Princeton University

The Graduate School considers employment beyond a maximum full-time assistantship of 18-20 hours per week incompatible with full-time graduate study.  If students and their departments judge that part-time employment is both manageable and necessary, however, the students may be employed either on-campus or off-campus (and wherever possible under the Graduate Work-Study Program).  These arrangements must be approved by the departmental director of graduate studies and the student's dissertation advisor.  If a teaching or research assistantship is offered by the student's department, it must be accepted rather than the off-campus position.  If no teaching or research post is available, students may then apply on their own through Student Employment Service for employment of some other kind.

The Graduate School reviews students' on-campus employment records.  Accordingly, the Graduate School can and will disallow part-time employment, excluding all service awards, if that employment does not comply with federal immigration and employment regulations, and/or fellowship policies.  The following policies will be applicable:

• Under no circumstance can a U. S. student or permanent resident work more than 20 hours per week from all sources (AI, AR and/or hourly employment).  Any work beyond a full AI and/or AR appointment may jeopardize the full-time student status of this and other graduate students (with serious tax implications), and will therefore be closely scrutinized.


• Under no circumstances can an international student on a visa, with a full AI and/or AR appointment, work even one hour more through hourly employment or otherwise.  This not only jeopardizes the full-time student status of this and other graduate students as noted above, but it also violates the terms of the visa status.

International students may not accept off-campus employment without authorization from either the Immigration and Naturalization Service or the J-1 program sponsor.  International students should contact the International Graduate Student Advisor (Office of General Counsel), for further information on employment eligibility.

Any changes (grading options, dropping or adding courses etc.), that you may need to make to your program of study after the enrollment period, from which you originally indicated on your semester course enrollment worksheet must be made on a new course enrollment worksheet and signed by your advisor or director of graduate studies.  A copy must be submitted to the Graduate Office, and a copy must be taken to the Office of the Registrar, 101 West College, where a Course Change Form will be completed and submitted .  The Office of the Registrar is open from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays.

You may change your status in a course no later than two weeks prior to the last day of the regularly scheduled class of the semester. After that date, unless a course change form has been submitted, you will be obligated for courses as they appear on your course card. 

A PhD thesis research committee shall be formed and meet no later than the end of the first semester following passing the General Examination (by April 15 for those passing during the October or January exam period, and by January 15 for those passing during the May exam period).  The committee must have at least three members, one of which is the student's thesis advisor, and another of which must be a faculty member from the student's CEE program (EEWR or MMS).  The third member of the committee must have a professional ranking equivalent to that of Assistant Professor or higher.

The research committee meets with the candidate to offer advice and guidance on the direction and progress of the dissertation research.  The student's advisor is responsible for supervising his/her research progress and in providing guidance and direction during the dissertation research.

For the first research committee meeting, the student should prepare a detailed written research dissertation proposal, which must be made available to all members of the committee at least one week prior to the committee meeting and then presented at the committee meeting.  This research proposal may consist of, but not be limited to, a description of the proposed area of research, the underlying engineering and scientific questions being addressed, the background work completed in preparation for the research effort, the intended avenues of investigation, specific problems the student feels are likely to cause the most difficulty, and the aspects of the work that will require the most guidance.  The purpose of this interchange is to provide guidance to the student, and to assure that the research proceeds in fruitful directions.  In some instances, a redirection of the research might warrant a change in the composition of the committee to ensure that the student's needs are best served.  Outside committee members may participate via telecom.

The student and his/her research committee are required to meet once per academic year  (between September 15 and April 15th) to review progress and changes in scope and/or direction of the research.   A report on the meeting must be filed with the Graduate Student administrator, no later than April 15, using the department's Thesis Committee Meeting form.  A copy of all presentation material must be attached to the form.  Successful completion of this requirement is prerequisite for readmission to the PhD program, including readmission in "Degree Completion Enrollment" (DCE) status.

1.   Students in the doctoral program are required to complete CEE 509 "Directed Research" and CEE 510 "Research Seminar" at least one semester prior to taking their general examination.  Students normally enroll in CEE 509 in the spring semester of their first year and CEE 510 in the fall semester of their second year of study.

2.   At the end of the semester, students in CEE 509 make a poster presentation based on their CEE 509 research.  The presentation is similar to poster presentations at professional meetings and conferences.  All CEE 509 student present their work during a scheduled two-hour "CEE 509 Research Seminar," which is normally scheduled during Reading Period.  The overall CEE 509 grade is based on a term research grade, determined by the student's advisor and the seminar presentation grade determined by faculty evaluation forms from the poster presentations.  Students must submit a copy of their poster to the Graduate Student Administrator in a reduced size format printed on 8.5- by 11-inch paper.
 
3.   At the end of the semester, students in CEE 510 must prepare, based on their research, a draft journal paper and present a seminar to the appropriate graduate program (EEWR or MMS).  This research paper forms a major commponent of the student's "demonstration.