Advancement to Candidacy

For ADVANCEMENT TO CANDIDACY, A STUDENT MUST COMPLETE:

  1. Forming a Dissertation Committee.
  2. Written Dissertation Proposal submission.
  3. Written Qualifying Exam.
  4. Oral Dissertation Proposal Defense.

In the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program, the written Qualifying Exam and the Dissertation Proposal are linked. The process begins when the student submits a Dissertation Proposal to his/her dissertation committee. Upon receipt of the proposal, the student’s Dissertation Committee has two weeks to write the Qualifying Exam, which is based on the student’s submitted research proposal and relevant coursework. The student will have one week to complete the exam.  Within two weeks of completing the written Qualifying Exam, the student will complete the oral Dissertation Proposal Defense. On time completion for the Qualifying Exam and Dissertation Proposal Defense will be before the fifth semester ends; they must both be completed before the sixth semester starts. TA or RA positions in the program may be withheld from the student after the sixth semester if the qualifying exam and dissertation proposal have not been completed. The entire process for the Qualifying Exam and Dissertation Proposal Defense will take 5-6 weeks.

Dissertation Committee

The student must choose a Dissertation Committee before the third semester. It is advised that the student reach out to potential committee members, to assure they complement the proposed plan of study.
The student will complete the Appointment of Doctoral Dissertation Committee form and submit to the Graduate Coordinator.

Guidelines for choosing the dissertation committee:

  1. The dissertation committee should include four faculty members affiliated with the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program with expertise that the student expects to be valuable throughout their time in the program.
  2. These four faculty members should include the Dissertation Advisor who will serve as chair of the committee.
  3. An outside committee member will be assigned by the Graduate School to serve as a graduate faculty representative, but one can be suggested by the adviser or student.
  4. Inclusion of member(s) on the Dissertation Committee from outside the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is allowed. The student should contact the Graduate Coordinator about the required paperwork to obtain the necessary appointment for this purpose prior to submission of the form.

The Graduate Coordinator will submit the signed form to request approval of the Dissertation Committee from the Dean of the Graduate School.
Students are required to formally meet with their dissertation committee for a progress update at least once per year every year during spring semester until graduation. This provides the Committee with an opportunity to give input and feedback for the student’s research.

Dissertation Proposal

Submit a written Proposal for Dissertation Research to the Assistant Graduate Coordinator who will distribute it to the dissertation committee. Submission of the proposal to the dissertation committee initiates the qualifying exam clock, and at this time the dissertation proposal defense date/time will be scheduled. The proposal should follow the guidelines described below:

Proposal guidelines:

  1. There will be a one-page Specific Aims (NIH style) or Objectives/Broader Impacts (NSF style) project summary. Typically, there are three major specific aims or objectives. The “gap in knowledge” that the proposal is intended to fill and the importance of the proposal should be clearly stated.
  2. The proposal (not including references or the project summary page) will be 12 pages, 0.5” margins, single-spaced, with Arial font size 11. Figures may use smaller fonts, but that font must be readable. All figures should include a legend.

The proposal should be divided into the following sections:

  1. Introduction/Significance: This section should include the literature precedent for the work, the broader importance and impacts of the work, and an overview of the project. (~1.5-2 pages)
  2. Innovation: This should specify the novelty of the work in the context of the literature precedent. (0.5-1 page)
  3. Project description: Each objective or aim will be presented in separate sections with the following bold subsections that can be further subdivided into specific components (typically 3 pages per objective/aim)
    • An Objective/Aim overview including the major hypothesis and any sub-hypotheses along with the critical questions to be answered and general approach to answer those questions.
    • Preliminary Results: Any results supporting the proposal obtained by the student that have not been published should be presented in this section. Students are expected to have some preliminary results by this stage of their program. Results from other groups or group members can be presented here, but must be clearly cited.
    • Approach: This section should outline the specific methods that will be used to answer the major questions associated with the objective.
    • Expected results and alternative approaches: Highlight any expected problems and how those problems will be resolved.
    • Summary
    • Deliverables/milestones/timeline
  4. Concluding summary 
  5. References (not included in total page count)

Qualifying Exam

Within two weeks after the proposal is submitted the dissertation committee will develop a written Qualifying Exam based on the proposal and coursework as deemed relevant by the dissertation committee.

  1. The adviser will submit the exam to the Assistant Graduate Coordinator and the student two weeks after the proposal is submitted.
  2. The student will be given one week to complete the exam, and will submit the completed exam to the dissertation adviser who will notify the Assistant Graduate Coordinator.
  3. Dissertation committee members will grade the exam, and if needed, speak with the student about any major problems.
  4. The written exam will be pass/fail and questions may be revisited during the oral exam.
  5. Submit DocuSign form after passing exam

Written qualifying exam guidelines:

  1. One or more questions should be submitted by each committee member to the dissertation adviser and to the Assistant Graduate Coordinator.
  2. The questions should be relevant to the student’s project, but they do not have to be directly related. The questions may also relate to the student’s coursework as it applies to areas associated with the project or the student’s research group.
  3. Committee members should be considerate of the amount of time the student will take to write an appropriate response and adjust the number of questions accordingly.
  4. All questions must be approved by the dissertation adviser before they are distributed to the student.

Oral Dissertation Proposal Defense

An oral Defense of the Dissertation Proposal should be completed within two weeks after completion of the written exam.
A meeting with all dissertation committee members for the oral defense will be scheduled when the Proposal for Dissertation Research is submitted.

Oral proposal defense guidelines:

  1. The defense will start with a 20-minute overview presentation of the project and any updates since submission of the proposal.
  2. The oral presentation should include:
    • An introduction to the field (citing examples reported in the literature)
    • Prior results (including, but not limited to results from the student; credit to other group members should be given for work not performed by the student)
    • Novelty or innovation in the project
    • Hypotheses, methods and expected results
  3. After the 20-minute student presentation overview the dissertation committee will ask questions related to the project and relevant coursework. These questions should be expected to challenge the student to defend their ideas and approaches and will test the student’s abilities to connect their work to the broader literature and general principles. The question and answer session will be guided by the dissertation adviser, but the adviser is not expected to ask questions. The dissertation adviser should not answer any questions for the student, but may help the student through clarification of questions or by asking guided questions. The question and answer portion of the proposal may last up to 2.5 hours.
  4. Submit DocuSign form within 24 hours of passing proposal defense

A student who does not pass the qualifying exam may take it one more time. The student must pass the exam by the second attempt to continue in the Ph.D. program. The dissertation committee will recommend whether new questions are prepared for the makeup exam, and when the exam should be retaken to ensure the student is making timely progress in the program.