• Thesis orals should be scheduled only during academic periods — not during holidays or weekends — and should occur during normal business hours. Exceptions must be approved by the program co-directors.
• The student should coordinate the date with the committee members and finalize the date at least one month in advance to allow time for travel arrangements, final review and comments by the committee. Be sure to check with Diane Stidle before finalizing the date to make sure there are no other orals scheduled at the chosen time. Thesis orals or proposals will not be scheduled to overlap.

Send the Graduate Program Administrator the following information:

• Information for posting the notice.
  • Date
  • Time
  • Place
  • Title
  • Thesis committee members, including external member and their affiliation.
• Thesis abstract: Less than 350 words describing the thesis. Send a link (optional) to the draft document.
• If the talk will be remote, complete the livestream consent form.

• Make sure all of your committee members are in attendance before you start the talk.
• After your talk, your committee will discuss the defense and inform you of their decision. Please ask your adviser to send the Program Administrator an email confirming that you have passed your defense.

• Check for research credits that should be listed on your final thesis with Russ O'Lare.
• Request a Technical Report number from the Graduate Program Administrator. (Your thesis will be made into an ML Technical Report and posted online with the other Machine Learning Technical Reports.)
• Check for proper title page format.
• Once it's formatted and approved by your committee, send the final PDF of your thesis to the Graduate Program Administrator to publish.

The Graduate Program Administrator will bind one copy of the final document for you. If you wish to have additional copies bound, let your administrator know. 

• Fill out the Survey of Earned Doctorates, which Hunt Library needs to publish your thesis.
• Transition your SCS account to CMU alumni account:

Note that your degree cannot be certified until have submitted your thesis document and dissertation checklist to the Ph.D. Program Administrator.