Ph.D. Dissertation and Defense
|
 |
The doctoral dissertation (or thesis) is completed under the direction of a thesis advisor, who must be a member of the mathematics graduate faculty. The thesis must be approved by a faculty committee of (at least) four members, one of which is an ''outside member" chosen by the thesis advisor in consultation with the Graduate Program Director. Members of the Graduate Faculty of Mathematics (even those with appointments in other departments) are not eligible to be outside committee members.
Students should read the Rutgers - New Brunswck Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide. Here is a guide to producing a Mathematics thesis in LATeX in accordance with the style guide.
The graduate school offers thesis preparation workshops.
Degree Policy (adopted May 2006)
The dissertation itself must be a single entity and a clearly written
account of the student's original research. In addition to a description
of the details and results of the research, it should contain an
appropriate general and contextual introduction, written at a level
accessible to most other workers in the wider field. If the thesis
consists of more than one piece of research, the elements of the
dissertation must be related parts of a common research program and
should be tied together in the introduction and the conclusion.
The student and his advisor should propose an outside committee member to the graduate program director at least one month before the defense date. The formal doctoral defense should normally be scheduled at least one month in advance of the defense date. There is an application form available from the graduate secretary.
The committee members should all be present at the defense. Sometimes it is infeasible for the outside committee member to attend the defense. In this case, the outside committee member should write a letter to the graduate program director indicating that he or she approves of the thesis.