Submit 1st complete draft
of thesis (candidacy, MS, PhD) at least 7 weeks before planned defense
date. Experimental parts have to be included in the 1st draft.
Avoid scheduling a proposal,
MS or PhD defense in November or December; exceptions need to specifically
approved before the beginning of the fall term.
There are several UPitt A&S deadlines that you need to be aware of, including the application for admission to candidacy for the PhD/MS degree and the application for graduation. For deadlines, guidelines and forms, please check http://www.asgraduate.pitt.edu/policies/graduation_forms.php.
Defend proposal at least
6 months before a planned PhD defense, but no later than the second trimester
of the 4th year. In the undesirable case that a PhD defense is scheduled
before the proposal committee has signed off on the paperwork,
the 4-weeks rule applies without exception, and the PhD defense might
have to be postponed to the next term. It is important to be able to tell the difference between an idea and a good idea - this article might help you to do so.
Authorship on Publications:
From time to time, questions
about authorship come up. The Group follows these guidelines (adapted from:
Hanawalt, P. C., "Research collaborations: Trial, trust, and truth." Cell2006,
126, 823-825).
"Not everyone who contributes
to a research project should necessarily be granted coauthorship on the
resulting papers. Every listed author should have contributed substantially
to the project with respect to its conception, the design and/or performance
of the experiments, the analysis of the results, and/or the drafting
of the manuscript describing the project. All authors (and especially
students!) should participate in critical reading and approval of the
final manuscript submitted for publication. Each author should understand
the research problem and should be able to offer an intelligent discussion
of the entire project from the perspective of their own involvement in
it. There should never be any “courtesy authors,” who may
have been selected because of previous or future efforts in this research
area or who are considered to add credibility or prestige to the publication
(or to themselves), or for any other reason. Those who provide services
such as statistical advice or routine analytical/administrative support
should not be granted authorship but can be thanked in the acknowledgments."
Co-Inventorship on Patents:
Co-inventorship has a more restrictive definition than authorship on publications, and it is further complicated by University rules. This article provides some insights: Armstrong, M.; Murphy, G. M., "Inventorship and ownership considerations and pitfalls with collaborative research." ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2012, 3, 349-351.
