Studies Leading to the Doctorate

Degree Requirements

Except for the requirement that all doctoral students complete twenty-four dissertation (595) credits after advancing to candidacy and that a paper from the graduate research be submitted for publication, there are no general requirements for the doctoral degree. Requirements for formal course work vary by program.

Your advisory committee will recommend courses based on your qualifications, understanding of the field, and the research you propose to undertake. Typically, you will need 48 to 66 credit hours of course work beyond a bachelor's degree. If you already have earned a related master's degree, you might expect to take 18 to 36 additional credit hours of course work for your doctorate. Check the current NMT Program and Course Catalog and your particular program for more details.

In addition, most programs expect substantial research contributions leading to multiple publications in respected conferences and/or journals.

Dissertation Proposal

Every doctoral student must prepare a dissertation proposal. One of the purposes of your dissertation proposal is to show your advisory committee that your proposed research is feasible within the constraints of time, equipment, and money. Another purpose is to demonstrate your understanding of the subject matter.

Your proposal will be defended as part of the candidacy examination and its approval is one of the conditions of candidacy. You should begin your dissertation proposal only after considerable discussion with your advisory committee, thorough literature review, and preliminary research. After acceptance, your dissertation must be available at the New Mexico Tech library and online, so be sure that the information constituting your research is not proprietary or confidential.

If the information in your dissertation is not available for publication, the Dean of Graduate Studies will not accept your dissertation and you will not receive your degree.

Check with your advisor and committee regarding the style to be employed for your proposal. Ideally your proposal should be in the style of a proposal for the National Science Foundation or a similar funding agency appropriate for your field of study. Alternatively, you may use the same style and format as for the dissertation itself. Organize the proposal in the same way, and include the methods you are planning to use, the hypothesis you are hoping to prove or disprove, why the research will be significant, and a survey of available information related to your research.

You should submit your completed dissertation proposal to your advisory committee no later than two weeks before your candidacy examination in order to give your advisory committee time to study it. During your candidacy examination, you may expect penetrating queries related to your dissertation proposal. You may rely on members of your committee to focus on areas of apparent weakness. Make sure you understand your material and its foundations well. Your proposal evaluation may result in your committee requiring you do more work to have an acceptable research proposal. In addition, your committee may require you to take
additional coursework either before or after advancing to candidacy; such coursework is to fill gaps in your knowledge and/or better prepare you to carry out your research.

Candidacy Examination

In addition to departmental preliminary and / or qualifying examinations, every department has a candidacy examination that covers topics related to the dissertation proposal. Before this examination, you are referred to as a graduate student. After passing this examination, you are a doctoral candidate and can begin working on your dissertation in earnest. The candidacy exam may not be scheduled before a minimum of one year of residence at New Mexico Tech, and should occur after completion of formal course work. The exam is typically given near the end of the second year of doctoral study.

The purpose of the candidacy examination is to establish your qualifications to undertake the proposed research. In addition to questions relating to the specifics of your proposal, you may also expect to be examined on more general topics related to your field. It will not be enough to merely memorize facts to pass this examination. You must show that you can think and use your thorough understanding of the field to address unique problems. It is appropriate for you to approach members of the candidacy examination for guidance on the conduct of the examination. Your candidacy exam may result in your committee requiring you to take additional coursework to support your research and future career. Upon your successful completion of the candidacy exam,  your "Report of PhD Advisory Committee" form is to be updated by your committee to reflect the completion of this milestone. In addition, your Academic Advisor will need to recommend you for candidacy, which must be approved by the Graduate Dean for you to advance to candidacy.

Doctoral Candidacy

Once you have passed the candidacy examination, you are eligible for an increase in stipend. Your faculty supervisor must recommend this increase and a revised Graduate Assistantship Appointment Form must be submitted. After passing the candidacy examination, you are required to complete, at the very minimum, 24 hours of dissertation credits (595) distributed over at least one year. Typically, the completion of dissertation research takes significantly longer than this minimum. After completing all required coursework and the 24 credits of dissertation, you may change to part-time status with the support of your advisor, if you are not on support. You may not register for dissertation credit hours before passing the candidacy examination; any dissertation credits taken before candidacy do not count toward requirements.

Timeline

Student intent to graduate forms

Required Date: 6 months prior to expected Completion

Draft independent study/thesis/dissertation to graduate research advisor

Recommended Date: 8 weeks before Defense

Defense copy of independent study/thesis/dissertation graduate committee

Recommended Date: 2 weeks before Defense

Defense copy of thesis/dissertation in pdf format submitted to ProQuest for format check/correction

Required Date: 2 weeks before Defense

Defense: independent study/thesis/dissertation defense

Recommended Date: 3 weeks before Completion

iThenticate check of final versions of thesis/dissertation (or independent study for MST) by academic advisor. Student must submit all copyright permission forms to advisor some time before the check can occur. The report must be signed by the advisor and submitted with completion paperwork.

Recommended Date: 2-3 weeks before Completion

Get committee signatures for Completion

Recommended Date: 2-3 weeks before Completion

Required Date: 2 weeks before Completion

Completion: All paperwork signed and delivered to CGS; pdf version of final thesis/dissertation (correctly formatted) submitted to ProQuest AND advisor must submit iThenticate report

Required Date: 10 business days before completion