September 1997
Memorandum 3800
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Graduate Office, Room 38-444
THE DOCTORAL PROGRAM
IN
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
The objective of the doctoral program in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is to provide an educational environment that encourages students to develop the ability to contribute to the advancement of technology through independent creative research. The faculty, acting through the Institute Committee on Graduate School Policy and the Department Committee on Graduate Students, has evolved policies and procedures to implement the objectives of the doctoral program. This memorandum is intended to be a guide to the student and Graduate Counselor in the planning of an acceptable doctoral program.
Students should also refer to the 1997-98 MIT Bulletin, Courses and Degree Programs Issue, and the 1997-98 Graduate School Manual.
Institute Requirements
The Institute's three requirements for the award of a doctorate are:
Department Requirements
In addition to the Institute requirements listed above, the Department further requires that each student seeking the doctorate must:
While there are no additional specific subject requirements, graduate students are urged to take subjects in their major area as recommended by the student's Graduate Counselor. A normal doctoral program includes at least eight graduate "H" subjects, including those required in the Master's program.
Plan for Meeting Requirements
With the Graduate Counselor's advice, the student is asked to lay out a plan for meeting the above listed requirements of the program. The plan must show clearly an area of emphasis or specialization in graduate study, with neighboring areas of lesser specialization. This area must represent a well-rounded body of knowledge, which can be built up by taking graduate subjects, by independent study, by teaching and by working on a research project.
The thesis area usually will coincide with the area of emphasis in graduate study, but this coincidence is not required. This flexibility provides for the student whose area of interest shifts during a graduate program. Later interest will no doubt center in the area of the thesis, and background for this will be evaluated in the course of thesis work, the area examination and the thesis examination.
A written statement of the student's plan is to be submitted to the Department Graduate Office as part of the Application for the Oral Qualifying Examination, Form 3910, usually in the student's third or fourth regular term. The plan is to be kept up to date by the filing of major revisions when appropriate. The student prepares these statements, which are filed in the Graduate Office through the Counselor, and initialed by the Counselor to indicate approval.
It is recognized that the program and time schedule of a doctoral student are likely to change. Several revisions may be needed, but at any time there should be a plan on file that is acceptable to the student, the Graduate Counselor, and the Department Committee on Graduate Students.
The General Examination for the Doctorate
The format of the General Examination depends on the area of interest of the student. Students in Area II (Computer Science) follow the format given at the end of this section; those students who are not in Area II follow the format below. Because of these differences a student who desires to transfer to or from Area II should consult with the appropriate area chairmen in order to be sure that the requirements of the General Examination can be suitably met. For students not in Area II (Computer Science), the General Examination for the doctorate consists of three parts:
Part I is the written part of the General Examination, the Preliminary Written Examination (PWE). Students interested in the doctoral program are expected to take the PWE in January of the first year of graduate study. Department Memorandum 3801 contains a more detailed description of the PWE. In recent years, about 5 out of 8 of the eligible graduate students have taken this examination. The remaining 3 of 8 are presumably interested only in the Master's degree.
Part II is the Oral Qualifying Examination, which must be taken by the end of the third graduate term for M.Eng. students, or the fourth graduate term for SM students; Application to take the examination should be made on Form 3910 before the end of the first week of the term.
The PWE must have been completed before the oral examination is requested. About half of those who have taken the PWE request an oral examination.
The oral examination will be scheduled during the later half of the term in which application is made (although the Department cannot always arrange examinations during the summer) and will include questions on the student's research activity and on subjects taken up to the time of the examination. A student who has not requested this examination by the end of the fourth term can continue in the doctoral program only with the explicit approval of the Department Committee on Graduate Students.
The Department Committee on Graduate Students will consider the results of the Oral Qualifying Examination, the recommendations of the Master's thesis supervisor, the academic record of subjects taken as a graduate student, the results of the written examination and other available evidence and will inform the student of its decision regarding qualification to proceed in the doctoral program. Students who do not receive the desired "Qualified" decision may, with the approval of their Graduate Counselor, request a second oral and reconsideration of their overall performance. In the past five years, 85% of the students who have taken the examination qualify the first time and 93% eventually qualify.
Part III is the Graduate Area Examination, an oral examination scheduled and evaluated by the student's Area Committee. The purpose of this examination is to test the student's breadth and depth of knowledge in the major area and ability to acquire knowledge from the literature in the field. The student should apply for the examination at the beginning of the term in which the examination is to take place, normally the fifth or sixth regular term.
One month before the Area Examination, the Chairman of the Area Examination Committee, in consultation with the student, assigns a small number (usually three) of advanced technical papers. The beginning of the Area Examination will be centered around these papers.
The Area Examination is two and a half to three hours in duration and is administered by three faculty members, at least two from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Additional faculty members and staff may be invited to attend the examination.
The student is required to give an oral presentation and discussion based on the assigned technical papers. The choice of these papers is to be negotiated with the chairman of the examining committee at least one month in advance of the examination. The papers are drawn from the candidate's major field, but should not relate directly to the thesis area. In preparation for the presentation, the candidate should submit a written document (of about 10-15 pages) which summarizes the material to be covered and includes technical details which may be awkward or inappropriate to present orally. The written summary should be submitted to the examining committee at least one week before the examination. The oral presentation should take no more than 45 minutes.
It will be followed by questioning based on the oral and written presentations. Following the prepared portion of the examination (which takes about 1 1/2 hours), the examination is opened to general questioning in the student's major field and neighboring areas. Although any of the participants may question the student at any stage of the exam, the three members of the examining committee are entirely responsible for assessing the candidate's performance.
A thesis proposal, if submitted at the time-of the examination, serves solely to establish the student's research field and is not to be used as a basis for the examination.
The Area Committee decides whether or not the student has passed the Area Examination and reports the decision to the Committee on Graduate Students. Success on the Area Examination satisfactorily completes the General Examination requirements of the Institute.
For students in Area II (Computer Science), the General Examination for the doctorate is described below.
This may be done by registering for the appropriate graduate subject (listed above) and obtaining a grade of A or B. Alternatively, a student who has previously studied the material in one of the core fields may arrange for an advanced placement examination in lieu of taking the subject. A more complete description of this procedure is to be found in "Guide to Graduate Study in Area II" prepared by the Area II Committee.
Thesis Proposal
An acceptable doctoral thesis proposal is normally required by the end of the sixth regular term of registration as a regular graduate student. The thesis proposal must be approved by the thesis supervisor and two readers before submission to the Graduate Office. (See Department Memorandum 3802, "Thesis and Thesis Proposal".)
Thesis
The caliber and scope of doctoral thesis research is, in general, such as to require the equivalent of the full time of a student for at least one academic year. (See Bulletin, Graduate School Manual, Department Memorandum 3802, "Thesis and Thesis Proposal".)
Thesis Examination
When the thesis investigation is substantially completed and the student has prepared a document of preliminary character which summarizes the work, a thesis examination is held. The candidate defends the thesis orally before the supervisor and readers together with other guests whom the thesis committee may choose to invite. If the defense is satisfactory, the student is instructed to proceed with the final write-up incorporating suggestions made during the thesis examination. This is the only thesis examination. When a final document is submitted, in a form which the supervisor approves and signs, the student may be asked to make a thesis presentation (not an examination) before a seminar group of staff and students from the laboratory in which the work was undertaken. If the thesis presentation is waived and all other requirements have been satisfied, the doctoral program is completed when the supervisor signs the thesis reports a grade of Satisfactory and the student submits the document, in acceptable form, to the Department Graduate Office.
Experience indicates that the thesis examination should be held within the first half of the final term to permit sufficient time for final composition, editing, typing, and assembling of the thesis document. Doctoral theses are due approximately two weeks before the end of any regular term, and one week before the end of a summer term.
If the thesis is to be finished in the summer term, the thesis examination should be held before
June 1 because many of the faculty are not in residence during the summer term.
Residence
The Institute's residence requirement for the doctorate is four academic terms of graduate work or equivalent (See Bulletin, Graduate School Manual). Doctoral candidates in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science must satisfy the requirements for the Master's degree first. Residence credit for the SM counts toward the doctoral requirement as well. The average length of time spent by doctoral candidates at present is about 12 regular terms.
Relationship of the Master's Program to a Doctoral Program
Completion of an acceptable doctoral thesis is a major component of programs leading to the ScD and PhD degrees. A demonstrated potential for such research is consequently necessary for continuation in the doctoral program beyond the first few terms. Accordingly, graduate students who seek a doctorate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will in general be expected to first complete the requirements for a Masters degree including a Masters thesis. A student who has not completed the requirements for the Master's degree by the beginning of the fifth regular term of graduate study may continue in the doctoral program only with the explicit approval of the Committee on Graduate Students.
The research experience of a student admitted to a doctoral program on the basis of a Master's degree from another university will be examined carefully by the Graduate Counselor early in the first term of registration. A student with inadequate research experience will be expected to complete an appropriate thesis or project within the calendar year following first registration.
A student in the doctoral program wishing to receive the Master's degree should submit a degree application early in the term in which the Masters degree requirements will be satisfied. Master's and Doctor's degrees are not awarded simultaneously. For information on the requirements for the SM degree, see the Department Memorandum 3903.
Minor Requirement
One of the requirements for doctoral study in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is the completion of a minor program. The object of the minor program is to broaden the student's grasp of a field outside the field of major professional interest; often the student is exposed to methodologies and ways of thinking that are different from those encountered in the major field. For an experimentalist, for example, the abstract concepts of mathematics form such a different methodology; for a theoretician, the new methodology might be the practical considerations of engineering.
The minor program should be a cohesive program consisting of at least three subjects that are closely related in content with a minimum of 27 units. For example, three subjects in a single area like Topology, Accounting, Solid State Physics, or Neurophysiology are acceptable selections. It should be pointed out that a collection of subjects offered by the same academic department should not automatically be considered to be a cohesive package. On the other hand, a selection of subjects from different departments may well form an acceptable program.
The minor program should be a study program outside of the major professional area of study. As an example, Computer Science subjects are normally not appropriate as part of a minor program for students in Area II, but advanced study in areas close to Computer Science may be acceptable as a minor program. The decision in such cases should be based on the criterion of whether the studies in question expose the student to a methodology and a way of thinking that are different from those found in the major study program.
The minor program should involve study beyond the introductory level although, when appropriate, the program may contain one subject at an undergraduate or introductory graduate level. It should be noted that certain subjects with graduate "H" credit are considered to be introductory. The Graduate Office should be consulted if there are questions concerning the acceptability of certain subjects. Subjects in the series 6.981 and 6.991 series are not acceptable.
It is a departmental requirement that at least one of the subjects in a minor program must be taken on-campus at MIT. No subjects with a grade of C or lower will be accepted in a minor program.
Minor study may start as early in the graduate program as the student wishes. However, it is strongly advised that the suitability of the proposed program be discussed with the Graduate Counselor before beginning minor studies. The program should be agreed to by the Counselor before it is commenced. The program must also have the approval of the Area Committee acting for the Department Committee on Graduate Students. Hence, the plan for the minor should be included in the overall doctoral plan submitted to the Graduate Office through the Counselor on Form 3910. The field of the minor as well as the field of the major must be named in the plan submitted to the Graduate Office so that the distinction between them is clear. Revisions in the student's plan for major study may require that a new minor program be formulated and approved.
A student's minor program should be formulated when applying for the Oral Qualifying Examination for doctoral study. This insures that the minor program will be included in the plan for graduate study when it is submitted to the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Office.
Minor programs for students in each Area will be evaluated and certified by that Area Committee at the time the student is judged "Qualified" for the doctoral program on completion of the Oral Qualifying Examination.
Registration
The caliber and scope of the doctoral thesis research are such as to require in all but very exceptional cases, the equivalent of at least one full-time academic year of research. For students not on a full-time program, this principle is interpreted to mean the completion of at least 96 units of thesis registration.
Each doctoral candidate is expected to register for an appropriate number of units of thesis in all periods during which thesis related research is actually in progress.