MCDB Graduate Student Handbook
1. Annual Committee Meetings
To facilitate communication, we require that you meet at least once per year with your Doctoral committee. These meetings are expected to take place from the point at which you pass the Doctoral Oral Qualifying Examination, in other words during the active phase of your thesis research. You and your thesis advisor may decide whether you will meet with your doctoral committee members individually, or as a group.
Please understand that this is in no sense an examination. There is no "pass" or "fail" involved. It is simply an opportunity for you to make sure that everyone on your doctoral committee understands how your work is proceeding. The following issues should be clarified in these annual meetings:
As early as possible, it is expected that you and your Doctoral Committee will establish in advance the specific format your thesis will take, i.e., comprised of published, "in press" or "submitted" manuscripts (the number of manuscripts expected to make up the dissertation), and/or unpublished materials; a traditional dissertation.
It is expected that you and your doctoral committee will determine in advance the timing of your midstream seminar.
During the fourth-year annual meeting, the committee must set aside time to discuss Ph.D. career opportunities.
Please note that you and your thesis advisor will receive a reminder from the Student Affairs Office each year. However, ensuring that the annual meeting takes place is ultimately your responsibility, and not that of the Student Affairs Office.
The Student Affairs Office requires a summary form to be signed by each committee member at each annual meeting, which becomes part of the student's permanent file.
By the time an annual committee meeting is scheduled, you may have finished data that you would like to practice presenting in a semi-formal manner. (For example, you may be presenting at a meeting somewhere in the ensuing few months, and want a chance to present to an audience for practice). If so, you may wish to have a public meeting which is advertised in advance and open to anyone interested in attending. This would then be followed by a short closed session with your committee. Or, you may simply wish to meet in closed session with your committee. Either mode will be satisfactory. However, be sure to discuss the format of the meeting in advance with your advisor and at least one departmental member of your committee prior to scheduling your annual meeting. They may urge you to do a public seminar, in which case you should follow their advice.
2. Midstream Seminar
Students are expected to present a midstream seminar between passing the Doctoral Oral Qualifying Examination and the final defense of the thesis. The midstream seminar serves as an important barometer for the progress of the student's research proposal since the oral qualifying examination. The seminar also helps to identify the critical experimental areas that students need to complete prior to the final defense of the dissertation.
- The Student Affairs Office will help you schedule your midstream seminar.
- The timing of the midstream seminar should be established in consultation with the entire doctoral committee. In no case should it take place later than the beginning of the fifth year of graduate study.
- As the midstream seminar is a departmental (not a University) requirement, it is not required that all members of the doctoral committee be present. The seminar must, however, be presented to at least the certifying members.
- Included in the presentation are the background, objectives, present accomplishments, and future plans for the dissertation project.
- The midstream seminar requirement can only be waived with written permission of the student's entire doctoral committee.