Dissertation Requirements

The Ph.D. dissertation must be of sufficiently high quality and publishable in refereed journals. At least one paper based on the dissertation must be written by the student and submitted for publication, before the final defense. This may be written either by the student alone or in conjunction with one or more members of the student’s Doctoral Committee, with the student as the lead author.

The final dissertation must be approved and signed by the student’s Ph.D. committee members and the head of the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. NOTE: A minimum of two days is required to obtain the department head’s signature.

Delivery of the final version of the dissertation to the chair of the doctoral committee should precede the Graduate School deadline by two months. A student must pass the final defense, obtain the appropriate signatures, and submit the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate School with the completed signatory page by the specified deadline in order to graduate in a semester.

The electronic copy of the approved dissertation must be sent to the graduate program coordinator at least two weeks prior to the last day of classes in the semester in which the student intends to graduate.

If a student cannot meet the Graduate School and department deadlines, he/she can still complete the other requirements for the degree and request for a letter certifying that all other departmental requirements for the degree have been satisfied. The letter will also indicate when the degree will be awarded after all Graduate School and department requirements are completed.

Every doctoral student must submit the signed copy of his/her dissertation to the Thesis Office in a timely manner so that he/she graduates within a semester following his/her defense. The student will be terminated from the program if this requirement is not met.