Research and Advising

First and Second Year

 

Finding a Research Group

Finding the right research group and graduate advisor in graduate school is critical to your success.  In a student’s first year of graduate school, Phys 515 will offer an overview of the research groups in the department through interactive seminars given by the faculty. Students will also have the opportunity to work on research projects with the potential advisors during the summer between their 1st and 2nd year of study. By the start of your 3rd year, you should be prepared to officially select your advisor/research group.

Important factors to consider in finding an advisor and research group include the following:  Are their good projects for graduate students?  Do these match your interests?  Is the advisor accepting new students?  What do the past and current students and postdocs in the group do in later stages of their careers?  What is the advisor’s philosophy with respect to students and postdocs in the group. For example, do they tend to work more independently or in groups?  

Besides communicating with the advisor, it can be very useful to talk to the current students and postdocs in their group.  As always, discuss your options with the graduate program team. 

Summer Research Between Years 1 and 2

Students are expected to work in a research laboratory during the summer after their first year in order to gain experience in a field of potential interest. Students are supported through the research group in which they work during the summer, and not on University funds. This research experience may turn out to be the beginning of a research collaboration with a future adviser, but there is no obligation to continue working in the same group if you decide it is not suitable. Students who have not passed the qualifying examination are expected to make arrangements with the summer adviser to allow time to study for the exam.

Be sure to notify the Graduate Registrar once your summer research plans have been confirmed with the faculty you will be working with.

Choosing an Adviser

Formal association with a dissertation adviser normally begins in the third or fourth term after the qualifying examination has been passed and after most required course work has been completed. It is critical though to start exploring possible advisors in your first year at Yale. An adviser from a department other than Physics can be chosen in consultation with the DGS, provided the dissertation topic is deemed suitable for a physics PhD.

Be sure  to seek out faculty and talk to them no later than your third term, if not earlier, to discuss your interest and possibilities of collaborating. Although the department does everything it can to help students who are having difficulties find a mentor, the Department does not “provide” a mentor for you.  There is no guarantee that a particular mentor will have an opening and research funding available when you are ready to commit to a research group, hence it is imperative that you explore different advising opportunities within a subfield and perhaps even more than one subfield of physics. 

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Third Year and Beyond

 

Admission to Candidacy

The graduate school requires all students to be admitted to candidacy by the end of the third year. Students who have completed their course requirements with satisfactory grades (a High Pass average and the Graduate School requirement of two Honors (which can include PHYS 990 Special Investigation)), pass the qualifying examination, and who have submitted an acceptable thesis prospectus to their core thesis committee are recommended for admission to candidacy.

Students must be admitted to candidacy by the end of the third year or they will not be permitted to register for the next term. At the time of advancement to candidacy, students who have not petitioned for or received en route degrees (e.g., M.A., M.S., M.Phil.) will automatically be considered for such degrees. If a student advances to candidacy after the deadline to submit a petition for the degree in that term, the student will be considered for a degree in the following term.

Core Thesis Committee

A core thesis committee, consisting of thesis advisor and 2 additional faculty members must be selected by each student at the earliest opportunity, either in the second semester of the second year or in the first semester of the third year but no later than the end of the third year when the students thesis prospectus will be evaluated. The committee composition can be changed later.

Students should meet with their thesis committee in their third year and no later than the end of their third year to evaluate their thesis prospectus. Before submitting their prospectus to the DGS, students should present their prospectus to their committee and have the committee complete a “Thesis progress report form”. The signed form and a copy of your prospectus should then go to the Graduate Registrar. Once the Registrar has received your approved prospectus you can be advanced to candidacy.

Subsequently, each student must meet periodically with their core thesis committee in closed session to discuss progress. These meetings will occur at least once per year but could be more frequent. It is the student’s responsibility to arrange these closed session meetings at least once per year or more frequently if deemed necessary by the student or the committee.

The purpose of these closed-session meetings can be but is not limited to the student providing a formal scientific presentation to the committee. An update on the student’s research progress is appropriate and is often done in conjunction with the public presentation requirement mentioned below but should not be the sole focus. Rather, the goal of these meetings is for the committee to assess the student’s overall progress as a physicist. For example, one important role of the core thesis committee is to ensure that the student has a sufficiently broad knowledge of their subfield. The committee may choose to do this via a variety of procedures at their discretion. Questions on, and related to, the field and on physics in general will be a typical part of these sessions. In addition, the committee should assess the student’s professional progress, i.e. exposure to the literature and the work of other groups e.g. via conferences; opportunities to write and present their work orally; attendance at relevant seminars and/or classes; etc.

The ongoing monitoring of a student’s research progress through these meetings should diminish the chances of surprises at the thesis defense. Such monitoring can also provide a protection to both the student and advisor: First, if a student has sufficient material for a PhD, then the committee can push a reluctant advisor to agree to a thesis defense. Alternatively, if a student’s research performance is inadequate, the committee can support academic sanctions on the student, i.e. that the student is not in good academic standing.

After the closed-session meeting, the core thesis committee chair will prepare a brief report of the committee’s assessment of the student’s progress towards the thesis, and present this to the student and Departmental Registrar: It is the student’s responsibility to print and complete the top portion of the Thesis Progress Report form prior to their meeting. The completed form should then be given to the Graduate Registrar along with an electronic copy of any written reports.

Preparing a Prospectus

Students are required to have their thesis prospectus submitted to the graduate school before the end of their third year in order to advance to candidacy and register for a fourth year. As described above, in “Core Thesis Committee”, the student must present their thesis prospectus to their faculty adviser and core thesis committee who must approve the thesis prospectus before it is submitted to the Physics Graduate Registrar’s office. Here is the approval form. A PDF copy of the thesis prospectus, along with the signed approval form, should be submitted to the Graduate Registrar no later than the August due date in order to avoid issues with registration.

The first page of the prospectus should contain the following information: title, student’s name, adviser’s name, Yale University Physics Department, and date. Prospectus should also include an abstract. The following is an excerpt from the Graduate School Programs and Policy Bulletin describing the prospectus:

The prospectus should be viewed as a preliminary statement of what the student proposes to do in his or her dissertation and not as an unalterable commitment. The appropriate form and typical content of a prospectus inevitably vary from field to field. In most cases, however, a prospectus should contain the following information:

  1. A statement of the topic of the dissertation and an explanation of its importance. What in general might one expect to learn from the dissertation that is not now known, understood, or appreciated?

  2. A concise review of what has been done on the topic in the past. Specifically, how will the proposed dissertation differ from or expand upon previous work? A basic bibliography should normally be appended to this section.

  3. A statement of where most of the work will be carried out - for example, in the Yale library or another library or archive, in the laboratory of a particular faculty member, or as part of a program of field work at specific sites in the United States or abroad.

  4. If the subject matter permits, a tentative proposal for the internal organization of the dissertation - for example, major sections, subsections, sequence of chapters.

  5. A provisional timetable for completion of the dissertation.

Although it is difficult to prescribe a standard length for the prospectus, it should be long enough to include essential information for the proposed topics but not overly long. Seven to ten pages, excluding figures and bibliography, should be appropriate in most cases. The prospectus should be written in a manner comprehensible to people who are not experts in your particular subfield. A concise introduction to the subject is therefore essential.

Public Presentation

In addition to the private committee meetings, students can choose to present part of their annual research progress to their thesis committee in a public presentation which the core thesis committee members are expected to attend. Possible forums for such presentations include the Weak Interaction Discussion Group, The Monday Evening Seminar, the Sackler Discussion Group, collaboration presentations, group meeting presentations, etc. The format of the presentation should be a talk that lasts 30 minutes or more. The allowable format and content for the “public presentations” should be viewed broadly, subject only to the participation of the core thesis committee. Especially early on in their research career, to satisfy this requirement, it may be that it makes most sense for a student to make a journal club-type presentation in the context of a group meeting, later on progressing to a research-based presentation in one of the regularly scheduled series. It is also the student’s responsibility to arrange for this public presentation.

This public presentation is NOT meant to be merely a progress report for the core thesis committee, or an opportunity for the committee to ask physics questions about the work. Rather, the goal is primarily for the student to practice communicating in a public setting, and to receive feedback about how to improve their presentation abilities.

After the public presentation, the student will provide the core thesis committee chair with the Thesis Progress Report form so that they may enter comments regarding the student’s presentation. The completed form should then be given to the Graduate Registrar along with an electronic copy of any written reports. Once again, the focus of this report should be on presentation style rather than a comment on the scientific progress.

Annual Dissertation Progress Report

The Dissertation Progress Report (DPR) is due each May 1 for work done in the academic year just completed. Filling in the form is now an on-line process, please see Yale’s  Dissertation Progress Report page. For students who advance to candidacy early in their 3rd year, they will also be required to submit a DPR by May 1st. These students should resubmit their thesis prospectus to satisfy the University requirement for DPRs.

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Dissertation and Completion

 

Forming a Dissertation Committee

The Physics Department requires a 4-member Yale faculty committee plus an outside reader to approve a dissertation and defense for graduation. The core committee and  DGS must approve the additional members prior to the student inviting the final faculty and outside reader to join their dissertation committee. 

Typically, the Committee would include the members of the core thesis committee and one more faculty member. Two of the faculty members on the committee must have a primary or secondary appointment in physics, two must be from Yale, and two must be tenured. These requirements need not be satisfied by the same two people.

Usually, the make-up of the committee is as follows:

For students in an experimental field:

  1. Adviser and (2) another in the same experimental field; (3) another in the same field but theoretical; (4) another experimentalist (any field) and (5) approved outside reader

For students in a theoretical field:

  1. Adviser and (2) another in the same theoretical field; (3) another in the same field but experimental; (4) another theorist (any field) and (5) approved outside reader

Outside reader 

The outside reader must be someone outside of Yale who has had no direct involvement with the student’s dissertation analysis but who may be familiar with the student work and be someone who can be objective in their evaluation of the dissertation. The outside reader is usually selected by the student and their dissertation adviser and must be approved by the DGS. Students can, and often do, send the dissertation to their outside reader when they submit it to their committee, just prior to the defense to provide ample time for the outside reader to provide comments in a timely manner.

 

Dissertation Defense

Once the Dissertation Committee is chosen and approved by the DGS, it is the student’s responsibility to set the date, time and place for the defense at a time convenient to all members of the Committee. Copies of the dissertation should be given to them at least two weeks in advance. The Physics Registrar’s office will assist in locating a room if necessary. The dissertation defense shall consist of two consecutive parts. The first part, which shall be open to anyone interested, will consist of an oral presentation of approximately one-hour in length, in the style of a research seminar. An announcement will appear in the weekly Seminar Notices. The second part will consist of detailed questioning of the candidate by the dissertation committee, at which attendance will be restricted to members of the committee.

 

Dissertation Requirements

The Graduate School has specific rules about formatting, etc. When you are preparing your final draft, you should consult their Dissertations page and Formatting Guide. Review the Dissertation section of Programs and Policies for the fine print about the dissertation process, reader committees, language requirements, and more.

 

Dissertation First Chapter

The Physics Department recommends that the first chapter of the thesis be a succinct summary of the entire thesis, including in particular:

  • a brief review of the field prior to the thesis research to provide context

  • a presentation of the goals and motivations of the thesis research

  • a clear description of what the student has achieved in the thesis research (primarily written in the first person singular, but with due credit to others as appropriate). This description should refer back to (1) and clearly indicate the relation to prior work.

It may also make sense to add:

  • suggestions for how to best build upon the thesis research in future work.

Otherwise these suggestions should appear in the conclusion of the thesis.

Submitting Your Dissertation

After the defense, the committee may ask the student to make some changes in the dissertation. These changes must be made before submission to the Graduate School. Alternatively, if you have already submitted your printed dissertation to the Dissertation office, you may replace single pages or chapters with minor edits. If major edits are required, a new printed dissertation may be submitted with the approval of the DGS or advisor.

Submission guidelines are posted on-line at the Graduate School’s website: Dissertation Guidelines, Dissertation Check list (under Resources), and Notification of Readers form. Remember to list your advisor as one of the 5 readers. Dissertations must be submitted to the Dissertation office by October 1st for December graduation or March 15th for May graduation.

Note: Students must be registered through the term of dissertation submission (unless they have already completed their sixth year).

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Graduation Checklist

Once a student has completed their dissertation and is ready to graduate, there are departmental steps and university requirements to follow by the dates listed below.

Due by February 15th for May Graduation or September 1st for December Graduation 

  • Complete the Notification of Leave/Graduation online form to notify the office that you plan on defending, your last day in the lab and future contact information. Do not enter your current contact information unless you do not plan on moving for several months after graduation.

  • Students are responsible for scheduling a date, time and physical or virtual room location for their thesis defense. Please give your committee members adequate notice when trying to schedule your defense. Physical room locations can be booked through 25Live. 

Due by March 15th or October 1st

  • Provide the Thesis Progress Report Form to your dissertation committee members for signature during your defense. Forward your signed form(s) and a PDF copy of your Dissertation to the department registrar. See below for further Defense details.

  • Submit your final dissertation to the Registrar’s Office. See below for further submission guidance. 

Prior to leaving

  •  Schedule a 30-minute Exit Interview with the Chair or DGS to talk about your experience in the program

  • Update Notification of Leave/Graduation form with any new future employment or address changes

  • Confirm last day of pay with Graduate Registrar

  • Turn in any keys, coats, or other university provided equipment

These deadlines have been established to allow sufficient time for readers to make careful evaluations and for departments to review those evaluations and make their recommendations to the Graduate School. No extensions of the deadlines will be granted. Dissertations submitted after the deadlines will be considered during the following term. 

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Mentoring and Advising 

Mentoring and Advising are critical components of academic life.  Mentorship can happen “up, down, and sideways”.  Both advisors and mentors play critical roles in your path to success.  Students are encouraged to talk with their advisors about all aspects of mentoring, including their academic success, path to dissertation, and post-graduation plans. Open discussion with your advisor about how each student can best be mentored are strongly encouraged.  Reach out to the graduate team with any issues you face with respect to mentorship and talking with your advisor.

Successful mentoring on the part of Teaching Fellows to students, and to other researchers in your research groups is also critical to success.  Reach out to the graduate team with any questions or issues you face in these roles as well.

Resources on mentoring and advising are listed below:

  • GSAS Guide to Advising for Faculty and students:. Advising & Mentoring
  • Do you have all the mentoring roles you need for success?  Try filling out this “Mentoring Map”

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