Ph.D. Research Proposal
To be formally admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, the student must pass Parts I and II of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. The student must also submit a written research proposal and must defend it in an oral examination before a committee of at least four faculty members. This examination should follow Part II of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination, and precede the thesis defense by at least six months. The research proposal should be prepared in consultation with the likely dissertation advisor.
Choice of a research topic and of a dissertation advisor can, in theory, be delayed until after the student passes Part II of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. It should be emphasized, however, that the student who does not begin to get involved in research before passing the qualifying exam will be delayed in obtaining a degree and will not have taken full advantage of the opportunities at RUTCOR.