Milestones

The UCSC EEB graduate program requires two major milestones within the first three years of study: a comprehensive exam (written only) at the end of year one, and a qualifying exam (proposal defense), by which Ph.D. students advance to candidacy (ATC). The proposal defense and public seminar should be complete before the beginning of year four. 

The Dissertation

Although the topic and nature (e.g. theory, field work) of the dissertation is the domain of the student and the dissertation committee, all dissertations should reflect:

• A high level of personal scholarship as evidenced by independent design and implementation of a research project, and creativity in questions and approach.
  • The ability to carry to completion a complex research project.
  • The synthesis of new empirical results or new theory with existing results and theory.
  • A demonstrated ability to understand the broader significance of the dissertation research.
• At least one chapter of the dissertatoin must be submitted for publication before the final thesis defense.

Normative Time

Past EEB students have completed the Ph.D. in as little as four years, target time is five years, and “normative time” for the Ph.D. degree in EEB is six years. Students who fail to complete their dissertations within this time must request an extension from EEB-GAC. A written request signed by the student and advisor detailing the timetable to finish must accompany the Progress Report in the sixth year. Multiple extensions are not automatic. Department funding (including TAships) for any candidate beyond year six is not guarenteed but will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. 

According to Academic Senate Regulation 18.6, if the Ph.D. degree is not awarded within seven years from the date of advancement to candidacy, the student’s candidacy shall lapse and the student will be required to pass a new qualifying exam prior to submitting the dissertation. The result of this examination shall be transmitted in writing to the Graduate Council. 

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The Comprehensive Examination

The first major milestone is called the Comprehensive (“Comp” or “Comps”) Exam.

For graduate students entering the doctoral program after Fall 2021, the following comprehensive exam policies and procedures apply:

The graduate courses 200B, 279 and 203 are designed to help prepare the student for the comprehensive exam both in terms of the subject material and expectations pertaining to depth of understanding. The instructors of this course will share their materials with the Comprehensive Exam Committee, so that the committee knows what material can fairly be included on the Comps Exam.

Students will review the materials from these classes (e.g. lectures, assignments and readings) and any additional recommended readings from the Comprehensive Exam Committee to prepare for the exam.

This exam is completed during the Spring quarter of one’s first year in the doctoral program over 3 days. Students can choose the days that work best for their schedules within a given timeframe (typically week 6).

The goals of the comprehensive (“comp”) exam and its associated study process are to bring all students up to a basic level of understanding of foundational concepts in our field (breadth, content) and facility with the practices of analytical and critical thinking that can be applied to any specific concept in our field (depth, practice). 

The Comprehensive Exam Committee is selected by the EEB Department Chair for their representation of all disciplines encompassed by EEB and their breadth of expertise. In consultation with the instructors of 200B, 279 and 203, the committee will construct the exam questions.

The format and guideline for the exam will be given well in advance of Spring quarter and the chair of the comps committee will hold a Q&A to answer any questions around the format, timing and grading of the exam. During the exam the student may communicate with the committee about questions or problems. Directions for contacting committee members will be included in the body of the exam.

Successful outcomes of the exam will be listed as pass or conditional pass. In the case of a conditional pass, the committee will assign appropriate additional work to make up for deficiencies noted during the exam. This may include the requirement to enroll in (and pass) or to TA a course.

Sometimes student do not meet the qualifying bar on their first attempt of the exam. They will be allowed to take the exam a second time after a period of additional study.

A student who does not qualify after the second attempt may submit a request to GAC for consideration to transfer to the master’s program (only with the approval of their advisor and the comprehensive exam committee). This would still involve completing a master’s dissertation and completing all of our master’s program requirements.

If a student wishes to delay the exam to a later term, the request, including justification from both the student and sponsor, must be made in writing to EEB-GAC.

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Qualifying Exam Process + Defense

The Qualifying Examination & Dissertation Proposal Defense Committee

As soon as possible after passing the Comprehensive Exam but no later than the end of the spring quarter of the second year, students should form a Qualifying Exam/Dissertation Proposal Committee in consultation with their advisor. The Q.E. Committee Nomination form (see Grad Div Forms) must be completed and submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator along with any/all supporting materials no later than the end of the spring quarter of the second year. The Graduate Program Coordinator will provide departmental approval before submitting the form and supporting materials to the Graduate Division for ultimate approval.

The Q.E. Committee consists of at least four members. At least two members of the committee must be active faculty in the EEB Department, and the Chair of the committee must be a tenured faculty member from within the department other than the student’s advisor. At least one member of the committee must come from outside the department; this outside member may be: (1) a tenured faculty member from a different discipline from the UCSC campus, (2) a tenured member of the same or different discipline from another university campus (CV needed), or (3) a professional biologist from an outside institution (e.g. government agency or NGO) who has specific expertise relevant to the dissertation (CV and justification letter needed). University guidelines require that any outside member from a non-academic institution present credentials that show this person to have experience equivalent to that of a tenured professor. The outside member’s CV will need to be reviewed and approved by the Graduate Dean, and students should allow two months for this process.

After the qualifying exam, this committee becomes the Dissertation Reading Committee (requiring the Dissertation Reading Committee Nomination form – see Grad Div Forms); however, individual members of the committee may change at the discretion of the student and advisor. Committee amendments require Graduate Division approval, and students are requested to inform committee members of changes in the committee.

The Dissertation Proposal and Qualifying Exam Process

The student submits a dissertation research proposal to their Qualifying Exam & Dissertation Proposal Committee and defends it in an oral examination. The dissertation research proposal should be written as a formal proposal, with a maximum of 15 pages, including figures and tables but not references, and with 1” margins and at least 11-point font. Committees may provide more specific guidance on proposal format. One criterion of a satisfactory proposal is that it is of the quality required for submission to a granting agency, and submission of the proposal for funding is encouraged. The proposal must be submitted to the committee at least ten days before the defense.

The committee meets for approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the examination to review the student’s file and discuss any specific issues relevant to the examination.  Students are called in and asked to give a presentation of their proposal, which may either be a short (10-15 minute) summary, or an extended outline used to structure discussion by the committee.  Committee members should be consulted on their preference for the format. The student may be interrupted at any time during this presentation and asked to elaborate on or clarify points.  The exam will usually be confined to scientific areas directly concerned with the research proposal.  The examination typically lasts about 3 hours, after which the student is asked to leave the room. The committee discusses the performance and comes to a consensus. The student is invited back in and informed of the outcome of the examination. Students may pass, fail, or receive a conditional pass.

Students are to bring a copy of the Qualifying Exam Report form to their exam. This form will later be prepared by the Chair and reviewed and signed by all committee members. A copy is provided to the student and the original is submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator who will provide departmental verification and submit to the Graduate Division for the student’s advancement to candidacy. 

In the case of a conditional pass, the committee will define any deficiencies in the proposal or performance in the exam and provide a timetable during which the student must rectify the problems. If the student fails, they may be given the option of re-taking the examination with the same committee after appropriate preparation and guidance. If a student fails twice, they will be dismissed from the program. All dismissals will be reviewed by EEB-GAC.  If explicitly invited to do so by the examination committee, students who fail the Dissertation Proposal Defense Examination may have one quarter to produce a Master’s thesis on research completed at that time. 

The proposal defense generally takes place in Term 6-7 (fall or winter quarters of the third year) and must be completed by Term 9 (spring of the third year). If the student fails the exam or is asked to rewrite the proposal, the final, modified proposal and exam retake must still be completed no later than Term 9. Any exceptions to the Term 9 deadline require EEB-GAC approval and may be grounds for academic probation.

The Dissertation Proposal / Qualifying Exam Seminar

The final requirement before advancement to candidacy is the 30-minute departmental seminar on the student’s research proposal. Students are to contact the Graduate Program Coordinator to confirm standard block times for graduate student seminar talks for the quarter and then reserve a time on the calendar with the Coordinator once they confirm dates with their committee. Students are encouraged to pair up so that two proposal seminars are scheduled consecutively. The seminar should be scheduled so that at least three of the four members of the student’s Qualifying Exam Committee can attend.

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Advancement to Candidacy

Students advance to candidacy (ATC) only after completing all coursework, passing the written and oral portions of the Comprehensive Examination, writing and defending a dissertation research proposal (Qualifying Exam) and presenting a candidacy seminar on his/her proposed research.  Ordinarily, students ATC in Term 9 (spring quarter of the third year), however they may advance as soon as they have successfully completed the above requirements. 

A student who advances to candidacy:

• Automatically qualifies for the TA In-Candidacy Offset Fee Grant (ICFOG) for six consecutive quarters. ICFOG is applicable only to graduate students who are charged campus fees as TAs (~$400 per quarter).
• Moves from Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) stipend point 4 to point 5.

To complete the ATC process, students submit their Dissertation Reading Committee Nomination form and Qualifying Exam Report to the EEB Graduate Program Coordinator.  Advancement to Candidacy takes effect on the first day of the quarter following the receipt of forms and subsequent ATC fee payment via Student Business Services (SBS).

The Dissertation Reading Committee

Once students advances to candidacy, their advisor(s) become the chair of their Dissertation Reading Committee.  According to university rules, the Dissertation Reading Committee must include at least three members, and a majority must be faculty members of the UCSC Academic Senate.  This means that a majority of the members must be ladder-rank faculty in the tenure-track system; adjunct faculty members cannot count toward this majority.

In most cases, the Qualifying Exam Committee will simply metamorphose into the Dissertation Reading Committee.  When changes are made at this stage, it is recommended that the student inform all the members of the committee about the change.

Students may defend their PhD dissertation in as little as one quarter after they advance to candidacy. The graduate divisions allows studetns up to 9 quarters to complete their degree after they passed the qualifying exam. Average time in the EEB department is 5-6 years to complete the PhD. 

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Dissertation + Defense

Annual Committee Meetings

After advancement to candidacy, students are expected to meet annually with their dissertation reading committee to discuss progress towards completion of their Ph.D.  Regular committee meetings are essential to the progress and final quality and success of the dissertation, and therefore they are strongly recommended.  Committee meetings are documented in Annual Progress Reports (see Annual Review).

Penultimate Committee Meeting

The goal of the Penultimate Committee Meeting (often the 3rd yearly committee meeting), besides discussing the regular progress of the dissertation, is for students to plan a precise pathway and timeline to complete the dissertation with their committees. The plan sketched during this meeting needs to determine landmarks that will allow the student to finish within the next year.

This meeting allows students and faculty to work around scheduling conflicts with faculty research travel, etc. Students are to bring a copy of the Penultimate Meeting form (see Forms & Print Materials) to be completed and signed by all meeting participants and later submitted to the EEB Graduate Program Coordinator by the student. This form provides written confirmation for the student that the committee has agreed to the overall plan for the completion of the dissertation.

Dissertation Preparation

When the student’s advisor and dissertation committee have agreed that the research is at the stage to be submitted for the degree, the student may apply for the PhD degree (see Forms & Print Materials) at the beginning of the term by which they wish to graduate and proceed according to the guidelines prescribed by the Graduate Division and by the date published in the academic calendar. 

Within EEB, a dissertation is usually three or four significant “data chapters,” plus a short introduction (acts as a 2 to 4-page summary of what is in each of the chapters) and a conclusion/synthesis. The conclusion is not a regurgitation; this short essay (2 to 5-pages recommended) synthesizes the results of the dissertation as a whole, reflects on how novel insights come from the whole body of work, and may point the reader toward future research directions.  It can be thought of as an exercise to prepare the student for (1) their completion seminar and (2) their research statement for a job application. 

The Dissertation Defense

Students schedule their dissertation defenses with the EEB Graduate Program Coordinator. They must submit all the data chapters of their doctoral dissertation to the Dissertation Reading Committee by at least 30 days before the closed defense meeting. Usually chapters are shared with the committee much earlier, as they are completed, and it is only the final chapter, along with the second or third draft of the other chapters, that will be submitted to the committee as late as 30 days before the closed defense meeting. At that time, it is recommended that the student negotiate with each committee member to set expectations for when comments on the dissertation will be provided. Ideally, major concerns about the work should be shared with the student and advisor before the defense meeting, so that the defense is not the first time the student hears about problems that will require major revision.  The introduction and conclusion chapters of the dissertation must be submitted to the committee no later than one week before the closed defense meeting.

All the members of the student’s Dissertation Reading Committee must be participate during the closed defense meeting. The external member of the committee may participate remotely, if their attendance would constitute financial or other hardship.

There are no formal rules governing the closed dissertation defense.  However, to pass the defense it is required that all members agree that the dissertation as written meets the standards of the University and Department.  If the Committee determines that the dissertation meets its standards, at that time the Committee, with the exception of the Chair, may sign the title page of the student’s dissertation. If the committee determines that the dissertation does not meet the standards, within 1 week the committee must produce a written document that lists the deficiencies and indicates a timeline for correcting the deficiencies. This document will be reviewed by EEB-GAC, and the student may be placed on academic probation. If the dissertation ultimately does not gain the committee’s approval, the student will be dismissed from the program.  All dismissals will be reviewed by EEB-GAC. 

Finally, a formal, public doctoral research seminar will be presented by the student. This seminar should be scheduled with the EEB Graduate Program Coordinator for the regular time slot when possible, and may not be scheduled for less than a week after the closed defense meeting. It is important to leave enough time before the public seminar for the student to make changes to the dissertation as requested by the Committee.

Publication

Before the dissertation is accepted for signature by the Dissertation Reading Committee Chair, at least one chapter must be submitted as a paper (not an abstract) to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. Delays in refereeing, acceptance, and printing may well delay actual publication of the paper until after the doctoral degree has been granted.

The faculty advisor signs the title sheet only after all requirements for the Ph.D. are completed, including revision of the dissertation, the public seminar, and submission of part of the dissertation to a refereed publication.