As of January 5, 2006, my thesis committee is approved by UCLA. The date of my oral examination is set and preparations are underway.

The thesis committee is a group of professors and researchers that determine when I graduate. At UCLA we are required to have at least four people on the committee. That includes three members from our own department (physics in my case) and one member from another department. Since I study plasma physics it is easy to find committee members in the Department of Earth and Space sciences because so many of those professors study atmospheric and space plasmas. I propose a committee and then it must be approved by the university. My approved committee follows.

Thesis Committee

• Professor Troy Carter, Co-chair: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  My Ph.D. advisor, Professor Carter's web page may be found here.
  
  
• Professor George Morales Co-chair: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  Professor Morales' web page may be found here.
  
  
• Professor Walter Gekelman: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  Professor Gekelman's web page may be found here.
  
  
• Professor Mark Moldwin: Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences
  Professor Moldwin's web page may be found here.
  
  
• Dr. James Maggs: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  Dr. Maggs is a member of the research team at the Large Plasma Device and his web page may be found here.
  
  

The first oral exam is basically where I pitch my thesis idea to the committee. They are already familiar with the work I have been doing and this exam is typically not scheduled until the student is ready to pass it. That being the case, however, I still have to prepare a solid presentation and study all aspects of plasma physics because the committee is allowed to ask any questions they want. There is a second oral examination, called the final defense, in which I present my completed thesis and the committee decides whether or not to grant me a doctorate.

I might be able to provide more details after I complete the exam.

Tags: thesis committee, graduate school