Once a student has completed all the research that was agreed upon at the Ph.D. prospectus meeting, the student must write a Ph.D. thesis and orally defend it.
The thesis and defense must be completed within 6 years of taking the Ph.D. qualifying examination, or else the student must retake the qualifying examination. This time clock is not stopped if the student takes a leave of absence to return to industry between the qualifying exam and the defense. Students wishing to obtain an extension due to special circumstances have to submit a formal petition for approval by the Graduate Studies Committee.
Once the Ph.D. thesis is written, the student must submit a copy of the thesis together with the names of the Thesis Committee members to the ECE Graduate Office for approval by the ECE Department Head at least two weeks prior to the defense using the Defense Declaration form. The Thesis Committee is usually the same as the Prospectus Committee. If there is any change in the committee, the student must submit a one-page biographical description of any new committee member from outside Carnegie Mellon.
The oral defense is a public examination open to all members of the Carnegie Mellon community. All four of the members of the Prospectus Committee must actively participate in the defense meeting. It is desirable to have all committee members participate in person; however, a student is allowed to have one committee member of four participate by teleconferencing. Any deviation from this teleconferencing policy is exceptional and must be petitioned for approval from the ECE Department Head. After the committee has been approved, the student will meet with his or her committee to present the prospectus.
In addition to these ECE requirements, the College of Engineering has its own requirements. This site includes instructions for the document standards and format.