DOCTORAL DEGREE IN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND ENGINEERING
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL AND DEFENSE
Dissertation Proposal
Following passage of the Qualifying Examination and the appointment of a Dissertation Committee, the Ph.D. candidate must submit a written dissertation proposal outlining the subject of the proposed research. This proposal should be between 15-20 pages long, and should address the following specific items:
- Description of the topic.
- Literature review sufficient to insure that the work contemplated is original.
- Methodology(ies) to be employed in the research.
- Data and/or laboratory needs, and their availability to the student.
- Anticipated outcomes.
The Dissertation Proposal must be submitted within one semester of full-time study, or before 9 credits of dissertation credit are completed.
The Dissertation Proposal is orally presented and defended before the Dissertation Committee and any other interested departmental faculty. The date of the oral defense and copies of the draft Dissertation Proposal must be made available to departmental faculty at least two weeks (14 calendar days) prior to the defense.
When the Dissertation Proposal is formally accepted, the Dissertation Advisor enters a letter into the student’s graduate file indicating this, together with a copy of the proposal. While the Dissertation Committee has reasonable flexibility in modifying the proposal as appropriate during the course of the research, any significant change in focus area or methodology requires that an amended Dissertation Proposal be written and formally accepted following the same procedure noted herein.
Dissertation Defense
The culmination of the student’s Ph.D. work is the oral presentation and defense of the final draft dissertation. A defense is generally scheduled after the Dissertation Committee has reviewed the draft dissertation and determined that it is complete and of sufficient quality to be presented and defended.
The defense is organized and scheduled by the Dissertation Committee. All University faculty members are invited to observe and ask appropriate questions at all Polytechnic dissertation defenses. Therefore, the date of the defense must be announced University-wide at least one month prior to the event, and copies of the draft dissertation must be made available to any faculty member who requests one in a timely fashion and in no case less than two weeks prior to the defense.
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Dissertation Proposal and Defense
