The dissertation represents an original and scholarly contribution to the discipline, defended before the doctoral committee and the public and approved by the committee. Students must complete a minimum of 18 units of dissertation credit for the degree.
Note: Students who have not completed the comprehensive exam will not be allowed to enroll in dissertation units.
Dissertation Committee
Students will need to identify faculty to serve on the Dissertation Committee. The student should consult with their faculty advisor on the appropriate faculty to invite to participate. The Dissertation Committee composition must meet the following requirements:
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Committee must have 3-5 members
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At least half of the committee must have primary, tenure-track faculty appointments in the Department of Computer Science. (i.e., 2 of 3, 2 of 4, or 3 of 5)
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More than half of the committee must have primary, shared, or joint (courtesy) tenure-track faculty appointments in the Department of Computer Science. (i.e., 2 of 3, 3 of 4, or 3 of 5)
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The advisor must have a primary, shared, or joint (courtesy) tenure-track faculty appointment in the Department of Computer Science
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The committee must meet all Graduate College Requirements
Special members must be pre-approved by the Graduate College. Students should send the CV of the special member to the GPC to initiate the request.
Students must submit the Doctoral Dissertation Committee Appointment Form in GradPath after successful completion of the comprehensive exam.
Dissertation Defense
This is a technical presentation, before the dissertation committee and public, in defense of the completed dissertation (see Final Defense Instructions). The Dissertation Committee and GPC must have a copy of the dissertation at least 3 weeks in advance of the defense. The date of the dissertation must be announced in GradPath at least 2 weeks in advance for the appropriate public notice. The GPC will approve the dissertation announcement once all committee members have given approval to proceed which must occur at least 2 weeks in advance of the defense.
Revisions are often required by the committee, to be made subsequent to the defense. The final dissertation must be submitted for archiving to the Graduate College by the stated deadline.
Note: 1) Students must email the GPC with their proposed exam date and time to reserve a room. 2) Students must send their abstract to the GPC at least one week before the defense, so a defense announcement can be sent on the colloquium email list.