Details
Once the thesis committee members determine that the thesis is ready to defend, the student arranges the defense with all committee members and lets the department know of the scheduled date so that it can be properly advertised and a room can be reserved.
A defense should be advertised within the department and the Volgenau School of Engineering at least two weeks prior to the defense date (via email and/or posted flyers). The template for the flyer is available from Leslie Carl (lcarl@gmu.edu). Requests for departmental announcements should be coordinated with Leslie Carl; the Department will make the request for the Volgenau School of Engineering announcement.
At the defense, the student will give a public presentation of the research and results in defense of the thesis, followed by questions from the public and the thesis committee. After the public presentation, the committee may, at their discretion, conduct a private examination of the student with further questions. The committee will discuss and vote in private and inform the student of the result of the thesis defense.
A successfully defended thesis must also meet the thesis requirements of the university. The student is responsible for knowing the university’s deadline for thesis submission (http://thesis.gmu.edu/) for the selected graduation term.
The student should take care that the defense is held early enough to ensure that any requested changes in the thesis can be made, and any formatting issues corrected, prior to the university thesis submission deadline, which is generally no later than 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the last day of classes for the term.
Action Items: Upon successful defense of the master’s thesis:
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The student must complete the Master's Thesis Defense form available from the Department of Statistics and obtain all necessary committee member signatures. For final approval and processing, the form, along with a copy of the thesis, must be delivered to the Department of Statistics Administrative Office.
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Once the thesis is approved by the dean’s office, the student is ready to submit the thesis to the library.
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The student must request one bound copy of the thesis for the Department of Statistics; committee members may also request bound copies from the student. The library will provide the student with an order form.
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The chair of the thesis committee must submit change of grades for STAT 799 from IP to S to the Registrar’s Office.