Prospectus

All PhD students registered full-time are required to prepare a Thesis Prospectus (also known as a proposal) within four semesters following the successful completion of the PhD Qualifying Examination. Part-time students must propose within six semesters following the Qualifying Examination.

This time clock begins in the semester following the Qualifying Examination. A calendar year has three semesters (spring, summer, and fall). If a student leaves for a semester to return to industry, this four-semester clock is stopped. However, the time clock for the overall PhD program is not stopped. The PhD prospectus clock stops when the student leaves and resumes at the start of the semester when the student returns. Students who have not met their PhD Prospectus Requirement within the four-semester time limit must discuss a revised timeline with their advisor prior to the semesterly Graduate Progress Review. 

Prospectus Description 

The Thesis Prospectus is both 1.) an informal written description of the problem to be investigated and the expected accomplishments of that investigation and 2.) an oral presentation to the Prospectus Committee for review and recommendations. Both Prospectus Requirements must be completed at least one semester prior to the final defense.

Prospectus Format

The Thesis Prospectus write-up should be no more than 25 double-spaced pages in length—although prospectuses that are on the order of five to 10 pages are encouraged. The Prospectus should include the following:

• An explanation of the basic idea of the dissertation topic
• An explanation as to why this topic is interesting
• A statement as to what kind of results are expected
• A convincing argument as to why these results are attainable in a reasonable amount of time

Furthermore, the Thesis Prospectus should not be:

• A summary or abstract of the dissertation
• The first chapter or part of the dissertation
• A technical report
• A survey of the field
• An annotated bibliography

Students should discuss the presentation format of their Thesis Prospectus with their faculty advisor. Typically, a student is expected to provide a 45- to 60-minute presentation on their prospectus, then participate in a Q&A-based discussion with their committee. 

Students can download a prospectus template from here.

Prospectus committee

Access the PhD Prospectus Declaration Form

The Prospectus Committee consists of at least four members, including the student's advisor. At least two members of this committee must be ECE faculty, and at least one member must be from outside the department. Faculty members from other departments who hold courtesy appointments in ECE are considered to be inside the department. Faculty members who hold adjunct appointments in ECE are considered outside the department.

All committee members must actively participate in both the Thesis Prospectus meeting and Defense. While it is desirable to have all committee members participate in person, at least three committee members must be physically present, while the remaining can be remote. Any deviation from this teleconferencing policy is exceptional and must be petitioned for approval from the department via the PhD Prospectus Form. Because of the nature of the ICTI dual-degree program, teleconferencing requests by ICTI students will be approved by default. 

It is expected that any committee members participating remotely will have full audio and visual access to the presentation via teleconferencing equipment. It is the responsibility of the student to provide teleconferencing access to committee members participating remotely. Students can email help@ece.cmu.edu for assistance in setting up teleconferencing equipment.

Please note that all of the faculty being remote is not sufficient to justify the student being remote. The student is expected to be on campus (whichever campus they register at) for the prospectus presentation. If the student plans to be remote for either the prospectus or defense, they must petition the GSC for permission, fully explaining their circumstances

Prospectus Procedure 

Once the date, time and place of the prospectus have been confirmed, the student should email the completed Prospectus Declaration form to Greta Ruperto, Senior Academic Advisor, at least one week before the presentation. An electronic copy of the proposal paper should be submitted to the Senior Academic Advisor on or after the presentation date.

Students will be notified by Greta Ruperto, Senior Academic Advisor, of the approval of their committee. Once the committee has been approved, the student will meet with his or her committee to present the prospectus to them. To encourage open and frank dialogue, this presentation is attended only by the student, the committee, and any other interested ECE faculty members. Other attendees must be approved by the committee chair.

The outcome of this meeting will be either that the prospectus is accepted or not accepted. If the prospectus is not accepted, the student will be asked to revise it and meet again with the committee for approval. If the prospectus is accepted, then students should continue to move forward with his or her thesis.

Milestone review

Upon completion of the prospectus proposal, students should make an appointment to meet with Greta Ruperto, Ph.D. Academic Program Advisor to review their fulfillment of Course and Breadth requirements and Teaching Internship (TI) requirements. At this time, students may be informed of their eligibility for All But Dissertation (ABD) status.