Ph.D. Program

The General Examination is intended to assess the student's overall knowledge of mathematical sciences at the graduate level and the student's ability to pursue the doctoral degree in his or her selected specialization. The General Examination is administered by the Committee on Graduate Programs and consists of two parts: Part I consists of three written section exams and is offered once near the beginning of the fall term (normally in August) and once near the beginning of the winter term (normally in January). Each section exam covers material in one of the areas of continuous mathematics, discrete mathematics and statistics. Part II of the General Examination may only be attempted after passage of Part I. Part II consists of a single written exam. The material covered in this single exam involves only the area of the student's prospective specialization. Both parts of the General Examination must be passed within 13 months of the initial attempt at Part I, and a student may attempt each part of the General Examination no more than twice. Detailed guidelines about the material to be covered on both parts of the General Examination are available from the Graduate Coordinator. Exception to the above must be approved by the Committee on Graduate Programs.

Each student who has passed the General Examination will have a dissertation committee prior to registration for doctoral research credit.

The dissertation committee will be appointed by the Committee on Graduate Programs, with the approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies. The dissertation committee will consist of five faculty members, at least three of whom will be in the specialization area of the student. Prior to the formation of the committee, the student will nominate one faculty member from the student's area of specialization with the concurrence of the faculty member. At least one member of the committee will be selected by the Committee on Graduate Programs from faculty in the department but outside the student's area of specialization. The chair of the dissertation committee will be the intended supervisor of the doctoral dissertation for the student and is normally the faculty member nominated by the student. The membership of the committee may be changed by action of the Committee on Graduate Programs, with the approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies.

For the first five Ph.D candidates who take a final oral examination, two of the five members of each dissertation committee shall be faculty members from other research universities with long standing Ph.D. programs in the mathematical sciences. These outside members of the dissertation committee will normally be in the broad area of specialization of the student.

The chair of the dissertation committee is responsible for keeping the committee members informed about the progress of the dissertation research and making preliminary drafts of the dissertation available to all members of the dissertation committee in a manner which permits timely suggestions for improvements. When the chair of the committee determines that the dissertation is ready for oral presentation, the chair will request that a colloquium talk be scheduled where the student presents the dissertation. Immediately following the colloquium, the dissertation committee will continue an oral examination of the candidate. Others are welcome to attend this portion of the final examination, with the consent of the candidate and the committee. When this oral examination is concluded, the committee will meet privately and decide whether the candidate, with possible modifications in the dissertation, will be recommended by the committee to receive the Ph.D. Every member of the committee must be present at the oral examination and be willing to sign the dissertation examination form for the student to pass this final oral examination.

If more than five years have elapsed since passing the General Examination, the student may be required to retake the General Examination before the dissertation committee considers the dissertation for possible acceptance. The decision to require the student to retake the General Examination is made by the Committee on Graduate Programs in consultation with the present members of the dissertation committee.

A minimum residency requirement is full-time residency (a minimum of 8 credits per semester) for at least three consecutive full semesters (fall-winter-fall, winter-fall-winter, fall-winter-spring-summer, winter-spring-summer-fall, etc.) with at least two of these devoted to dissertation research. The demands of this research activity imply that the student may not be employed in work which is not directly related to dissertation research, for more than twenty hours a week while satisfying this residency requirement. Petitions for exceptions to this policy may be submitted to the Committee on Graduate Programs.