Plan for Environmental Chemistry Graduate Students
General requirements / guidance
1) Students must satisfy all requirements as described in the course catalog. Each program requires students to satisfy a core set of courses designed for breadth of coverage in the discipline of Environmental Chemistry. The core requirements are set out in the UAF course catalog.
2) Many graduate courses are offered on an every-other-year schedule, so students should take courses, particularly their core courses when they are offered. Students should take seminar (Chem 692) at some point in their first year as a first experience in preparing oral presentations and then take Research Presentation Techniques (Chem 691) in their second year to prepare for their thesis defense.
3) Graduate school-required reports / forms can be found online at the link below.
It is the student's responsibility to schedule committee meetings and bring all necessary paperwork to all meetings and defenses. At all meetings, students will bring the departmental graduate program assessment form.
4) The student identifies a faculty member or affiliate of the program to be their primary advisor and establishes a committee. The establishment of the committee is done on the "Appointment of Graduate Advisory Committee" form. The student will work with the advisor and committee on their thesis, eventually leading to the writing of their thesis. The student will work with the committee to form a "Graduate Study Plan" and file this form (typically at the first annual committee meeting). The form is due at the end of the student's second semester in the program.
5) The student will convene an annual committee meetings, typically in spring. Students must bring the "Report of Graduate Student Advisory Committee" form as well as the departmental "Graduate Program Assessment Form". The report from this meeting must be to the graduate school by 15 May. A two-page annual report, written by the student, must be attached to the "report on annual committee meeting form" in every year (including the first year). Email the research report to the program coordinator, department chair, and department administrative assistant. That report includes:
- A description of project background and specific questions being studied
- A progress report since last report
- A research plan for next year
- A list of publications references, grants/fellowships submitted and/or funded since last report
- A list of conferences attended and titles/authors of presentations at confereces
- A list of awards and/or fellowships
At the annual committee meeting, the student will:
- Bring all necessary forms and included printed copies of the annual report for each committee member.
- Present a 20-30 minute powerpoint presentation on their work. This presentation either lays out the project and describes literature research (early on) or shows the last year's progress and future directions (later).
- Receive feedback from their committee on progress, advice on research direction / coursework.
The "Report of Graduate Student Advisory Committee" serves as the mechanism by which students are judged to be in good academic standing. If the committee is not satisfied with the student's progress, they will indicate this on the annual committee form, along with specific remedies. Continued inadequate progress puts a student into bad academic standing, which may lead to discontinuation of TA/RA support or removal from the program.
6) The student will file the "Advancement to Candidacy Form", which is always due at least one semester before graduating. For M.S. Students, turn this in one semester before graduation, for Ph.D. students, turn this form in at completion of the written and oral comprehensive examinations, typically in the third year of studies.
7) Students must have their thesis to their committee members two weeks before their defense date. The defense must be advertised by the department, so an abstract must be to the department administrative assistant two weeks before the public defense.
8) The students' thesis, after review by the committee and addressing all comments, must be signed by the committee members and then brought to the department chair and then the CNSM dean. Typical deadlines are that the thesis should be to the department chair two weeks before the Graduate School's deadline, and to the CNSM dean one week before the Graduate School's deadline. Speak with your advisor or the department chair for specific deadlines for a given semester. Program-specific timelines are also provided below. The Dean requires a printed copy of the thesis. Work with the graduate school to satisfy their formatting requirements.
M.S. Specific Information
The M.S. thesis defense acts as both a defense of the thesis and the M.S. comprehensive examination. The defense must be advertised as described in the above general requirements. The student will prepare an ~40 minute public presentation defending their thesis. Following the student's presentation, the committee and student will enter a closed session where the student is orally examined. The student must be able to answer both specific questions on the thesis and show mastery of the field in at least the areas in which they took core courses. The student must bring the "Report on Thesis/Dissertation Defense" and "Report on Comprehensive Examination" forms to their defense for the committee to fill in and sign. Note that although there are spaces for external examiners on both of these forms, no external examiners are required for the M.S. program, so those lines are left blank. Past students also prepared the M.S. Thesis completion timeline, which is a useful resource.
Ph.D. Program Information
Ph.D. Comprehensive Examinations
The timing of comprehensive examinations is decided by the advisory committee, but is typically in the summer after completion of the second year in program. The student must have completed their core courses in areas in which they will be examined before attempting the written examinations. Students who do not take the written examination at the time specified by the committee are automatically shifted into the M.S. program. The written examinations consist of three four-hour examinations plus the writing of a research proposal on the research for their Ph.D. thesis.
- The three written examinations (four hours each) will be offered in the summer and are on topics selected from the courses you have studied. However, these examinations are more synthetic and comprehensive than examinations in those courses. At least two of the examinations must be in defined core areas, as defined by the core courses in the catalog. The third examination may be related to any course you have taken. The student must discuss which areas they want to take their examinations in with their committee at their annual committee meeting before the summer in which they will take examinations. The department will then give a schedule of examination dates to the student. The rules for each examination (e.g. open or closed book, use of computers / online resources, etc.) will be defined by the exam writer for that year. After the examinations are taken, they reside in the student's file in the departmental records. The student may look at their examination in the department office, but may not take the examination out of the office.
- The research proposal must be in the format of a fellowship or grant in the student's research area (e.g. an NSF doctoral fellowship, or an EPA doctoral fellowship, or a research grant in that area complying to NSF, EPA, DOE or whatever funding agency's requirements). Before writing your proposal, discuss the format you intend to use with your advisor and committee and have it approved by the program coordinator. The research proposal must be handed to all committee members two weeks before the scheduling of the oral examination. Only when the committee passes the student on their research proposal may the student schedule their oral examination.
After a student has passed their written comprehensive examinations, they should file the "Report on Comprehensive Examination" form with the graduate school. Only the written examination portion will be signed at this time. After that form is signed, the student will schedule for their oral comprehensive examination. The oral requires an external examiner that needs to be requested from the graduate school. The student will prepare an ~40 minute presentation describing their topic, their successes to date, and their thesis research proposal. Following the student's presentation, the committee and external examiner and student will enter a closed session where the student is examined orally on the topics of their chosen written examinations and their research proposal. The student must bring the "Report on Comprehensive Examination" form to this meeting. The oral portion of this form will be filled out and signed by the committee.
A student who does not pass the examinations will be given a second opportunity to take the examinations. The consequence of failing the examinations is that the student will not be allowed to continue to the Ph.D. degree, although they may use their work to complete a different degree program.
Ph.D. Thesis Defense
At the Ph.D. thesis defense and through the writing of the Ph.D. thesis, the student must demonstrate that they can independently identify a problem, devise appropriate methods for its solution, and contribute original knowledge to that field. The student must request an external examiner through the graduate school. See their website for timing of this request. Past students also prepared the Ph.D. Thesis completion timeline, which is a useful resource. The defense must be advertised as described in the above general requirements. The student will prepare an ~40 minute public presentation defending their thesis. Following the student's presentation, the committee and external examiner and student will enter a closed session where the student is orally examined on their thesis. The student must bring the "Report on Thesis/Dissertation Defense" form to this meeting, which will be filled out and signed by the committee.
Useful information
Financial aid and fellowships:
Students may wish to apply for financial aid. Forms may be found at:
http://www.uaf.edu/gradsch/grants-and-fellowships/
Numerous fellowships inside and external to UAF are available now (or may be available in the future), for example:
EPA STAR fellowship http://www.epa.gov/ncer/fellow/
DOE GREF fellowship http://www.atmos.anl.gov/GCEP/GREF/index.html
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/
UAF Global Change Fellowship http://www.cgc.uaf.edu/student_grant/awardees.htm
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Engineering and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities programs. http://orise.orau.gov/science-education/internships-scholarships-fellowships/default.aspx
and http://www.orau.org/maryland/participants/projects.htm
If you have further questions, please contact one of the program coordinators.