Astrobiology Research Review: Policies & Procedures

Purpose Of Review

To receive a Dual-Title PhD in Astrobiology, students must undertake a dissertation project that has relevance to the field of astrobiology. As such, students pursuing the Dual-Title PhD will necessarily have to dedicate more time, energy, and resources to astrobiology-relevant research than their peers seeking only a Certificate.

“Astrobiology-relevant research” is broadly defined as research that addresses questions of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the Universe. As one example, research in areas that address or are similar to those delineated in the Astrobiology Roadmap (DesMarais et al., 2008, Astrobiology, 8(4), 715) would be considered astrobiology relevant; other topics, though, would also be acceptable, pending review/approval of the Steering Committee.

The Astrobiology Program Steering Committee, comprised of UWAB faculty, will review and approve students’ research as astrobiology-relevant prior to the student’s General Exam (or equivalent) and prior to the student’s Final Exam / Dissertation Defense.

For the Dual-Title PhD in Astrobiology, the research requirement is overall astrobiology relevance of the student’s dissertation.

Review Procedure

To ensure the research is astrobiology relevant, students will be required to present their proposed research to the Steering Committee (1) before completing the General Exam and (2) prior to scheduling a Final Exam.

Astrobiology Review for Candidacy: General Exam (or Equivalent)

The student will present an application to the Steering Committee to have his/her dissertation work considered as astrobiology relevant. The application should be turned in to the Astrobiology Program Administrator at least six weeks prior to the PhD Candidacy (General) Exam. It will then be distributed to the Steering Committee and to any astrobiology faculty on the student’s PhD Candidacy Exam Committee. The student’s application will consist of a cover page, a written description of the proposed research and its relevance to astrobiology, and a letter of support from the student’s astrobiology advisor. The written description of the research may be a copy of the written part of the PhD Candidacy (General) Exam prepared for the student’s home department, as long as it contains a summary of the planned research. The student’s application must also include a clear description of the relevance of their research to astrobiology . The letter from the student’s advisor need not exceed one page, but it must contain a brief summary of the proposed research with respect to astrobiology, and a clear recommendation that the research has overall astrobiology relevance. These materials are intended to allow the Steering Committee to assess the extent of the relevance to astrobiology..

The Steering Committee will review any astrobiology-relevant research proposals submitted by students and notify the student of their decision, in writing, within two weeks. A majority vote is required for a student’s proposal to be approved.

If the Committee approves the student’s proposed research as appropriately astrobiology-relevant, it becomes the responsibility of the student and his/her astrobiology advisor to monitor and ensure that the astrobiology-relevance is maintained throughout the research and writing process. Should the student or advisor have concerns about any change in the astrobiology-relevance (or should the nature of the research substantively change), the concerns should be brought to the attention of the Steering Committee Chair. The Chair will advise the student on whether or not the research requires re-review by the entire Steering Committee.

If the Committee’s decision is not in the student’s favor, the Committee will notify the student, in writing, with a clear and detailed reason for the decision. A student may appeal the decision and request reconsideration. Appeals require a minimum of two letters, one from the student and one from his/her astrobiology advisor, addressed to the Steering Committee Chair and delivered to the Program Administrator. The letters must offer new information in addition to any information provided in the original application and should directly respond to the points raised by the Committee. Upon receipt of both letters, the Steering Committee will reconsider the appeal and respond within two weeks. A majority vote of the Steering Committee is necessary to make a decision on a student’s appeal. A student may appeal the Committee’s decision only once. Revisions, responses, and appeals to the Committees decision should be received and acted upon before a student completes the General Exam.

If the committee’s decision is not in the student’s favor and he/she does not wish to appeal the decision (or appeals and is denied again) the student may proceed toward his/her PhD in accordance with the home department’s policies and procedures. However, the student can no longer remain enrolled in the astrobiology degree track. In this event, the Astrobiology Program Administrator will provide formal notification to the home department that the student should be disenrolled from the Astrobiology degree track and transferred into an appropriate degree track identified by the department.

Astrobiology Review for Awarding PhD: Final Exam (Dissertation Defense)

Before a student seeks to schedule the Final Exam and submit his/her dissertation to the home department, he/she must submit a final research update, and supporting materials, to the UWAB Steering committee. The purpose of this review is to ensure that astrobiology relevance has been maintained as part of the student’s dissertation project.

By the end of the first week of the quarter before the quarter in which the student intends to schedule the Final Exam, he/she must submit a research update to the Steering Committee. (e.g., If a student plans to schedule a Final Exam in the Spring quarter, the research update must be submitted in the first week of the preceding Winter quarter.) The research update must include a cover letter from the student’s astrobiology advisor as well as relevant supporting materials (e.g., abstract, outline, etc.) sufficient to demonstrate that the astrobiology relevance has been maintained at a level sufficiently comparable to the astrobiology-relevance approved prior to the General Exam.

The Steering Committee will notify the student of its decision within two weeks. If the Committee finds in the student’s favor, the student should proceed with completing the dissertation and scheduling a Final Exam. If the Committee does not find in the student’s favor the Committee will notify the student, in writing, with a clear and detailed reason for the decision. A student may appeal the decision and request reconsideration. Or the student may revise his/her final dissertation materials in response to the Committee’s decision. All revisions and appeals must be received and acted upon before the student submits his/her dissertation to the home department.

To ensure that all Dual-Title PhD students receive appropriate guidance and supervision, each student’s doctoral advisor in their home department must also be a member of the Astrobiology Program Faculty.

It is the advisor’s responsibility to ensure, at all points during a student’s graduate tenure, that a student’s research is appropriately relevant to the field of astrobiology – this includes closely monitoring the approved astrobiology content of a student’s doctoral research and final dissertation (see “Research” above).

Dual-Title PhD candidates must also have a second astrobiology faculty member from outside his/her home discipline serving on his/her dissertation committee.

This faculty member serves as the Astrobiology Representative (AB Rep) on the committee and is responsible for helping the student recognize and address the astrobiological relevance of their work and ensure that that relevance is adequately maintained throughout the breadth of the entire project and then discussed in the written paper. Accordingly, the AB Rep should be identified as early as possible during the formation of the student’s dissertation committee, and should be identified before the student’s General Exam.
As part of their duties (and as allowed by the home department’s policies) the AB Rep should be invited to attend the student’s dissertation committee meetings as often as possible, as well as the General and Final Exams, however the AB Rep is not required to be part of the student’s reading committee.

Additionally, all students must have on their dissertation committee a Graduate Student Representative (GSR) according to the UW Graduate School requirements. In order to serve as a Graduate School Representative (GSR), the proposed candidate:

Must be a Graduate Faculty member with an endorsement to chair (check Graduate Faculty Locator).
Must be clear of any conflicts of interest. The GSR is responsible for ensuring that no such conflicts of interest, or appearance of conflicts of interest, exist, and must attest to this upon request. Budgetary relationships, personal relationships, or research and/or publication relationships between the GSR and either the student or the committee chair are examples of possible conflicts of interest.

Please note that these requirements impose that a GSR cannot be a member of the student’s department, which includes the Astrobiology Program.