Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, PhD

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PhD graduates are expected to enter careers as researchers and/or educators in institutions of higher learning, both in public and private institutions. The PhD is awarded only for original scholarly achievement. The dissertation, which is a significant original contribution to basic knowledge in the candidate’s field is required. Only students with above average academic records in pre-doctoral programs will be accepted in the program.

Requirements

For all PhD students, a minimum of 12 credit hours in courses numbered 400 or above is required for the major, not including seminar, directed research, thesis/dissertation research. Course requirements are established by the student’s graduate committee.

Proposal defense:

PhD students are required to give a dissertation proposal seminar within the first year of their program.

Seminar:

Candidates must register for TPSS 667 - Graduate Seminar once every academic year in which they are registered as full-time or equivalent. An exception is made in the final semester in which the dissertation defense can be substituted for seminar. All students must take TPSS 654 - Communications in the Sciences or its equivalent during their first year as a substitute for one semester of TPSS 667 .

Lecture Requirement:

All PhD students are required to give three lectures in TPSS courses during the course of their program. The student will be evaluated by the faculty member teaching the course, and this evaluation will be added to the student’s file.

Comprehensive Examination:

An oral or oral and written comprehensive examination is conducted by your graduate committee for all PhD candidates. This examination may cover any subject thought pertinent by your committee members. The comprehensive examination may be repeated once at the option of your committee. If the student fails to pass the exam the second time, the student will be dropped from the program.

Dissertation:

The PhD is awarded only for original scholarly achievement. The dissertation, which is a significant original contribution to basic knowledge in the candidate’s field is required. For further information, see the graduate chair. The dissertation proposal must be submitted and approved by your graduate committee during the semester following completion of the qualifying examination. You may register for TPSS 800 - Dissertation Research only after approval of your dissertation proposal.

Final examination:

A final oral examination on student’s dissertation is required. The first part of the examination consists of a seminar presentation and defense of your research, which is open to the public and is one hour in length. Following the open seminar presentation, there will be more thorough examination of the research and results of the dissertation by the members of your committee and any other members of the graduate faculty who wish to attend.