Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science

Department of Mechanical Engineering

State University of New York at Binghamton

LEARNING CONTRACT

PhD Candidate:

NameSignatureDate

Date of Contract:

Degree and Specialization Sought:Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering

Guidance Committee Members(Chair and two additional members must be from the Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Chair:

NameSignatureDate

Member #1:

NameSignatureDate

Member #2:

NameSignatureDate

Member #3:

NameSignatureDate

Additional members may be added but are not required

(By their signatures, the members of the Guidance Committee approve the use of this learning contract.)

Qualifying Examination

The qualifying examination is to be completed at the end of the spring semester during the first year of enrollment in the PhD program.

This requirement has been satisfied:

Director of Graduate StudiesSignatureDate

Major Area of Research:

Area of Concentration:

Proposed Ph.D. Work:

Guidance Procedures:

The contract will be considered fulfilled upon meeting the following conditions:

  1. Completion of the required course work while maintaining minimum B average;
  2. Completion of the written qualifying exam and oral comprehensive exam as evaluated and agreed upon by all of the Guidance Committee members;
  3. Completion of the teaching proficiency requirement;
  4. Submissionand acceptance of the oral and written Prospectus by the Guidance Committee;
  5. Submission and acceptance of the Dissertation by the Guidance Committee and completion of the oral defense*.

*An outside examiner (OE) represents the graduate school in ensuring that appropriate academic standards are met for the degree.The Dean of the Graduate School, upon recommendation from the department/program, appoints an OE to the doctoral committee as representative of the Graduate School. We ask that the nomination be submitted to the Graduate School no later than one month before the defense, as that will allow us time to process the OE request. Should there be any issues in approving the OE request, the department will still have time to nominate an alternative OE for the defense.

Relevant Previous Graduate Course Work and Previous Graduate Degrees

Master of Science in mechanical engineering

Thesis Title:

Main courses taken to fulfill MS requirements:

Courses taken or to be taken toward the PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Course Name / Course Number / Credits / Grade
Analytical Methods I (Required) / ME 535 / 3
Analytical Methods II (Required) / ME 635 / 3
List additional courses here

Comprehensive Examination

The candidate will demonstrate fundamental knowledge by successfully completing both the stated course requirements and a comprehensive examination. The candidate’s guidance committee will administer the comprehensive examination. This examination will be administered orally by the candidate’s guidance committee with all members present and may also include a written part, at the discretion of the committee.

In addition to the courses listed above, the reference materials relevant to the contents of the exam are listed below. The student is strongly advised to prepare carefully for this exam and should review all of the material covered in any courses they have taken. The oral exam is to be completed without referring to any reference materials and provides the student with the opportunity to respond to a broad range of questions from the committee.

Based on performance on the comprehensive exam, the guidance committee may require that courses be added to the list given above.

The comprehensive examination must be taken by the end of summer of the second year.

Failure to satisfactorily complete the comprehensive examination will result in termination of the student’s enrollment.

Pending the successful completion of your Comprehensive Exam, you will be eligible for All But Dissertation (ABD) status. Submit the Graduate School form “Recommendation for Admission to Candidacy for Doctoral Degree” to switch your status to ABD.

Reading List:

The candidate should be familiar with the material covered in the following list in order to prepare for the comprehensive examination.

(List materials identified by the guidance committee here)

(attach additional MS Word Document if more Space is needed)

Satisfactory Completion of Comprehensive Examination:

Chair:

NameSignatureDate

Member #1:

NameSignatureDate

Member #2:

NameSignatureDate

Member #3:

NameSignatureDate

(By their signatures, the members of the Guidance Committee approve the student’s performance on the comprehensive examination)

Teaching Requirement:

Chair:

NameSignatureDate

Prospectus:

The candidate will submit a written prospectus describing their proposed dissertation research for review by the Guidance Committee. The candidate will then provide a public oral presentation of the prospectus. The prospectus will demonstrate that the candidate has sufficient preparation to carry out the research and has a well-developed research plan.

The prospectus must describe a) the research question to be addressed and b) the hypotheses proposed along with a description of the tasks to be performed.

Approval of Prospectus:

Chair:

NameSignatureDate

Member #1:

NameSignatureDate

Member #2:

NameSignatureDate

Member #3:

NameSignatureDate

(By their signatures, the members of the Guidance Committee approve the written and oral presentations of the prospectus.)

Approval of Dissertation by the Guidance Committee

The candidate has demonstrated originality and competence in his chosen research area by:

  1. Completing the research outlined in the prospectus.
  2. Preparing the dissertation with the approval of the guidance committee.
  3. Defending the dissertation in an oral examination open to the university community. The dissertation defense will be administered by the examination committee.

Agreement of the Guidance Committee

Upon completion of the above requirements and with the unanimous approval of the guidance committee, the candidate will be recommended for the degree.

Chair:

NameSignatureDate

Member #1:

NameSignatureDate

Member #2:

NameSignatureDate

Member #3:

NameSignatureDate

(By their signatures, the members of the Guidance Committee approve the written and oral presentations of the dissertation.)

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