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Thesis and Defense |
Thesis Committee |
Ph.D. Examinations |
Admission to Candidacy
The basic requirements for this degree are:
- completion of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, of which
at least 24 hours must be designated for research under
the direct supervision of the student's faculty advisor;
- at least two semesters of full-time residence on campus;
- successful completion of the Qualifying Examination;
- successful completion of a Thesis Proposal;
- a thesis written while the student is enrolled at CSM;
- a successful oral defense of the thesis.
Typically, students require a minimum of two years after the M.S.
to finish a Ph.D. assuming the M.S. was completed at CSM. For
students with a Master's degree from another institution, three to
four years is more realistic.
The Doctoral
Thesis Committee consists of at least five members. A thesis advisor
should be chosen by the student, preferably no later than the middle of
the second semester after completion of the Master's degree or its equivalent.
The advisor will, in consultation with the student, recommend at least two
more members of the Department. At least one member of the Thesis Committee
must be from outside the Department. The final composition of the Thesis
Committee is subject to the approval of the Graduate Dean. While all committee
members share responsibility for conducting oral examinations, providing
technical assistance, advice, etc., the thesis advisor assumes the major
responsibility for monitoring the student's progress, directing the research,
and coordinating times of exams. It is possible to have two co-advisors, one
of whom may be from another department. The Thesis Committee should have been
appointed by the end of the second semester.
The purpose of the Qualifying Examination is to determine whether a student is
qualified to further pursue a Ph.D. degree in the Department. For this
reason, it is an important milestone on the road to a Ph.D.
Students are expected to take the Qualifying Examination by their
fourth semester after entering the Ph.D. program.
The Qualifying exam is normally offered once a semester. Students must file an
appropriate notice to the Graduate Committee
by a posted deadline stating their intention to take the exams
and in which areas they will be taken.
The format of the qualifying exam depends upon your program of study:
The format of the qualifying exam is as follows:
Each student must pass three written exams, in the areas of Pure Mathematics,
Applied Mathematics, and Computational Mathematics. Each exam will cover one
course from the corresponding list below. Each student will choose which
course from each list he or she will be examined on. Students are not required
to take the courses in order to take the exams.
- Pure Mathematics (MATH 500, MATH 502, MATH 503)
- Applied Mathematics (MATH 510, MATH 514)
- Computational Mathematics (MATH 550, MATH 551)
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Students desiring to take the PhD Qualifying Exam must have
- taken SYGN 501 The Art of Science (previously or concurrently),
- taken at least four CSCI 500-level courses at CSM, and
- maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher in all CSCI 500-level courses taken.
The PhD Qualifying Exam will be offered once a semester; see the timeline for the
exam in each step below. Students should complete the PhD Qualifying Exam within
two years after enrolling in the PhD program.
Step 1. A student indicates interest in taking the CS PhD Qualifying
Exam by choosing TWO research interest areas from the following list (which is
subject to change based on the faculty research profile):
algorithms, education, graphics, high-performance computing, and networks.
(Each PhD Qualifying Exam must comprise TWO research areas.) To indicate interest
in taking the exam, the student must inform the MCS Graduate Director no later than
the first class day of the semester.
Step 2. The MCS Graduate Director creates an exam committee of (at
least) four appropriate faculty. The exam committee assigns the student
deliverables for both research areas chosen. The deliverables will be some
combination from the following list:
- read a set of technical papers, make a presentation, and answer questions
- complete a hand-on activity (e.g., develop research software) and write a report
- complete a set of take-home problems
- write a literature survey (i.e., track down references, separate relevant from
irrelevant papers)
- read a set of papers on research skills (e.g., ethics, reviewing) and answer questions
Note: The student does not need to be outstanding in all components of the exam to pass.
Step 3. The student must complete all deliverables no later than the Monday
of Dead Week.
Step 4. Each member of the exam committee makes a recommendation on the
deliverables from the following list:
- strongly support
- support
- do not support
To pass the PhD Qualifying Exam, the student must have at least TWO "strongly supports"
and at most ONE "do not support"s. The student is informed of the decision no later than
the Monday after finals week. A student can only fail the exam one time. If a second
failure occurs, the student has unsatisfactory academic performance that results in an
immediate, mandatory dismissal of the graduate student.
Each student must pass two written exams, which cover the courses shown below. Students
are not required to take the courses in order to take the exams.
- Applied Statistics (MATH 530, MATH 531)
- Theoretical Statistics (MATH 534, MATH 535)
The student must pass both exams to continue in the doctoral program. One retry is
allowed. In case of a failure, the student is allowed to alter the choice of the area
or areas with the understanding that no further retries will be allowed. Any retaking
of a failed exam must be done at the next regularly scheduled offering of the
qualifying exams.
After successfully completing the Qualifying Exam and forming a Thesis Committee, the student
should file an
Admission to Candidacy form with the Graduate School.
This form lists all the courses to be counted towards the degree;
subsequent changes must be approved by the Thesis Committee and the Graduate Dean.
Students should advance to candidacy within two calendar years of enrolling
in the PhD program by submitting
Admission
to Candidacy form with the Graduate School.
The thesis proposal consists of a written description
of the research topic. The proposal is presented to the thesis
committee; this is usually done soon after the committee has been
formed and should be done at least one year before the
Thesis Defense. Typically, students
defend the proposal in an oral presentation to the thesis commitee.
The doctoral thesis must show original research
of substantial quality in a suitable technical field and
exhibit satisfactory grammatical style. The subject is selected
by mutual agreement between the candidate and the advisor, with
the concurrence of the Thesis Committee. A written thesis
proposal must be submitted to the Committee (at least one year before
the defense). It is the responsibility of the thesis
advisor/co-advisors to supervise the research and to ensure
appropriate accuracy, completeness, organization, style,
grammar, etc., of the initial drafts of the thesis.
Other members of the committee can be involved as needed,
except that the final draft should be available
to every member of the committee at least one week prior to
the defense. The defense is scheduled via the
Thesis Defense Request form; all members of the
Thesis Committee must sign this form which is then submitted to the
Department office no later than two weeks prior to the date of the defense.
The final oral defense, open to the public, consists of a presentation by
the candidate of the results of the thesis, followed by (or accompanied by)
questions from the committee members. These questions need not be restricted
to the thesis material itself.
An oral defense of theses should be announced (at least) one week in advance.
The announcement should include (at least) the following:
- title of thesis
- student's name
- date/time/location of oral presentation
- abstract
The student should announce the oral defense via two methods:
- create a flier with the preceding information, and have a copy of it posted
around the department
- email the following two lists with the preceding information:
mathcs-gradstudents@mines.edu,
mathcs@mines.edu
Any revisions requested by the committee must be incorporated
into the final copy of the thesis submitted to the Graduate
School. The student should consult the Graduate School's "Thesis
Writer's Guide" regarding rules for the format
required for this final version, how many copies must be submitted,
copyright releases, etc. CSM also has a
Writing
Center, where help with writing is freely available.
There are also some good books on mathematical writing, one by
Higham published by
SIAM and one by Krantz published by the
AMS.
A LaTeX thesis template that conforms to the Colorado School of Mines format
is available through the
Graduate Student Association (GSA).
The
Graduation Application form should be filed near the beginning of the
semester in which the student expects to graduate.
The CSM Graduate School Office
website has forms and other information for current students.
If you are interested in our programs, we'd like to learn more about you. Please complete our
Online Request Form and we'll
send you additional information about our program.
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