Students are encouraged to begin research germane to their dissertation topic early in their course of study. Within this same period, a Doctoral Advisory Committee must be formed, a dissertation proposal prepared for review and approval by the student's committee, and an abstract of the proposal distributed to the ESE faculty for comment. Students will not be allowed to register for additional course work until these requirements have been met. Prior to enrolling in the dissertation courses, each student will take a comprehensive examination administered by the student's Doctoral Advisory Committee. This examination may be written, oral or both.
Students are eligible to sit for the comprehensive examination a maximum of two times.
The dissertation must demonstrate both the ability to perform independent research and competence in scholarly exposition. It should present original investigations at an advanced level of a significant problem in environmental science and engineering and should provide the basis for a publishable contribution to the research literature in the field. Students should enroll in ESE 6398 during the first term of dissertation work and ESE 6399 each term thereafter. Each doctoral candidate must successfully defend the dissertation before the Doctoral Advisory Committee.