Doctoral Advisory Committee: The candidate’s graduate advisor serves as the chair of the graduate advisory committee, and the student should seek the assistance of his/her advisor in identifying faculty who might serve on the committee. The graduate committee should be composed of those faculty members who can best assist the student in completing his/her graduate research. Each member is added to the student’s committee after consenting to serve. For the Ph.D., the advisory committee must include a minimum of four members, with at least 2 being members of the SEEM Department. A Committe Nomination form needs to be signed by the chosen committee members and submitted to the SDOE Program Office. Committee members are expected to attend meetings as a collective body. Under unusual circumstances, a member of the committee may attend a meeting via video or telephone. However, a student’s advisory chair must be physically present at all such meetings. Faculty participation on graduate student committees is considered to be an important part of SDOE faculty responsibilities. To this end, faculty are expected to attend all committee meetings for students they advise or on the committees they serve.
Doctoral committee meetings:
Preliminary/Qualification Examination; Research Proposal; Progress Report; Final Examination
Preliminary/Qualification Examination: The qualification examination must be successfully completed by all Ph.D. students. The examination includes both written and oral components for SEEM/SDOE Ph.D. students. The intent of the examination is to establish that the student is qualified to pursue creative, original, independent research at a level expected of Ph.D. students. The written portion of the examination requires two weeks for completion. The oral component of the examination is administered two weeks after the completion of the written portion. Students must be registered during the semester that the examination is taken. Students may not schedule the qualification examination until they have an approved Doctoral Study Plan. The qualification examination is administered by the student’s advisory committee and one negative vote by a committee member is permitted for the successful completion of the examination. All members of the student’s advisory committee must attend the oral portion of the examination. If performance on the examination is unsatisfactory, one full semester must lapse (15 weeks) before the examination is administered a second time. Students failing the examination twice will be dismissed from Stevens Institute. The result of the examination is recorded on a Report on Qualifying Examination form and must be submitted to the SDOE Program Office immediately following an examination. This form must be signed by each member of the student’s advisory committee. At the discretion of the committee, a candidate may be allowed to change his or her degree option from a Ph.D. to a Masters.
Research Proposal: Students pursuing the Ph.D. are required to complete research in the course of graduate study. To initiate the research effort, the student is required to prepare a research proposal that describes the content of the research, the outcome anticipated, the contribution to the field of endeavor, and the creative content of the effort. This proposal must be in a written form and must be presented to his/her committee at a meeting where all committee members are present. Approval of the research effort is signified by signatures of each committee member on the cover page of the proposal. The signed research proposal must be delivered to the SDOE Program Office for inclusion in the student’s academic record.
A student pursuing the Ph.D. degree should demonstrate, through the dissertation, the ability to carry out original and creative research. The results of the research should be sufficiently significant to be publishable in a major technical journal. The writing style, grammar, and spelling of the dissertation should reflect a high level of skill in written communication. Please review the Thesis, Dissertation, Project Specifications for preparing the written thesis. A four-course graduate certificate in professional communication is available from the Stevens humanities department. One of the required certificate courses can be counted towards the doctoral degree.
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Progress Report: Between the research proposal and the final examination the student is required to provide at least one progress report to his/her advisory committee at a meeting where all committee members are present. The time of this meeting is determined by the student’s advisory committee. A Doctoral Activity Report must be submitted to the Registrar’s office at the end of each semester. The form should briefly summarize your research activities for the semester and be signed by your advisory committee members. Once received by the Registrar’s office, a grade of IP (in progress) will be assigned to SYS 960 Research in SYS on your transcript.
Final Examination: The final examination (public defense of the thesis) must be scheduled through the Registrar’s Office, at least two weeks prior to the event. To pass the final examination, a degree candidate must have a favorable vote from a majority of the examining/advisory committee, with a maximum of one negative vote. If a student fails the final examination, there must be a lapse of one full semester (15 weeks) before rescheduling the examination. A student is allowed no more than two opportunities to pass the final examination. A Report on Dissertation Defense form must be executed by the advisory committee chair and submitted to the SDOE Program Office and the Registrar’s Office immediately following the defense examination. If the report is satisfactory, the Registrar’s office will enter the title of your dissertation to your transcript and enter “satisfactory” grades for all of the research credits.
Generally, six years is permitted to complete the doctoral degree. Requests for extensions to this limit must be made in writing to the advisory committee chair for approval and then to the Dean of Graduate Studies. | 
