PhD Degree Completion Guide Overview: The completion of a PhD degree in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering consists of, at minimum, the following four things; The successful completion of 4 course credits (0.50 unit weight) at the 600 or 700 level. Of these courses; 2 courses must be from the approved list of core courses for your research area No more than 1 course can be taught by your supervisor(s) You must have received a grade of at least 75% in each course Your overall average must be no less than 78% Note: For students who started their studies before Fall 2014, they are only required to take three courses as outlined in the Graduate Calendar in the term of your admission Comprehensive Milestones Both the Comprehensive Background Exam (term 3) and the Comprehensive Proposal Exam (term 6) must be successfully completed Note: For students who started their studies before Fall 2015, a single completed comprehensive exam is required - typically done in the fourth term after the initial registration for the PhD degree Seminar Milestone can be completed at any time after your second term of study Thesis and Defense Milestone typically done after all course work has been completed Note: Some programs (ie. Nano and Quantum) may have additional or other specific requirements. This document serves as a simplified step-by-step guide to the PhD degree completion process. It will review the steps required to complete your Seminar and Thesis Milestones. After reading this document, if you have any additional questions, you should contact the PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor (EIT 3024). Fillable copies of all the forms can be found at the end of this package. A How To video on these steps can be found here. STARTING THE PROCESS Sample Procedures 1) Prior to submitting the forms to start your PhD Defense process your supervisor(s) will need to confirm an external committee member a. Your defense committee should be the same as the committee for your Comprehensive Exam with the addition of an external examiner b. The external examiner must not have collaborated with you or your supervisor in the last 6 years 2) A date and time for your defense needs to be agreed upon by your entire committee before you submit the paperwork for the defense a. If one of your committee members is unable to attend your defense they will either need to assign a delegate from their home department who will represent them at the defense, or a replacement who will assume the responsibilities of a full committee member in their place.
Guidelines for this can be found in the Guidelines for Supervisors 3) In order to begin the PhD defense process you need to bring the following completed forms to the PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor: a. Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee Form b. Confirmation of PhD Thesis Examination Committee Membership c. Graduate Studies Intention to Graduate / Program Completion Form 4) In addition to these forms you will also need a copy of your external examiners CV with at least the last 6 years of publications. You will also need to e-mail a copy of your abstract (.docx preferred) to the PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor *Note: the current PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor is Cassandra Brett (cbrett@uwaterloo.ca) 5) If you plan to have a PhD thesis defense without public disclosure (closed) you will also need to submit the following with your defense package; a. Request to Restrict Circulation of Thesis - Completed and signed by you and your supervisor(s) b. Confidential Information Thesis Non-Disclosure Agreements - You will need one form for each member of your committee (including the External Examiner) completed and signed by the committee member BEFORE you give them a copy of your thesis Note: This option is not the norm and is only, typically, used where there is a patent or copyright pending. A How To video on preparing a thesis without public disclosure can be found here.
6) Once all of the completed paperwork has been submitted the PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor will book a room for your defense and submit your defense package to the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for their approval a. This process typically takes about a week 7) When your committee has been approved you will receive an e-mail from the Faculty Graduate Studies Coordinator which will contain your Thesis Receipt 8) You will need to give a copy of your thesis to each of your readers and they must sign your Thesis Receipt to confirm they have received it a. Your readers can have a soft copy of your thesis if they prefer this to a hard copy b. At any time an e-mail confirmation from your reader is an accepted substitute for their signature 9) After your readers all have their copy of the thesis, a hard copy of the thesis and the Thesis Receipt must be taken to the Associate Dean s office in PHYS 3003 where the thesis will be on display for five weeks c. The EGO will not accept the display copy of your thesis until all of your committee members have signed the Thesis Receipt d. It is during this five week display period that your readers will review your thesis and prepare their feedback SEMINAR Sample Procedures **If you have already completed your seminar you may disregard this section** 1) The seminar is completely separate from your thesis and can be completed at any time before your final submission to UWSpace 2) When you are ready to book your seminar you should e- mail the PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor the title and abstract of your seminar as well as the date and time you wish to have it. They will then book a room for you and confirm the details via e-mail 3) Your supervisor(s) and at least one other faculty member must attend your seminar a. If you have two supervisors both must attend the seminar in person b. The attending faculty member does not have to be one of your committee members. Note: Students admitted Fall 2015 and later must hold their seminar no later than their 9 th term of registration and their entire committee must be present
YOUR DEFENSE Sample REVISING YOUR THESIS Sample Procedures 1) On the day of your defense you will be able to get into the room half-an-hour early to set up. 2) Keys for the room and projector box can be signed out from the ECE front desk a. You will have to leave your student card as a deposit for the key and will get it back when you return the keys 3) The Chairperson will have all of the forms necessary for the defense proceedings so you will not need to pick anything up 4) After the examination, the Committee Chair submits the PhD Thesis Examination Report to the University GSO who then informs the EGO of the examination decision. Procedures 1) Approximately three days after your defense you will receive an e-mail with the official results 2) It is likely that you will have to make some revisions and corrections to your thesis. Once your revisions have been completed and your thesis is completely finished your supervisor(s) needs to e-mail the Faculty Graduate Studies Coordinator confirming that your thesis is ready for its final submission a. To save time it would be helpful if, in their e-mail, your supervisor(s) also confirmed the final title of your thesis b. If you have two supervisors, both must e-mail the Faculty Graduate Studies Coordinator COMPLETING YOUR THESIS SUBMISSION Sample Procedures 1) Once your supervisor(s) e-mail has been received by the Associate Dean s Office, they will issue a Faculty Acceptance Notice for your thesis which will be sent to your UW e-mail
2) Once you have received the Faculty Acceptance Notice you can upload to UWSpace (not before) 3) UWSpace may require you to make revisions to the formatting of your thesis so check your UW e-mail regularly after you submit for any feedback they might send a. Formatting guidelines for theses can be found on the GSO website 4) When you thesis has been accepted you will be notified by e-mail 5) Only when your thesis has been accepted to UWSpace will you be considered done SAYING GOODBYE Sample Procedures 6) Upon your acceptance to UWSpace you will need to clean out your office and return your keys to the Facilities Coordinator in EIT 3156 with the Space Sign-Off Form N:\ECE\PhD Degree Completion Guide.docx Created by: SL (June 2013) Revised: January 2014/June 2014/October 2014/May 2015/July 2015/November 2015/February 2016
PhD Degree Completion Checklist Before submitting your PhD Defense Package to the ECE PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor please ensure you have the following: Intent to Graduate Form Completed and signed by you Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee Signed by your Supervisor Confirmation of PhD Thesis Examining Committee Membership Form Signed by ALL committee members or accompanied by an e-mail E-mails must be from each individual committee member stating that they are able to attend the defense on the chosen date and time (highlight the name of each committee member on the e-mail) A copy of your External Examiner s CV CV must be complete (not a summary) and include a full list of all publications for at least the last 6 years as well as a listing of all graduate students supervised E-mail a soft copy (.docx) of your thesis abstract to the ECE PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor *Optional (for restricted theses only): Request to Restrict Circulation of Thesis Completed and signed by you and your supervisor(s) Confidential information thesis non-disclosure agreements You will need one form for each member of your committee (including the External Examiner) completed and signed by the committee member BEFORE you give them a copy of your thesis All PhD Defense Packages should be submitted to the ECE PhD Program Coordinator/Advisor Cassandra Brett cbrett@uwaterloo.ca EIT 3024, x35339
GRADUATE STUDIES OFFICE Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 website: uwaterloo.ca/graduate-studies telephone: 519-888-4567, ext. 35209 Use this form to: notify your department you have completed all degree requirements and intend to graduate Note: Submit this form to your academic department for approval signatures by: April 30 Spring Convocation [for students degree completing in the Fall (Sept-Dec) and Winter (Jan-April) terms] August 31 Fall Convocation [for students degree completing in the Spring (May-August) term] Graduate Studies Intention to Graduate / Program Completion Visit the Convocation website for detailed information. Section 1 Waterloo student identification number Review your name as it appears in Quest (use upper and lower case letters and add any appropriate accents, hyphens, apostrophes or spaces). Last name First name Convocation: Fall Spring Year Degree: Master of in Doctor of Philosophy in Graduate Diploma in Signature: Student (required) Section 2 For Department use only: Confirmation of degree completion and approval to graduate. Please review the student record in Quest and confirm: all course requirements have been completed all milestones have been completed the thesis has been approved in UWSpace, if applicable Signature: Graduate Officer / Associate Chair (required) For GSO use only: Program completion date: Last term registered: Awards review date: GSO initial: : GSO October 2014
Faculty of Engineering Graduate Studies Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee Surname: Given name(s): Department: ID #: Thesis title: Exam : Time: Location: Examining committee membership Supervisor(s) plus three University of Waterloo faculty of which one must be external to the candidate s department, plus an external examiner. The members must be from the original PhD comprehensive exam committee. Supervisor(s) and the external examiner are to attend the oral defence in person. The Engineering Grad Office must be notified of any request for absence. Remote participation is limited to one member of the examining board and only with approval from the Associate Dean of Engineering Graduate Studies. In these cases, the method of remote participation must be indicated below. Please submit a Delegate or Replacement Form for a delegate/replacement of an original committee member Full Name Member Type Department Proposed external examiner Surname: Given name(s): Position: E-mail: Institution: Department: Telephone: Mailing Address: Page 1 of 2 Remote Participation
Faculty of Engineering Graduate Studies Nomination of the PhD Thesis Examining Committee Note: A complete Curriculum Vitae for the proposed external is required in addition to the details to be provided below External examiner summary of qualifications 1. Examiner is an expert and knowledgeable in the field of thesis, as shown through publications Identify 3-5 publications in past 6 years that are directly relevant to thesis topic Publications highlighted in attached CV Publications listed in attachment 2. Examiner has knowledge of the supervision and examination of theses beyond experience with own thesis Number of PhD students supervised to completion Number of current PhD students 3. Examiner is at arm s length from the supervisor(s) and student (see criteria below) Yes No (please explain) To ensure fairness and impartiality, the external examiner must not be in a potential conflict of interest with regards to the outcome of the thesis examination. There is a conflict of interest when: A proposed external examiner is, or was in the last six years, from the same university, organization or department, or belongs or belonged, in the last six years, to the same research unit as the supervisor(s) or candidate There is an administrative or family link between the proposed external examiner and the supervisor(s) or candidate A proposed external examiner is an industrial or government representative or professional who is or was in the last six years directly involved in collaborative activities with the supervisor(s) or candidate A proposed external examiner is a former research supervisor or graduate student of the supervisor(s) or candidate A proposed external examiner has collaborated or published with the supervisor(s) or candidate within the past six years A proposed external examiner is a planned future research supervisor or employer of the candidate or plans to collaborate or publish with the candidate in the foreseeable future The proposed external examiner is uncomfortable with reviewing the proposal due to previous conflicts or any other reason (e.g., past student or supervisor, even if more than six years ago, or personal conflict) The Faculty Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, has reason to believe that a specific proposed external examiner should not be involved in the review. In cases where the candidate s thesis research has involved collaborations with other local members of the examining committee beyond the supervisor(s) within the past six years, the external examiner must be free of potential conflict of interest under the guidelines above with those members as well. Candidate s Supervisor (1) Candidate s Supervisor (2) Associate Chair, Graduate Studies Associate Dean, Graduate Studies Page 2 of 2
Faculty of Engineering Graduate Studies Delegate or Replacement Form Surname: Given name(s): Department: ID #: Please select one option: Delegate: If an original member of the committee cannot attend the defence, they must appoint a delegate to represent them. The original committee member is responsible for reading the thesis and providing a report with their comments, questions and vote, both to the delegate and the Engineering Graduate Office one week prior to the exam. This is essential in order to be included in the chair s package. Replacement: The supervisor(s) along with the original member appoints a person to replace the original member. The replacement will read the thesis and attend the examination as a committee member. Reasons for delegate/replacement: Original member s name Original member s signature Delegate/replacement s name Delegate/replacement s signature Approvals: the supervisor(s), Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, and Associate Dean of Engineering Graduate Studies verify and agree to the above change in the examining committee Candidate s Supervisor (1) Candidate s Supervisor (2) Associate Chair, Graduate Studies Associate Dean, Graduate Studies Page 1 of 1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Confirmation of PhD Thesis Examining Committee Membership Surname: Given name(s): Department: ID #: Thesis title: Exam : Time: Location: Proposed Examining Committee Membership: (Minimum of five examiners including (co)supervisor(s) and External Examiner with at least one University examiner external to candidate s department. Committee membership must be comprised of original Comprehensive Committee members. If not, please see reverse.) I agree that I will be available for the candidates PhD oral defense on the dates indicated above: (please indicate supervisor(s)). Full Name Department Signature Proposed external examiner Name: Position: Page 1 of 1 November 2015 (SL)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Student Space Allocation Sign-Off Form Instructions to the student: 1. Fill in your name, supervisor(s) and ID number 2. Submit the form to the ECE Department Facilities Coordinator in EIT 3156 for space verification and signature. 3. Once the form is signed, bring it to your Graduate Program Coordinator. Note: The ECE Graduate Office will not proceed with the degree completion process until the signed form is received. Surname: Given name(s): Supervisor(s): ID #: Office of the Department Facilities Coordinator The space(s) assigned to the student by the department has been left cleaned All keys have been returned Comments: ECE Department Facilities Coordinator Page 1 of 1 February 2016 (SL)