The main purpose of the PhD Thesis Defense is to have a committee of faculty examine the doctoral candidate on the scope of the thesis and its significance in relation to the major subject.

Before scheduling your PhD Thesis Defense you should have completed the following:

• Two terms of Ph242 - Physics Seminar - This should be taken during your first year of graduate study.
• Two written candidacy exams - see the Basic Physics Requirement, the exams should be attempted at the end of first year and successfully completed by the end of second year.
• The Advanced Physics Requirement - These courses should be completed by the end of your second year.
• The The Oral Candidacy Exam should be completed by the end of your third year.

How to Schedule Your PhD Thesis Defense

For those students about to schedule their PhD thesis defense, follow these steps:

• Discuss the exam date and committee with your advisor.  You will need a total of four people, including your advisor.   Tradition has it that theorists should have at least one experimentalist on their committee, and experimentalists should have at least one theorist.  If you want to include people from other departments or even other universities on your committee, this is permitted. You may elect to have the same committee members as for your Oral Candidacy Exam. There are no rigid rules. It may be wise to have some alternates as well, especially for students defending in April & May for June commencement.

• Send an e-mail to kgl@caltech.edu to get the official departmental approval of your committee.

• After you have your list approved, ask the people on the list if they are willing to serve on your committee.  Remember that no one is obligated to serve on your committee, so it may be necessary to change your committee membership at some point, if this occurs send another e-mail to kgl@caltech.edu.

• Arrange a date and time with your committee for your presentation.   In addition to getting your committee to agree to a time, you also need to make sure a room is available.  You will need to contact the Physics Graduate Office via email about reserving a conference room in East Bridge; you can reserve a room elsewhere if you wish. Getting everyone on your committee to agree on a date can be difficult if your committee members are out of town often, it is best not to leave scheduling for the last minute, especially during April and May for June commencement.

• Make sure your committee members all know when and where to meet for your defense.  You should probably remind them just prior to the defense date.

• BEFORE your defense you will need to print out the Petition for Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy forms and instructions from the Dean of Graduate Studies Office. Instructions concerning what parts to fill in and what signatures will be needed at certain times during this process are also online.