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Dissertation and Committee

This page discusses your PhD committee and the key aspects of preparing and defending a PhD dissertation.

Dissertation Committee
You must form a PhD dissertation committee that includes a minimum of four members of the graduate faculty as follows:

A member of the Computer Science faculty who agrees to supervise your dissertation work (your "chair").

Two additional faculty members of the Department.

A member of the UMass Amherst graduate faculty from outside of the Computer Science department (your "outside member"). Most (not all) members of the UMass Amherst faculty are members of the graduate faculty, so faculty members from other UMass Amherst departments can serve in this role (and are the preferred choice). In addition, some (not all) members of the Five College faculty, have graduate faculty status and can serve in this capacity (including Computer Science faculty at those schools). Faculty outside the Five Colleges are not members of the UMass Amherst graduate faculty so cannot be your outside member.

You should choose your chair and minor members for the contributions they will make to your thesis work. Your outside member may serve that purpose, but is formally on the committee to guarantee fairness and Graduate School standards.

You may nominate additional people to serve on your committee. If that person is not a member of the UMass Amherst or Five College graduate faculty, the Graduate School will require a copy of his or her CV as well as a signed letter from him or her committing to attend your dissertation defense. (The Department does not cover travel costs.)

When you have decided on a committee, give the information to Leeanne Leclerc. The proposed committee will be circulated among the faculty for comment. On rare occasions, the GPD or other members of the faculty have raised concerns, requiring that members of a committee be replaced or added. If there are no objections, you will have "formed your committee."

Proposal defense
You must pass the dissertation proposal exam within a year of passing your portfolio exam or in your seventh semester, whichever is later. You must prepare a written proposal to be submitted to the Graduate School. More details about the typical content of a dissertation proposal are available here. The dissertation proposal must be submitted to your committee at least one week prior to the exam (many committee members may require more lead time than this minimum). There are no formatting requirements for the proposal, though most students use a slightly modified version of the dissertation format.

When you pass your proposal defense, each member of your committee must sign the cover sheet. You should then provide Leeanne Leclerc with (1) two copies of the written proposal (your "dissertation prospectus or outline"), (2) the original signed cover sheet, and (3) a copy of the signed cover sheet. The GPD will notify the Graduate School that you have passed your proposal.

Dissertation defense
As you near completion of your dissertation, you should schedule a dissertation defense (final oral examination). You should allow sufficient time in the schedule to complete the dissertation (to the point that you and the committee will anticipate only minor changes following the actual defense) and to allow the committee time to read it and discuss it with you. Under the rules of the Graduate School, the final defense may not occur fewer than seven months of the approval of the dissertation proposal. The Graduate School also requires that the defense be scheduled a minimum of a month in advance.

In Computer Science, the defense has two components: a defense and a public presentation. If you combine them, you have an "open defense"; if you do not, you have a "closed defense". Which you choose must be agreed upon by both you and your committee. Some faculty members have very strong opinions one way or another. In either case, there are two components to a defense:

A public seminar that any member of the University community is invited to attend.

An interaction between you and your committee, during which they deliberate and decide whether you have successfully defended your dissertation and whether they will insist on any modifications to your dissertation. All members of your committee must be present on the Amherst campus for this portion of the defense.

In an open defense, the public seminar is attended by your committee who continue the defense after the public audience is excused. In a closed defense, you and your committee meet privately and you hold a public seminar sometime in the few days surrounding that meeting.

Note that by the rules of the Graduate School any member of the University's Graduate Faculty may attend the meeting between you and your committee. For that reason the time of that meeting is announced publicly well in advance of your defense. Courtesy suggests that individuals hoping to attend the meeting consult the chair of your committee.

In both cases, the committee may pass or fail your oral examination. (It is extraordinarily rare for someone to fail a defense.) Your chair will inform the Graduate Program Manager of the result of the defense.

At the defense, the committee will also usually specify changes or additions that it requires to the dissertation itself. After all members are satisfied with the dissertation, they will sign the dissertation's cover sheet. (In many cases a committee member will sign the cover sheet at the defense, so it is a good idea to have the cover sheet handy!) It is your responsibility to provide the Graduate School with a copy of the dissertation in the required format.

Congratulations. You are now a PhD.

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