Ph.D. Graduation and Filing

You must refer to Graduate Division’s guidelines on Submitting a Doctoral Dissertation (any deviated version will not be accepted).

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Ph.D. Graduation Checklist

You must either have been registered (12 units) for spring or fall and advanced to candidacy. Note: If you were on a filing fee during the academic year, you must enroll in 1 unit for summer.

EECS Department Requirements Graduate Division Requirements
1. Giving the PhD Dissertation Talk: Students must give a talk on the principal results of their research. Please note that the dissertation talk must approved by the EECS Graduate Affairs Office and be given before a you file your dissertation. 1. PhD Dissertation Filing Procedures: Students must upload your electronic dissertation through Proquest AND submit your final signature eform.
2. PhD Technical Report Submission: Every Ph.D. dissertation must be submitted to the EECS Technical Memorandum Series.

.		 2. Final Signature: Students must obtain electronic signatures of all committee members. Final Signature: Students must obtain electronic signatures of all committee members. Students must initiate this process via eform in Calcentral.
3. PhD Exit Surveys: Complete the EECS Exit Survey. 3. Graduate Division Exit Survey: Complete the Grad Div exit survey, which will need to be completed in Calcentral.
4. Final Step: The Academic Progress Report in Calcentral requirements must be met to officially place you on the degree list for the current semester.

To submit your dissertation, you must either be registered or on Filing Fee. Most students are registered.

If you need to use the Filing Fee option:

  • May be used only once in your graduate career.
  • Applicant must have been registered in the semester (or in a Summer Session) immediately preceding the one for which Filing Fee status is requested.
  • You cannot hold an academic student appointment (GSI or GSR).
  • Students should submit the Filing Fee Application before the start of the semester they wish to file and graduate. The application must be submitted through Calcentral under “My Dashboard.” On the right hand side for “Student Resources,” students will see an option to “Submit a Form.”  Please choose “Special Enrollment Petition” and then “Filing Fee Status.”
  • The Filing Fee will apply for the length of the semester for which Filing Fee status had been approved, up to the deadline for filing for a degree in that semester. These dates vary from year to year, but are approximately December 20 and May 15 of each year.

Giving the Ph.D. Dissertation Talk

Requirements

Students must give a talk on the principal results of their research (this is a departmental graduation requirement). Please note that the dissertation talk must be given before a student files their dissertation.

Students should:

  1. Complete the Thesis Seminar Form before they give the talk.
  2. Submit the details of their talk to the EECS Department Event Calendar (see instructions below).
  3. Advertise their talk by sending an announcement to eecs-announce@lists.eecs.berkeley.edu

Fill out an event submission form: https://events.berkeley.edu/events/ (click the right-column link called Submit an event)

Include the following information:

Event Title format:  “Dissertation Talk: Title of Dissertation”  (no quotes, subtitle optional)

Event Type:  Academic

Short description of your event:  (your abstract, do not include the word “Abstract”)

Name #1:  (your name)

Location for …

Location Name: Room number + Cory, Soda, *BWW or affiliated lab/research center

Select “This is an online event”
Location Name: Room number + Cory, Soda, *BWW or affiliated lab/research center
Location URL:  Zoom URL

Select “This is an online event”
Add Zoom URL to “Event web address”
Location: Off-Campus
Location Name: Zoom
Location URL:  Zoom URL

*Dissertation talks held on the 8th floor of Berkeley Way West are restricted to members of the campus research community. As the presenting speaker, you need to make arrangements in advance of your talk to accommodate guests who do not have BWW access.

Primary Sponsor:  Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)

Phone Number (for general public information) / or Email:  (your information)

Access Coordinator Name / Phone Number / Email Address:  (your EE or CS staff advisor)

Your talk will appear on the EECS Event Calendar once it has been approved by a moderator. Event moderation can take up to one business day.

Submit to calendar: Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences

To edit a previously submitted talk, please contact public-relations@eecs.berkeley.edu.

Ph.D. Dissertation Filing Procedure

All doctoral dissertations must be submitted in electronic form. You need to consult the publication “Instructions for Preparing and Filing Your Thesis or Dissertation,” which describes the requirements for preparing the final version of your dissertation and submitting it electronically. 

NOTE: Grad Div. needs at least 3 working days to review your electronic submission before they are able to provide a receipt of filing. You may still file on the deadline date, but don’t expect to receive a confirmation until the following week.) After your degree is awarded, the original copy will be sent to the University Library to be bound and included in the Library’s collection.

Verify your committee: Ensure that your dissertation committee matches what was approved by the Graduate Division. You can check this in CalCentral under the “My Academics” tab, then “Higher Degrees Committees eform.”

Making changes: If you need to update your committee, reconfigure it, and submit a Request for Change in Higher Degree Committee eform through CalCentral under “Student Resources” in your Dashboard. This will be routed to your staff Graduate Advisor for processing.

Filing for both M.S. and Ph.D.: If you are filing for both degrees, you must file your M.S. report or thesis before filing your dissertation. The dates on the M.S. signature page must be earlier than those on the dissertation signature page, although both can be filed in the same semester.

Use of previously published work: If you plan to include substantial portions of your own previously published or co-authored material in your dissertation or thesis, a common practice in some disciplines, you are responsible for informing major contributors. Refer to the Graduate Division policy for additional details.

One copy should be uploaded to the EECS Department Website through the online submission form.

Ph.D. Technical Report Submission

Every Ph.D. dissertation must be submitted to the EECS Technical Memorandum Series. Please fill out the online submission form. Your manuscript will need to be in PDF format. Please do not include a copy of the signed signature page with the faculty committee members’ signatures.

Once submitted, the report will be assigned a number, given an HTML coversheet, assigned a URL, and added to the EECS Technical Reports database. You will be sent its number and URL via email. If you need to delay the submission of your Tech Report, there is an option via your My EECS Info page that will allow you to specify a “delayed publication date”.

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