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Thesis Defense Approval
Meeting (“4-6 month meeting”)
The final thesis review committee meeting should be 4-6 months prior to the anticipated thesis defense date, and the committee must officially approve the thesis content and outline at this time in order for the student to schedule their thesis defense (see below). It should be the goal of every student and advisor to hold the Thesis Defense Approval meeting and the Thesis Defense by the end of the students’ 6th year in the program. Results of the meeting must be reported to the Academic Program Coordinator so that the student will have approval to schedule their Thesis Defense. A student is expected to conduct their Thesis Defense within 6 months of the successful completion of this meeting. Committee members should not give their approval at this meeting unless a successful Defense is possible within this time. If a student fails to defend their thesis within 6 months of their Thesis Defense Approval meeting, they are required to reconvene their Thesis Committee within one month and present a revised timeline for finishing their Thesis and scheduling their Defense. If a student has completed their Thesis Defense Approval Meeting but not yet scheduled their Thesis Defense, they are still required to present their Progress Report as scheduled. If a student does not conduct their Thesis Defense Approval meeting during their 6th academic year, then they are still required to conduct a Thesis Committee Meeting by August 31st of that year. FINAL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS Upon completion of the thesis research and preparation of the thesis in the form specified by the Graduate Board, a public seminar of the thesis research is given followed by an oral examination by four knowledgeable and recognized experts in areas related to the research. Specific steps must be completed while preparing the final thesis and scheduling the thesis defense (see Graduation Checklist and Timeline in the Appendix). Before beginning this process the student should check with the Academic Affairs Administrator to be sure that all other academic requirements are met. FINAL THESIS DEFENSE COMMITTEE The final Thesis Defense committee will ordinarily include the research advisor, the two members of the annual thesis review committee and one additional member. One member of this committee must be from outside the department in which the student has performed his/her thesis work. Students conducting research in the Biophysics Department must be evaluated by an expert outside the Hopkins community. (The committee must be approved in advance by the Graduate Program directors). For students that have been conducting their research as non residents, the following standards should be followed: a.The readers for their thesis should be their PI as primary reader and one current CMDB faculty member as second reader. b.Their thesis defense should be held here at Hopkins, and at least two of the thesis committee members should be current CMDB faculty. c.Their PI should return for the defense and serve on this committee (and counts as an outside member). d.They should have at least four faculty on their thesis defense committee (as usual), with the additional member(s) coming from CMDB or their current institution or other outside members. However, all thesis committee members should be present for the defense. DISSERTATION The dissertation must be written and given to the primary and secondary readers (see below) at least 4 weeks in advance of the scheduled thesis defense. A revised version must be distributed to the entire Thesis Defense Committee 2 weeks prior to the scheduled thesis defense. University-wide rules for the dissertation format can be obtained from the Academic Affairs Administrator. After the thesis has been successfully defended, the final dissertation should be submitted to the Commercial Binding office in the MSE Library for binding and copyrighting. Please contact that office at ext. 68397 for further information. An extra bound copy (paid for by the department) should be provided to the CMDB Director for the collection of CMDB theses, housed in the student lounge. There are some specific rules you may not be aware of that must be followed, including the use of gutter-margins and copying the thesis onto the correct type of paper. University-wide rules for the dissertation format can be obtained from The Graduate Board or from the following website: http://www.library.jhu.edu/services/cbo/guidelines.html. As of October 30, 2010, graduate students will be required to send an email with the following items: 1) a scanned copy of their receipt from the Commercial Binding Office 2) the title of their dissertation typed in the body of the email with correct spelling and punctuation (this should only be a matter of them cutting and pasting it into the email) The email should be sent to the following address: homewoodgradboard@jhu.edu. This email from a degree candidate will allow the Graduate Board to verify that the submission of a dissertation degree requirement has been met. Any student needing a letter verifying the completion of their degree requirements must send the above email before the Graduate Board will process your request. READER’ S LETTER The thesis advisor is ordinarily designated the Primary Reader of a thesis. One of the other members of the thesis defense committee is to be designated the Secondary reader. Prior to circulating a thesis to the rest of the thesis defense committee, the thesis must be approved by both the Primary and Secondary Readers. The Readers must sign a letter recommending acceptance of the dissertation. A sample letter can be found in the Appendix. This letter must be filed at least 2 weeks in advance of the thesis defense. A copy of this letter must accompany each copy of the thesis given to other members of the defense committee. This means that the readers must approve the thesis at least two weeks before the scheduled thesis defense. Therefore the student must have the thesis written early enough to allow the readers time to read it and the student to make appropriate modifications (i.e. at least 4 weeks before the scheduled thesis defense). For those students from non-JHU affiliated programs (i.e., GPP-NIH, etc.), students must have a member of the training faculty designated as a reader. Any deviation from this policy would require special permission from the graduate board. THESIS SEMINAR AND FINAL DEFENSE The Thesis Defense consists of a public thesis seminar followed by a private final examination administered by the Thesis Defense Committee. The thesis seminar is open to all members of the scientific community and should take the form of a scientific seminar targeted to the broad audience of scientists represented in the CMDB program. Family and guests are also welcome to attend. The final examination includes only the student and the Thesis Defense Committee and should encompass a rigorous defense of the thesis and address any final concerns of the committee members. A seminar notice should be given to the Academic Affairs Administrator at least one week prior to the seminar so that it may be posted. All examinations and seminars are to be held on the Homewood campus. The following times should be avoided when scheduling the thesis seminar to ensure that the maximum number of program members can attend:
* Do not
schedule on first Wednesday of each month during
academic year due to Biology Department Colloquia.
APPLICATION FOR GRADUATION An application for graduation must be completed on line. Please see the Registrar's website, Commencement information for this form. In addition, the dissertation must be formally submitted to and accepted by the University Library. Finally, before departing the University, the student should notify the Program Office of their forwarding address and position. PUBLICATION REQUIREMENT Students graduating from the CMDB program are required to have one first author research paper published in (or at minimum, submitted to) a peer reviewed journal to be qualified to graduate. PAYROLL ISSUES FOR GRADUATING STUDENTS Ph.D. candidates have officially completed their degree requirements AFTER the Graduate Board approves his/her candidacy - and - AFTER the President has signed off on the official degree roster. This occurs three times during the academic year (in late November or early December, in May and in September). Once Ph.D. candidates have completed their degree requirements and have all appropriate documentation approved and signed they must be removed from the University payroll system (or) receive a post-doctoral appointment with a student payroll status change (or) be hired into a staff position. Please note, the rules for international students who complete their degree requirements differ from students who are U.S. citizens. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS It is important that international students coordinate their last day of employment to coincide with their dissertation submission date. An international student must be removed from the payroll on the same date that they submit their dissertation to the library. If the dates are not an exact match, any salary received after the submission date must be refunded to the University. If you are planning on staying at JHU after graduation you must apply for OPT at least 90 days in advance of your graduation date. Continuing to Work International graduate students who wish to continue working for their graduate department for the remainder of the semester after submitting their dissertation to the Binding Office must apply for and receive approval from the INS (i.e. Optional Practical Training). Once the OPT is approved the student will receive an EAD card, this allows him or her to continue working at the University. If the OPT is not approved, the student is NOT eligible to work for the University. Note, working without an EAD card could cause the student trouble at a later date should they apply for residency in the US or be required to complete some other paperwork that is needed by INS. Additionally, the University would be out of compliance with the Federal Government if we allowed international students to work without an EAD card. No one wants to be out of compliance, so completing the paperwork and being proactive in this process is essential. The paperwork for OPT takes time to be processed. Thus, completing the paperwork well in advance is essential when the EAD card is needed. For that reason, the student and the department must join in a discussion about when he or she will be finishing the dissertation so that an accurate estimated 'completion' date for submission of the dissertation to the Binding Office can be made and reported on the application for OPT. The Office of Student and Scholar Services (OISSS) assists departments/students with all the paperwork involved (including the revalidation of the I-9 since INS considers that the student's status at the University will change the day he submits his dissertation to the Bindery). |