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SSA Program Requirements
- Upon joining the PSS program, each graduate student, advisor, and the GPD will sign an agreement regarding these requirements. The student, advisor, and GPD all will maintain a copy of this agreement.
- All students are required to submit an annual progress report in consultation with their advisors to the GPD who will forward it to the evaluation committee. The Graduate Policy Committee (GPC) will act as the evaluation committee.
- For the first year, the GPC will act as advising committee in consultation with student’s advisor. GPC will meet each student and the advisor at the beginning of the fall and spring semester to ensure students are taking appropriate courses. This should be a brief 10-15-minute meeting with each student.
- The Program requires all Ph.D. students to have comprehensive knowledge in core areas of the program. This requirement is assessed through “Preliminary Exam” or just “Prelims,” for Ph.D. degrees.
- The qualifying exam should be completed prior to start of 5th semester or earlier of a Ph.D. candidate’s program. At that point, students must present a clear understanding of their research topic and demonstrate fundamental knowledge in plant and soil science.
- Student’s advisor should officially send the names of qualifying exam committee members to the GPD. The qualification exam committee will decide how to proceed with the written and oral exam.
- There is no qualifying exam requirement for the MS student but will have a MS thesis defense that consists of a public presentation of their thesis research and a closed final exam with the committee.
- Each student’s graduate dissertation committee should be appointed by the end of the 2nd semester. For Ph.D. candidates who have not yet passed the qualifying exams, this committee is not the “official” dissertation committee but will serve as a guidance committee.
- Ph.D. students should present their dissertation proposal/prospectus to the Graduate dissertation committee and graduate faculty during the 4th semester or earlier.
- MS students should get their thesis outline approved by thesis examination committee and submit to the graduate school before the beginning of 3rd semester of initiation of MS degree program.
- It is mandatory for all PSS students to meet yearly with their graduate committee to evaluate and discuss the progress report. The committee will sign off on the annual report and sent it to the GPD and GPC. The GPC just checks whether everything is okay, and if not, it intervenes. This will help avoid any problem a student might face and will keep the students on track to graduate on time.
- It is mandatory for all PSS graduate students to present their research (poster) at SSA’s Annual Research Symposium (most likely in spring semester). Senior level undergraduate students engaged in research are also encouraged to participate and present posters.
- All Ph.D. students must have at least two 1st author submitted/accepted, peer-reviewed publication before scheduling their final dissertation defense. MS students are highly encouraged to have at least a draft of the manuscript before graduation.
- All doctoral candidates must spend the equivalent of at least one continuous academic year (two consecutive semesters) of full-time graduate work (nine credits per semester) in residence at the University to satisfy their residency requirement. The residency year must be either in a Fall/Spring or Spring/Fall sequence.