of a dissertation committee, you should  file the appropriate form  with the Office of Doctoral Studies. Please note that all forms to request the appointment of dissertation committees require the approval signature of the department chairperson and are subject to the approval of the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.

Faculty Regulations Governing Appointment of PhD Dissertation Committees

The following regulations apply to dissertation committee appointments for all PhD candidates in NYU Steinhardt.

Dissertation committees typically consist of three faculty members with two and four-person committees allowed by exception (see below). The dissertation committee chairperson and at least one committee member must be full-time members of the faculty of New York University, holding the rank of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor with an earned doctorate. The chairperson is to come from the student's program of specialization. Further, in order to ensure a diversity of perspectives during the proposal and dissertation development process, at least one member of the committee must hold professorial appointment in a program different from the student's program.

Part-time adjunct faculty, clinical assistant professors, and persons with an affiliation other than New York University may serve as committee members with the approval of the department chairperson and the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. Students requesting the appointment of such a member will be required to submit a copy of the proposed member's curriculum vitae or faculty bio along with the required dissertation committee appointment form to the Office of Doctoral Studies. All committee members must have earned doctorates.

Students may request, by exception, the appointment of a two-member committee. This request must be made in writing and must be countersigned by the dissertation committee chairperson. Three-member committees that have been officially appointed may only be reduced to two-member committees by exception and with the approval of the department chairperson and the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. A two-member committee, at the written request of the student and the chairperson, may be increased to a three-member committee.

Students may request, by exception, the appointment of a four-member committee. As is the case with three-member committees, the chair and at least one member must be full-time members of the faculty of New York University, holding the rank of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor with an earned doctorate. Students requesting a four-member committee should submit an additional "Request for Appointment of Dissertation Committee" form with the signature of the committee chair, the fourth member, and the department chair.

Students may request the appointment of a dissertation committee chairperson without simultaneously requesting the appointment of the remaining members of the committee by following the instructions on the committee appointment form. Students who elect to request the advance appointment of a chairperson will have one year from the date of the approval of the chairperson's appointment to request the appointment of the remaining member(s) of the complete dissertation committee.

The Role of the Committee

The development of the proposal and the dissertation is an effort that requires a great deal of collaboration involving the candidate and his or her dissertation committee. There is no single model or formula for writing a proposal or dissertation, nor is there a single model governing the relationship of a doctoral candidate and his or her dissertation committee; however, the recommendations that follow should be applicable to most students.

It is important to confer with your chairperson and committee members as you proceed and to avoid long periods without making contact. It is recommended that you ask your chairperson and members for their preferences regarding how often and at what point your work should be presented. It is also a good idea to get a sense of turnaround times for drafts of your proposal and dissertation from your committee chair and members. You should have a work plan and a timetable that has been discussed with your chair and communicated to your members. It is the responsibility of your committee to read drafts and provide appropriate and timely written and oral feedback. You should be aware of University breaks and peak periods (such as final exams and midterms) when response times will often be longer for most faculty members.

Dissertation Proposal

The following procedures for submission of dissertation proposals apply to all candidates for PhD degrees in NYU Steinhardt. Please note that the dissertation committee must be officially appointed and on file with the Office of Doctoral Studies prior to submission of the dissertation proposal. After filing the Request for Appointment of Dissertation Committee form with the Office of Doctoral Studies, you will receive a letter confirming that the dissertation committee has been officially approved. Dissertation proposals to be submitted to the Office of Doctoral Studies must be accompanied by the Dissertation Proposal Cover Sheet obtainable in the Office of Doctoral Studies. The cover sheet must be signed by all members of the dissertation committee, indicating that they have met at least once with the candidate and that they approve the proposal for review. The committee chairperson's signature on this form also indicates approval of the research course requirements which the student has completed (or will complete). Two copies of the proposal (or one copy electronically) are to be submitted to the Office of Doctoral Studies. The remaining copies must be submitted to the proposal review panel coordinator for your program or department. You should be aware that different departments require that different numbers of copies be submitted for review. Please consult the proposal review panel coordinator for the correct number of copies for the specific department or program. All copies of the proposal must include a copy of the signed Dissertation Proposal Cover Sheet. The faculty of NYU Steinhardt recommends that the proposal be no longer than 40 pages in length (exclusive of appendices and bibliography). Information on the scheduling of proposal reviews and deadlines should be obtained from the proposal review panel coordinator for the department. Please note that some departments do not review proposals during the summer session.

Steinhardt students proposing to do research involving human subjects for an independent study, a graduate thesis, or a doctoral dissertation require approval from the  NYU IRB . If your proposed research involves interviews, surveys, questionnaires, participant observation, ethnography, or other methods involving human subjects, NYU IRB approval is required.  Approval from NYU IRB must be granted before work on the research or data collection has begun, including all pilot studies, trial runs, pretests, and preliminary sampling or surveys . 

Prior to submission to NYU IRB, students must complete the online training program through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI).

The student must work with a faculty mentor while preparing a NYU IRB application. This mentor is usually a dissertation chair or adviser.

Follow the instructions on the  NYU IRB  website to submit your application. 

The Dissertation Proposal Review

The procedures for reviewing dissertation proposals vary among the different departments; however, the following School policies apply to all departments and programs:

• The committee chairperson and both committee members must sign the Dissertation Proposal Cover Sheet indicating their approval of the proposal for review by the panel.
• The dissertation committee must meet as a group at least once with the candidate prior to the filing of the proposal for review.
• Both the candidate and the dissertation committee chairperson are required to attend the review.
• Attendance by a minimum of two reviewers (external to the dissertation committee) is required.
• Attendance by the committee members is optional.
• The recommendations of the proposal review panel are advisory.

After the proposal review, the proposal review panel coordinator will notify you of the outcome in writing (with copies to the dissertation committee chairperson and members and to the Office of Doctoral Studies). The proposal review panel will recommend that you proceed in one of the following ways:

• If the panel vote results in a "pass," the panel will recommend that you carry out the research and dissertation writing as proposed (there may be minor revisions suggested that are not officially noted).
• If the panel vote results in a "deferred pass" or "pass with conditions," the panel will recommend that you address the concerns of the panel in writing (with copies to the committee chairperson and members and to the Office of Doctoral Studies). In some cases the proposal review panel or the dissertation committee may recommend that you submit a revised proposal reflecting the revisions suggested by the panel. Two copies of the revised proposal must also be submitted to the Office of Doctoral Studies.
• If the panel does not approve the proposal, you will be asked to rewrite the proposal and submit it for a second proposal review.

Because the proposal review panel is an advisory committee, your dissertation committee may choose not to incorporate some or all of the proposal review panel's recommendations. In the event that the panel's suggestions are not incorporated, you will be expected to provide a written rationale explaining this decision. This rationale should bear the signature of the dissertation committee chairperson. As is the case with all correspondence regarding the proposal review, copies should be distributed to the committee members and to the Office of Doctoral Studies.

If requested, a copy of the proposal, the review panel's outcome and notes, and your response to the panel's notes are given to each of the two faculty members who serve as outside readers on the final oral examination of the dissertation.

MPhil Degree Conferral

The MPhil may be awarded to students in the PhD programs listed below who have completed all course requirements, have an approved dissertation proposal, and intend to complete their doctoral studies. 

If you are in one of the approved programs and your dissertation proposal has been approved, the Office of Doctoral Studies will ask your department to review your record and confirm that you have completed your course requirements. The Office of Doctoral Studies will then ask you to confirm that you would like to receive the MPhil en route to the PhD. 

Note that MPhil diplomas are not automatically issued by the Registrar's Office after degree conferral and must be requested by the student. Please follow the instructions on the Registrar's website here (though not a replacement diploma, the instructions for replacement diplomas should be followed).

Finally, the Office of Doctoral Studies will submit your name to the Office of the Registrar as an applicant for the next available degree conferral date.

Students in the PhD programs listed below are eligible for the MPhil:

• Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
• Educational Communication and Technology
• Higher and Postsecondary Education
• Counseling Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychology and Social Intervention
• International Education
• Sociology of Education
• Communicative Sciences and Disorders
• Media, Culture, and Communication
• Educational Theatre
• Music Education
• Music Performance and Composition
• Music Technology
• Food Studies
• Nutrition and Dietetics
• Bilingual Education
• English Education
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
• Teaching and Learning

Journal Article Format Dissertations

While most Steinhardt students follow the traditional dissertation format, students also may have the option of completing a journal article format dissertation.

Consult your program faculty to determine whether or not the journal article format is appropriate for your discipline and your proposed study. If allowed, your program will likely have specific guidelines outlining the requirements of the journal article format dissertation.

Below are general guidelines for journal article format dissertations, but be sure to obtain specific guidelines from your program if available.

• The dissertation should include an introduction and a conclusion as first and last “chapters” in addition to the stand-alone articles.
• The dissertation will contain two to four articles suitable for submission to refereed journals for publication (the number of articles will be determined by program guidelines).
• The student must be the sole or first author of each paper.
• At the final oral examination stage, some programs may allow one or two articles to be published (or submitted for publication), but at least one article must remain unpublished (and not yet submitted for publication) until after the successful dissertation defense.

Students writing journal article format dissertations follow the same proposal review and final oral examination procedures required of all PhD students.

Editors and Consultants

You are the sole author of your dissertation and are responsible for understanding, discussing, and defending all aspects of your work, including the methodologies employed. While some students may seek guidance with analyzing data, the use of consultants to conduct statistical work is discouraged.

You are responsible for making sure that proposal and dissertation drafts submitted to your faculty committee are free of errors in form, style, diction, spelling, and grammar. Your dissertation committee chair and members may alert you to such problems, but it is not their responsibility to do so. Your committee chair or a member may recommend that you use a professional editor, or you may feel that your work would benefit from editorial assistance. If you do employ a professional editor, make sure you shop around and use someone who has been recommended to you by a faculty member, another student, or the Office of Doctoral Studies. Again, you and only you are ultimately responsible for your own writing and for making sure that it conforms to the standards of written English and conventions of scholarly writing set forth by your dissertation committee.

Dissertation Deadline Information

See detailed deadline information for the current academic year .

Instructions for Filing for Orals

In order to schedule your final oral examination, you must submit simultaneously to the Office of Doctoral Studies the following forms and materials in accordance with the dissertation filing deadlines noted above:

In order to schedule your final oral examination, you must submit the following to the Office of Doctoral Studies in accordance with the filing deadlines on our website.

1.   The Approval Form for Final Oral Examination signed by the dissertation committee indicating a date and time for the final oral examination. The date must be agreed upon by the final oral commission (the committee chair, committee members, and outside readers) and must be within the final oral examination period for your anticipated month of graduation (January, September or May). 

2.   A dissertation abstract not more than 350 words in length which has been approved by the dissertation chairperson.  The title page of the abstract is the same as the dissertation title page except that the words "An Abstract of" are inserted above the title of the study.  

3.  The following Copyright Disclaimer Statement typed in the first person, signed and dated:

"I hereby guarantee that no part of the dissertation which I have submitted for publication has been heretofore published and/or copyrighted in the United States of America, except in the case of passages quoted from other published sources; that I am the sole author and proprietor of said dissertation; that the dissertation contains no matter which, if published, will be libelous or otherwise injurious, or infringe in any way the copyright of any other party; and that I will defend, indemnify and hold harmless New York University against all suits and proceedings which may be brought and against all claims which may be made against New York University by reason of the publication of said dissertation."

Note that if parts of your dissertation have been published (for example, if your dissertation follows the scholarly paper format), please edit the above statement accordingly.

4. The Dissertation, approved by your dissertation chairperson and members, will be submitted no less than four weeks before the agreed upon final oral examination date indicated on the Approval Form for Final Oral Examination . You will be required to submit the dissertation to the Office of Doctoral Studies electronically, and copies for each of the two outside readers either electronically or in hard copy according to their preference. NOTE: In the event that the dissertation is not prepared to the satisfaction of the dissertation committee within four weeks of the tentatively scheduled final oral examination date, it is understood that the committee will withdraw approval of your request for final oral exam. You may then resubmit the approval form for a later deadline.

All forms referred to above can be found on the Forms and Checklists page .

The Final Oral Examination

The final oral examination is a two-hour examination scheduled according to the guidelines outlined above. Attendance by the candidate and all members of the final oral commission, which consists of the dissertation committee and the two outside readers, is required. Outside readers must be approved by the dissertation committee chair and must be full-time tenured or tenure-track members of the NYU faculty (exceptions must be approved by the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs in advance of their appointment). 

Please also note that attendance at the final oral examination is restricted to the candidate and members of the final oral commission. Other members of the University community may attend as observers with the permission of the Dissertation Committee Chairperson, however, the Office of Doctoral Studies must be notified in advance. 

All course and matriculation maintenance requirements must be satisfied in advance of the final oral examination date.

The following policies pertain to the voting procedures for the final oral examination.

One vote is to be taken with three and only three possible outcomes (all members of the final oral commission vote). These outcomes (pass, fail, or deferred pass with conditions) result according to the following rules:

Rules Which Determines a Pass Outcome

If the candidate has an official three-member dissertation committee, then the candidate must secure at least four pass votes (out of five) to pass.

If the candidate has an official two-member dissertation committee, then the candidate must secure at least three pass votes (out of four) to pass.

If the candidate has an official four-member dissertation committee, then the candidate must secure at least five pass votes (out of six) to pass.

Procedures to Follow in the Event of a Pass Outcome

The Final Oral Examination Report (obtained by the dissertation committee chairperson from the Office of Doctoral Studies) is completed and returned to the Office of Doctoral Studies no later than 24 hours after the final oral examination has been completed. This form should be accompanied by a copy of the candidate's dissertation (to be reviewed for format by the Office of Doctoral Studies), unless the candidate is keeping the document to make minor changes and corrections required or noted by the final oral commission.

Rule Which Determines a Fail Outcome

If there are two or more fail votes, a fail outcome must be recorded.

Procedures to Follow in the Event of a Fail Outcome

The Final Oral Examination Report is completed and returned to the Office of Doctoral Studies no later than 24 hours after the final oral examination has been completed.

This form must be accompanied by a separate statement indicating the reasons for the fail outcome.

The candidate may request permission for a second final oral examination from the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. If approved, the examination must be held with the same final oral commission  no sooner than six months from the first final oral examination . If the candidate fails the second final oral examination, matriculation is automatically and irrevocably terminated.

Rule Which Determines a Deferred Pass Outcome

Any combination of votes which does not result in a pass or fail as specified above must result in a deferred pass with conditions. This outcome implies that although the candidate's performance is acceptable in many respects, substantive revision of the dissertation and/or additional requirements of consequence are deemed necessary.

Procedures to Follow in the Event of a Deferred Pass Outcome

The Final Oral Examination Report is completed and returned to the Office of Doctoral Studies no later than 24 hours after the final oral examination has been completed.

Within three days after the final oral examination, the candidate and the Office of Doctoral Studies must receive from the final oral commission a written statement which indicates what further work the candidate must complete in order to secure a pass outcome. This statement should include both revisions of the dissertation requested by the final oral commission and also any other requirements which the commission feels the candidate must complete to secure a pass outcome. Furthermore, this written statement of necessary revisions and/or requirements must be agreed to by at least four members of the final oral commission, and this agreement must be indicated by the signatures of these members on the written statement. Finally, this written statement must also include a projected timetable which the candidate should follow in completing all revisions and/or requirements designated by the final oral commission.

The candidate must complete all designated revisions and requirements within one semester following that in which the final oral examination is held (exclusive of Summer semesters). When the candidate has completed all necessary revisions and requirements, the Deferred Pass with Conditions Final Report Form (obtained by the dissertation committee chairperson from the Office of Doctoral Studies) must be circulated among and signed by all original members of the final oral commission, and then returned to the Office of Doctoral Studies with a copy of the candidate's document to be reviewed for format. In order for the candidate's outcome to be recorded as pass, at least four out of the five (or three out of four if the final oral commission consisted of four members, or five out of six if the final oral commission consisted of six members) members of the final oral commission must indicate a pass vote on the above-mentioned form.

Voting in the Event of the Absence of a Commission Member

If any member of the five-member final oral commission is absent, the dissertation committee chairperson must secure permission from the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs to proceed with the final oral examination. Assuming permission to proceed is granted, the information below applies to the voting procedures.

If a dissertation committee member is absent, the following rules apply:

• If there are three or more pass votes, the outcome is recorded as a pass.
• If there are two or more fail votes, the outcome is recorded as a fail.
• Any combination of votes which does not result in a pass or fail must result in a deferred pass with conditions.

If an outside reader is absent, the following rules apply:

• In order for a pass outcome to be recorded, a unanimous pass vote is required.
• If there are one or more fail votes, the outcome is recorded as a fail.

Final Dissertation Approval

You are required to submit a copy of the dissertation to be reviewed by the Office of Doctoral Studies for format. You will receive a list of format changes shortly after your final oral examination. The format changes will be combined with the changes required by the final oral commission.  If the final oral examination results in a deferred pass outcome, you may submit the dissertation for format review only after the signed Deferred Pass with Conditions Final Report Form has been received by the Office of Doctoral Studies. Final approval of the dissertation will take place only after the edited dissertation has been reviewed by the Office of Doctoral Studies. The deadline for the filing of the final edited dissertation is approximately three weeks prior to your anticipated date of graduation (the exact date will be emailed to candidates and is posted each semester in the Office of Doctoral Studies). In order to be eligible for graduation, your final edited dissertation must be uploaded to ProQuest UMI and approved by the Office of Doctoral Studies by the designated deadline date. All candidates for the degrees of PhD and EdD are required to publish the dissertation through ProQuest UMI Dissertation Publishing and must upload a final dissertation electronically for this purpose. This upload will take place through the Office of Doctoral Studies only after the dissertation has been approved in its final form. A final copy of the dissertation will also be submitted to NYU Libraries for our institutional repository.

Guidelines for EdD Doctoral Committees and Culminating Projects 

Committee Composition

A doctoral committee will consist of at least three members. The chair should be a full-time tenured, tenure-track, or appropriate clinical faculty member in the candidate’s program of study. The committee should include a practice-active faculty member. A practicing professional from outside the University, who is a leader in the relevant field of practice, may be appointed as a third committee member either in place of or in addition to the practice-active faculty member.

Culminating Project

The culminating project should be an inquiry-based project of value for informing practice and contributing to the advancement of knowledge. Guidelines must be academically appropriate and reasonable to the medium of practice. Each program will have its own discipline-specific guidelines.

Prospectus or Culminating Project Proposal Reviews

The following procedures for submission of the prospectus or culminating project proposal apply to candidates for EdD degrees in NYU Steinhardt.

Please note that the doctoral committee must be officially appointed and on file with the Office of Doctoral Studies prior to submission of the prospectus or culminating project proposal to your department for review. After filing the EdD Request for Appointment of Doctoral Committee form with the Office of Doctoral Studies, you will receive a letter confirming that the doctoral committee has been officially approved.

Information on the scheduling of prospectus and culminating project reviews and deadlines should be obtained from the Department Administrator or the Doctoral Committee Chairperson.

The EdD prospectus and culminating project proposal review panel consists of the candidate’s officially appointed three-member Doctoral Committee. Two additional reviewers may be appointed to the review panel at the discretion of the program faculty.

After the review, the review panel coordinator (usually, the chair of your doctoral committee) will notify you of the outcome in writing using the EdD Proposal Review Outcome form with copies to the committee members and to the Office of Doctoral Studies. The review panel will recommend that you proceed in one of the following ways:

• If the panel vote results in a "pass," the panel will recommend that you carry out the project as proposed (there may be minor revisions suggested that are not officially noted).
• If the panel vote results in a "deferred pass" or "pass with conditions," the panel will recommend that you address the concerns of the panel in writing (with copies to the committee chairperson and members and to the Office of Doctoral Studies). In some cases the review panel or the doctoral committee may recommend that you submit a revised prospectus or culminating project proposal reflecting the revisions suggested by the panel. A copy of the revised proposal must also be submitted to the Office of Doctoral Studies.
• If the panel does not approve, you will be asked to rewrite the prospectus or culminating project proposal and submit it for a second review.

Prior to submission to NYU IRB, students must complete the  online training program through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative  (CITI).

In order to schedule your final oral examination, you must submit the following to the Office of Doctoral Studies in accordance with the filing deadlines on our website. See detailed deadline information for the current academic year .

1.   The Approval Form for Final Oral Examination  signed by the doctoral committee indicating a date and time for the final oral examination. The date must be agreed upon by the final oral commission and must be within the final oral examination period for your anticipated month of graduation (January, September or May). 

2.   An abstract  not more than 350 words in length which has been approved by the doctoral committee chairperson.  

3.  The following  Copyright Disclaimer Statement  typed in the first person, signed and dated:

"I hereby guarantee that no part of the document which I have submitted for publication has been heretofore published and/or copyrighted in the United States of America, except in the case of passages quoted from other published sources; that I am the sole author and proprietor of said dissertation; that the dissertation contains no matter which, if published, will be libelous or otherwise injurious, or infringe in any way the copyright of any other party; and that I will defend, indemnify and hold harmless New York University against all suits and proceedings which may be brought and against all claims which may be made against New York University by reason of the publication of said dissertation."

Note that if parts of your document have been published (for example, if your culminating project follows the scholarly paper format), please edit the above statement accordingly.

4.  The Culminating Project,  approved by your doctoral committee chairperson and members, will be submitted to the Office of Doctoral Studies no less than four weeks before the agreed upon final oral examination date indicated on the  Approval Form for Final Oral Examination . The document will then be distributed to the Final Oral Commission and the Final Oral Examination date and time will be confirmed. NOTE: In the event that the document is not prepared to the satisfaction of the doctoral committee within four weeks of the tentatively scheduled final oral examination date, it is understood that the committee will withdraw approval of your request for final oral exam. You may then resubmit the Approval Form for Final Oral Examination for a later deadline.

All forms referred to above can be found on the  Forms and Checklists page  or can be picked up in the Office of Doctoral Studies, Pless Hall, 2nd Floor.

The Final Oral Examination procedures outlined above for PhD candidates also apply to EdD candidates unless otherwise specified by your program.

Final Culminating Project Approval

After the final oral examination, the document will be reviewed by Office of Doctoral Studies for format. Format changes, along with changes required by the Final Oral Commission as a result of the Final Oral Examination will be combined and the final document will be uploaded to Proquest for publication.

If the final oral examination results in a deferred pass outcome, you will upload the final document only after the signed Deferred Pass with Conditions Final Report Form has been received by the Office of Doctoral Studies.

The deadline for the filing of the final edited document is approximately three weeks prior to your anticipated date of graduation (the exact date will be emailed to candidates and is posted each semester in the Office of Doctoral Studies). In order to be eligible for graduation, your final edited document must be uploaded to ProQuest by the designated deadline date.

All candidates for the degrees of PhD and EdD are required to publish the dissertation or culminating project through ProQuest Dissertation Publishing and must upload the final document electronically for this purpose. This electronic upload will take place through the Office of Doctoral Studies only after the document has been approved in its final form. A final copy of the document will also be submitted to NYU Libraries for our institutional repository.

Dissertation Formatting Guidelines

This section describes the dissertation format that all Steinhardt doctoral candidates are required to follow. Dissertations must adhere to these requirements in order to be accepted by the Office of Doctoral Studies for the scheduling of the final oral examination. Please read this section carefully and contact the Office of Doctoral Studies if you have any questions.

Choice of Style Manual

Faculty policy leaves the choice of a style manual to the doctoral candidate with the advice and consent of his or her committee. Generally, candidates are urged to learn and use the manual most often required for scholarly writing by journals within their disciplines. Typically, the following style manuals are used by NYU Steinhardt students:

• American Psychological Association,  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
• Gibaldi, J., & Achtert, W. S.,  MLA Handbook for writers of research papers
• Turabian, K.,  A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations
• The University of Chicago Press,  The Chicago Manual of Style

The most recent editions of the chosen style manuals should be used.

Print and Copy Quality

Your printer must produce consistently black letters and consistent margins. Sufficient darkness is also necessary for any supporting materials, such as tables, figures, drawings, pictures, etc., –  either as originals or as copies –  that you may need to append or insert in your manuscript. Your dissertation will be published by ProQuest UMI which requires clear, high-contrast characters and images. As a guide to the quality that will be obtained, you can photocopy a sample page at 75% reduction to evaluate the readability and clarity of the print.

The School and ProQuest UMI allow students to use typefaces that are between 10 and 12 points; however, because 10 point can appear too small in most typefaces, 12 point is generally preferred. A smaller or condensed typeface can be used for tables that otherwise might not fit across a page within the correct margins, however, mixing typefaces is otherwise not recommended.

Underlining or italics may be used for statistical symbols, book titles, or definitions (but use either one or the other consistently throughout your manuscript, including tables). Headings should be underlined when appropriate and not italicized. Bold type should not be used in the manuscript.

Do not justify the right margin of your text; keep it left aligned like the text shown here.

To assure proper binding and for ease of reading, the following margins are required:

• Left margin : one and one-half inches for  all pages .
• Right margin : one and one-half inches for  all pages , with  no intrusion  of letters or anything else into the right margin.
• Top margin : one-and-one-quarter inches for all pages  except the first page  of the Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, each chapter, Bibliography, and Appendices which should begin two inches from the top edge of the page.
• Bottom margin : one-and-one-quarter inches for all pages.
• Page numbers for all pages preceding page 1 of Chapter I (lower case roman numerals for Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, etc.) should be placed three-quarters of an inch from the bottom of the page, centered between the left and right margins.
• Page numbers from page 1 of Chapter I through the last page of the last appendix should be placed three-quarters of an inch from the top or bottom, centered between the left and right margins.

See the next section for sample dissertation pages.

White Space

Avoid leaving more than two inches of white space without type. This applies to tables and figures as well as to text. A table or figure should be inserted in the text as soon after it is first referred to where it will fit in its entirety on one page. Leave three blank lines between a table and text or text and a table; the same for figures. Continue your text if you can fit at least four lines after it. You may have more than one table on a page and you may have a table, discussion, and a table. The same procedure applies to all illustrative material.

Line Spacing

Double space the entire manuscript with these exceptions (which should be single-spaced):

• chapter titles, appendix titles, headings, and subheadings of more than one line
• block quotations
• column headings and lines that run on in tables
• bibliography or references entries – double space between entries
• figure captions
• explanatory material for figures, tables, and illustrations
• appendices – the spacing will vary depending on the source and content.

APA style requires writers to double space all typed material, including the exceptions noted above. If you are using APA, the above rules supersede APA rules in most cases. You have the option, however, of double spacing your references and block quotations; MLA style users also have this option.

The title page is counted as page one and the copyright page as page two, but numbers do not appear on them. Lower case roman numerals (iii, iv, v, vi, etc.) are used for all subsequent pages up to the first page of the text (page 1 of Chapter I) and should be placed three quarters of an inch from the bottom edge of the paper, centered between the margins.

Beginning with page 1 of Chapter I, Arabic numbers are used and are continuous through the last page including all appendices. Page numbers for all pages in the chapter, including the first page of each chapter or major section, should be placed three quarters of an inch from the top or bottom edge of the paper centered between the margins.

Order of Sections

The material of your manuscript should be ordered as follows:

• copyright page
• acknowledgments
• table of contents
• list(s) of tables, figures, charts, graphs, musical examples, illustrations, etc., if used
• preface or forward, if used
• bibliography
• appendices (if any)

Title Page of Dissertation

Please see the sample title page below. You are required to follow that format exactly.

Copyright Page

Your dissertation will be automatically copyrighted by UMI when it is published. You should include a copyright page with your name and copyright date in the middle of the page, centered left to right (between the margins) and top to bottom. Please note that the copyright date is the year of your degree conferral. Follow this format:

The copyright page is page ii of the pages preceding the text (the title page is understood to be page i), but no number should appear on either the title page or the copyright page.

Because a dissertation does not have an index, your Table of Contents should be as comprehensive as possible. Include all headings and subheadings, exactly as they appear in the text, up to and including Level 2. Including lower level headings is optional. (See sample Table of Contents in the next section.) Note that the indentation of a heading used in the Table of Contents corresponds to the level of the heading. The following illustrates this:

You should supply the reader with lists of tables, figures, and any other illustrative material used in your dissertation. See the sample lists in the next section. Lists of musical examples or reproductions of art, or information about films, follow the same form as that used for lists of tables and figures.

Chapter Titles and Headings

Chapter headings and titles appear centered between the margins as follows, beginning two inches from the top of the page:

Headings within the chapter should indicate the weight you assign to particular ideas by the form of headings suggested in the style manual you have selected or the form suggested below.

Leave three blank lines (i.e., begin typing after two double spaces) before each heading and after each major section and chapter title. If one heading immediately follows another, leave only one blank line (a double space) between the two. Leave one blank line (a double space) after each heading. Capitalize the first letter of each word of headings except for articles, conjunctions, and prepositions.

The following is one way in which to order headings and to type them. Students following APA style may use the format in the APA Style Guide, however, the format below is preferred for NYU Steinhardt dissertations.

See the sample page one in the below section for an example of heading placement.

Be sure that no heading appears at the bottom of a page without at least two lines of text beneath it. The Table of Contents will contain all Level 1 and Level 2 headings exactly as they appear in the text. It is not necessary to include Level 3 or lower-level headings in the Table of Contents, but you may if it provides the reader with more useful information.

Numbering Conventions

Chapter numbers are upper case roman numerals (with no period), e.g., CHAPTER IV, to differentiate them from any other numbers in the text. All other items requiring numbers should have Arabic numbers. Appendices, should be designated by capital letters, e.g., APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B, etc.

Use numbers or letters for other items only when necessary. Use 1) in the text and 1. in a set-off list; a) in the text and a. in a set-off list –  not (1) or 1). or a.), etc. If items in a numbered list run onto two or more lines, you may let the additional lines begin at the margin or indent the entire paragraph to the right of the numbers.

Numbers beginning a sentence, as well as numbers below 10 (or, if you prefer, 12) should be spelled out when they appear within the text.

Reduction of Tables and Other Materials

If a table, appendix, illustration, or graph is too wide or long, or both, to fit within the specified margins, have it reduced, or if textual material, type it using a smaller font. Whenever possible, avoid inserting tables which must be read by turning the book sideways. If such a table is necessary, be sure to insert it with the heading to the spine or binding. You may also use a condensed typeface.

Bibliographic Entries

For style guides other than APA, if you have more than one work by the same author, do not repeat his or her name over and over. Use 10 underscore characters, ending with a period if the author is exactly the same as the previous one, or with a comma if the author is the first of a series of new authors, as shown below. Single space the entry; double space between entries. Indent the second and subsequent lines one-half inch.

Note that authors with two initials have a space after the period between each initial, e.g., Smith, A. B., & Jones, M. J. Do not allow initials to break between lines; keep them together on one line or the other.

Regardless of the style guide you use, avoid having one or two lines of an entry on one page and the rest of the citation on the next page. The entry should be cited in its entirety on one page or the other.

Citations in Text

The way you cite an author in your manuscript is based on the context. If you are attributing an idea that you paraphrased to someone, use the name and date (according to APA style) such as (Jones, 2002), or as shown in the first sentence below. If you are using a direct quotation, use the same format, but you must include the page number where you found it, as shown in the second sentence below. Also, specific information or ideas need a page number even if paraphrased. For example, the following brief passage refers to the same publication by a hypothetical author:

Review the whole manuscript to be sure that every work referred to in the manuscript is cited in the text (or footnotes) and included in the bibliography.

Block (Indented) Quotations

Four or more lines of a quotation should be set off from the main text with a double space, typed single spaced with no quotation marks, and the entire block indented one-half inch. Quotations within these block (or indented) quotations may use double quotations. The first line of the quotation is not indented; however, the first lines of new paragraphs within the quotation should begin with an additional indent of one-half inch. Students using APA or MLA style may double space block quotations.

Each appendix should have the proper designation at the top of the first page. A title page does not need to be inserted before each one. Use the following format, centered between the left and right margins, beginning two inches from the top of the page: 

PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORMS

If you have material that, because of its format, needs to have a title page (because the title doesn't fit on the same page as the material), you need to consistently use title pages for all appendices. Avoid it if you can. Again, all material in an appendix must fit within the overall page margins.

Letters of Permission

It is necessary to obtain letters of permission for the reproduction of any copyrighted material which exceeds the Federal law pertaining to "Fair Use." Copies of those letters will be submitted to Proquest UMI when you upload your final dissertation. Copies of the letters do not need to be included in the dissertation.

The Abstract

The abstract is a brief summary of the contents of the dissertation. Begin typing the abstract two inches from the top of a blank page with no heading. The abstract should be typed double-spaced with the same typeface and margins as the dissertation. The length of the abstract should be limited to 350 words.

The abstract title page is identical to the dissertation title page with one exception: the abstract title page has the words An Abstract of directly above the title (see Sample Title Page in the next section). Each abstract is stapled in the upper left corner and kept separate from the dissertation. The chairperson of the dissertation committee should sign one copy of the abstract title page.

Sample Pages

The following section includes sample dissertation pages which should be followed carefully. Refer to the preceding section for more detailed information on format requirements. Students should follow the instructions on these sample pages rather than using a dissertation from the library (or elsewhere) as a guide. Format requirements differ from year to year and from school to school.

• Sample Title Page for Doctoral Dissertation (with Annotations)
• Sample Copyright Page for Doctoral Dissertation
• Sample Acknowledgement Section for Doctoral Dissertation
• Sample Table of Contents for Doctoral Dissertation (with Annotations)
• Sample List of Tables for Doctoral Dissertation
• Sample List of Figures for Doctoral Dissertation
• Sample First Page for Doctoral Dissertation

Forms and Checklists

Forms and checklists for NYU Steinhardt Phd and EdD students.

Past Dissertations

Past winners of the Outstanding Dissertation Award from across NYU Steinhardt.

Doctoral Orientation, Events, and Deadlines

Information on Doctoral Studies orientation, upcoming events, and important filing deadlines.

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• Thesis and Dissertation

Forming Your Committee

Students should not schedule the proposal defense prior to their committee being finalized and their appointment form being approved by the Graduate School.

It is necessary to have the form approved in advance of the proposal defense, as there are instances in which committee members are not approved (for example, if someone is listed as the Graduate Faculty Representative who the Graduate School does not deem  qualified to serve in this capacity).

The Graduate School's requirements for everything from committee formation to graduation clearance can be found under the Current Students tab on the Graduate School website. 

Composition of the Doctoral Committee: Roles and Responsibilities

The Graduate School requires that doctoral committees consist of no less than four members. These four members must be regular members of the Graduate Faculty or must be granted an exception by the Dean of the Graduate School.  All committees must include a chair and a Graduate Faculty Representative. Assistant Professors are usually not approved to serve as chair unless they have served as a committee member first. Exceptions are granted on a case-by-case basis. 

Graduate Faculty Representative

The primary role of the Graduate Faculty Representative is to ensure that the student is treated fairly and that Graduate School policies are upheld. Expertise in the student's area of research is not a requirement. The Graduate Faculty Representative's responsibilities are explained in greater detail here . Assistant Professors are not eligible to serve as Graduate Faculty Representative. 

The requirement to include an outside member on all dissertation committees is not uncommon among institutions of higher education and is in keeping with best practices in doctoral support. 

Committee Members

Committee members are often chosen to provide topic or methodological expertise. Even without contributing their expertise, committee members may be chosen based on faculty with whom the student has a good professional relationship or who could offer a helpful outside perspective. Committee members are generally not as involved as the committee chair in the everyday progression of the dissertation.  Typically, they read the dissertation only in its final form before the defense, although they should be available for consultation throughout the process and may be more closely involved in sections or chapters in which they have particular expertise. 

The committee members and Graduate Faculty Representative will:

• Approve of the subject matter and methodology of the thesis or dissertation research
• Review and comment on drafts of the thesis or dissertation prior to submission to The Graduate School
• Verify, to the best of their ability, the quality of the data collection and evidence, data analysis, and logical reasoning or interpretation in light of the proposal aims
• Evaluate whether the student’s thesis or dissertation fulfills the requirements of the degree

• Future Students
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Doctoral handbook

You are here

• Dissertation Proposal

On this page:

Proposal Overview and Format

Proposal committee, proposal hearing or meeting.

• Printing Credit for Use in School of Education Labs

Students are urged to begin thinking about a dissertation topic early in their degree program. Concentrated work on a dissertation proposal normally begins after successful completion of the Second-Year Review, which often includes a “mini” proposal, an extended literature review, or a theoretical essay, plus advancement to doctoral candidacy. In defining a dissertation topic, the student collaborates with their faculty advisor or dissertation advisor (if one is selected) in the choice of a topic for the dissertation.

The dissertation proposal is a comprehensive statement on the extent and nature of the student’s dissertation research interests. Students submit a draft of the proposal to their dissertation advisor between the end of the seventh and middle of the ninth quarters. The student must provide a written copy of the proposal to the faculty committee no later than two weeks prior to the date of the proposal hearing. Committee members could require an earlier deadline (e.g., four weeks before the hearing).

The major components of the proposal are as follows, with some variations across Areas and disciplines:

• A detailed statement of the problem that is to be studied and the context within which it is to be seen. This should include a justification of the importance of the problem on both theoretical and educational grounds.
• A thorough review of the literature pertinent to the research problem. This review should provide proof that the relevant literature in the field has been thoroughly researched. Good research is cumulative; it builds on the thoughts, findings, and mistakes of others.
• its general explanatory interest
• the overall theoretical framework within which this interest is to be pursued
• the model or hypotheses to be tested or the research questions to be answered
• a discussion of the conceptual and operational properties of the variables
• an overview of strategies for collecting appropriate evidence (sampling, instrumentation, data collection, data reduction, data analysis)
• a discussion of how the evidence is to be interpreted (This aspect of the proposal will be somewhat different in fields such as history and philosophy of education.)
• If applicable, students should complete a request for approval of research with human subjects, using the Human Subjects Review Form ( http://humansubjects.stanford.edu/ ). Except for pilot work, the University requires the approval of the Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Behavioral Science Research before any data can be collected from human subjects.

Registration (i.e., enrollment) is required for any quarter during which a degree requirement is completed, including the dissertation proposal. Refer to the Registration or Enrollment for Milestone Completion section for more details.

As students progress through the program, their interests may change. There is no commitment on the part of the student’s advisor to automatically serve as the dissertation chair. Based on the student’s interests and the dissertation topic, many students approach other GSE professors to serve as the dissertation advisor, if appropriate.

A dissertation proposal committee is comprised of three academic council faculty members, one of whom will serve as the major dissertation advisor. Whether or not the student’s general program advisor serves on the dissertation proposal committee and later the reading committee will depend on the relevance of that faculty member’s expertise to the topic of the dissertation, and their availability. There is no requirement that a program advisor serve, although very often they do. Members of the dissertation proposal committee may be drawn from other area committees within the GSE, from other departments in the University, or from emeriti faculty. At least one person serving on the proposal committee must be from the student’s area committee (CTE, DAPS, SHIPS). All three members must be on the Academic Council; if the student desires the expertise of a non-Academic Council member, it may be possible to petition. After the hearing, a memorandum listing the changes to be made will be written and submitted with the signed proposal cover sheet and a copy of the proposal itself to the Doctoral Programs Officer.

Review and approval of the dissertation proposal occurs normally during the third year. The proposal hearing seeks to review the quality and feasibility of the proposal. The Second-Year Review and the Proposal Hearing are separate milestones and may not occur as part of the same hearing or meeting.

The student and the dissertation advisor are responsible for scheduling a formal meeting or hearing to review the proposal; the student and proposal committee convene for this evaluative period. Normally, all must be present at the meeting either in person or via conference phone call.

At the end of this meeting, the dissertation proposal committee members should sign the Cover Sheet for Dissertation Proposal and indicate their approval or rejection of the proposal. This signed form should be submitted to the Doctoral Programs Officer. If the student is required to make revisions, an addendum is required with the written approval of each member of the committee stating that the proposal has been revised to their satisfaction.

After submitting the Proposal Hearing material to the Doctoral Programs Officer, the student should make arrangements with three faculty members to serve on their Dissertation Reading Committee. The Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee form should be completed and given to the Doctoral Programs Officer to enter in the University student records system. Note: The proposal hearing committee and the reading committee do not have to be the same three faculty members. Normally, the proposal hearing precedes the designation of a Dissertation Reading Committee, and faculty on either committee may differ (except for the primary dissertation advisor). However, some students may advance to Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status before completing their dissertation proposal hearing if they have established a dissertation reading committee. In these cases, it is acceptable for the student to form a reading committee prior to the dissertation proposal hearing. The reading committee then serves as the proposal committee.

The proposal and reading committee forms and related instructions are on the GSE website, under current students>forms.

Printing Credit for Use in GSE Labs

Upon completion of their doctoral dissertation proposal, GSE students are eligible for a $300 printing credit redeemable in any of the GSE computer labs where students are normally charged for print jobs. Only one $300 credit per student will be issued, but it is usable throughout the remainder of her or his doctoral program until the balance is exhausted. The print credit can be used only at the printers in Cubberley basement and CERAS, and cannot be used toward copying.

After submitting the signed dissertation proposal cover sheet to the Doctoral Programs Officer indicating approval (see above), students can submit a HELP SU ticket online at helpsu.stanford.edu to request the credit. When submitting the help ticket, the following should be selected from the drop-down menus for HELP SU:

Request Category :  Computer, Handhelds (PDAs), Printers, Servers Request Type :  Printer Operating System : (whatever system is used by the student, e.g., Windows XP.)

The help ticket will be routed to the GSE's IT Group for processing; they will in turn notify the student via email when the credit is available.

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Handbook Contents

• Timetable for the Doctoral Degree
• Degree Requirements
• Registration or Enrollment for Milestone Completion
• The Graduate Study Program
• Student Virtual and Teleconference Participation in Hearings
• First Year (3rd Quarter) Review
• Second Year (6th Quarter) Review
• Committee Composition for First- and Second-Year Reviews
• Advancement to Candidacy
• Academic Program Revision
• Dissertation Content
• Dissertation Reading Committee
• University Oral Examination
• Submitting the Dissertation
• Registration and Student Statuses
• Graduate Financial Support
• GSE Courses
• Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education (CTE)
• Developmental and Psychological Sciences (DAPS)
• Learning Sciences and Technology Design (LSTD)
• Race, Inequality, and Language in Education (RILE)
• Social Sciences, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS)
• Contact Information
• Stanford University Honor Code
• Stanford University Fundamental Standard
• Doctoral Programs Degree Progress Checklist
• GSE Open Access Policies

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How to select a dissertation committee member wisely?

I'm currently developing my dissertation proposal, and am in the process of choosing my committee members. I have heard that one should carefully choose their committee members, since they ultimately judge if and when your PhD work is done. As far as I can tell, a committee member should at least have some expertise in my research topic. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I want to know what other qualities should I look out for? What qualities in a committee member should I avoid? I imagine these other qualities are subtle and difficult to judge at first. Nonetheless, how do I know if they are a good fit for the success of my PhD?

• thesis-committee

2 Answers 2

First, ask your adviser . He/she likely knows more about most of your department faculty than you do. You don't have to do exactly as you're told. But if you don't, this should be an intentional choice on your part, and you should have a good reason for that choice. Beyond that, I see at least 3 broad areas to consider. You want committee members who will

• strengthen your professional network : introduce you to potential collaborators, and possibly help with your search for a postdoc or tenure track position; and/or write a letter of recommendation for you
• give valuable feedback on your work : you think they'll actually read your thesis (you might be surprised how uncommon this is), and might have something constructive to say
• be easy to work with in the defense process: likely to be flexible on the date of your defense, and likely to sign off on your dissertation without demanding lots of changes (fitting into 4 schedules besides your own can be a nightmare; it's nice to have a few committee members who are easy to work with on this)

Which of these contributions you value most will depend on what you're hoping to do after your PhD. If you're looking to move into industry, many of your professors' contacts may be less valuable to you than if you hope to stay in academia. Do you plan to stay research active? In the field of your dissertation? Practically, you may have limited options. At the very least, you should weigh 1, 2, and 3, and estimate how you think each candidate will contribute in each area.

• 13 Only one thing I would add to this excellent answer: At least one committee member should take you out of your professional comfort zone. Do not choose committee members only from your subfield, your department, or even your university. Part of defending your research, especially if you are continuing into academia, is being able to explain your work and defend its importance to people outside your narrow academic circles. –  JeffE Commented Oct 13, 2012 at 16:00
• @JeffE: One caveat to the suggestion of an external reviewer—try to avoid someone who's geographically far away. Scheduling committee meetings is hard enough as it is; it's exponentially more difficult if you have to organize them around the schedule of someone who needs to fly in for the meetings! –  aeismail Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 8:08
• 1 @aeismail: That's what Skype is for. I've been in more than one defense where the committee was spread across multiple continents. –  JeffE Commented Sep 11, 2014 at 10:59

This is certainly a very important question. Here is the make up of my committee and its pitfalls. This isn't the best committee but has its advantages. You could easily extrapolate from my experience:

Adviser/Committee member 1:

• I have a fantastic adviser who always stands by me and supports my work. He essentially fights for me if things go awry.
• He is also the PI of the project I am working on so my successful graduation and publications do interest him.

Co-adviser/Collaborator/Committee member 2/Extradepartmental committee member:

• He champions the the ideas behind my research and has done so for the last 20+ years. So there is no problem that I'll get support from him

Committee member 3:

• Doesn't have anything invested in my research but since it is generally related to his work, he is on board.
• He is sitting on the fence as far as criticism goes.

Committee member 4:

• He doesn't like my work since his adviser didn't like this work and its implications.
• However, since I have a generally pro-me committee, I should be alright but not without breaking a sweat.
• If I convince him of the merit of my work, I'll have no problem in the future convincing any other detractors See comment by JeffE .

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Advice for surviving your PhD dissertation

Tips for each step of researching, writing and refining a PhD dissertation

From initial research and writing to revision, defence and award, the journey to completing a PhD is often described as a marathon. Here, academics offer their insight on each step towards producing an original work of scholarship. Starting with choosing a supervisor and establishing healthy habits, the advice goes on to cover how to structure a PhD dissertation, establish a writing routine, write an abstract, prepare for a viva and beat procrastination when motivation flags.

.css-7qmtvr{overflow:hidden;max-height:108px;text-indent:0px;} Get a head start in the first year of your PhD

Andreï V. Kostyrka

University of Luxembourg

How to start writing your PhD thesis

Strategies for writing a dissertation: write before you’re ‘ready’

Monique Dufour

Virginia Tech

How to navigate the PhD thesis

Luis R. Rojas-Solórzano

Nazarbayev University

How to write a PhD thesis: a step-by-step guide

Kelly Louise Preece

University of Exeter

One thesis, two supports, three months

Mariam Shadan

Dubai Medical College for Girls

How to tackle the PhD dissertation

Dalhousie University

Get your PhD thesis beach ready

John Sinclair

Colorado State University Global

Finding supervision and support

Top tips for choosing a PhD Supervisor

Near East University

Buddy system: creating community through writing

Lena Steveker, Laura Spadon

Individual consultations can help PhD students to complete their studies

Szabolcs Várbíró , Judit Réka Hetthéssy, Marianna Török

Semmelweis University

Transitioning to a PhD: common struggles and how to overcome them

Camille Bou

The London School of Economics and Political Science

Protect your emotional well-being for a happier writing experience

Burcu Totur Dikmen

Why getting a PhD is like building a Lego duck

The University of Edinburgh

Advice for doing a PhD by publication

Why get a PhD by publication (and other career tips)

James Derounian

University of Bolton

Publication-based doctorate: is it for me?

Northumbria University

Advice for supervising a PhD by published works

Alison Brettle

University of Salford

How to write an abstract for a research paper

Ankitha Shetty

Manipal Academy of Higher Education

Read this before you write your abstract

Michael Willis

How to find motivation, keep going and finish your thesis

Five ways to beat the procrastination monster

Glenn Fosbraey

University of Winchester

Bad news, kids (and academics): the magical motivation fairy doesn’t exist

Hugh Kearns

Flinders University

What is your academic writing temperament?

Rachael Cayley

University of Toronto

How to develop a researcher mindset as a PhD student

Shaif Uddin Ahammed

University of the West of Scotland

Evidence synthesis: what every student (and researcher) should know

Alessio Bellato

University of Southampton

Preparing for the viva or defence of your PhD

‘Augmenting’ the doctoral thesis in preparation for a viva

Edward Mills

How to answer viva questions

Jenny Scoles

Tips for writing a PhD dissertation: FAQs answered

Campus team

Degrees and Requirements

It is the student’s responsibility to be familiar with the requirements and policies of the University and the Department, as stated in the Graduate School Bulletin and this handbook respectively. If a student is in doubt about the application of these policies to their own case, the matter should be brought to the attention of the student’s academic advisor.

The student should be aware of the general structure of the program as explained below, including the required coursework and the system of qualifying examinations. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate each step in their degree program. Students must also be aware of the statute of limitations, as explained below and in the Graduate School Bulletin.

Degree Options

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers PhD programs in Mathematics and Statistics and MS programs in Applied Mathematics and Statistics. It also grants an MS degree in Mathematics but this is usually only awarded as a step towards the PhD degree. Note that neither of the MS programs are primarily meant as preparation for a PhD program; a student who wishes to do a PhD after an MS in Applied Mathematics or Statistics must apply and be accepted to the PhD program like any other student. There is no formal distinction between pure and applied mathematics within the Mathematics PhD program.

A student who wishes to transfer from one degree option to another should notify the GPD as early as possible. Such a transfer requires the approval of the Graduate Admissions Committee, just as in the case of a new applicant, and will usually involve adjustments in the amount and/or duration of financial support as well as, in some cases, a formal application to the new program.

Degree Requirements

Formal degree requirements are given below. Coursework requirements may be waived by the GPD if in their judgment the student has taken acceptable equivalents elsewhere. In some cases, strong performance on one of the written exams can be accepted as a substitute for taking a course. In other cases it may be possible to substitute an alternative course for a required course. To request a waiver of a course requirement, students should contact the GPD directly, explaining the course to be waived, the alternative course to be taken, if any, and the justification for the request. The GPD will return a decision granting or denying the waiver, and a copy will be placed in the student’s file.

Note that while three credit independent study courses may be used to satisfy the minimum hours of coursework below, one credit seminars may not be used for this purpose.

Students are reminded that in addition to Department requirements they must complete all degree requirements established by the Graduate School. Consult the Graduate School Handbook, available on the web page of the Graduate School. Degree application forms for an MS or PhD can be found on the Graduate School website as well. The student must fill out the form and return it to the GPM for verification and signatures of the GPD and the Department Head. The GPM will then submit the form and a cover letter to the Office of Degree Requirements.

MS Requirements

Please note that the MS in Mathematics is usually only obtained by students within the Mathematics PhD program; there is no separate program awarding it.

MS in Mathematics

• The student must complete 30 hours of coursework with grades of C or better, including at least 24 hours with grades of B or better. In addition, the student must have at least an overall B average.
• Any course outside the Department or numbered less than 600 must have the GPD’s approval to be counted toward the 30 hours. No more than four courses below the 600 level may be counted, and no more than 3 hours per course may be counted toward the 30 hours.
• The required 30 hours must include 21 hours of Mathematics and Statistics courses (at least 18 hours numbered above 600), normally including at least four of the courses: Math 605, 611, 621, 623, 645, 651, 671, Stat 607.

MS in Applied Mathematics

• The student must complete 30 hours of coursework with grades of C or better, including at least 24 hours with grades of B or better. In addition, the student must have at least an overall B average. (Note: Pass or fail courses cannot be used to satisfy this requirement.)
• Any course outside the Department or numbered less than 600 must have the AMD’s approval to be counted toward the 30 hours. No more than four courses below the 600 level may be counted, and no more than 3 hours per course may be counted toward the 30 hours.
• Math 532 (or 532H): Nonlinear Dynamics;
• Math 534 (or 534H): Introduction to Partial Differential Equations;
• Math 651: Numerical Analysis I;
• Stat 607: Mathematical Statistics I.
• The student must complete a project in Applied Mathematics under the guidance of a faculty member. This project must have prior approval of the AMD and normally involves 3 credit hours (the credits earned may be used to satisfy the 18 hour requirement in (3)). The project might involve reading some research papers, analyzing some real data, and doing some computer programming.

MS in Statistics

• The student must complete 30 hours of coursework, with grades of C or better, including at least 24 hours with grades of B or better. In addition, the student must have at least an overall B average.
• Any course outside the Department or numbered less than 600 must have the approval of the student’s Statistics Coordinator to be counted toward the 30 hours. No more than 3 hours per course may be counted toward the 30 hours.
• Stat 625 (Regression Analysis);
• Stat 607–608 (Mathematical Statistics I, II);
• Stat 535 (Statistical Computing);
• At least five other courses which are either Statistics courses numbered 526 or above, from within the department, or some courses outside the department numbered 500 and above subject to prior approval by the student’s Statistics Coordinator.
• The student must complete a project in statistics under the guidance of a faculty member. This project must have prior approval of the student’s Statistics Coordinator and involves 3 credit hours which may be used to satisfy the 30 hour coursework requirement. The project can take many forms; an expository report on a particular area, an examination of methods through simulations or a detailed statistical analysis of real data. A final report is required. This requirement is typically satisfied by the successful completion of the project seminar course Stat 691P.
• The student must either complete at least one credit of statistical consulting (typically STAT 598C) or pass two of the three Basic exams in Applied Statistics, Probability, and Statistics.

PhD Requirements

Phd in mathematics.

• At least three full year sequences (Math 605–606, 611–612, 623624, 645–646, 671–672, Stat 607–608);
• At least one of Math 611, Math 623, Math 671;
• At least one of Math 645, Math 646, Math 651;
• At least one of Math 605, Math 606, Stat 607.
• The student must pass the Advanced Calculus/Linear Algebra exam.
• The student must pass two written exams chosen among Algebra, Analysis, Applied Mathematics, Stochastics and Topology.
• The student must form an oral exam committee and pass the oral exam as described below.
• The student must write a satisfactory dissertation and pass a final oral examination (primarily a defense of the dissertation), and must satisfy all other requirements of their dissertation committee. The student is required to register for a minimum of 18 dissertation credits.

PhD in Statistics

• The student must complete successfully 36 hours of coursework, including Math 523 (or Math 623, or Math 605), Stat 535, Stat 607, Stat 608, Stat 625, Stat 705, and Stat 725.
• The student must also complete five elective courses, including two 600 level statistics courses, and 3 courses of the student’s choice, which require prior approval by the statistics coordinator.
• The student must pass three Basic Exams at the PhD level in Applied Statistics, Probability and Statistics. (These cover the material from Stat 535 and Stat 625, Stat 607 and Stat 608 respectively.)
• The student must pass the advanced statistics exam and the oral literature-based exam. These exams are described below.

Dissertation Committee, Prospectus, Dissertation Credits

This section applies to all PhD students.

Upon completion of all course and exam requirements for their program, the graduate student should select a dissertation advisor from the faculty in the Department as soon as practical. Most often the advisor will have been the chair of the oral exam committee, but this is not required. Upon selecting a dissertation advisor and confirming this choice with the advisor, the student should notify the GPM, who will in turn send a confirmation notice to the student, advisor, GPD and Director of Administration and Staff.

The PhD candidate must form a Dissertation Committee, consisting of a dissertation advisor together with three other graduate faculty members (one of whom must be from another department on campus). The Department requires that the chair of the dissertation committee be graduate faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Students are encouraged to form their dissertation committee as soon as possible after selecting their dissertation advisor.

The committee should advise the student about any expected need (in dissertation research or later) for reading material in a foreign language such as French or German.

A written prospectus of the proposed dissertation research must be drawn up with the advisor’s input and signed by all committee members. This prospectus must be submitted to the Graduate School and the dissertation defense must be scheduled at least one month before the actual date of the dissertation defense. A LATEX form for this purpose may be obtained from the GPM.

After passing all exams and choosing an advisor the student may enroll for dissertation credits: a minimum of 18 such credits are required for graduation.

Statute of Limitations

This is the maximum time allowed for completion of a degree. A PhD student has six calendar years from acceptance into the graduate program, and a MS student four calendar years, to earn the degree. In exceptional circumstances, these limits may be extended with the approval of the GPD and the Dean of the Graduate School. Please note that these time limits are completely independent of any funding decisions.

All PhD students must

• Choose an official dissertation advisor (and notify the GPM about the choice) within one year after the completion of all exam requirements, or the start of the sixth semester, whichever comes last.
• Form a dissertation committee and submit a dissertation proposal (prospectus) to the Graduate School within 18 months after the completion of all exam requirements, or the start of the seventh semester, whichever comes last.
• If a student fails to satisfy either one of these conditions, at the discretion of the GPD the student could be granted an extra semester to satisfy these requirements.
• If a student fails to satisfy these requirements within the prescribed time period, the GAC in conjunction with the Department Head will review the student’s status and future financial support.

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Award-winning teaching, research opportunities, and interdisciplinary programs in a diverse, inclusive community of excellence.

Lederle Graduate Research Tower, 1654 University of Massachusetts Amherst 710 N. Pleasant Street Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA

Department Phone: (413) 545-2762 Department Fax: (413) 545-1801 Department Office: LGRT 1622

Computer Science Department , PhD Dissertation Defense, Atifa Sarwar "Machine Learning Models for Passive Pre-symptomatic Detection of Covid-19 from Smart Wearable Data" "

Atifa Sarwar

PhD Candidate

WPI– Computer Science

Monday, July 15, 2024

Time: 10:00AM – 11:00AM

Location: Fuller Labs 141

Zoom:  https://wpi.zoom.us/j/2635545596

Committee Members:

Dissertation Advisor: Prof. Emmanuel Agu, WPI– Computer Science

Prof. Erin Solovey, WPI – Computer Science

Prof. Yanhua Li, WPI– Computer Science

External Committee Member: Prof. Bashima Islam, WPI – Electrical and Computer Engineering

Abstract:  

Covid-19, an infectious Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) recently led to a global pandemic. Covid-19 vaccinations have significantly reduced adverse outcomes, including hospitalizations and deaths. However, due to the mutating nature of the virus, Covid-19 remains a global concern. Passive, low-burden methods for early Covid-19 detection can inform proactive interventions and improve outcomes. This doctoral dissertation investigates Machine Learning models for detecting Covid-19 from abnormal deviations in longitudinal physiological signs (such as heart rate and steps) collected passively from consumer-grade smart wearables, without requiring patient medical history or human-reported symptoms. Three categories of ML models are proposed: 

I)      Leveraging physiological Signs and Features Predictive of Covid-19 :  We explored traditional ML algorithms to predict Covid-19 infection from heart rate, physical activity (steps), and sleep pattern features. Additionally, we proposed  CovidRhythm , a deep Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)-based Multi-Head Self-Attention (MHSA) model that identifies Covid-19 infection from disruptions in biobehavioral rhythmic features, before biological symptoms manifest.

II)     Addressing Inter-individual Differences in Vital Sign Manifestations with minimal data:  Given significant individual differences in vital sign manifestations that hinder the generalizability of AI models, we proposed  MetaCovid . This deep adaptation framework leverages meta-learning to address inter-subject differences with minimal data, enabling the detection of Covid-19 before symptom onset.

III)    Earliest Possible Covid-19 Infection Detection:  Delayed   diagnoses were a major contributor to the Covid-19 pandemic, as most testing was reactive, occurring only after symptom onset. Early detection of Covid-19 could substantially reduce infection rates by 35.7% and decrease mortality by 46.2%. We explored the earliest possible Covid-19 infection detection through  EarlyDetect , a Reinforcement Learning-based Early Time Series Classification method, and  ECovGNN , a Graph Neural Network-based method that boosts model performance by leveraging intra- and inter-subject similarities within vital signs for early Covid-19 detection. 

This dissertation achieves breakthroughs in pre-symptomatic Covid-19 screening by demonstrating effective detection three days before biological symptom onset using 72-hour non-overlapping windows of physical activity, circadian rhythm, and physiological features. We believe that findings of this dissertation will pave the way for timely disease detection, clinical management, and improved public health response to future infectious disease outbreaks.

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ANTI-SEMITIC ATTITUDES OF THE MASS PUBLIC: ESTIMATES AND EXPLANATIONS BASED ON A SURVEY OF THE MOSCOW OBLAST

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JAMES L. GIBSON, RAYMOND M. DUCH, ANTI-SEMITIC ATTITUDES OF THE MASS PUBLIC: ESTIMATES AND EXPLANATIONS BASED ON A SURVEY OF THE MOSCOW OBLAST, Public Opinion Quarterly , Volume 56, Issue 1, SPRING 1992, Pages 1–28, https://doi.org/10.1086/269293

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In this article we examine anti-Semitism as expressed by a sample of residents of the Moscow Oblast (Soviet Union). Based on a survey conducted in 1920, we begin by describing anti-Jewish prejudice and support for official discrimination against Jews. We discover a surprisingly low level of expressed anti-Semitism among these Soviet respondents and virtually no support for state policies that discriminate against Jews. At the same time, many of the conventional hypotheses predicting anti-Semitism are supported in the Soviet case. Anti-Semitism is concentrated among those with lower levels of education, those whose personal financial condition is deteriorating, and those who oppose further democratization of the Soviet Union. We do not take these findings as evidence that anti-Semitism is a trivial problem in the Soviet Union but, rather, suggest that efforts to combat anti-Jewish movements would likely receive considerable support from ordinary Soviet people.

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The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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