Thesis & Defense

Once the student has completed all the research that was agreed upon at the prospectus meeting, they must write a PhD thesis and orally defend it.

ECE adheres to CIT's policy on PhD completion timelines. The CIT policy is as follows: "Passing the PhD Qualifying Examination admits a student to candidacy for the PhD degree for a period of no longer than six calendar years. If, at the end of this six-year period, the PhD has not been awarded, the student must reapply for admission to the graduate program and will be judged competitively with other students applying at the same time." Students wishing to obtain an extension due to special circumstances must submit a formal petition at least one semester prior to the expiration of their defense timeline. 

Once their PhD thesis is written, the student must initiate the defense process by filling out the Thesis Defense Form. This form is essential as it gathers key details about your defense. Completing it promptly will allow us to move forward smoothly with the next steps. This form must be completed at least two weeks before the defense date. To initiate the process, please reach out to Greta Ruperto, PhD Senior Academic Program Advisor. The PhD Senior Academic Program Advisor will provide students access to the Thesis Defense Google Form.

Below, you’ll find the following sections: 

• Oral Defense presentation - ECE Policies & Guidelines
• CIT Thesis Defense Requirements 
• Spring 2025 Thesis Defense Deadlines 
• Step by Step Process: Post-Defense Steps 
• Certification Process 

Please review them carefully to ensure you stay on track. 

Oral Defense presentation - ECE Policies & Guidelines
The oral defense is a public examination open to all members of the Carnegie Mellon community. All four members of the Thesis Committee must actively participate in the defense meeting. While it is desirable to have all committee members participate in person; at least three [3] committee members must participate in person. Any deviation from this teleconferencing policy is exceptional and must be petitioned for approval from the Department via the Thesis Defense Form. 

Due to 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.

Students will not be eligible to participate in any commencement ceremonies until their degree has been formally certified by the ECE Department.

CIT Thesis Defense Requirements
In addition to these ECE requirements, CIT has its own requirements pertaining to the thesis and defense process. This site includes instructions for the document standards and format. Students should pay particular attention to the format of the thesis title page and required content of the acknowledgements section.

Per CIT requirements, all defenses should be completed at least two weeks prior to the final grade deadline of a given semester. Doing so should grant students sufficient time to make necessary revisions and complete all post-defense paperwork prior to the end of the semester. Any deviation from this timeline is discouraged and may hinder a student’s ability to graduate on time. Such deviation from the cited timeline may be subject to additional departmental approval and should be discussed with the Academic Affairs Office well in advance of the planned defense. 

Please note: Students who do not successfully complete the dissertation, defense, and all defense-related paperwork prior to the final grades deadline of a given semester may be required to register for the following semester, and thus the faculty advisor will be responsible for supporting the student for an additional semester with tuition and stipend. 

After the defense, the Academic Affairs Office will review additional paperwork that will need to be completed prior to a student’s degree certification with the student.

Summer 2025 PhD Thesis Defense Deadlines: 

Summer 2025 Certification Deadline: August 22nd, 2025 
If you want your degree to be certified within the Summer 2025 semester, you must defend your thesis and complete all-post defense steps by August 15th. This deadline is set by ECE to ensure the Academic Affairs Office has sufficient time to process your post-defense paperwork (and obtain signatures from the ECE Department Head and the Associate Dean), and certify your degree by the Summer 2025 certification deadline.

While the Summer degree certification deadline is fixed by the Registrar, we endeavor to be flexible with the Post-Completion Defense Steps deadline (August 15th). Although we cannot guarantee certification if this deadline is missed, we will do our best to expedite the process. If you anticipate any challenges meeting the deadline of August 15th, please let us know.  

The above-cited certification deadline is firm and set by the Registrar. Students who do not have their degree certified by August 22nd, may be required to register for research units in the following semester, Fall 2025, in order to graduate. We recommend you share these dates with your advisors and committee members for their knowledge.Please note that while the Registrar’s certification deadline is fixed, we aim to be flexible with the Post-defense steps deadlines. Though we cannot guarantee certification if deadlines are missed, we will do our best to expedite the process. 

Fall 2025 PhD Thesis Defense Deadlines: 

Fall 2025 Certification Deadline: January 9th, 2025 

If you want your degree to be certified within the Fall 2025 semester, you must defend your thesis and complete all-post defense steps by December 22nd. This deadline is set by ECE to ensure the Academic Affairs Office has sufficient time to process your post-defense paperwork (and obtain signatures from the ECE Department Head and the Associate Dean), and certify your degree by the Fall 2025 certification deadline.

While the Fall degree certification deadline is fixed by the Registrar, we endeavor to be flexible with the Post-Completion Defense Steps deadline (December 22nd). Although we cannot guarantee certification if this deadline is missed, we will do our best to expedite the process. If you anticipate any challenges meeting the deadline of December 22nd, please let us know.

Tuition Adjustment Deadlines: 

• 100% tuition reimbursement for advisors: If a student completes all Ph.D. degree requirements and is certified by September 30th, tuition will be adjusted to 0. To meet this deadline, ECE encourage students to defend their thesis by September 16th and complete their post-defense steps by  September 23rd. 
• 50% tuition reimbursement for advisors: If a student completes all Ph.D. degree requirements and is certified by October 31st, tuition will be adjusted to 50% of the full-time tuition. To meet this deadline, ECE encourage students to defend their thesis by October 17th, and complete their post-defense steps by October 24th. 
  
  NOTE: If your degree is not certified by October 31st, your advisor(s) should be prepared to cover 100% fall tuition and applicable university fees, plus stipend support. 

Step by Step Process: Post-Defense
After the thesis defense presentation, you must complete the following steps:

• Submission of final thesis to ProQuest 📚. After submitting the Thesis Defense form, the Department will create your ProQuest account. You will then receive an email with your ProQuest account details.
• Completion of the Certification Steps Form ✅

• Completion of post-defense steps from the student’s side ✅
• Signature Collection ✍️ - After you defend your thesis, the Department will obtain the required signatures (your committee members’ signatures and the ECE Department Head’s signature) on your post-defense documents.
  
  Submission of defense documents to CIT Dean’s Office - the department will submit your documents to the Dean’s Office for college-level review. NOTE: The Certification typically takes one week post-defense but may take longer during peak periods.