Progress Guidelines For the PhD Program
| Milestone | Suggested Progress | Acceptable Progress | Notes |
| Establish Faculty Advisor | 1st semester | 2nd semester | |
| Due Progress: Submit Initial Program of Study Plan | 1st semester | 1st semester | Submit in Grad Tracking |
| ITA training | Prior to 1st semester | 1st semester | International Students only |
| Residency Enrollment Requirement | 2nd semester | 3rd semester | At least two consecutive semesters must be spent in full-time academic work at the UofU |
| Due Progress | 2nd year, fall | 2nd year, fall | Submit in Grad Tracking by October 15th |
| Form Supervisory Committee | 4th semester | 5th semester | Must be finalized before registering for the written Qualifying Exam (3rd week of the 4th semester) |
| Take Written Qualifying Exam | 4th semester | 5th semester | |
| Due Progress | 3rd year, fall | 3rd year, fall | Submit in Grad Tracking by October 15th |
| Dissertation Proposal (Oral Qualifying Exam) | 5th semester | 6th semester | |
| Read Thesis Handbook | 5th semester | 6th semester | |
| Apply for Utah Residency | 5th semester | 5th semester | International Students only (after COMPLETION of 40 credits) |
| Due Progress | 4th year, fall | 4th year, fall | Submit in Grad Tracking by October 15th |
| Submit Final Program of Study | 7th semester | 8th semester | |
| Committee Approves Program of Study | 7th semester | 8th semester | |
| Due Progress | 5th year, fall | 5th year, fall | Submit in Grad Tracking by October 15th |
| Apply for Graduation | 9th semester | 11th semester | |
| Submit Preliminary Review to Thesis Office | 9th semester | 10th semester | Optional but highly recommended |
| Final Examination of Oral Dissertation (Defense) | 10th semester | 12th semester | University limit for PhD completion is 7 years |
| Submit Defended Review to Thesis Office | 10th semester | 12th semester | U requirement: Document finalized within three months of the defense |
PhD Student Responsibilities, Monitoring of Progress
Good versus acceptable progress: Students completing milestones within the time frame denoted as “good” are generally considered to be in good standing in the program. Students completing milestones within the time frame denoted as “acceptable” are considered to be making acceptable progress in the program and are encouraged to continue on and attempt to meet successive milestones within the time frames denoted as “good.”
Students may or may not be considered in good standing, depending upon evaluation of the Director of Robotics Studies with input from their committee. Students not completing milestones within the time frame denoted as “acceptable” are not considered in good standing. Students not in good standing can face consequences including loss of funding or expulsion from the PhD program. See Probation.
All PhD students are required to submit a Due Progress Form in the Fall semester every year by October 15th using the Engineering Progress Tracking system. Those students who fail to submit their due progress forms by this deadline can face consequences including loss of funding or expulsion from the program.
The faculty as a whole conducts a Graduate Student Progress Review meeting every Fall semester (typically in November) to review and monitor graduate student progress. Advice generated during this meeting and other monitoring activities will be suitably conveyed to the student (typically via email from the Director of Robotics Studies, their faculty advisor(s) and/or Graduate Advisors).
All PhD students who are found lagging in any of their progress categories are additionally required to provide an update to their status by April 15th. By this date, they must also inform their faculty advisor(s) how they have responded to comments (if any) passed on to them. Failure to do so can result in consequences similar to those noted in our PROBATION POLICY.
Time Limit
The Graduate School states that a PhD has to be completed in seven years. If a student exceeds this time limit, they are required to submit a formal letter requesting an extension and including a completion plan, endorsed by the student, the committee chair, and the director of graduate studies and to be reviewed by the Dean of the Graduate School. Extensions may be granted for one or two semesters. Further extensions will only be considered for single semesters.