Signal & Image Processing (SIP)
- The student does a significant research project under the guidance of an
advisor.
- The student writes up, entirely on their own without direct text
contributions of the advisor, the results of the research project as a paper of
between 10-25 pages. The research paper should be given to the committee at
least 2 weeks prior to the actual exam.
- The student presents the results via an oral exam to a committee consisting
of the advisor and one other person.
- The secondary person can be either EE faculty, EE adjunct, EE affiliate, or
other scientist who would qualify for serving on a Ph.D. exam committee later.
The person is selected by the advisor and the student, and should be someone
from the research area, perhaps a collaborator.
- The oral exam should consist of a 45-50 minute presentation, and leave time
for questions. It is recommended that the advisor/student schedule a 1.5 hour
slot for this exam.
- The examiners may also invite others to the oral part of the exam and may
allow for questions from the non-examiners, but the questions by the examiners
should be in private.
- The two-person committee will evaluate the student's work, the written
report, and the oral presentation. Based on this evaluation, they write a report
to the SIP Quals Committee for that quarter.
- The SIP Quals Committee for the student consists of all SIP professors
excluding the two-person committee members. The pass/fail decision is by the
majority vote of the SIP Quals Committee (see below for more information on
failing).
- The report is also sent to the UWEE graduate student coordinator and that
goes on the student’s file.
- The report must address:
- A grade of pass or fail
- The quality and independence of the research
- The quality of the written report (note that student may be allowed to
improve it if that's the only problem)
- The quality of the oral presentation
- Judgment of the student's ability to go on to pursue dissertation research
based on this sample and other work so far
- A statement by the advisor on whether or not he/she wants to keep working
with the student and the reasons why. If the student is moving to another
advisor, this should be noted.
- It is required for a student to complete their qualifying exam by the end of
their second year in the Ph.D. program. If a student does not do this, the
advisor may request an extension for up to one year.