THIRD YEAR.

All students are expected to appear for their PhD "Candidacy" exam no LATER than Winter quarter of their Third year. The student working in consultation with a faculty advisor proposes a specific area of research to be undertaken as part of their PhD thesis program. The student is expected to be adequately versed in the chosen area of research and to have undertaken sufficient research to assess that the proposed research is viable and can be finished within three years.

Experience has show that a minimum of six months of prepatory work and research is necessary to define a thesis project. Accordingly, we strongly recommend that the students start focussing on the research in Spring quarter of the second year.

The committee for the candidacy exam is appointed by the Astronomy Option (AO) Rep and the Executive Officer. The composition of the committee is chosen along the following lines: the thesis advisor, an expert in the field, a theorist, an experimentalist and a faculty entirely unrelated to the field of thesis. The advisor after consultation with the advisee sends an initial state to the AO who will then balance the faculty load, ensure that the slate is diverse and fair. The final slate will be communicated by the AO to advisor.

The student is expected to graduate no later than by the end of the fifth year.

NOTE: It is a basic rule of our graduate program that a student entering third year must have identified an advisor who would be willing to supervise her/him. Students who are unable to satisfy this requirement cannot continue in our program. For this reason, please initiate the search for advisor/thesis topic as soon as you are done with candidacy.