Policies and Forms

• Research Qualifier - Committee [ Webform ]

To oversee this process, the student forms a Research Qualifier Committee consisting of three faculty members and one Robotics Ph.D. student who has completed his or her second year of study. One faculty committee member must hold a primary appointment in Robotics. The faculty members should include the student's advisor, one faculty member from the student's research area, and one faculty member from outside the area. Typically, the student's advisor will be the chairperson of the committee. The total time required for a student to accomplish the research qualifier is expected to be approximately 50% effort for two years. Any student who does not complete the entire Research Qualifier by the end of the third year of study will no longer be in good standing in the Program, subject to the judgment of the faculty.

• Research Qualifier - Research Skills [ Webform | PDF ]
  

Developing independent research skills is critical for the success of each of our students. The research qualifier is intended to examine the student's ability to formulate, investigate, and evaluate research questions independently. Students are expected to meet periodically with each member of their Research Qualifier Committee to discuss their research progress, plans, expectations, and intentions. Throughout this process the members of the qualifier committee will evaluate the student's research accomplishments, including awareness of previous work in the area, depth of insight into the problem area, adequacy of the approaches taken, as well as the substance and interpretation of results obtained.

• Research Qualifier - Speaking Qualifier [ Webform ] [PDF]

The ability to communicate in oral presentation. Students are expected to demonstrate the ability to present technical material to a technical audience clearly and succinctly. The presentation must be made in-person at a venue open to the public. Ideally, the Research Qualifying Committee will be in attendance, but committee members may designate proxies, subject to approval by the Ph.D. Program Chair, to evaluate the presentation.

Timeline

2 Weeks Before

• The Ph.D. Program Manager will reserve an appropriate room. The room scheduled must be available to the public.
• Your research qualifier committee (RQC) should attend in-person and be available for a minimum of 60 minutes.
• Speaking qualifiers should not be scheduled after the last day of finals in the fall semester and not before the start of the spring semester. This is generally from mid-December to mid-January. They should not be scheduled on University holidays. Check the academic calendar for specific dates.

At Least 5 Days Before

• Email the details of your talk including the date, time, room location, Zoom link (student creates link), title, abstract, and committee members, to ri-people@andrew.cmu.edu
• The Ph.D. Program Manager will post your qualifier announcement on the RI Events Calendar.
• If presenting over Zoom, complete the Authorization Form to Publicly Live Stream your talk and email the form to the Ph.D. Program Manager prior to your talk. Authorization Form. You may list your advisor as the delegate and the Ph.D. Program Manager as the Department Contact.

After Your Talk

• Your Research Qualifier Committee will be responsible for completing forms for your speaking, writing, and research skills qualifiers by going to gsaudit, gsaudit.cs.cmu.edu.

• Research Qualifier - Writing Qualifier [ Webform | PDF ]

The ability to communicate in technical writing. A student is expected to produce a conference-length, or longer, paper, in which he/she is the sole, or the primary, author plus a one page executive summary in which he/she is the sole author. The paper should demonstrate a style, organization and clarity that enables researchers in the field to comprehend the problem, method, and results of the research being written about. Students who have written papers prior to entering the Robotics Program may submit them for evaluation, provided they meet the above criteria.

• Research Qualifier - Teaching Assistantship [ Webform ]

The experience of teaching in a classroom environment. This includes demonstration of as many as possible of the following: lecturing, recitation instruction, homework and exam design, grading, office hours, curriculum design. Each student must serve as a teaching assistant (TA) in two courses relevant to the Robotics Program. Allowable courses will be defined by the Chair of the Program. Students may arrange to serve as TA by contacting the Program Coordinator at the beginning of the semester before the semester in which the student will act as a TA. The student is not required to spend more than twenty hours, but is not prohibited from doing so. The instructor should provide feedback to the student concerning the quality of the student's teaching. The instructor should report to the Program Coordinator his or her evaluation of whether the student has carried out the TA activities successfully.

• Specialized Qualifier - [ Webform ]

The Specialized Course Qualifier is a sequence of courses chosen by the student to enhance the Core Course subject matter by adding greater depth to a particular area. These specialization courses must total at least 48 units of graduate coursework. The Specialized Course Qualifier must be defined by the student in conjunction with their Ph.D. Advisor and then approved by the Ph.D. Program Chair. Students are strongly encouraged to seek approval before completing courses. Any course completed prior to approval is at risk and may not be deemed eligible for their qualifier. ​

List all graduate courses totaling at least 48 units BEFORE submitting the webform for approval for the Specialized Qualifier.

SPECIALIZED QUALIFIER GUIDELINES: Graduate level (600 - 800-level) courses only

• No more than 12 units of non-doctoral (600-level) graduate courses
• No more than 12 units of project-only courses
• No more than 12 units of independent study (Independent study courses must include syllabus, schedule, assignments, and evaluation criteria. Syllabus submitted with the SQ form.)
• Core courses can be used in the Specialized Qualifier sequence, but only in addition to 48-units of Core Qualifier courses
• Teaching Assistantships cannot be included as Specialized Qualifier courses
• Seminar Courses cannot be included as Specialized Qualifier courses, e.g., 16-892, 16-895

LISTING OF CORE COURSES:

• Perception: 16-720 Computer Vision, 16-820 Advanced Computer Vision, 16-722 Sensing and Sensors, 16-822 Geometry-based Methods in Vision, 16-823 Physics-based Methods in Vision
• Cognition: 15-780 Graduate Artificial Intelligence, 10-701 Machine Learning, 10-715 Advanced Machine Learning, and 16-831 Introduction to Robot Learning
• Action: 16-741 Mechanics of Manipulation, 16-711 Kinematics, Dynamic Systems, and Control, and 16-761 Mobile Robots
• Math Foundations: 16-811 Math Fundamentals for Robotics

At Carnegie Mellon courses can only be credited to a single degree; additionally transfer credit for graduate courses completed at other institutions is not granted in robotics.

Robotics graduate core courses, completed at Carnegie Mellon, including those completed while in a masters program, will automatically be waived and associated units considered complete.

If a student possesses all of the knowledge conferred and evaluated in 16-811, Mathematical Fundamentals for Robotics, they may apply for a waiver to be released from the requirement of enrolling and completing the course. The waiver process involves documentation of prior coursework and experience and thorough evaluation of material learned.

A waiver application for 16-811 must be submitted during the first year in the Ph.D. program.

Waiver Application

From the PhD Course of Study

The Robotics Doctoral Program at Carnegie Mellon is principally a Ph.D. program. However, a student who is working towards a Ph.D. may receive the degree of M.S. in Robotics by completing the requirements as defined by the current Master’s Program course of study. This M.S. degree may be completed as a terminal degree or may be granted while still continuing to the Ph.D. degree.

Please review the Master's Final Oral Presentation and Master's Thesis Document information on the Master of Science Curriculum webpage.

Timeline

At Least Two Weeks Prior to the Talk

• Contact Suzanne to reserve an appropriate room.
• RI has two Meeting Owl Pros that can be reserved in Skedda.
• Send your master's thesis draft to your master's thesis committee and copy Suzanne.
• Complete and send Suzanne the Consent to Publicly Livestream a Presentation form.

One Week Prior to the Talk

Advertise talk to ri-people@andrew.cmu.edu via the following template:
Subject line: [MSR Thesis Talk]
Date:
Time:
Location:
Zoom link:
Title:
Abstract:
Committee:

Note: Do not post your master's thesis talk as a PhD speaking qualifier. Although you may use your master's thesis talk and document to fulfill the PhD speaking and writing qualifiers, the opposite is not true. You may not use your PhD speaking qualifier towards obtaining the master's degree.

One Day Prior to the Talk

• Send an email reminder.
• Request a TR number from Victor Valle.

Day of the Talk

Confirm master's committee members have access to your writing and speaking qualifier forms. Your committee members may either complete the (PhD) speaking and writing forms in gsaudit or the pdf forms found on the MSR Policies and Forms website. The forms are the same on both websites.

Before MSR Degree Certification

• Confirm submission of writing and speaking qualifier forms from each member of your master's thesis committee.
• Once approved, upload the final master's thesis document (RI publication) to the RI website.
• Inform Suzanne once the above is complete.

Note: Do not use the CMU seal on your title page. This seal (both the 4-color and black and white) is reserved for the CMU President's office.

Thesis Committee Members

The committee will consist of at least four members: a minimum of three from Carnegie Mellon, at least two of whom must be faculty members in the Robotics Institute, and one faculty member with a primary appointment in Robotics, and at least one qualified researcher who is external to Carnegie Mellon. The student’s advisor is the chairperson of the Thesis Committee. The entire composition of the committee must be approved by the Chair of the Program before the Thesis Proposal is presented.

Prior to presenting the Thesis Proposal, the four core courses of the Course Qualifier and the research, speaking and writing skills portions of the Research Qualifier must be complete.

Note: The 4-color CMU seal is reserved for president and executive office materials and events only and may not be used in the Technical Report. Do not use a black and white version of the seal. Please refer to the Technical Report Format.

Timeline

At Least One Month Before

• Get approval of your thesis committee members from the Ph.D. Program Chair, David Wettergreen, dsw@ri.cmu.edu. Copy Suzanne Muth (lyonsmuth@cmu.edu) on that email.
• Be sure to check the RI PhD Thesis Talks Google Calendar and with Suzanne Muth before finalizing the date and time, to make sure there are no other thesis talks scheduled at the chosen time. Thesis proposals will not be scheduled to overlap.
• Suzanne Muth will reserve an appropriate room. The room scheduled must be available to the public. Smaller rooms, such as conference-style rooms, are strongly discouraged.
• Your committee members should be available for a minimum of 90 minutes, preferably two hours.
• It is strongly preferred that you present your proposal and defense to a live audience with the full committee present in person. If necessary your external member is permitted to be remote for the proposal or defense but not both. Please plan and schedule well in advance to permit attendance. Students requesting to present remote-only will need special permission from the Ph.D. Program Chair, David Wettergreen, dsw@ri.cmu.edu. Copy Suzanne Muth (lyonsmuth@cmu.edu) on that email.
• Thesis proposals should not be scheduled after the last day of finals in the fall semester and not before the start of the spring semester. This is generally from mid-December to mid-January. They should not be scheduled on University holidays. Check the academic calendar for specific dates.

10 Calendar Days Before

• Send email to Suzanne Muth with the date, time, room location, Zoom link (if applicable), title, abstract, URL link to thesis, and thesis committee members, including external member affiliation.
• Suzanne will post your thesis proposal announcement electronically and on the RI Events website.
  BE PROMPT!
• RI has two Meeting Owl Pros that can be reserved in Skedda.
• Provide thesis committee with final draft of thesis proposal document.
• If presenting over Zoom, complete the Consent to Publicly Livestream a Presentation Form and email the completed form to Suzanne prior to your talk. You may list your advisor as the delegate and Suzanne Muth as the Department Contact.

After the Proposal

• Have your advisor send email to Suzanne (lyonsmuth@cmu.edu) indicating whether or not you have successfully passed your thesis proposal.
• If successfully passed, complete and have your advisor sign the All But Dissertation Status Agreement Form. Where it asks for Doctoral Student Status Will Lapse, this date needs to be ten years from your matriculation date.

Example:
First Semester Admitted into Doctoral Program: Fall 2024
Doctoral Student Status Will Lapse: Summer 2034

Email the form to Suzanne Muth. She will obtain the signature of the Department Head.

All Qualifiers must be completed before scheduling the Thesis Defense.

The Dissertation itself is normally preceded by a year or more of research and writing after the proposal. The Dissertation is a scholarly document describing the problem, related work, the student’s approach, the results and insights achieved, and the significance of the work. The written dissertation must be presented to the Thesis Committee for approval. When the committee gives preliminary approval, the Oral Defense can take place. At the Oral Defense, the committee and the entire community will have the opportunity to question the work critically. Finally, the Thesis Committee must decide whether to approve the thesis.

A student will be certified for graduation and allowed to attend commencement ceremonies when the thesis is unanimously approved by his or her Thesis Committee and has been delivered to the Program Coordinator in final form, at which time the student will be awarded the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in the field of Robotics.

Note: The 4-color CMU seal is reserved for president and executive office materials and events only and may not be used in the Technical Report. Do not use a black and white version of the seal. Please refer to the Technical Report Format.

Timeline

At Least One Month Before

• Be sure to check the RI PhD Thesis Talks Google Calendar and with Suzanne Muth before finalizing the date and time, to make sure there are no other thesis talks scheduled at the chosen time. Thesis presentations will not be scheduled to overlap. She will reserve an appropriate room. The room scheduled must be available to the public. Smaller rooms, such as conference-style rooms, are strongly discouraged.
• Your committee members should be available for a minimum of 90 minutes, preferably two hours.
• It is expected you and your internal committee members will be in-person. Students requesting to present remote-only will need permission from the Ph.D. Program Chair, David Wettergreen, dsw@ri.cmu.edu. Copy Suzanne Muth (lyonsmuth@cmu.edu) on that email.
• Thesis defenses should not be scheduled after the last day of finals in the fall semester and not before the start of the spring semester. This is generally from mid- December to mid-January. They should not be scheduled on University holidays. Check the academic calendar for specific dates.

10 Calendar Days Before

• Send email to Suzanne Muth with the date, time, room location, Zoom link (if applicable), title, abstract, and thesis committee members, including external member affiliation. URL link to thesis is optional.
• Suzanne will post your thesis defense announcement electronically. BE PROMPT!
• RI has two Meeting Owl Pros that can be reserved in Skedda.
• Provide thesis committee with final draft of thesis defense document.
• If presenting over Zoom, complete the Consent to Publicly Livestream a Presentation Form and email the completed form to Suzanne prior to your talk. You may list your advisor as the delegate and Suzanne Muth as the Department Contact.

Final Thesis Documents needed in order to be certified

The following must be turned in order to participate in the commencement ceremonies held in May, and to be considered “certified” to receive a degree.

Thesis Committee
Please plan to have each of your committee members send Suzanne Muth an email stating you passed your thesis defense.

Final Thesis Document and Submission Checklist
Provide Suzanne Muth with a link to the final thesis document in the form of a pdf file and the Dissertation and Thesis Repository Submission Checklist.

Your title page should be included in your final thesis document, and should have your technical report number on it. You may get the tech report number by contacting Victor Valle, vvalle@andrew.cmu.edu. Make sure the tech report number that is received is within the same year it will be published. Note: The 4-color CMU seal is reserved for president and executive office materials and events only and may not be used in the Technical Report. Do not use a black and white version of the seal. Please refer to the Technical Report Format.

Confirmation Email From Your Advisor/s
Your advisor/s must send an email to Suzanne confirming that your thesis is accepted in its final form.

Submit your Thesis to the RI Website
Submit your thesis to the Robotics Institute repository.

Update Commencement Information
In SIO, under Academic Info -> Graduation and Diploma, update the following:

• Name on Diploma
• Degree Information including Thesis Title
• Commencement Ceremony Attendance
• Diploma Delivery (address required)

Complete Ph.D. Exit Questionnaire
Please take a few minutes to complete the Exit Survey.

Optional: Survey of Earned Doctorates
https://sedsurvey.org/DoctoralGraduates/CurrentQuestionnaire

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