Thesis Preparation and Defense
Thesis Committee
Students must select the members of their thesis committee at some point following the successful completion of their candidacy exam, but no later than October 1st of their third year in residence. Such a committee is comprised of the student’s research supervisor as well as two additional members of the University of Chicago faculty, one of whom must have an appointment in the Chemistry Department. If necessary, due to changes in staffing, alterations in research direction, or developing collaborations, the membership of the committee can be changed at any point in time with written notice provided to the Associate Chair and the Director of Graduate Studies.
Thesis Preparation and Submission
The Dissertation Office
Several resources related to preparing and submitting your thesis are available through the UChicago Dissertation Office. Here you can find the current University-wide requirements for dissertations and other policies, an overview of the thesis preparation process, and a useful dissertation requirements checklist, among other resources. You should seek out information about these requirements early in the writing process, when it is most useful.
The final copy of your dissertation must be uploaded to the Dissertation Office site by the deadline specified by the Dissertation Office each quarter.
At the time of uploading, you must submit the Department Approval Form to the Department Office (Searle 126). You must complete this form and have it signed by your Advisor in the top right-hand corner. The Director of Graduate Studies will not be able to approve your thesis unless the Departmental Approval Form has been signed by your research advisor.
- UChicago Dissertation Office
- University-wide requirements for dissertations
- Thesis submission deadlines
- Dissertation requirements checklist
- Department Approval Form
Final Oral Examination
Each Ph.D. candidate shall schedule a final oral examination with his/her dissertation examining committee. This normally occurs after the dissertation is written, but prior to submitting the final copy to the Chairman and the Office of Academic Publications. The candidate shall provide each of their committee members a copy of their thesis two weeks prior to the defense date.
Public Seminar
Each Ph.D. candidate shall discuss his dissertation in a public seminar. This is normally done prior to the final oral examination.
Detailed Dissertation Procedure
As soon as a student is ready to plan their dissertation defense, they should fill out this internal form for the Department. Feel free to reach out to Vera for any questions regarding timing or any other information.
Planning the Dissertation Defense
A student who is ready to plan their dissertation defense should set a defense date and time with their dissertation committee. All members of the committee must be available at the date and time chosen. Otherwise, any date and time during normal working hours is acceptable. Quarterly deadlines affect whether you will be able to receive the degree in a particular quarter, not when the defense may be held.
You will schedule your own Zoom meeting for your defense inviting your three faculty committee members and anyone else that you wish to attend your defense. Once in person again, after the date and time are chosen, a room can be reserved by contacting the appropriate building reservation office.
At least two weeks before the defense, you should email the following details to Melinda Moore, mmoore@uchicago.edu: date, time, and zoom meeting link (later, room location of defense), title of dissertation, names of the members of your committee. This is to enable the posting of the defense on-line and as posters.
Following your defense, the Chair of your committee is responsible to obtain committee signatures on the “Report of Final Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.” The Chair will then submit the form to the departmental office, which will obtain the Director of Academic Programs and Graduate Studies approval and submit the form to the PSD Dean of Students office.
Quarter of Graduation: Deadlines for Turning in the Dissertation
As you plan your defense, you will also be thinking about your quarter of graduation, which is often but not always the same quarter as the defense. There are deadlines each quarter for (1) applying to receive the degree, (2) uploading the dissertation, (3) submitting the Departmental Dissertation Approval Form, and (4) complying with any requirements from the Dissertation Office.
The deadline for submitting an Application for Degree is 4:30 pm on the last day of the first week of the quarter when you wish to graduate. The Application for Degree is submitted on-line, via my.uchicago.edu portal. Before you do this, you should check your Expected Graduation Date on this page and adjust it to the appropriate quarter (if it is not showing the quarter you want to apply). This will allow you to access the Application for Degree on this page.
The Dissertation Office is responsible for reviewing the dissertation’s editorial form to be sure it complies with the University’s requirements. The web address is phd.uchicago.edu. You should familiarize yourself with deadlines and requirements, and plan to submit a draft of the dissertation as you prepare it. The Department of Chemistry does not have any editorial requirements other than the Dissertation Office’s requirements.
The final copy of the already defended dissertation, with all required revisions and corrections made, must be uploaded to the Dissertation Office’s portal by a deadline posted on the Dissertation Office’s website: usually the Friday of the 7th week of the quarter (5th week of Summer Quarter). After this upload, with a deadline of the
Wednesday of the following week, the Departmental Dissertation Approval Form must be submitted. This short form, which is sent to you at the time of the upload or can be obtained from the departmental office, will confirm the Department’s approval of your dissertation. The Department of Chemistry requires that your advisor (and pro forma advisor if there is one) sign in the upper right hand corner of this form. The form can then be submitted to the departmental office, which will obtain the Director of Academic Programs and Graduate Studies approval and submit the form to the Dissertation Office.
After the uploading of the dissertation and the submission of this form, the Dissertation Office will send you notice of any further corrections that need to be made or forms that need to be filled out.
Financial Considerations and Coordinating with Payroll
The University requires students to be in a registered student status during the quarter when they receive the Ph.D., with the following exception: if the completed dissertation is uploaded by 4:30 pm Friday on the first week of the quarter, a student can receive the Ph.D. that quarter without having to register.
Registration is an important issue, because it implies that tuition must be paid. If a student is supported in a tuition-supporting position (RA or TA), the tuition is covered. If a student is not supported by this or other funding (e.g., a fellowship), he or she should ask to be registered in a Reduced Tuition status. In that status, a student’s tuition is reduced to a lower amount which he or she must pay. Another funding source (e.g., the student’s advisor) should not be paying this reduced amount, because it has been reduced for the reason of making it more manageable for the student who must pay it.
A student may remain on the payroll in student employee status until the end of the third month after the beginning of the quarter when he/she receives the Ph.D. (i.e., 3/31, 6/30, 9/30, or 12/31). After that, the student must go on another payroll status (e.g., postdoctoral, paraprofessional, temporary, etc.) if he/she continues to be employed at the University.
For help with issues relating to visa status and planning for Optional Practical Training (OPT), the student should consult the Office of International Affairs.