Ph.D. Course Requirements

The required coursework varies for students entering the Ph.D. degree with a bachelor’s degree or a relevant master’s degree. Students holding a bachelor’s degree must complete all program core/mandatory courses and elective courses outlined in the master’s degree section and are also required to complete the Ph.D. courses below. Students entering with a bachelor’s degree will qualify to earn a master’s degree by satisfying the master’s degree requirements.

Students entering the Ph.D. degree with a relevant M.Sc. degree must complete the requirements below, though additional courses may be required by the academic advisor.

Ph.D. Courses

• At least two 300-level courses
• Graduate seminar 398 (non-credit) – all students are required to register and receive a satisfactory grade for every semester of the program they attend
• Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) – students who completed WEP while earning the M.Sc. are not required to enroll in a full WEP for a second time during the Ph.D.

Ph.D. Candidacy

In addition to the coursework requirements, students must successfully complete the required Ph.D. candidacy milestones to progress towards Ph.D. candidate status. These milestones consist of the Ph.D. qualifying exam and the Ph.D. dissertation proposal defense. Once students have advanced to candidacy, students are designated as Ph.D. or doctoral candidates.

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

The purpose of the qualifying exam is to test the student's creativity, independence, and knowledge of the subject matter within the field of study. All students entering the Ph.D. program with a bachelor's degree must take this examination within two years of their admission. Students admitted to the program with a master's degree must take this exam within one year. Students may take the exam earlier with advisor approval. Students need to fill out the required forms and submit their qualifying exam documents at least two weeks prior to their qualifying exam date.

The qualifying exam consists of an oral presentation of an original idea, which is related to the area of research, but not the exact work done in the lab (same approach as a grant application). The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session regarding both the presented project and general chemistry knowledge.

Scheduling the Qualifying Exam:

In addition to the Ph.D. advisor, two ChemS or ChemS affiliated faculty need to serve as examiners. Students must schedule the examination at a time acceptable to the examiners. Faculty members are expected to make every reasonable effort to be available for the examination.

The Examination:

Students should prepare a written document that explains their oral presentation. This is a brief document, modeled after a standard funding agency (example: National Science Foundation, NSF) proposal. It should be no more than 15 pages in length including figures and references.*This document should be ready to submit to the program and the examiners at least two weeks prior to the oral exam. It might be organized as suggested below:

*These are the general guidelines. Longer documents can be permissible with advisor approval.

1. Summary 

A brief overview of the proposed work with emphasis on the intellectual merit and the broader impacts (1 page).

2. Background and Significance

This section should answer the question: Why is the proposed work important?

Briefly sketch the background to the present proposal, critically evaluate existing knowledge, and identify gaps in our present understanding. This section may need to occupy as many as 3-4 pages.

3. Specific Aims

This section is intended to answer, in very specific terms, the question: What do you propose to do?

No background or other narrative material belongs in this section; it is not meant to stand alone, nor to provide details about the experimental system, but rather to provide a succinct and specific summary of the planned research. It is probably most helpful to write this section after writing the rest of the proposal. It should occupy no more than one page.

4. Experimental Design and Feasibility

This section should parallel the Specific Aims section and should answer the question: How will you do the proposed work?

Describe each experiment you propose to conduct and how you will analyze the data and interpret the results. Provide appropriate calculations or cite literature data to support the feasibility of the experiments you propose. Supporting evidence that comes from unpublished work must be clearly identified as such and specifically attributed. Discuss potential drawbacks of any proposed experiments that lack clear precedent, and propose alternative approaches to achieve the aims. This section may need to occupy as many as 3-4 pages.

5. References

The list of references must include complete citations, including all authors and the titles of research articles or book chapters.

Evaluation of Ph.D. Qualifying Exam:

There are four possible outcomes of the Qualifying Exam:

Pass

A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote, otherwise the students fails.

Pass with conditions

In the instance of a Pass with Conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions and if they cannot, the dean decides. The deadline to complete the conditions is one month after the Qualifying Exam date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it.

Fail with retake

In the instance of a Fail with retake, the decision of the committee must be unanimous. The deadline to complete the retake is six months after the Qualifying Exam date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it.

Fail without retake

Students who fail the Qualifying Exam, or who fail the Retake will be dismissed from the University.

Student must submit PSE Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Evaluation form to the program GPC within 48 hours after their presentation, regardless of outcome of the qualifying exam.

After the evaluation and recommendation by the committee members, the final documents of the Research Proposal should be submitted to Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC).

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense

The Dissertation Proposal Defense is the second part of the qualification milestones that must be completed to become a Ph.D. Candidate. The purpose of the Dissertation Proposal Defense is to demonstrate that students have the ability and are adequately prepared to undertake Ph.D. level research in the proposed area. This preparation includes necessary knowledge of the chosen subject, a review of the literature and preparatory theory or experiment as applicable (data presentation).

Ph.D. students are required to complete the Dissertation Proposal Defense within one year after passing the qualifying exam. The proposal defense date will be determined by students and their advisors. Ph.D. students must request to present the Dissertation Proposal Defense to the Proposal Dissertation Committee by submitting the Dissertation Committee Formation Form two weeks prior to the Ph.D. proposal defense date. 

Per advisor discretion, students can present a summary of their PhD proposal data together with their oral qualifying exam if this research is already published (at least two first or co-first author papers).

Ph.D. Proposal Defense Evaluation

There are four possible outcomes from the Dissertation Proposal Defense:

• Pass: A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote, otherwise the student fails.
• Pass with conditions: In the instance of a Pass with conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions and if they cannot, the Dean decides. The deadline to complete the conditions is one month after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it.
• Fail with retake: The deadline to complete the retake is six months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it.
• Fail without retake: In the instance of a Fail without Retake, the decision of the committee must be unanimous. Students who fail the Dissertation Proposal Defense, or who fail the retake, will be dismissed from the University.

The Dissertation Proposal Evaluation form must be submitted within 48 hours after presenting the dissertation proposal.

 Upon passing the Proposal Defense, students must submit the written research proposal document and the change to Ph.D. candidate status form to the GPC.

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense Committee

The Ph.D. dissertation proposal defense committee, which must be approved by the program chair and the dean, must consist of at least three members and typically includes no more than six members. The chair, plus one additional faculty member must be affiliated with the student’s program.

Notes:

• Members 1-3 are required, member 4 is optional
• Co-chairs may serve as members 2 or 3
• Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
• Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2 or 3 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs

Once constituted, the composition of the proposal committee can only be changed with the approval of the academic advisor, the program chair, and the dean.

View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.

Ph.D. Final Defense Committee

The Ph.D. dissertation defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, must consist of at least four members and typically includes no more than six members. At least three of the required members must be KAUST faculty and one must be an external examiner who is external to KAUST. The chair, plus one additional faculty member must be affiliated with the student’s program. The external examiner is not required to attend the defense, but must write a report on the dissertation and may attend the dissertation defense at the discretion of the program.

Notes:

• The chair cannot be the academic advisor
• Members 1-4 are required, members 5 and 6 are optional
• Co-chairs may serve as either members 2, 3 or 6
• Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
• Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2, 3 or 6 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs
• Visiting professors may serve as member 6, but not as the external examiner

The only requirement with commonality with the proposal committee is the academic advisor, although it is expected that other members will carry forward to this committee.

Co-supervisors can be considered one of the above four members required, provided they come under the categories listed (i.e. meets the requirements of the position).

View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.

Ph.D. Final Dissertation Defense

The Ph.D. requires the passing of the defense and acceptance of the dissertation. The final defense is a public presentation that consists of an oral defense followed by questions and may last a maximum of three hours.

Students must determine the defense date with agreement of all the members of the dissertation committee, meet deadlines for submitting graduation forms and inform the committee of their progress. It is the students’ responsibility to submit the required documents to the graduate program coordinator (GPC) at the beginning of the semester they intend to defend. The required documents include (i) the list of proposed committee members, including the external examiner (and a CV of the external examiner, (ii) a current CV of the student, (iii) a current transcript, (iv) a list of publications, and (v) a final draft of the Ph.D. dissertation. Students must submit the written dissertation to the committee one month prior to the defense date in order to receive feedback.

There are four possible outcomes from the dissertation final defense:

• Pass
• Pass with conditions
• Retake
• Fail without retake

A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote. In the instance of a pass with conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions, and if they cannot, the dean decides. The deadline to meet conditions is three months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it. If the conditions will take three months or more, or more than one member casts a negative vote, one retake of the defense is permitted. The deadline to complete the retake is as decided by the defense committee with a maximum of six months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it. Students who fail without retake or who fail the retake will be dismissed from the University..

Evaluation of the Ph.D. dissertation defense is recorded by submitting the result of the Ph.D. dissertation defense examination form within three days after the defense to the Office of the Registrar.