ncsu phd defense

Ph.D. Defenses

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Ph.D. Examinations

Ph.d. qualifying exam.

Besides taking required course work, Ph.D. students must pass the qualifying exam, written and oral preliminary exams, write a dissertation and pass a final oral exam. For students entering with a previous Master’s degree in Statistics, the qualifying exam should be taken within one year of entering the program.

Ph.D. Preliminary Exams

Deadline: Each PhD student is required to:

• Successfully pass the PhD Written Prelim Exam within 18 months from the date of successfully passing the PhD Qualifying Exam.
• Achieve at least a conditional pass on the PhD Oral Prelim Exam after passing the Written Prelim. This must be no more than 26 months from the date of successfully passing the PhD Qualifying Exam. If the student receives a conditional pass, then the committee will abide by the graduate school policies on conditional passes and reexaminations given by https://grad.ncsu.edu/students/rules-and-regulations/handbook/3-5-comprehensive-examinations/

Procedure: Once a student has formed an advisory committee and the committee has approved the PhD Plan of Work, the student can work with the committee to arrange the schedule for the PhD Written Prelim Exam. The committee should inform the Graduate Secretary of the starting date for the exam. Upon successful completion of the Written Prelim Exam, the Oral Prelim Exam can be scheduled with a minimum of 14 business day notice to the Graduate Secretary.

Any potential deviations from the above timeframe should be discussed with the committee and the Director of Graduate Programs.

Format for Written Prelim: The written prelim document will consist of an extended review paper on a topic that is proposed by the student’s committee. At an agreed upon time between the student and their committee, the student will meet with the committee to discuss the topic and set up guidelines and expectations in order to give the student a start on the document. The student will then have 30 days to complete the written document.

The exam is to be completed by the student with no external assistance. Students may not discuss their exam with faculty, other students, or any other person not approved by the committee. Any clarifications or questions should be addressed to the committee. Cheating of any type (e.g., plagiarism, soliciting help from others) will result in a failing grade. Failure of this exam is grounds for dismissal from the graduate program. Students are advised to familiarize themselves with the many guises of plagiarism. It is your responsibility to know what constitutes plagiarism, and to ensure against it.

The committee will decide on the problem formulation, which may be based on the student’s current work, or other potential areas for investigation. The document should introduce the topic area at a level that would be understandable by anyone with a PhD in statistics but not necessarily familiar with the topic area. Thus the student will need to identify, obtain, read, and assimilate the main developments in the area both from the existing literature, and from the student’s own work. The student should define terms that are not generally known by people outside the topic area. Key statistical issues and problems should be described. Discussion of main existing results and their evolution should be presented. Open questions for future research should be identified. There should be some technical details and displayed equations in the paper. One should strike a balance between the extremes of no equations (very nontechnical) and too many equations. The written prelim exam should also include a small simulation study to compare some of the methods that have been reviewed. Please refer to the guidelines for Monte Carlo studies given in the Statistics Graduate Program Handbook to conduct and report simulations. 

The report should be typewritten and contain no spelling errors. A consistent style and notation should be used throughout. Choice of a common notation should be made by the student. It might be helpful to consult the style guidelines on the web for a journal such as Biometrics, JASA, or Genetics for suggestions on format of text, tables, and figures, conventions for references and citations, and general style of presentation. There is no specific page-length requirement; it is up to the committee members to judge the completeness of the paper, but a suggested length is that the main paper should not exceed 20 pages and with simulations the total length should not exceed 25 pages.

The committee will review the paper, and decide whether or not it is satisfactory to continue in the program. In most cases, comments will be given by the committee and the student will have 30 days to revise the paper addressing the specific comments. The final decision would then be made after reviewing the revised paper. This may differ from one committee to the next.

Format for Oral Prelim: he preliminary oral examination may be scheduled only after the student has passed the Preliminary Written Exam and has the advisory committee and POW approved by the Graduate School. Though the format of the oral preliminary examination may vary according to the committee, as a general guideline it will include three elements.

• Presentation by the candidate. The candidate makes a presentation of the current state of the research, including a proposal for the future research work to be conducted. This presentation is open only to the committee and any other NCSU graduate faculty member that wishes to attend. It is not open to other students, friends, or family members.
• Questioning of the candidate. Anyone attending the presentation will be allowed to ask questions of the candidate during, and at the conclusion of the presentation. Once the general questioning is completed, the committee chair will reconvene the questioning phase in closed session in which only the advisory committee questions the candidate.
• Deliberation and decision. Only the advisory committee and the Graduate School representative, if one has been appointed, will be allowed to participate in the deliberation and decision.

Throughout the process, the chair of the candidate’s advisory committee has the obligation to maintain a scholarly atmosphere and to keep academic integrity and the student’s best interest foremost.

The Exam result will be either (1) an unconditional pass, (2) a conditional pass (with explicitly stated conditions for the student to address), or (3) a failure. In case (2) or (3), the committee will abide by the graduate school policies on conditional passes and reexaminations given by https://grad.ncsu.edu/students/rules-and-regulations/handbook/3-5-comprehensive-examinations/

Ph.D. Final Oral Examination

The Ph.D. final oral examination consists of a defense by the candidate of the methodology used and conclusions reached in the dissertation. The dissertation must embody results of original research of a standard that would warrant publication in a statistics research journal. Publication of research in established journals is highly encouraged, regardless of whether you plan to work at a university or at a company. At least FOUR months are required to elapse between the date of an unconditional pass on the preliminary oral exam and the scheduling of the final oral exam. The four-month interval begins with the date when ALL conditions are satisfied and this date may not necessarily be the original date of the preliminary oral exam. As with the preliminary oral exam, it is the student’s responsibility to find a date and time that is acceptable to all members of his/her advisory committee (including the Graduate School Representative) and to notify the graduate secretary at least 15 working days prior to the proposed exam date. The graduate secretary will then reserve a room and make the necessary arrangements with the Graduate School. Unless carefully planned in advance, summer oral exams are difficult to schedule and committee substitutions cannot be guaranteed, especially since a dissertation is involved. It is also the responsibility of the student to provide a typed copy of the dissertation to each committee member at least two weeks prior to the exam. As a courtesy, the student should also offer to provide the Graduate School Representative with a copy. Final oral exams open to university community. Ph.D. Final Oral exams consist of an open seminar followed by questions from the committee in a closed session.

University Catalog 2024-2025

3.6 theses and dissertations, b. dissertations, c. company-funded research, d. submission procedures for theses and dissertations, e. publication in compliance with nondisclosure provisions.

• F.  Artificial Intelligence policy for dissertations and theses *

In degree programs requiring preparation of a thesis, master’s students must undertake an original investigation into a subject that has been approved by the student’s advisory committee. All theses must be submitted in accordance with the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Guide . Theses should be submitted to the advisory committees at least two weeks prior to the final defense.

The doctoral dissertation must present the results of the student’s original investigation in the field of primary interest. It must represent a contribution to knowledge, adequately supported by data, and be written in a manner consistent with the highest standards of scholarship. All dissertations must be submitted in accordance with the ETD Guide. Publication is expected and encouraged. Dissertations should be submitted to the advisory committees at least two weeks prior to the final defense.

For thesis or dissertation research that is funded by a company, students and their advisors must ensure that there is a clear agreement as to the ability to place the results in an ETD and, should there be proprietary information, that a mechanism be in place to ensure that the ETD remains viable. Furthermore, if a company’s requires approval of the document prior to a defense, this will require additional lead time to insure that only the appropriate information is included.

All advisory committee members must approve the thesis/dissertation prior to submission to the library for publication.

After receiving an unconditional pass on the final oral exam, the student must submit the thesis/dissertation electronically to the ETD system.

A thesis/dissertation must be submitted by the ETD deadlines as published in the Graduate School Calendar.

At the time of dissertation submission, students are also required to submit the required forms and fee as outlined on the ETD website. The Graduate School will not award the degree until these forms and fees have been submitted.

Theses and dissertations containing disclosures of patentable discoveries may be embargoed by submitting a request through the ETD system. They may be granted for up to one year. Placing an embargo on a thesis or dissertation until a patent application is filed will not prevent a student from graduating on time.

F.  Artificial Intelligence policy for dissertations and theses  *

Large Language Models (LLM) such as ChatGPT and, more generally, tools from Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) have impacted academic work by assisting in research and writing as well as by providing feedback and assessment, among other emerging applications. These tools offer promises of increased efficiency but also bring to the fore delicate questions about the very nature of our work.  The goal of this document is to propose a framework to allow our graduate students to use these tools ethically while developing their dissertations and theses. 

The debate on the use of LLMs within Academia is raging and is somewhat reminiscent of the debate on the use of calculators at school.  In fact, LLMs are sometimes described as “calculators for words”. We summarize the position of the NC State Graduate School on the matter as follows:

• Our students would benefit from receiving training on how to use GAI tools efficiently, ethically and reliably. 
• The mere use of LLMs does not constitute plagiarism; the uninformed and/or poorly documented inclusion of outputs from LLMs into dissertations and theses may constitute a form of plagiarism. 

The Graduate School follows one main guiding principle which largely matches the approach proposed in Nature and other publications, such as Science.  

Guiding principle 

• Candidates utilizing GAI tools must document their use clearly and thoroughly in their dissertation or thesis.

General guidance for graduate students and advisors 

• Graduate students should discuss general authorship principles and issues as well as acceptable use of LLMs or other GAI tools as early as practically possible with their advisor. 
• Advisors need to be direct and transparent about what tools students are permitted to use, and about the reasons for any restrictions. Additional guiding principles and approaches for the use of GAI in their specific field(s); if such principles are adopted by the program, they must be clearly communicated to the students and applied uniformly by advisory committees.
• GAI tools raise issues of privacy and intellectual property. Material submitted can become part of the application’s database, user’s information may be collected and cookies installed to track further activity.

Bias and Statistics

• LLMs are models; therefore, there are inherent biases associated with them. Users must, at a minimum, be aware of the existence of such issues. For instance, LLMs may attempt to ``average” the set of opinions they are trained on which may lead to surprising and/or unwanted results (statisticians will tell you that averages may be low probability states…). 
• The accuracy, or lack thereof, of detection tools for AI-generated texts has been studied. Due to their unreliable nature, the use of AI tools claiming to detect LLM generated text is discouraged.

Other editorial issues

• The guidelines from Nature also state that no LLM tool should be credited as co-author on a research paper. That is because any attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, and AI tools cannot take such responsibility. 
• The above guiding principle does not directly address the use of GAI in generic courses. For additional guidelines, please, refer to the Navigating the Landscape of Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence page from the Office for Faculty Excellence or to Developing an AI Syllabus Statement for Your Course from Delta.   
• The use of writing assistance tools such as Grammarly is generally allowed and rarely acknowledged. Grammarly, for instance, is in fact based on GAI. If in doubt, students should contact their advisory committee and/or err on the side of caution and acknowledge use. This very document was typed using the Google Docs Editor with Smart Compose (another AI based tool) turned on and hereby acknowledged. Clearly, legislating all this to the n-th degree will not be possible because of the constant evolution of the tools available to us; good judgment from all sides is likely to be needed.      

Definitions

• Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is the broad category of AI capable of generating new data such as text, images, video, music and other forms of media.
• Large Language Models (LLM) are a subset of GAI and are designed to work with human language (language is the focus) such as ChatGPT.
• Writing Assistant Tools are designed but not limited to checking spelling and grammar, such as Grammarly.

This document has benefited from consultations with the NC State  Office for Faculty Excellence  and with the  Data Science Academy .

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Final Ph.D. Thesis Defenses

Completed: 2024.

Van Thanh Tran Nguyen Chair: Dr. Carol Hall Co-chair: Dr. Erik Santiso “Development of user-friendly DMD/PRIME20 software package and its application to investigate aggregation of Alpha-Synuclein N-terminal fragments” Tuesday, August 13, 2024 1:00 PM EB1 3018

Xin Dong Chair: Dr. Carol Hall “Modulating peptide aggregation: Insights from coarse-grained simulations” Monday, August 12, 2024 11:00 AM EB1 2018

Nidhi M. Diwakar Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev “New principles and applications of active particle propulsion driven by electrical and chemical gradients” Friday, August 9, 2024 9:00 AM EB1 2015

Mariam Sohail Chair: Dr. Saad Khan “Sustainable Design of Controlled Release Agriculture Formulations: Rheological Characterization and Incorporation of Diverse Cargo” Wednesday, August 7, 2024 11:00 AM EB1 2015

Prottasha Sarker Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Co-Chair: Dr. Orlando Rojas “Interactions and Rheological Properties of Biopolymer-Based Systems” Monday, August 5, 2024 11:00 AM EB1 2015

Daniel J. Willard Chair: Dr. Robert Kelly “The Confluence of Abiotic and Biotic Chemistry int eh Development and Metabolic Engineering of Sulfur-Oxidizing Archaea” Tuesday, July 23, 2024 2:00 PM EB1 2018

James Lichty Chair: Dr. Adriana San Miguel “Model and Tool Development for Studying Alzheimer’s Disease in the Organism C. elegans” Friday, June 14, 2024 9:00 AM EB1 2018

Zidan Li Chair: Dr. Nathan Crook “Evolutionary Strategies for Enhanced Performance in Bacteria” Friday, June 7, 2024 12:00 PM EB1 2018

Carly Catella Co-chair: Dr. Nathan Crook Co-chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti “Development of peptide and nanobody toxin inhibitors for treatment of Clostridioides difficile Infection” Monday, May 20, 2024 10:00 AM PSB 1322A

Ryan Gordon Bing Chair: Dr. Robert Kelly “Metabolic Engineering and Optimization of Non-native Solventogenic Lignocellulose Fermentation by the Extreme Thermophile Anaerocellum bescii” Tuesday, May 14, 2024 3:30 PM EB1 2018

Lilian Bridgits Okello Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev “Integration of Magneto-Capillary Effects in Novel Multiphase Inks for 3D Printing and Soft Robotics” Monday, May 6, 2024 12:00 PM EB1 2018

Hwan Oh Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons “Dual-Material Area-Selective Deposition for Advanced Nanopatterning” Monday, May 6, 2024 10:00 AM EB1 3018

Shengwei Zhang Chair: Dr. Qingshan Wei “Plasmonic Smartphone Microscopy for Biosensing and Disease Diagnostics” Thursday, May 2, 2024 3:00 PM PSB 3158

Sherafghan Iftikhar Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li “Sustainable Carbon Dioxide and Methane Conversion via Thermochemical Cyclic Reactions” Wednesday, March 27, 2024 1:30 PM EB2 3002

Alison Waldman Co-Chair: Dr. Albert Keung Co-Chair: Dr. Balaji Rao “A yeast surface display platform for the mapping of histone acetyltransferases” Wednesday, March 20, 2024 1:00 PM Toxicology 2104

Pallav Kirti Jani Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Co-Chair: Dr. Lilian Hsiao “Uncovering interfacial mechanisms in hybrid polymer systems” Friday, March 15, 2024 12:00 PM EB1 2015

John van Schaik Chair: Dr. Nathan Crook “Synthetic Biology Methods for Engineering Root Microbiomes” Thursday, March 14, 2024 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Ryan Kilgore Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti “Bespoke Peptide Affinity Resins: Enhancing the Purification of Biopharmaceuticals and Gene Editing Products” Friday, March 8, 2024 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Ronald Christopher Estridge Chair: Dr. Albert Keung “Advancing Tools to Accelerate the Study of Human Neurodevelopment” Friday, February 23, 2024 11:00 AM EB1 2018

Completed: 2023

Rakshit Kumar Jain Co-Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Co-Chair: Dr. Carol Hall “Computational Methods to Study Secondary Structure and Physical Properties of Peptoids” Wednesday, December 13, 2023 2:00 PM EB1 2018

Vahid Rahmanian Chair: Dr. Saad Khan “Hybrid Nanofibrous Aerogels: Strategies Towards Design and Functionality” Friday, November 10, 2023 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Leah Granger Co-Chair: Dr. Greg Parsons Co-Chair: Dr. Donald Brenner “Modeling energetics across interfaces: atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of metal/metal and metal/metal oxide interfaces” Wednesday, August 16, 2023 10:00 AM EB1 2015

Fazel Bateni Chair: Dr. Milad Abolhasani “Autonomous Microfluidic Synthesis of Metal Cation-Doped Perovskite Quantum Dots” Tuesday, August 8, 2023 9:00 AM EB1 3018

Bradley Davis Co-Chair: Dr. Milad Abolhasani Co-Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer “Ligand-Free Catalysis Using Polymer Network Supports and a Continuous Flow Platform for Pharmaceutical and Fine Chemical Synthesis” Friday, July 28, 2023 1:00 PM EB1 2018

Junchen Liu Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li “CO2 Utilization, Mitigation for Hydrocarbon and Alkylbenzene Conversion via Chemical Looping Approach” Friday, July 28, 2023 9:00 AM EB1 2018

Kevin Lin Chair: Dr. Albert Keung “Biomolecular Engineering for Accessing and Manipulating Digital and Biological Information” Friday, July 14, 2023 2:00 PM Toxicology 2104

Eduardo Barbieri Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti “Bacteria- and Virus-Targeting Peptides for Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Applications” Wednesday, July 12, 2023 9:30 AM EB3 4142

Sunyoung Woo Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer “Formation and properties of surface grafted functional networks and brushes” Monday, July 10, 2023 1:00 PM EB1 2018

Sarah Morgan Chair: Dr. Greg Parsons “Sorption-vapor synthesis: a new method for producing metal-organic framework fabric composites” Friday, July 7, 2023 10:00 AM EB1 2015

Zvikomborero Machikiti Co-Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Co-Chair: Dr. Kirill Efimenko “A Systematic Approach to Tuning Adhesion Strength in Polymer-Polymer Systems” Tuesday, June 27, 2023 11:00 AM EB1 2018

Sooik Im Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Co-Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer “Surface and Interfacial Phenomena in Soft Materials” Monday, June 26, 2023 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Thomas Rudibaugh Chair: Dr. Albert Keung “Developing an Ex Vivo Model of the Mesolimbic Pathway for Studying Drug Responses” Wednesday, June 21, 2023 11:00 AM EB1 2018

Brandyn Moore Co-Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Daniele “Discovery of Peptide Ligands for the Light-Responsive Purification of Hematopoietic Stem Cells and the Universal Purification of Exosomes” Monday, June 19, 2023 9:00 AM EB1 3018

Sudeep Sarma  Chair: Dr. Carol Hall “Computational Redesign of Peptides as Detectors, Drugs, and Biomaterials” Monday, June 12, 2023 1:00 PM EB1 3018

Mohammad (Milad) Shamsi Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Co-Chair: Dr. Richard Spontak “Fundamental Study of Thermoplastic Elastomer Fibers” Monday, May 15, 2023 3:00 PM REMOTE

Andrew Clark Chair: Dr. Adriana San Miguel “Microfluidics and Quantitative Image Processing for High Throughput Biology Studies” Thursday, May 4, 2023 10:00 AM EB1 3018

Ernesto Daniel Cardenas Vasquez Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso “In-Silico Novel Solvent-Based Molecular Method For Crystal Nucleation in Solution” Tuesday, May 2, 2023 2:00 PM EB1 3018

Katie Kilgour Co-Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Daniele “Affinity Binding of Proteins and Peptides for Growth Factor Display and Rapid Antibody Quantification” Friday, April 28, 2023 9:30 AM EB3 4142

Yosra Kotb Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev “Colloidal Stability and Adhesivity of Safe and Sustainable Polymer and Biopolymer Films” Thursday, April 27, 2023 12:00 PM EB1 2015

Amelia Chen Chair: Dr. Carol Hall “Conjugation of DOPA and Amyloid-forming Peptides for Molecular Design of Underwater Adhesives” Friday, April 21, 2023 3:30 PM REMOTE

Amanda Volk Chair: Dr. Elizabeth Dickey “Algorithm Driven Development of Fringe Layer-by-Layer Deposition Techniques” Friday, January 27, 2023 3:00 PM REMOTE

Rachel Bang Chair: Dr. Lokendra Pal “Multiphasic Liquid Nanofabrication and Characterization of a Multitude of Soft Matter Morphologies” Thursday, January 5, 2023 10:00 AM EBI 2018

Completed: 2022

Scott Baldwin Chair: Dr. Jason Haugh “Analysis of Fibroblast Chemotaxis and Haptotaxis using Novel Microfluidic Devices, Mathematical Modeling, and Quantative Image Processing” Tuesday, November 11, 2022 2:30 PM EBI 3018

Deniz Durmusoglu Chair: Dr. Nathan Crook “Establishing  Probiotic Yeast Saccharomyces Boulardii as an In-Gut Biomanufacturing Platform” Friday, October 14, 2022 1:00 PM EBI 3018 James Crosby Chair: Dr. Robert Kelly “Biochemical, Regulatory, and Metabolic Assessment of Hemicellulose Conversion by the Extreme Thermophile Caldicellulosiruptor bescii” Thursday, October 13, 2022 11:00 AM Online Tunyaboon Laemthong Chair: Dr. Robert Kelly “Engineering the Cell Surface of Caldicellulosiruptor bescii to Enhance Ability to Deconstruct Lignocellulosic Plant Biomass” Thursday, October 6, 2022 1:00 PM Online

Ibrahim Al’Abri Chair: Drs. Nathan Crook and Adriana San Miguel Delgadillo “Adaptive and Directed Evolution Approaches to Enhance Probiotics Residence Time in the GI Tract” Monday, August 29, 2022 12:00 PM EB1 2018

Ryan Tam Chair: Dr. Albert Keung “Characterizing Responses in Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Medium Spiny Neuron-Like Cells” Monday, August 22, 2022 11:00 AM EB1 2018

Yuan Tian Co-chairs: Drs. Fanxing Li and Phillip Westmoreland “Redox Properties of Mixed Metal Oxides for Chemical Looping Combustion and Beyond” Thursday, August 11, 2022 10:00 AM Remote

Scott Collins Co-chairs: Drs. Chase Beisel and Nathan Crook “Controlling Outcomes in CRISPR-based Genome Editing” Monday, July 11, 2022 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Emily Krzystowczyk Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li “Oxygen Sorbent Design and Process Analysis for Thermochemical Air Separation” Wednesday, June 29, 2022 9:00 AM EBI 2018

Adam Bachmann Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey “Unconventional Laser Fabrication of Electronic Devices.” Tuesday, June 28, 2022 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Jungsik Kim Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons “Area-selective Deposition of Organic/Inorganic Materials by Atomic Layer Deposition, Molecular Layer Deposition and Chemical Vapor Deposition” Tuesday, May 31, 2022 2:00 PM EBI 2018

Javier Huayta Ramirez Chair: Dr. Adriana San Miguel “Quantitative analysis of the Effects of Environmental Factors on Lifespan and Stress Resistance of C. Elegans.” Tuesday, May 17, 2022 EB2 2018

Joseph Mccaig Chair: Dr. Henry Lamb “Ni/aluminosilicate Catalysts for Heterogeneous Ethylene Oligomerization” Thursday, May 12, 2022 EBI 2018 Rachel Nye Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons Nucleation and Growth Mechanisms in Atomic and Molecular Layer Deposition for Applications in Microelectronics Friday, May 6, 2022 10:00 AM EB2 1226

Steven James Zboray Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Modification of Maleic Anhydride Copolymers for Applications Including Water Purification and Antifouling Friday, March 11, 2022 3:00 PM EB2 1212

Veenasri Vallem Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Polymer networks with liquid metal electrodes for energy harvesting and actuation Monday, March 28, 2022 4:00 PM EB1 2018

Srivatsan Ramesh Co-chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Co-chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Co-chair: Dr. Saad Khan Stimuli-responsive nano- and micro-composites for smart fabrics and therapeutics delivery Tuesday, March 29, 2022 3:00 PM EB1 2018

Zachary Scott Campbell Chair: Dr. Milan Abolhasani Metal Oxide Microparticles: From Synthesis to Application Tuesday, February 22, 2022 9:00 AM Virtual

Tamoghna Saha Co-chair: Dr. Orlin D. Velev Co-chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Engineering and On-skin Validation of a Novel Osmotic-Capillary Wearable Patch for Long-Term Sweat Lactate Monitoring Tuesday, January 6, 2022 9:00 AM EB1 2018

Completed: 2021

Justin Vento Chair: Dr. Chase Beisel Exploiting Bacterial Defense Systems to Improve Genetic Tools in Bacteria Monday, December 13, 2021 10:00 AM EB1 2018

Raphael Prodromou Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Development of Complete Process Workflow Identification, Characterization, and Utilization of Light Responsive Peptide Affinity Ligands Wednesday, November 03, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Kristine M. Smith Chair: Dr. Lilian Hsiao Velocity profiles and microstructure of thermoresponsive nanoemulsions in cylindrical channel flow Friday, October 29, 2021 10:00 AM EB2 1220

Rajesh Paul Chair: Dr. Qingshan Wei Applications of microneedle patches and smartphone-based diagnostic devices for tackling emerging plant diseases Tuesday, October 26, 2021 11:00 AM Toxicology Building 2102

Suyong Han Chair: Dr. Milad Abolhasani Accelerating Gas-Liquid Reactions in Flow Thursday, August 12, 2021 9:00 AM REMOTE

Natasha Iris Morales Castellanos Chair: Dr. Orlin D. Velev Formulation and characterization of novel soft magnetic beads, magneto-capillary gels, and responsive soft structures Wednesday, August 11, 2021 10:00 AM REMOTE

Kameel Antami Chair: Dr. Milad Abolhasani Microfluidic Studies of Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Quantum Dots Monday, August 09, 2021 10:00 AM REMOTE

Jeffery Bennett Chair: Dr. Milad Abolhasani Polymer Network Based Catalysts for Metal Mediated Synthesis of Fine Chemicals Thursday, August 05, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Kyle J Tomek Chair: Dr. Albert Keung Addressing Practical Barriers to Extreme-Scale DNA-based Data Storage Systems Thursday, August 05, 2021 10:00 AM REMOTE

Daniel Midkiff Chair: Dr. Adriana San Miguel Microfluidics and Image Processing for High-Throughput Screening for Aging in C. elegans Friday, July 16, 2021 10:00 AM REMOTE

Siyao Wang Chair: Dr. Saad A. Khan Processing of Intrinsic Microporous Polymer for Protective Textiles and Molecular/Atomic Layer Deposition for Organic and Hybrid Material Synthesis Friday, July 2, 2021 10:00 AM REMOTE

Shravan Pradeep Chair: Dr. Lilian C. Hsiao Towards designing flow mechanics in dense suspensions of smooth and rough colloids Wednesday, June 30, 2021 9:30 AM REMOTE

Seung Keun Song Chair: Dr. Gregory N. ParsonsArea Selective Deposition of Dielectric and Metal Thin Films by Controlled Nucleation during Atomic Layer Deposition and Etching Tuesday, June 15, 2021 1:00 PM REMOTE

Jessica Lee Chair: Dr. Albert Keung Novel Modalities of Gene Regulation Engi n eering for Eukaryotic Synthetic Biology Wednesday, June 2, 2021 1:00 PM REMOTE

Jennifer A. Clark Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Bridging the Gap in Modeling Polymer Behavior using Sim u lation Methods on Multiple Scales Thursday, May 13, 2021 8:30 AM REMOTE

Austin Williams Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Particles with “Gecko Legs”: Making and Applications of a Hierarchical Nanomaterial Wednesday, May 12, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Jiaqi Yan Chair: Dr. Richard J. Spontak Physico-Chemical Modifications of Block Copolymers and Their Gels for Enhanced Functionality Thursday, April 1, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Yunhu Peng Chair: Dr. Lilian Hsiao Engineering elastohydrodynamic friction on soft substrates through surface patterning and porous microstructures Tuesday, March 23, 2021 1:00 PM REMOTE

Dilara Sen Chair: Dr. Albert Keung Organoid models of neurodevelopment and neuroepigenetics Thursday, March 11, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Kaitlyn Bacon Co-Chair: Dr. Balaji Rao & Dr. Stefano Menegatti Engineering Combinatorial Platforms for Design and Analysis of Biomolecular Recognition Wednesday, March 10, 2021 11:30 AM REMOTE

Ankit Chandra Chair: Dr. Jason M. Haugh Multiscale Modeling and Quantitative Methods for Mesenchymal Cell Migration Friday, January 15, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Camden Cutright Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Next-generation surface coatings and smart-gated membranes built from stimuli-responsive microgels Friday, January 15, 2021 10:30 AM REMOTE

Soo Ah Jin Co-Chair: Dr. Richard J. Spontak & Dr. Saad Khan Elucidating and Controlling Hierarchical Structural Development in Hybrid Biobased Materials Thursday, January 14, 2021 2:00 PM REMOTE

Salvatore Luiso Co-Chair: Dr. Peter S. Fedkiw & Dr. Richard J. Spontak Separators and electrolytes for next generation Li-ion batteries Tuesday, January 5, 2021 10:00 AM REMOTE

Bharadwaja Srimat Tirumala Peddinti Chair: Dr. Richard J. Spontak Antimicrobial Polymers: Strategic Pathways for Application as Broad-Spectrum Anti-Infective Materials Monday, January 4, 2021 10:30 AM REMOTE

Completed: 2020

Daphne Collias Chair: Chase Beisel Evaluating DNA targeting requirements and outcomes for CRISPR technologies Wednesday, December 16, 2020 12:00 PM REMOTE

Arnab Bose Chair: Dr. Philip R. Westmoreland Polsaccharide and Heat-Transfer-Fluid Pyrolysis Mechanisms Developed using Data, Theory and Machine Learning Tuesday, November 13, 2020 2:30 PM REMOTE

Robert Wood Epps Chair: Dr. Milad Abolhasani Accelerated Lead Halide Perovskite Development by Autonomous Robotic Experimentation in Flow Wednesday, November 7, 2020 3:30 PM REMOTE

Ria Domier Corder Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Rheological Characterization of Complex and Dynamic Materials: From Collagenase-Treated Tumors to Photopolymerizing Coordinated Ionic Liquids Thursday, October 29, 2020 1:30 PM REMOTE

Taylor Neumann Chair: Dr. Michael D. Dickey Additive Patterning of Liquid Metals: Enabling Diverse Processing of 3D and Multilayer Metallic Features at Room Temperature. Wednesday, October 21, 2020 3:00 PM REMOTE

Cathryn Conner Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Analysis of the Interactions, Precipitation, and Aggregation or Biopolymer Nanoparticles and Immunoglobulins. Monday, October 12, 2020 1:00 PM REMOTE

Ryan B. Dudek Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li Redox Catalysts for Selective Hydrogen Combustion Wednesday, October 7, 2020 9:00 AM REMOTE

Emily Facchine Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan & Dr. Orlando Rojas Microstructures and Interactions of Biobased Nanomaterials. Monday, July 20, 2020 11:00 AM REMOTE

Sahand Saberi Bosari Chair: Dr. Adriana San Miguel Microfluids and Quantitative Image Processing for High-Content Analysis of Neuronal Degeneration and Particle-based Library Screening. Thursday, June 11, 2020 02:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Yeongun Ko Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Controlling the Areal Density and Functionality of Polymer Brushes on Flat Solid Substrates via Degrafting and Post-Polymeri z ation Modification Reactions. Thursday, June 4, 2020 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

John Bowen Co-Chair: Dr. Balaji Rao & Dr. Stefano Menegatti Engineering post-translational modified peptides by combinatorial screening. Thursday, June 4, 2020 10:00 AM REMOTE

Kevin Day Co-Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti & Dr. Michael Daniele Next-Generation Peptide Affinity Ligands: From Linear to Light-Responsive. Monday, May 26, 2020 01:00 PM REMOTE

Kaihang Shi Co-Chair: Dr. Keith E. Gubbins & Dr. Erik E. Santiso Molecular Simulation and Theoretical Studies of Adsorption on Heterogeneous Surfaces and Microscopic Pressure Tensor in Thin Adsorbed Films. Monday, May 18, 2020 01:30 PM REMOTE

Barbara Vasconcelos De Farias Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Rheology and Lubrication of Gels and Emulsions. Monday, March 23, 2020 09:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Heather Barton Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons Metal-Organic Framework-Fiber Composites enabled by Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Oxides for the Degradation of Chemical Warfare Agents and Simulants. Friday, February 10, 2020 01:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Ryan Maloney Chair: Dr. Carol Hall Computer Simulations of Colloidal Mixtures Friday, January 3, 2020 11:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Completed: 2019

James Counts Chair: Dr. Robert M. Kelly Determinants for Hot Acid Microbial Lifestyles: Chemolithoautotrophic Physiology of the Extremely Thermoacidophilic Archaeal Lineage Sulfolobales Friday, November 20, 2019 02:00 PM Partners II, Rm 3002

Petr Novotny Chair: Dr. H. Henry Lamb Mo-Al-Fe Oxides for Chemical Looping Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Ethane: Supported and Planar Model Catalysts Friday, November 1, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Hannah Reese Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Modulating the Binding Energy of Synthetic Peptide Ligands Towards Bio-molecular Targets Tuesday, October 29, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Jason Robert Miles Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Precise Tuning of Surface Properties by Degrafting Organosilanos for Evaluation of Interfacial Phenomena Friday, October 25, 2019 02:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Ashton Lavoie Co-Chair: Dr. Stefano Menegatti Co-Chair: Dr. Ruben Carbonell Mixed Mode Peptide Ligands for Enhanced Clearance of Cell Culture Host Cell Proteins Thursday, September 26, 2019 02:30 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Russell Schmitz Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Reducing Particulate Fouling of Wind Tunnel Screens: Investigating nd Counteracting Phenomena that govern Polymer Microsphere Fouling on Wind Tunnel Screens Wednesday, August 28, 2019 09:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Vasudev P. Haribal Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li Light Alkane Valorization using a Redox approach Monday, August 26, 2019 01:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Sabina Islam Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Revisiting the Colloidal Fundamentals of Ionic Polymers for Engineering of Dispensions and Nanocoating with Tailored properties Thursday, August 15, 2019 02:30 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Christopher C. Walker Co-Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Co-Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Development of Accurate coarse-grained Polymer Molecular Models and a Framework for Copolymer Sequence Characterization via the Kerr Effect Wednesday, August 14, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Charles McGill Chair: Dr. Phillip Westmoreland The Development of Elementary Reaction Mechanisms with Computational Quantum Chemistry Tuesday, July 9, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Yunfei Gao Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li Ethylene production with active lattice oxygen under a cyclic redox scheme Friday, June 7, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Seif M. Yusuf Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li Development of redox catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane in a cyclic redox scheme Friday, June 7, 2019 1:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Christopher T. Straub Chair: Dr. Robert M. Kelly Metabolic Engineering of Extreme Thermophiles for Conversion of Renewable Feedstocks to Industrial Chemicals Thursday, June 6, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Amulya Pervaje Co-Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Multi-scale modeling of polymer resins, thermosets, and fibers Monday, June 3, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Thomas Jacobsen Co-Chair: Dr. Gregory Reeves Co-Chair: Dr. Chase Beisel Developing Tools and Techniques for Expanding the Synthetic Biology Toolkit Thursday, May 30, 2019 11:00 AM Partners II, Rm 3002

Shah Md Toufiqur Rahman Chair: Dr. Jason Haugh Dissection of Signal Transduction Networks Using Light-Activated Protein Kinases Wednesday, May 29, 2019 9:30 AM Partners II, Rm 3002

Amber Marie Hubbard Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Co-Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Stimuli-responsive polymers: Transforming planar, polymer materials into curved geometries Tuesday, May 14, 2019 9:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Joseph Tilly Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Co-Chair: Dr. Richard Spontak Network polymers for coating and optics applications Thursday, May 9, 2019 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Wenyi Xie Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons Thermal atomic layer etching and vapor phase infiltration for carbon material synthesis Tuesday, March 26, 2019 9:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Dennis Tae-Sung Lee Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons Chemical protective metal-organic framework thin films on fiber systems driven by atomic layer deposition Monday, March 25, 2019 1:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Adam Mischler Chair: Dr. Balaji Rao Trophoblast Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Wednesday, March 20, 2019 11:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Completed: 2018

Amit Mishra Chair: Dr. Fanxing Li Tailored Mixed Metal Oxides for Chemical Looping Processes Thursday, December 6, 2018 8:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Sangchul Roh Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Design of novel functional colloidal suspensions and gels by interfacial engineering of multiphse systems Monday, November 19, 2018 1:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Yiming Wang Chair: Dr. Carol K. Hall Understanding In Vitro Amyloid Formation and Inhibition Using Coarse-Grained Simulations Wednesday, November 7, 2018 10:15 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Anurodh Tripathi Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Co-Chair: Dr. Orlando Rojas Light-weight materials from biopolymers: from synthesis to applications Thursday, July 26, 2018 9:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Room 2018

Mohammad Oliuddin Tuhin Chair: Dr. Richard Spontak Co-Chair: Dr. Melissa Pasquinelli Experimental and Simulation Insights into Linear Multiblock Copolymer Systems: From Piezoresistive Sensors to Physical Organogels Thursday, July 26, 2018 1:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Dishit P. Parekh Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Additive Patterning of Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn) Alloys at Room Temperature for Rapid Prototyping of Functional Microfluidics and Soft, Printed Electronics Thursday, July 19, 2018 9:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Mariah King Co-Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Co-Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons Enhanced Materials Analysis Using Engineering Computational Tools for Applications in Electronics Fabrication and Surfactant Production Friday, July 13, 2018 9:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Kye Won Wang Chair: Dr. Carol Hall Development of Computer Simulation Models for Drug Delivery Applications Thursday, June 28, 2018 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Ishan D. Joshipura Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Wet and Dry Approaches to Preventing the Adhesion of a Soft, Oxide-coated Liquid Metals for Reconfigurable Electronics Wednesday, June 27, 2018 3:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Benjamin Zeldes Chair: Dr. Robert Kelly Leveraging extreme thermoacidophily for archaeal metabolic engineering Thursday, June 14, 2018 10:00 AM Partners 2, Rm 3002

Koohee Han Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Field-Driven Reconfigurable Assemblies and Self-Propelling Microbots Engineered from Anisotropic Particles Thursday, June 7, 2018 1:30 PM Engineering Building 1, Room 3018

Yiliang Lin Co-Chair: Dr. Jan Genzer Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Shape-Transformable Liquid Metal Particles for Soft Electronics and Biomedical Applications Tuesday, May 29, 2018 2:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Jennifer Ovental Co-Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Methods and processes for molecular scale coupling of organic and inorganic materials Tuesday, May 29, 2018 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Room 2018

Stephen Barilovits Co-Chair: Dr. Eunkyoung Shim Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Experimental Study of a Unique Multi-Row Meltblowing Process and the Web Structures Produced Thereby Friday, May 11, 2018 1:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

David Chang Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Investigation of Interfacial Interactions Between Surfactants, Cells, and Bubbles in Mammalian Cell Bioreactors May 7, 2018 10:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Laura Lee Chair: Dr. Robert Kelly Biodiversity of and Lignocellulosic Modes of Action by the Extremely Thermophilic Caldicellulosiruptor May 4, 2018 1:00 PM Partners II, Rm 3002

Chengxiang Liu Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Molecular Modeling of Crystallization from Solution May 4, 2018 1:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2015

Eric Stevens Chair: Dr. Gregory Parsons From Novel Processes to Industrially Relevant Applications: Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal, Metal Oxide, and Metal Carbide Thin Films April 12, 2018 8:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Joseph H. Lavoie Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Co-Chair: Dr. Orlando Rojas Approaches for Surface Energy Control of Nonwoven Webs for Alcohol Repellency and Electret Charge Protection February 21, 2018 9:00 AM Engineering Building 1, Rm 2018

Prajesh Adhikari Co-Chair: Dr. Saad Khan Co-Chair: Dr. Orlando Rojas Developing New Multicomponent Systems: From Coatings, Gels to Nanofiller Composites January 31, 2018 2:00 PM Engineering Building 1, Rm 3018

Completed: 2017

Adam Quintanilla Chair: Dr. Joseph DeSimone Fundamentals of Particulate-Filled Polymer Composite Fabrication via Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) September 25, 2017

Jason E. Coffman Chair: Dr. Joseph DeSimone Engineering antigen display for a PRINT particulate dengue subunit vaccine platform September 25, 2017

Deepti Srivastava Co-Chair: Dr. Keith Gubbins Co-Chair: Dr. Erik Santiso Monte Carlo Simulations of Adsorption and Reaction of Lennard-Jones Molecules in Carbon Pores and Protein-Polyelectrolyte Complexation August 1, 2017

Timothy W. Shay Co-Chair: Dr. Orlin Velev Co-Chair: Dr. Michael Dickey Hydrogel and Microfluidic Enabling Technologies for Wearable Biomonitoring Devices: Sweat and ECG Sensing June 20, 2017

Matthew J. Melillo Advisor: Dr. Jan Genzer PDMS Network Structure-Property Relationships: Influence of Molecular Architecture on Mechanical and Wetting Properties June 9,2017

Jonathan M. Conway Advisor: Dr. Robert Kelly In Vitro and In Vivo Analyses of the Role of Multi-Domain Glycoside Hydrolases from Extremely Thermophilic Caldicellulosiruptor Species in the Degradation of Plant Biomass March 27, 2017

James S. Daubert Advisor: Dr. Gregory Parsons Atomic Layer Deposition for Electrochemical Applications: Energy Storage and Corrosion Protection March 23, 2017

Paul C. Lemaire Advisor: Dr. Gregory Parsons Atomic Layer Deposition and Controlling Film and Crystal Nucleation March 22, 2017

J. Zachary Mundy Co-Advisor: Dr. Gregory Parsons Co-Advisor: Dr. Saad Khan Deposition Processes for Multifunctional Nanocoatings on Polymers March 3, 2017

Anisur Rahman Advisor: Dr. Jason Haugh Quantitative Analysis of the Akt/mTOR Signaling Network January 6, 2017

Browse published dissertations in the NCSU Libraries repository

NC State Theses and Dissertations Repository 

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Preliminary Oral Exam

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The Grad School requires doctoral students to take a preliminary examination consisting of a written examination and an oral examination.

Typically, students in the Chemistry Department present prelims by the first semester of their third year in the program, (fifth semester). However, according to the Grad School, students presenting a prelim must have completed all relevant, graded coursework relevant to the exam. All doctoral students should plan to present the prelim during the start of their third year before October 15, if you started in the Fall semester, or before March 15, if you started in the Spring semester .  Finalize with your committee by either October 1 or March 1 depending on your date of entry into the program . The prelim in chemistry typically consists of a written document, an oral presentation, and the actual defense.

The  written document  includes a detailed literature review, research accomplishments including an ACS-formatted experimental section (synthetic details, spectral data, etc.), and future research plans for completion of the PhD. Your committee must receive the written document at least  one-two weeks before  your exam date. You may not be allowed to present your prelim if any one of your committee members is dissatisfied with the document.

Prelims  typically  occur within a three-hour block, during which you give an oral presentation. While there is no specified length for the oral presentation, students should be able to effectively and concisely communicate the following three major components: i) a critical review of pertinent literature, ii) a description of completed research, and iii) a presentation and discussion of future research plans.   Note: students are NOT allowed to read aloud their oral presentation, even if conducted online. Your committee will weigh all of these components, although individual situations may dictate otherwise.

Three possible outcomes exist: Unconditional Pass, Conditional Pass, and Fail. An Unconditional Pass means you will  advance to candidacy and you will continue in the doctoral program until, when your committee decides you are ready, you defend your final dissertation . A Conditional Pass means that your committee may, 1. Require you to complete additional work by a set date before deciding on an Unconditional Pass, or 2. Require you to retake the prelim no earlier between four to five months after the initial exam. Failure to pass the prelim will result in a change in program status from PhD to MS with the requirement of defending a MS thesis shortly thereafter.

Scheduling the Prelim

Before scheduling your prelim, you must have an approved  Plan of Work . The Grad Office will not schedule an exam until you sign your Patent Agreement, submit your POW and it is approved by your committee and the Graduate School.

At least ONE TO TWO MONTHS IN ADVANCE , reserve a three-hour block,  preferably * no later than 9:00 AM for morning exams or between 1:00 and 2:00 for afternoon exams once your committee settles on a date and time. We recommend that you reserve the room earlier rather than later due to the demand on available conference rooms. Contact the Chemistry Graduate Office ([email protected]) to reserve DAB 210 or COX 400. Please contact Premila Jayaratne ([email protected]) for PIII.

NOTE:  All available conference rooms are in high demand during the Fall semester and we will not honor last minute reservations, so finalize your exam time and date as early as possible or you face having to present in an undesirable room or having to reschedule.

Turn in your completed  Request to Schedule Doctoral Oral Examination form TO THE CHEMISTRY GRADUATE OFFICE no later than  three weeks prior (15 working days, M-F)  to your exam date . The form itself states a two-week window, but we prefer three weeks to check your Plan of Work, check your file in MyPack for any outstanding issues, and to allow the Graduate School time to find your Graduate School Representative. We may not be able to process forms received fewer than two weeks (10 working days) prior to your scheduled exam date due to Grad School regulations. If you forget to turn in your form, you may have to reschedule — NO EXCEPTIONS. The Grad School requires enough time to assign a representative to attend prelims (if one is required). Committee members do not need to sign the Exam Request Form but the Director of Graduate Programs (DGP) does need to sign. The Graduate School will electronically send your actual exam results form, Report of the Committee , to your committee.

* Each division has developed specific requirements that go hand-in-hand with our general program requirements. This includes scheduling and holding prelims in slightly different formats. Please review your corresponding divisional requirements and consult your advisor if you have any questions: Analytical, Inorganic, Organic, and Physical.

The Grad Office typically emails the entire department announcing your Preliminary Oral Exam prior to your exam. If you do not want your exam announced due to any reason, please inform the Grad Office in advance. Your scheduled exam will also be added to the Chemistry Events Calendar .

The Graduate School Representative

The Grad School Representative (GSR)  has a unique role during the  preliminary and final doctoral exams . The Representative protects the interests of the student, the advisory committee, and The Graduate School. The Representative is also an “unbiased person” to whom the Dean may turn for judgement and counsel in the event any issues arise after an exam. The Department of Chemistry’s Graduate School Liaison works with the Dean to appoint Graduate Faculty at random to serve as GSRs on student committees when a student schedules a prelim. If you know a Graduate Faculty member from another department, please ask them to serve as your GSR.  This would greatly assist the quick completion of your committee. If you already have a Graduate Faculty member on your committee from another department, ask them if they would agree to serve a dual purpose, as a voting member and as GSR. Do not forget that your GSR must also attend your final defense.

When scheduling your prelim, if needed, take into account that the Graduate School Liaison must find someone willing to serve as your GSR. When scheduling exams after hours (i.e. after 5:00 PM) The Dean has informed us that you must find your own GSR or make sure your committee has outside representation. The Graduate School WILL NOT assign your GSR in this case and if you do not have one, you will not be able to go through with your prelim.

In the event that your GSR cannot make it to your scheduled exam, please have that person contact the Graduate Office. If your GSR does not arrive at your exam, your exam should be put on hold or rescheduled. Please contact the Grad Office immediately in such cases.

The Prelim Document

Your committee, as well as the GSR, must receive the prelim document at least  one-two weeks before  your scheduled exam. The prelim document should convincingly show that you have a firm understanding of the following:

• The area of study, including the fundamental concepts, key research questions, and important literature
• What you have accomplished in the project, why you did the work, and how the results are interpreted
• Planned future work to complete the project.

A strong document typically consists of a good balance between literature, completed work, and future research plans. Thus, plan on dedicating approximately 1/3 of the paper to each of these areas. However, the faculty recognizes that individual situations may cause variations in organizational structure. A concise paper can be as short as 15 pages including abstract, figures, tables, and references. Keep in mind that the first statement, above anything else, determines the course of the document rather than any preset page minimum. Please adhere to the following layout specifications: Single-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font with 1” margins on all sides.

Organize your document using the following guidelines:

• Background and literature review
• Specific research objectives
• Description of completed work
• Future research plans
• Bibliography
• Figures and tables (if not embedded in the text)

Refreshments

NOTE: Please limit the amount of beverages you bring into any of our conference rooms and clean up after your event. Rooms that are not cleaned after being used by students will no longer be available for ANY student meetings or oral exams of any kind.

Students customarily provide a small amount of refreshments for oral exams; refreshments are your responsibility. You can bring pre-brewed coffee from places like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Cup-O-Joe, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chick-fil-A, etc. (note, some need 24-48 hr. advance notice). Plan to set up at least thirty minutes in advance of your defense, or plan accordingly if room is occupied before your exam. If you are on Main Campus or Centennial Campus, ask your lab mates to help you set up. Clean up  whichever room you use and leave it  as you found it . Not cleaning up rooms will result in fewer available locations for student presentations of any kind.

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CCEE Ph.D. Exam Information & Process

All doctoral students must attain candidacy (pass the oral prelim) for the degree within four years of starting their program or after they have completed 48 hours of coursework, whichever is later.  See the Comprehensive Examinations section of the Graduate Handbook for more information.

Written Comprehensive Exam

– The committee decides on the specific format of this exam, and each member of the advisory committee prepares a set of questions for the student’s response, and the answers to each set are returned to the appropriate faculty member for evaluation.

– The questions involved may cover any phase of the coursework taken by the student during graduate study or any subject logically related to an understanding of the subject matter in the major and minor areas of study. The questions are designed to measure the student’s mastery of his/her field and the adequacy of preparation for research.

– Notification of completion. The committee chair(s) must notify the DGP when a student has completed the written examination.  This is done by submitting a written qual exam report which is posted on MyCCEE.  Signatures are acquired by the adviser before being sent to the Graduate Studies Office/DGP.

– The exam is coordinated by the chair of the advisory committee.  The committee prepares the written exam with input from each committee member.  The Department Exam Report is used to inform the Director of Graduate Programs (DGP) of the outcome of the exam.  The exam report should be handled by the committee chair/co-chair or committee member and NOT the student.

– A written exam report must be on file before the approval of the Request to Schedule the Oral Preliminary Exam.

Oral Preliminary Exam

The student prepares a written proposal and submits it to the committee before the exam, typically one week prior unless otherwise specified by the committee.  Read the detailed and important information on the Preliminary Oral Exam in the Graduate School Handbook

The PhD Preliminary Exam must be formally scheduled through the Graduate School.  The deadline for scheduling exams is 10 days before the exam date.

•   Complete the Request to Schedule Oral Exam (Preliminary or Final) Form .  Forms must be submitted to the Graduate School at least 10 days before the exam date.  The form must be sent to Jodie Gregoritsch ( [email protected] ).
•   Plan of Work must be approved.
•   Written PhD Exam Report must be on file with the Graduate Studies Office.
• The student and advisory committee will be notified of the approved request via a Google Calendar Event Notice.
• Forms needed for the exam will be included in a calendar event notification sent out by the GSC (Jodie).
• The advisor/Chair will create a Zoom Meeting link and share it with Jodie for the exam announcement.  Conference room reservations can be made through the GSC (Jodie).

Final Oral Exam

Scheduled after the dissertation is complete except for such revisions as may be necessary as a result of the exam, but not before all required coursework has been completed. The final oral presentation (dissertation defense) is announced by the graduate programs office and is open to graduate students and faculty.

• Complete the Request to Schedule Oral Exam (Preliminary or Final) Form  in consultation with the advisory committee.
• Submit via email the completed form to the Graduate Services Office ~ [email protected] .  The Request to Schedule Form MUST be received by the Graduate School at least 10 days before the exam date.
• The student and advisory committee will be notified of the approved request via a Google Calendar Event Notification from the GSC (Jodie).
• Forms needed for the exam will be in the calendar event description area.
• Zoom links should be created by the committee chair so that they can manage the meeting as the host.  Conference room reservations can be made through Jodie .
• Graduate Plan of Work:  Make sure your graduate plan of work is up-to-date and correct.  If revisions/updates are needed, email Jodie to request the plan be released.

Note :  The defense itself does not have a deadline.  Defenses should take place with time enough for any suggested edits by the committee or the receipt of a conditional pass to meet the ETD Deadlines .

Exam Result

Conditional Pass.  The student may be passed on condition of the student meeting specific requirements defined by the committee. The conditions may be based on the defense itself, or they may be connected directly to the thesis/dissertation. The examination is not complete until all conditions have been satisfied and that fact has been reported to the Graduate School.

Unconditional Pass.  A unanimous vote of approval of the advisory committee is required to pass the final oral examination. An unconditional pass signifies that the student successfully defended and that the thesis/dissertation is complete, except for minor editing.

Once a student receives an unconditional pass on the final oral exam, they should do the following as soon as possible:

•  Carefully review the ETD Process
• Submit the ETD Draft (see the information on the ETD link above)
• Apply to Graduate
• Request to Schedule Oral Exam
• Exam Report Form – to be completed by the committee.
• Oral Assessment Form – to be completed and submitted by each committee member

Additional Forms:

External/Consultant Appointment Form

Inter-Institutional Appointment Form

Doctorate Degree (Ph.D.)

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Ph.D. in Plant Biology

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the highest degree we offer in the plant biology graduate program.

Our goal is to produce independent research scientists who will contribute fundamental knowledge to the world or who will become leaders in government and industry laboratories.

• Degree Requirements

Advisory Committee

Teaching requirement, degree audit, annual report, preliminary exam, dissertation and defense, ph.d. timeline.

• Transferring Between Programs

Ph.D. Degree Requirements

• Seventy-two (72) semester hours (14-15 hours must be from the required courses for all plant biology students).
• One (1) additional plant biology course at the 500-level or higher. Other courses must be approved on the Degree Audit .
• Earn a minimum 3.0 GPA overall on graduate coursework at NC State.
• Must be continuously enrolled and complete all degree requirements within ten (10) calendar years beginning with the date a student starts courses carrying graduate credit applicable to the degree program.
• Complete and submit an annual report to the director of graduate programs (DGP) each year.
• Pass the preliminary written and oral examinations.
• Complete and defend a dissertation . The student works with their advisory committee to determine the scope of their dissertation research. The committee will conduct a final oral exam (defense) of the thesis, which the student must pass to earn their degree.
• Must be enrolled in one credit or more the semester the student applies to graduate.

Most Ph.D. students will be assigned to a graduate advisor. For those who are not, the DGP will serve as an initial advisor, and these students will work with the DGP to prepare a rotation schedule and identify a dissertation advisor (also known as a “major advisor”). All Ph.D. students must identify a graduate advisory committee prior to completing their first year.

The advisory committee consists of the student’s major advisor and at least three additional graduate faculty members, two from plant biology and one from an outside department. All required committee members must hold appointments within the NC State Graduate School. Scientists who are not members of the Graduate School faculty (e.g., adjunct faculty, industry scientists) may be appointed as additional members of the committee. Prior to the preliminary exam, the Graduate School will assign a representative to the student’s committee. See the Graduate School Handbook for details.

A students advisory committee will meet at least once a year throughout the student’s degree program. During committee meetings, students must give a presentation on their research project and progress. Students should provide each committee member with the following before each meeting:

• An updated CV
• A list of courses taken (with grades earned) and planned to be taken
• A copy of their most recent annual report
• A written progress report on their dissertation research

For the first committee meeting, students will discuss their long-term goals and preliminary ideas concerning their dissertation research.

Doctoral students must serve as a laboratory teaching assistant in at least two sections. The undergraduate coordinator creates these teaching assignments. During the semester a Ph.D. student serves as a teaching assistant, they should enroll in at least one hour of PB 895 (Doctoral Supervised Teaching).

Ph.D. students with prior master’s degrees that are included in their Degree Audit are only required to teach in one section. Substitutions for the teaching requirement are subject to approval by the DGP.

Student and their advisor will outline a Degree Audit as soon as possible. The Degree Audit includes all courses to be taken, an anticipated timetable for taking each course and a tentative dissertation title.

Students will submit their Degree Audit to their advisory committee for approval and then submit it to the Graduate School by the end of their second semester.

Students will submit annual reports upon request by the DGP. These reports are typically due late January to mid-February. Ideally, students will meet with their committee prior to submitting the annual report, where they will make an oral presentation and submit a written report on their laboratory research.

The advisor and committee must determine if the student is making satisfactory research and academic progress for the student to be re-appointed to their assistantship and to remain in good status in the graduate program.

Preliminary Examination

Students must pass the written and oral preliminary examination (Prelim) to gain admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. See the  Ph.D. Policies and Procedures  for details.

Dissertation and Defense

All Ph.D. candidates must write a dissertation on their research that conforms to the  NC State Thesis and Dissertation Guide . The content and structure of the dissertation must be approved by the advisory committee. Additionally, all candidates must prepare their results for publication prior to program completion.

Doctoral candidates who have completed their research and other degree requirements (72 credit hours) may enroll in PB 899 (Dissertation Preparation) while they are writing their dissertation. They must also present a seminar hosted by the plant biology graduate program as part of their final exam (defense).

Upon the candidate’s satisfactory defense of the Ph.D. dissertation, the advisory committee will approve it for transmission to the Graduate School. See the  Ph.D. Policies and Procedures  for details.

Transferring Between Degree Programs

Students in the M.S. program may wish to bypass the M.S. degree and transfer directly into the Ph.D. program. In these cases, a student’s advisory committee must receive sufficient evidence of the student’s research ability, such as published manuscripts or abstracts or other scientific presentations, to justify the transfer. The student must meet with their committee to present current research results and research objectives for the Ph.D. dissertation. Following the meeting, a letter signed by the advisor and endorsed by a majority of the advisory committee is forwarded to the DGP recommending transfer into the Ph.D. program.

Students may also wish to pursue admission to the Ph.D. program following completion of their M.S. degree. Similarly, a student may consider transferring from the Ph.D. program into the M.S. program after a year or more in the graduate program. In either instance, the student’s advisory committee will hold a meeting to address the student’s status. A letter signed by the thesis advisor and endorsed by a majority of the committee is submitted to the DGP with a recommendation. The student and their advisor will receive a letter notifying them of admission or change in program.

Any other transfers between degree programs must be approved by a student’s advisory committee with a specific recommendation and then submitted to the DGP.

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As with our masters programs, the PhD program in economics is offered jointly by the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the Department of Economics in the Poole College of Management (PCOM).

Faculty from both departments collaborate to offer a quantitatively rigorous program that prepares graduates for work in academia, research, government, and in private industry as consultants and analysts.

The PhD in economics requires students to complete 36 hours of coursework and 36 hours of dissertation research. Students entering with a master’s degree in economics may apply 18 hours toward the dissertation research credit hours requirement, but they still need to complete the 36 hours of coursework.

Students should expect to take five years to complete the PhD, two years of course work and three years of dissertation research.

• Student Learning Objectives 

STEM Designation

All of our programs (Master of Economics, Master of Science in Economics, and PhD in Economics) are classified as STEM (CIP Code 45.0603: Econometrics and Quantitative Economics), and international students in these programs can apply for a 24-month  STEM extension of F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT) .

Prerequisites

Admission to the PhD program is based on the student’s undergraduate and previous graduate record, three letters of recommendation, personal statement, and GRE scores. The GRE subject test in economics is not required. Students who are admitted must have an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (B) or better.

An undergraduate degree in economics is not required. However, applicants are required to have completed formal coursework in intermediate microeconomics and intermediate macroeconomics; self-study and personal inquiry into the discipline will not substitute for formal coursework. Additionally, students applying to the PhD program must have completed at minimum: three semesters of calculus, linear algebra and one 300-level course in statistics. A good text that reviews the quantitative techniques with which doctoral students should be familiar is Mathematics for Economists by Carl P. Simon (author) and Lawrence E. Blume.

Students are admitted to the PhD program in fall only.

Requirements

Core curriculum.

The core curriculum includes two courses in microeconomic theory, two courses in macroeconomic theory and two courses in econometrics.

• ECG 701 Microeconomics I
• ECG 702 Microeconomics II
• ECG 704 Macroeconomics I
• ECG 705 Macroeconomics II
• ECG 751 Econometric Methods
• ECG 752 Time Series Econometrics or ECG 753 Microeconometrics

Field Courses

Students are required to take six doctoral level field courses , four of which should comprise two 2-course sequences. Fields currently offered at NC State include: agricultural economics, development and labor economics, econometrics, environmental and resource economics, international economics, and microeconomic theory/industrial organization.

Through a cooperative agreement between NC State, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, students may also take economics field courses at these universities if equivalent courses are not available at NC State. With prior approval from their dissertation advisor(s) , students may design an alternative two-course field sequence from the offerings at NC State combined with Ph.D.-level field courses in economics offered at Duke or UNC-Chapel Hill.

Written Comprehensive Examinations

In the summer following completion of the core courses in economic theory (701, 702, 704, 705), students are required to take two four-hour written comprehensive examinations; one in microeconomic theory and one in macroeconomic theory.

Students must complete the written preliminary examinations at the first offering following completion of their micro theory and macro theory core sequences. Both exams must be taken at the same offering.

If a student fails one or both exams, the necessary exams may be retaken at the second offering. If a student fails one or both exams a second time, the student’s doctoral program is terminated. There are no field exams.

Dissertation Proposal Defense (Preliminary Oral Exam)

Students are required to complete an oral presentation of a dissertation proposal . The oral exam is conducted by the student’s advisory committee and a representative from the Graduate School. A PhD student is admitted to candidacy upon passing the preliminary oral examination. Students receiving departmental funding should be aware that financial assistance may be discontinued if the examination is delayed.

Final Oral Examination

The final oral examination is a defense of the complete written dissertation. The final oral exam is conducted by the student’s advisory committee and a representative of the Graduate School.

• Sample PhD Curriculum 
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Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering (Ph.D.) | NC State ISE

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering

The Ph.D. is pursued by outstanding students like you who have an intense interest in independent study and research. It consists of advanced coursework beyond the master’s degree:

• A written  qualifying exam
• A written and oral comprehensive  preliminary exam
• Extended and in-depth research
• A  written dissertation
• A final oral defense of your research

Note:  Students pursuing a Ph.D. are given first priority for assistantship awards.

Matriculation into the Ph.D. Program

If you are an MS student who wishes to continue on for your Ph.D., you should notify your MS advisory committee. You should also contact our  Director of Graduate Programs  requesting a review of your file for admission. Usually, this request should be made shortly after your oral examination for the MS degree. Letters from your MS advisory committee members are an essential part of the decision process. You should provide them at the time you request a departmental review.

If you’re a student with a non-thesis master’s, you may apply to be admitted directly into the doctoral program.

You may apply to the Direct Path from BS to Ph.D. This allows you to bypass the MS degree.

Basic Requirements Show More

• *If you have trouble finding courses to fulfill these requirements, consult your advisor or the Director of Graduate Programs to use substitute courses to fulfill each area.
• You must sit for and pass the Ph.D. qualifying exam
• These first three requirements must be met prior to scheduling the Preliminary Oral Examination

Credit Hour Requirements Show More

• Minimum 18 hours of letter-grade courses beyond the MS, up to six of which can be non-ISE courses.
• Your minor requires five (5) courses outside the department, including courses cross-listed with Industrial Engineering, such as PSY/ISE 740, OR/ISE 505 or CSC/OR/ISE 762.
• Your minor should either be constituted from a single area of concentration or carry a coherent, interdisciplinary theme that supports your major area of specialization .
• Minor coursework must be approved by your faculty committee.
• Minors from other departments with official requirements will appear on your transcript.
• Want to minor in statistics?  Guidelines for Minors in Statistics .
• New Ph.D. students starting from Fall 2016 are required to take a minimum of two 700-level courses .
• You are required to take one semester of ISE 801 as part of your degree coursework.
• Complete a Plan of Graduate Work (POGW) in MyPack Portal by the end of your first semester, see Graduate Student SIS Manual .
• You are encouraged to include “readings” and project courses (ISE 837 and ISE 839) for credit in your plans. This will be considered as preparation for required written examinations and the dissertation proposal.
• At least six (6) hours of graduate credit should be listed on the POGW for doctoral-level research and/or dissertation research (ISE 893 and ISE 895).

Exam Structure

Prequalifying phase.

Prior to passing the Qualifying Exam

• Informally create your Ph.D. advisory committee
• Draft your Plan of Graduate Work

Precandidacy Phase

After passing the Qualifying Exam and prior to passing the Preliminary Oral Exam

• Formalize your Ph.D. advisory committee
• File your Plan of Graduate Work with the Graduate School
• Write your dissertation proposal

Candidacy Phase

After passing the Preliminary Oral Exam

• Complete your dissertation
• Submission paper(s) to a professional, refereed journal
• Defend your dissertation
• ETD Deadlines

Notification of Graduate School

• Use the Request for Approval Form to get approval for your Preliminary and Final Oral Examinations from the Graduate School
• Important! You and your committee chair must arrange your examination time to accommodate the Graduate School Representative before asking the Graduate School to schedule the examination
• You should schedule your examination at a time when the Graduate School Representative and your regular committee members are available because Graduate School policy does not permit an examination to start with one or more committee members absent
• Remember to reconfirm the schedule with all concerned faculty members the day before the exam
• When you schedule your final oral examination, you must provide a half-page abstract of the research, in the approved format, to the Graduate Secretary

Got Questions? Please contact our Graduate Services Coordinator | [email protected] | 919.515.6410.

Final Defense Schedule

The following are the currently scheduled MS and PhD final thesis/dissertation defenses.