Approval of Candidacy. A student seeking the MS or PhD degree must submit a petition through the departmental chair to the Dean of Graduate Studies. The necessary form can be obtained in the department office. The final oral examination in defense of the thesis can be given only after the candidacy has been approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies. Applications for approval of candidacy for the doctoral degree must be filed in the Office of Graduate Studies prior to November 1 and for the MS degree prior to February 1 of the academic year in which graduation is expected. The candidacy is valid for two years for the MS degree and four years for the PhD. A student whose candidacy has expired must receive specific approval from the department and from the Dean of Graduate Studies in order to remain in the Graduate Program. Such approval will be given only in exceptional circumstances. A student must have been approved for candidacy for the PhD before the beginning of the ninth semester of residency at Rice to be eligible for continued financial support.

Research and Thesis. The most important requirement of the doctoral program is the successful completion of significant research effort and the presentation of the results in a well-written thesis. It is the student's responsibility to identify a research area and to find a research advisor. This research is an investigation under the direct supervision of a faculty member. At the time a faculty member agrees to act as a thesis advisor for a student, the advisor chooses two other faculty members to form the student's research committee. These two other members should be in an area closely related to the thesis topic, and the student should keep them well-informed and up-to-date regarding their research progress. At the discretion of the research advisor, all members of the thesis committee should be presented with early drafts of the thesis when writing is begun.

Oral Examinations, Thesis Committees. Thesis committees for the MS and PhD oral examinations are approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies at the time candidacy is approved. A thesis committee is composed of at least three members, of which two, including the committee chair, must be members of the student's department. In the case of a doctoral committee, one member must be from another department within the University. At least three members of the committee must meet one of the following requirements:

• Tenured or tenure-track members of the Rice faculty
• Research faculty holding the rank of faculty fellow, senior faculty fellow, or distinguished faculty fellow
• Faculty who have been certified as thesis committee members by the vice provost for research and graduate studies.

The committee chair need not be the thesis director. The chair, however, must be either a tenured or tenure-track member of the major department or a research faculty member of the major department. Additional members of the committee, who may or may not meet the above criteria, may be selected with the approval of the department chair. These would be in addition to the three required members.

Candidates are responsible for informing the members of their committees of the nature of their research and its progress.

The members of the thesis committee should review and approve the thesis in preliminary form before March 15 in order for the candidate to be eligible to receive the degree in the May commencement. In order to meet this date, the student must submit a complete draft of the thesis to the thesis committee no later than February 28. The oral examination may be scheduled at any time after the approval of candidacy, prior to be the beginning of examination week in either semester. The deadline for scheduling an oral examination of a thesis to be submitted for a degree to be confereed at the May Commencement is the last day of classes of the Spring Semester. For the PhD, the examination must be announced in the University Calendar at least one week in advance. In appropriate circumstances, an oral examination for the PhD may be scheduled during the summer, and the posting of notice of the time and place on the bulletin board of Fondren Library the preceding week is acceptable as the public announcement. For the MS, public notice of the oral examination should be posted on the departmental bulletin board one week in advance.

The length of the examination and the character of the subject matter on which the candidate will be examined are left to the judgment of the thesis committee. Should the candidate fail, the chair may schedule a second examination. In the event of a second failure, the student is required to withdraw from the University.

Following the successful passing of the oral examination in defense of the thesis, two copies of the thesis must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies no later than one year from the date of the examination.

Students who pass the oral examination in defense of the thesis on or before the first day of classes of the fall semester do not have to register for that semester even though work on the final copy may be continuing. They must register for Degree 798 in the spring to receive the degree.

Thesis Regulations and Procedures. Directions for standard thesis form, which must be followed in detail, are provided by the Office of Graduate Studies upon approval of candidacy. Students submitting a dissertation for the PhD must complete a Survey of Earned Doctorates form. All students submitting theses, whether for the MS or PhD, must complete a University Microfilm contract. Fees for the microfilming and binding of theses are to be paid to the Cashier prior to submission of two copies for approval. The deadline for submission of the thesis to the Office of Graduate Studies is noon of the next-to-the-last Friday preceding commencement.