Academics

Ph.D. Requirements for Current Students

Of those first-year students receiving financial aid, most will have appointments from the APAM Department in the form of a teaching assistantship, a Departmental Research Assistantship, or an IGERT Fellowship. For both supported and unsupported students this first year of study is a critical one for determining his or her future success in the doctoral program. With the exception of M.S. students who are not doctoral track, and 4-2 Combined Plan students, students will be evaluated at the end of the first year in three areas:
  • Academic performance in course work
  • Performance on the written qualifying examination (given annually in May)
  • Potential for carrying out original research

This evaluation takes place in late May when the written qualifying examination results are reviewed by the entire APAM faculty. For first-year students there are three outcomes possible:
  • Pass and admission to the Ph.D. program as soon as M.S. degree requirements are met
  • Failed but encouraged to take the examination again next year
  • Failed and discouraged from continuing studies in the program

Students may repeat the qualifying examination only once, the next time it is given. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide students with a clear signal about their chances for success at an early point in graduate studies.

For all students, whether receiving financial aid in the first year or not, passing the written qualifying exam does not guarantee continued financial aid in the second year of graduate study. While the Department supports incoming graduate students, we expect students in the second and subsequent years of study to be supported by their research supervisor through a graduate research assistantship. It is, therefore, very important for new graduate students to take steps during their first year of study to make arrangements for continuing support with a research sponsor.

Qualifying Examination

In addition to properly planning the first-year program discussed above, students should read the description of the qualifying examination format (distributed during orientation) and look at past examinations. Practice taking one or more of these exams at home without use of any reference material. Students who have had difficulty with this exam have afterward expressed surprise at the type of questions that were asked on the exam because they never examined previous exams. Practice! Get used to answering questions without your books and notes available.


Research Support

There are many ways of finding a research supervisor and financial support so it is difficult to generalize. Except for those few students who have already made arrangements with a research sponsor prior to starting their first-year studies, a very important objective during your first year is to identify faculty members who conduct research in an area of interest and to make yourself known to them as a candidate for support. Your research sponsor may be APAM faculty, joint faculty, adjunct APAM faculty, or faculty outside of APAM doing research in one of the seven department specialties.

One of the best ways to find out who does what kind of research is to attend the weekly Department Research Conference on Friday mornings at 9:15 a.m. in Room 214 Mudd. At this meeting, faculty, research staff, and graduate students describe their research and faculty members occasionally describe research opportunities for new students. Another method to become better known to a faculty member you would like to work with is to offer to work during your first year on a research project as part of APAM E6650. This has the great advantage of giving you actual experience in that research area while permitting better evaluation of your potential by the prospective sponsor. Short of this, you may take a course being taught by a prospective sponsor and do well in it. Another source of advice on possible research sponsors in a given area is to consult the program chairman listed above for advice. It is important to talk to faculty and let them know you are interested. Start to do this during the fall term, even though some faculty will decide on supporting students only after the qualifying examination exam.


Oral Examinations

After passing the written qualifying examination a doctoral student is required to take and pass an oral examination and a thesis proposal evaluation in the same specialty area (plasma physics, solid-state and optical physics, applied analysis, computational math, materials science, medical physics, or atmospheric science) as was taken on day two of the qualifying exam, and which is expected to be the student's research area. (If a student's research direction changes after passing the written qualifying exam, the oral examination and the thesis proposal will be in the new research area.) The exact format of these exams is determined by each academic program committee. Students are encouraged to discuss how to best prepare for these exams with their research advisor. All students must pass both the oral exam and the thesis proposal in order to continue to pursue doctoral studies.

  • A doctoral candidate who passes the written qualifying examination in May of year 1, must pass the oral examination by May 1 of year 2. A candidate who passes the oral exam by May 1 of year 2, must pass the thesis proposal by May 1 of year 3. (The oral exam and thesis proposal evaluation must be taken for the first time no later than March 1 of years 2 and 3, respectively.)
  • If a candidate passes the written qualifying examination on the second try (in May of year 2), he/she must pass the oral examination by February 1 of year 3 and the thesis proposal by May 1 of year 3. (He/she must take the oral and thesis proposal exams for the first time no later than November 1 and March 1, respectively, of year 3.)
The three members of the Oral Examination Committee and of the Thesis Proposal Committee are chosen by the chair of the doctoral program and the thesis advisor. Usually these committees comprise APAM faculty members and include the student’s thesis advisor. If the student’s advisor is not an APAM faculty member, the Department will appoint an internal co-advisor. In this case, both the advisor and the APAM internal co-advisor will serve on both committees. In all cases, at least one APAM faculty member must be present. Ideally, all three persons should be suitable for serving on the student’s dissertation defense committee, which must have three APAM and two outside members. The student will initiate the scheduling process for each exam with the department, and then will be notified of the date of each exam and who will comprise the examination committee.
For specific information on the requirements for each program, please see: