NEW GRADUATE STUDENT INFORMATION

Graduate Work in Earth & Planetary Sciences at UCSC

Welcome to the Earth & Planetary Sciences Department and UC Santa Cruz. This webpage includes information that should help make your start here as a graduate student easier by letting you know what is expected by the department and university, and who to ask if you have questions about almost any aspect life as a graduate student.

I. Departmental Personnel  

Here are a few of the people in the department with whom you should become familiar as soon as possible, if you have not done so already. If you have questions or needs related to your graduate program and can not find answers online or in printed catalogs and other materials, these are some of the folks to contact for guidance. There are many other people who can be helpful and are responsible for other aspects of departmental resources and policies, many of whom will be introduced during the Orientation Meeting at the start of fall quarter. Please visit the department web site for a complete list of personnel and their contact information.

Cathy is the first person to contact with questions about administrative issues and forms, and she is also knowledgeable about many aspects of financial aid and courses, and works with the Grad Rep to make TA assignments. Andy represents the department in matters of academic and degree policy, signs off on many forms, and also knows about course options. Paul is the person to go to if you have questions about decisions made by Cathy or Andy; he will generally need to approve significant exceptions to departmental policy. Judy manages the front office staff and is also well versed in departmental and university policies; she can help direct you to the right person in the main office to help with reimbursements, making copies for classes in which you are the TA, reserving vehicles for field trips, etc. Please be sure to introduce yourself to the rest of the front office staff (Jennifer Fish, Mary Nosse, Alice Szeto). We are lucky to have such a dedicated and talented group who keep the department running day to day.

II. Coursework Requirements 

UCSC Earth and Planetary Sciences Department graduate course requirements are modest, in many ways following the European model for graduate degrees (to go along with our Mediterranean climate). This reflects the diversity of our graduate students (who have a wide range of experience and training), and our overall graduate degree philosophy: you and your advisor/committees are best equipped to determine what courses will be most useful.

All graduate students must enroll in EART203, Introductory Teaching Seminar (3 units) fall quarter of their first year. Also part of the standard graduate curriculum arethese required courses: EART205, Introductory Graduate Seminar, EART206, Great Papers in Earth Sciences, and at least one of the following: EART207, Tectonics, EART208, Methods in Paleoclimatology, EART209, Solid Earth Geochemistry, EART210, Stellar/Planetary Formation and Evolution, and EART220, Groundwater Modeling. The most suitable classes from this list will be determined on the basis of your academic record, research goals, and performance during a Preliminary Interview (described below). Students are generally expected to complete these classes during their first year.

Other course requirements are tailored to the individual student’s academic background, professional experience, and plans for research. Master’s Degree students must take a minimum of 35 quarter units of graduate and upper division level courses (including the courses mentioned above), of which no more than 15 units may be upper division undergraduate courses. Of the required graduate level courses, a minimum of 20 units must be courses other than supervised research (EART297) except by special exception of the Graduate council. There is no minimum course unit requirement (except the courses mentioned above) for Ph.D. degrees, but students generally take a more courses during the first year or two in the department. Students entering with a Bachelor’s degree usually need to broaden their background by taking additional courses in areas of undergraduate deficiency or in areas related to thesis research interests, whereas students entering with a M.S. may be more focused on acquiring specific research skills. Additional courses in the allied sciences may also be helpful. During the first year, students typically take three 5-unit courses per quarter or two courses and one 5-unit independent study associated with their research. You should prepare a draft course plan for your first year as soon as possible with your primary advisor. Also, be sure to discuss with your advisor the terms by with your independent research (EART297) progress will be evaluated, so that there will be no misunderstandings come the end of the quarter. It is good idea to agree on specific goals in writing, and to meet periodically to assess progress throughout the quarter.

There is no foreign language requirement in the UCSC Earth and Planetary Sciences graduate program, but you may find knowledge of one or more foreign languages helpful in your research or career. Earth and Planetary Sciences students occasionally take courses at another campus and transfer them for credit to UCSC, although usually not in their first year. Such a course must fill a clearly defined need in your academic plan and contain material unobtainable at UCSC, and you will need departmental approval in advance. Generally no more than three such courses will be approved per graduate student per year.

Graduate students are also required to enroll in and attend EART293, Graduate Research Seminar (1 unit) in winter quarter each year. During each seminar, two-three graduate students (generally in their 2nd, 4th, and occasionally 6th year) give oral presentations on current or anticipated research and are critiqued by their peers (for both content and presentation). The primary purpose of this seminar is to give students practice in presenting research results. Students should prepare carefully and practice for these seminars. UCSC Earth and Planetary Sciences graduate students have received a large number of awards for presentations at national and international meetings, and we think the Eart293 has helped contributed to this, plus it keeps us aware of what kinds of research projects are underway or planned.

III. Degree Milestones and Requirements 

A. Time to Degree

The length of time spent in graduate school varies student to student, but the department and graduate division have clear expectations. It generally takes four to six years to complete a Ph.D., and two to three years to complete a research M.S. The coursework M.S. degree is generally completed in one year. If UCSC graduate students in the physical sciences take more than six years to complete a Ph.D. or more than three years to complete a research M.S. there can be negative impacts for the student and department, including loss of funding. Exceptional circumstances sometimes result in significant changes to degree plans and timing; please consult regularly with your advisor (and others, as described below) to make sure your graduate plan remains on schedule.

Most graduate students discuss potential research topics with their future advisor(s) before they apply for admission, and these discussions should continue and intensify during your first year. A complete research plan will include the scope, logistics, funding, and intended products (thesis, reports, papers) of planned and potential research. These discussions should result in the student formalizing plans for research, including identification of a major advisor who will supervise the project(s). In the following sections, we describe additional requirements and milestones for the main degree types: Ph.D., M.S., and coursework M.S.

B. Preliminary Interview

Towards the end of their first quarter of enrollment, all first-year graduate students, except those pursuing a coursework M.S., will participate in a one-hour oral interview with a faculty committee comprising his/her primary Faculty Advisor, the Graduate Representative, and one additional member. Interview questions are drawn from a list of general Earth and Planetary Sciences topics, and may also include basic mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology. The interview is used to help assess your understanding of basic scientific principles and ability to explain and apply these principles to specific problems. A degree of proficiency comparable to those who have earned a B.S. in Earth and Planetary Sciences at UCSC is expected. On the basis of your academic record prior to starting as a graduate student at UCSC, performance in the preliminary interview, and expressed research interests, the faculty committee will determine: (1) which graduate classes you should complete, and (2) whether you need to fill gaps in understanding, possibly including additional undergraduate coursework. You will be informed immediately of the results of your Preliminary Interview, and your Faculty Advisor will prepare a letter from the Preliminary Interview committee, summarizing course and other requirements and recommendations. Required courses should be completed during the subsequent academic year; the Graduate Representative and Staff Advisor will seek confirmation of this when annual progress reports are prepared in the Spring (more about this later).

C. Ph. D. Research, Reading Committee, and Dissertation Requirements

1. Oral Qualifying Examination and Advancement to Ph.D. Candidacy
In order to qualify for candidacy in any doctoral program of the Division of Graduate Studies at the University of California, a graduate student must pass an oral qualifying examination within three years of entering his/her Ph.D. Program. The Qualifying Exam in the UCSC Earth and Planetary Sciences Department is centered around a written dissertation proposal that defines the student's research goals, describes a plan for achieving these goals, and discusses pertinent literature.

Sometime during the first year (or possibly early in the second year) each Ph.D. student should choose a faculty member to chair the Qualifying Exam committee. This person is generally the Research Advisor, but the chair must be a tenured professor at UCSC. Together the committee chair (and Research Advisor, if a different person) and student select additional members of the examining committee. The committee should be composed of three members from the Earth and Planetary Sciences faculty or affiliated faculty, and one outside member. The outside member may be a tenured professor from another UCSC department or from another institution in a field related to the Earth sciences. Any non-Academic Senate faculty member or professional from a non-academic institution (e.g., U.S. Geological Survey) must be approved by exception following submission of a letter by the committee chair to the Dean of Graduate Studies.

The student coordinates a date and location for the exam that is acceptable to the entire committee. It is the student's responsibility to plan the exam sufficiently in advance so that the Graduate Representative and Graduate Dean can approve it, typically 30 days prior to the exam date. The appropriate form to nominate members of the exam committee is obtained at the department office and sent to the Graduate Office. Upon approval the Graduate Division will send a confirming e-mail memo to all committee members, the student and the department office, indicating the location and time of the exam.

The exam will be based on the dissertation research proposal, copies of which should be distributed to the committee members at least two weeks in advance of the Qualifying Exam. Some committee members may provide feedback and make requests for changes prior to the Qualifying Exam. The proposal presents one or more scientific problems to be addressed by the student and should also include a proposed timeline, specific project milestones, and a plan for funding. The proposed project should have breadth and depth appropriate for a Ph.D. dissertation, At of the time of the Qualifying Exam, students are expected to have in-depth knowledge of fields and literature relevant to the proposal, so you should begin reading and discussing the literature as soon as possible. At the Qualifying Exam, the student generally makes a brief presentation to the committee and then answers questions related to the proposed research plan (its appropriateness, methods to be used, logic of the approach, etc.) and fields of study encompassed by it.

The student is promptly notified of the results after the exam. The committee chair prepares an official report to the Graduate Division; one copy goes to the student, one to the department, and one to the Graduate Division accompanied by a $65 check from the student to cover the processing fee for advancement to candidacy. The Qualifying Examination may be taken no more than twice, and if retaking the exam is necessary it should be done within no more than one quarter after the first attempt, and within less than 3 years of entry to the program. Exam committee membership cannot be changed between the first and second exams without specific permission of the Graduate Dean.

The Aaron and Elizabeth Waters Award is presented each year to the student whose dissertation research proposal is judged best for that year by the faculty of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. In order to qualify for consideration for the Waters Award, students with a Bachelors degree must have successfully passed their oral qualifying exam by the end of their 8th full-time equivalent quarter (excluding summers). Those with a Masters degree entering from another program are eligible through their 5th quarter. All proposals must be on file in the department office by the first week in May to be considered for this award.

Students have the option of annotating their degree to include geochemistry, geology, geophysics or planetary sciences, e.g., "Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences (Geology)." This decision, in agreement with the committee membership, should be made before the oral qualifying exam so that a form requesting the annotation can be included with the exam report to the Graduate Division.

There is no specific unit requirement for the Ph.D., but ordinarily students put more of their effort into coursework during the first year of graduate study. Students entering with a Bachelor’s degree usually need to broaden their background by taking additional courses in areas of undergraduate deficiency or in areas related to thesis research interests. Additional courses in the allied sciences may also be recommended. This year is also a time to acquire a professional orientation and students are urged to begin research on a possible thesis topic. During the second year (or the first year for those entering with Master’s degrees) students generally take courses that bear more directly on their major field of interest and will support their thesis research.

2. Ph.D. Dissertation Reading Committee
At the time of advancement to candidacy, students must submit a Reading Committee Form to the Graduate Division. This form lists the names of the faculty who will sign the original dissertation title page when it is complete. The Reading Committee consists of at least three individuals, the majority of whom must be members of the Santa Cruz Division of the Academic Senate. The reading committee often includes some or all of the same people who administered the oral qualifying exam, but this is not required. The Graduate Representative must approve and sign the Reading Committee Form. Once this form is submitted, membership can only be changed by submitting a revised Reading Committee Form for the Graduate Dean's approval. The Reading Committee Form must be turned in with the qualifying exam report before “Advanced to Candidacy” status is official.

Once advanced to candidacy, students are required to meet with their Reading Committee at least once each year. External members of the Reading Committee are not required to be present for these annual Reading Committee meetings, which can be difficult to attend for committee members from other institutions, but getting regular input from the complete committee is often beneficial. The purpose of this meeting is to allow students and their committees to discuss preliminary research results, reexamine project goals, and verify that the student remains on track and on schedule. A funding plan for the remainder of the research project should also be discussed. The chair of the Reading Committee (the research adviser) is required to submit a written report concerning research progress to the Graduate Representative; this report will be the basis of the annual department review of academic progress, which is submitted to the Graduate Division each Spring.

Students must present a complete draft of their dissertation to their committee by the fourth week of the quarter in which they wish to graduate. Thus, a minimum of six weeks is allowed for faculty evaluation, revision, and a defense seminar, which must be scheduled and publicized at least two weeks in advance. This is a public departmental seminar, with additional questions asked by the dissertation committee in a separate session afterwards, followed by a celebration with the successful candidate.

D. M.S. Research, Reading Committee, and Thesis Requirements

E. Coursework M.S. degree

The coursework M.S. degree is a terminal professional degree, intended to allow students to increase their breadth, quantitative depth, or emphasis on a particular specialty; to provide the student with a stronger background toward competition for jobs or an enhancement of skills for current employment (e.g. K-14 teaching); or to allow students from other disciplines (e.g. biology, physics, chemistry, math, environmental studies) to acquire advanced training in the Earth sciences. Transcripts are annotated with “Master of Science By Coursework” in contrast to the “Master of Science by Thesis.” Students will be required to complete nine 5-unit courses, normally within three quarters, for this degree. Coursework M.S. students with work or other obligations may require a longer time to complete the nine courses. These courses should be at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level and should be quantitative in nature. No more than 15 units may be upper division undergraduate courses, and no more than 5 units may be independent research or internships (EART297 or 298). The department generally discourages coursework M.S. students from taking graduate seminars (EART290_) as part of the nine-course requirement.

Courses to be taken will be chosen on the basis of student’s interests, in consultation with a graduate adviser, and with approval of the Graduate Representative. By the second week of the first quarter a “Coursework Master's Plan Approval” form (available at the department staff adviser’s office) must be completed and signed by the student’s faculty adviser and the Graduate Representative. Any revisions to the original course plan must be formally submitted and approved by the faculty adviser and Graduate Representative. Coursework M.S. students are required to fulfill one of the following capstone options: a substantial review/research manuscript, or a comprehensive oral examination based on their course work. Preliminary Interviews are not required for Coursework M.S. degree students.

F. Annual Review of Academic Progress

Graduate students are evaluated annually to assess academic progress, and these reports are forwarded to the Graduate Division near the end of Spring quarter. This assessment is made primarily by the Primary Advisor (in consultation with the Graduate Representative and the student's reading committee, if the latter has been constituted) on the basis of coursework, research progress, and other factors. Graduate students in Earth and Planetary Sciences must demonstrate satisfactory progress to assure good academic standing. A student whose progress is considered to be unsatisfactory may lose opportunities for funding, fellowships, and teaching assistantships, and may eventually be subject to dismissal. Please review the latest version of the UCSC Graduate Student Handbook for more information.

IV. Computer and Administrative Support Information

There are two sets of computer resources available to all students:

1. Academic Computing Group (ACG) for department computers

The contact address for ACG computer support is eshelp@acg.ucsc.edu

http://acg.ucsc.edu has information about the kinds and levels of computing support offered by the ACG.

https://pmc.ucsc.edu has some information on the department computer systems.

Department computers (often purchased by faculty and researchers using grants) are supported by the ACG. You should have received your account information for the department UNIX network. If you have not, please email eshelp@acg.ucsc.edu for assistance.

2. Information Technology Services (ITS) for central UCSC computing resources

The contact address for ITS computer support is help@ucsc.edu. This includes email support for all @ucsc.edu addresses. All graduate students should have a computer account from Information Technology Services (ITS). This can be obtained by visiting the ITS Help Desk (Kerr Hall Rm. 60, M-F 8am to 5pm) or on-line at: http://its.ucsc.edu/service_catalog/accounts/index.php. Please note that your ITC computer account/access is completely separate from that managed through the department. There are hardware and software resources available across campus through ITS that you may access only after establishing an ITS account.

The following resources are available in the main department office (E&MS A232, A234):

Two copiers are located in Rm. A234 for teaching, research and personal use. For personal copies, debit cards can be purchased at various locations such as McHenry or Science libraries, Digital Copy Services (Xpress It!), and Printing Services, for use in many different copiers on campus. Teaching Assistants use copy cards specific to each course, issued by the department's front office staff. Printing Services or Xpress It! can do large runs for classes quickly and cheaply; see the department staff for placing printing orders of this nature. Contact your faculty sponsor regarding research-related copying. Teaching labs in the Earth and Marine Scences building are not equipped with Audio/Visual equipment, so you must check it out from the department office. The equipment can be reserved quarterly on an on-going basis or for occasional use on individual days.

You will be issued keys for access to the department office and appropriate labs (including the computer lab E&MS C303) by the general services lab manager, Kellie Townsend (E&MS C210, 459-3537). A mailbox is provided to you in Rm. A234 for departmental and research-related materials. A FAX machine and phone are also available in the department office (Rm. A232) for personal use with your own calling card. Your adviser will give you a telephone access code for research-related calls. This equipment is used by a large number of people, so please treat it with care! Basic supplies are available for your use as a Teaching Assistant for classes, as well as transparencies for use in classes you are attending. Please see the front office staff for any questions you have regarding special mail, equipment or supply needs.