The Doctor of Philosophy Degree.

Once achieving PhD candidacy students are eligible to receive a PhD degree. Student maintaining timely progress are expected to complete PhD requirements within three years candidacy and within six years of enrolling in the graduate program. Checklist for PhD Degree: Courses During each semester in residence, the candidate must be registered for --At least three credit hours of Dissertation (MAT6980r). --At least one research seminar (MTG6939, MAS6939, MAA6939). --Topics courses in consultation with major professor. Committee. The candidate's committee is usually unchanged from their candidacy committee, and consists of the major professor, at least three other graduate faculty members, and an outside committee member, or "university representative". The committee members must satisfy the same rules as for the candidacy committee. All committee members must have doctoral directive status. The outside committee member does not need to have any relationship with or specialized knowledge concerning the dissertation topic. The primary function of the outside committee member is to oversee the proceedings of the thesis submission and defense and verify that these took place in accordance with university rules. Thesis Defense. The candidate completes a written thesis, distributes copies to the committee several weeks in advance, and gives an oral presentation (thesis defense) of the material. The committee convenes directly after the presentation to decide whether the work is complete and acceptable, and puts the approval in writing. PhD Minor. The PhD minor is a university-wide requirement that can be fulfilled in a variety of ways. To satisfy the requirement it is sufficient to pass three or more credit hours of a course outside the students major field of study. This can include courses offered in other divisions of mathematics, or that are offered outside the mathematics department, but which are loosely related to mathematics. Examples include courses in Computer Science, Physics, Economics, or Biology. The choice should be made in conjunction with the student's advisors. Students with a previous master's or PhD degree in an area outside of mathematics are exempt from this requirement.

(latest update: 7/21/09)