For Pre-Candidacy Students

For the Department of Physics, our graduate students under semesters are required to take:

• One-year Quantum Mechanics sequence (Phys 7501-7502)
• One-year Classical and Statistical Physics sequence (Phys 7601, 7602)
• One year sequence consisting of Analytical and Numeric Methods of Physics with Electromagnetic Field Theory (Phys 7701 & 7401)

You need to have an average GPA across the 6 core courses of 3.3 (B+) and any core course in which a student receives a B- or lower grade is required to be repeated for a better grade. This is referred to as the "Physics core course requirement."

     Some students may have already taken an equivalent graduate level core course at another university or institution. In this case the student may request consideration that the core course be waived from the core course requirement. Please email the Graduate Studies Chair and provide a course syllabus, books used and copy of transcript showing the grades.  This information will be discussed with the relevant core course instructors and then the student will be notified once a determination is made.  

Physics Advanced Topics courses are typically numbered 68xx or 88xx.  In addition to the core course requirement students are required to take at least three semesters of Advanced Topics courses, with at most one of these at the 68xx level. Physics 5810 "Computational Methods" does count as a 68xx level advanced topics course. For 5810 students will need to contact the Graduate Studies Program Coordinator to request manual enrollment in the course before the start of the semester.  

   If a student's advisor recommends that the student takes a course outside of Physics and the student wants this course to count as one of the three required Physics Advanced Topics courses, the student’s advisor should send an email to the Graduate Studies Chair confirming that this non-physics course is important for the student’s research. With this process, one non-physics course at the 4000-level or above will generally be approved to count as one of the required Physics Advanced Topics courses. If a student wants to have a non-physics course below the 4000 level count as a Physics Advanced topics course, or if the student would like more than one non-Physics course to count towards the Physics Advanced Topics requirement, they should discuss this with the Graduate Studies Chair, who may ask the student to prepare a petition that will be discussed with the Graduate Studies Committee.

After you complete your 6 Core Courses, 2 of the 3 Advanced Topics courses and meet the GPA requirements, you are eligible to schedule and complete your candidacy exam.  Candidacy can be scheduled concurrently with your 2nd Advanced Topics course and/or with retaking a core course but should be scheduled late at the end of the term or between terms to verify that you meet the course completion, grade and GPA requirements.  You will need to complete your 3rd Advanced Topics course within 1 year after passing candidacy.

By this point most students would have earned 18 credit hours of Physics Core Courses, 6 hours or more of Advanced Topics Courses, 2 hours of Physics seminars (Physics 6780 and 7891a) and at least 21 hours of Physics 7998 non-thesis independent research for a 2-year, 6 semester total of 47 credit hours. The Graduate School requires students to have completed a minimum of 30 credit hours to be eligible for taking their candidacy exam and this schedule of courses insures that is met.

Selecting your 4-member candidacy committee from the Physics faculty:

1. Advisor
2. 2nd faculty in same research area as your advisor
3. 3rd faculty member is either a theorist or experimentalist in your research area (if your first 2 are experimentalists, you would need a theorist in the same research area and vice versa if your advisor and 2nd member are theorists, you would need an experimentalist in the same research area.
4. 4th member should be completely unrelated to your research area and can be either a theorist or experimentalist.

           Example: Student is in condensed matter experiment the committee will need to be the student's advisor in CM Experiment, 2nd faculty member in CME, 3rd faculty member in CM Theory and the 4th member from outside of Condensed Matter.

Note that if your advisor recommends a faculty committee member that does not hold any appointment in Physics, you will need to email and petition the Graduate Studies Office for permission to have that faculty member as part of your 4 person committee. Please email your petition request directly to the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies (Prof. Gupta) with copy to your advisor and the Grad Studies Program Coordinator. The Graduate Studies Office encourages most of our Physics grad students to schedule their candidacy exam during their 2nd summer. There are some research areas that this may not be possible and that should be discussed with the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies during the annual review conducted during spring terms. All students are required to pass candidacy by the end of their 3rd year.

The candidacy exam process is 6 weeks and needs to be scheduled to be completed during a current term in order to change your student status from Pre-candidacy to Post-candidacy.  Please see the Candidacy Exam Info page for detailed instructions for how the exam is conducted.

Students should file an Application to Graduate form on gradforms.osu.edu to have a Master's degree recorded on their student file.  The Application to Graduate online form will have an option for Master's degree for passing Candidacy and you should select that option.

At this point most students pass into their thesis research with their research advisor. Students begin the term immediately following candidacy registering for Physics 8999 Thesis Research for 3 credit hours only with their research advisor and are now subject to the Graduate School's rule for continuous enrollment for subsequent Autumn and Spring semesters.  Post Candidacy students who may wish to take a term off or need to leave to work on a summer internship could do so during summer term but this should be discussed in advance with the advisor and the Physics Graduate Studies office.

Most students will need to spend another 4 years or 12 semesters  (36 credit hours) working on their thesis research and earning enough credit hours to meet the 80 credit hour minimum to graduate. (Some students will need longer but on average most Physics student complete their PhD in 6 years.)   Note that there is not a minimum number of Physics 8999 Thesis Research hours required for students who started their graduate program with Physics, but a reasonable number should have been earned in the years following passing candidacy. (Students transferring or starting the program with their Master's degree do have different requirements and these will be outlined in the Physics Handbook currently under revision as well as these students are subject to some additional Graduate School rules.)

Your post candidacy period to work on your PhD is limited to 5 years from the date of your candidacy exam but can be extended with a petition form "Committee and Examination Petition" sent to the graduate school using gradforms.osu.edu.

Some students may wish to take a graduate course sometime between passing candidacy and graduating and in those situations, students should register for the course for 3 credit hours and NOT Physics 8999 Thesis Research. Students should always discuss in advance the course they are interested in with their advisor before signing up for it and if the course is over 3 credit hours, students must have their advisor's permission to exceed 3 credit hours as this does mean a higher tuition cost to the professor.

Students need to have a minimum of 80 total graduate credit hours to apply for graduation.  (Undergraduate courses do not count toward the 80 credit hours.)  Note that as only 30 hours are required for the candidacy exam as well as for applying for your Master's degree, the balance of hours from pre-candidacy will need to be transferred to count toward earning your PhD. The Graduate School has a form for transferring graduate credit hours in excess of 30. 

OSU Travel Policy 

This policy covers that if you would need to travel related to your research for a conference, seminar, workshop or summer school, you MUST enter your travel into the e-Travel system and have it approved PRIOR to your leaving for your trip. Please consult with your research group’s administrative support person when planning your trip.

 Office of Research - Research Compliance

• General Policies
• Research Data Policy 

American Institute of Physics  - Statement of ethics and responsibilities of authors submitting to AIP journals: https://publishing.aip.org/authors/ethics

The following is a sample timeline for a 5 to 6-week Candidacy Exam, including all preliminary events as detailed in the document below.

Before

Student: Discuss when to schedule Candidacy.

Faculty Advisor: Discuss Examination committee and any possible ODS accommodations with the student.

At least 1 week prior to start of exam period

Faculty Advisor: Discuss topic with other members of the Examination Committee; draft Candidacy Exam letter. Notify Grad Studies Office if Exam Committee has an external (i.e., non-physics) faculty member.

Day 1

Faculty Advisor: Email Candidacy letter to the student, Examination Committee and the Graduate Studies Office. – Start of exam period

Word template for candidacy exam letter Physics dept REV 6.2021

Between Week 1 and Week 3

Student: set and confirm Candidacy Oral Exam date with advisor and your other 3 committee members.

No later than 16 days before oral exam date –Graduate School departmental approval (Advisor & Physics Grad Studies Office) deadline is 14 days before exam date

Student: Submit “Application for Candidacy” form on gradforms.osu.edu to official register with the Graduate school to formally schedule your Candidacy Oral Exam.

Faculty Advisor: Approve “Application for Candidacy” form on gradforms.osu.edu after submission by student.

End of Week 4

Written exam due to committee.

Week 5 or 6

Student, Advisor and 3 Faculty Committee members: Oral presentation – End of exam period

Zoom Guidelines

Faculty Advisor and 3 Faculty Committee members: Report exam results within 24 hours using the “Report on Candidacy Exam” on gradforms.osu.edu.

• One-year Quantum Mechanics sequence (Phys 7501-7502)
• One-year Classical and Statistical Physics sequence (Phys 7601, 7602)
• One-year sequence consisting of Analytical and Numeric Methods of Physics with Electromagnetic Field Theory (Phys 7701 & 7401)
• Average GPA across the 6 core courses of at least 3.3 (B+)
• Three Physics advanced topics courses at the 6000 level or higher, two prior or concurrent with the term of candidacy and the 3^rd is expected to be taken within 1 year of passing Candidacy. Please note that only one course is allowed to be outside of Physics, and at least the two of the three advanced topics courses must be at the 7000 or 8000 level.
• Per Graduate School Guidelines, all graduate students must maintain an average of 3.0 GPA overall for their graduate coursework.
• Student needs to have completed 30 graduate credit hours. (Students earn approximately 25 hours per precandidacy year.)
• Department recommends scheduling candidacy by the end of the student’s 2^nd year, usually during their 2^nd summer in our program. Students must complete candidacy before the end of their 3^rd year in our program.
• Per the Graduate School’s Handbook, a student can only take the candidacy exam twice to pass it.

• Exam should be scheduled to be completed during a current term in order to change student status from Precandidacy to Postcandidacy for the following term.  Exams scheduled between finals and the start of the next term will count as completed during the current term.
• Advisor consults the other faculty on student's advisory (candidacy) committee to select exam topic; it is recommended this be done at least a week in advance of the start of the exam period.
• Advisor uses the Graduate-Studies-approved Candidacy letter template to draft exam letter to start candidacy exam process. The letter should be approved by the full candidacy committee.
• Advisor emails the student the Candidacy Exam letter with copy to the committee members and the Grad Studies Chair. This is the start of the exam period.
• Advisor should instruct the student that if there are any Office of Disability Services accommodations for the exam, the student will need to meet with the Office of Disability Services at least a week before the topic is assigned to allow time for that office to consult with the Physics Graduate Studies Chair and the Graduate School for agreement on the accommodations.

1. Advisor
2. 2nd faculty in same research area as advisor
3. 3rd faculty member is either a theorist or experimentalist in advisor’s research area. (If first 2 are experimentalists, then would need a theorist in the same research area. Vice versa if advisor and 2nd member are theorists, then would need an experimentalist in the same research area.)
4. 4th member should be completely unrelated to advisor’s research area and can be either a theorist or an experimentalist.

Example: For a student in Condensed Matter Experiment (CME), the committee will need to be the student's advisor in CME, 2nd faculty member in CME, 3rd faculty member in Condensed Matter Theory (CMT) and the 4th member from outside of the Condensed Matter research area.

There are some research areas for which this committee composition may not be possible, in which case the composition should be discussed in advance with the Graduate Studies Chair.

If Advisor recommends a faculty committee member that does not hold any appointment in Physics, Advisor will need to email a petition to the Graduate Studies Chair at least a week before the start of the exam period, with a copy to the Physics Graduate Program Coordinator, to request permission to have that non-Physics faculty member as part of the 4 person committee. The Graduate Coordinator will need to check with the Graduate School to verify the non-Physics faculty member has the appropriate advising approval from the Graduate School.

Student has 4 weeks (give or take a few days) to complete the written portion.

The written portion of the Candidacy Examination will consist of a professional-quality report on the assigned topic. The topic should be sufficiently broad as to complement the intended research project and to ground the student thoroughly in the literature of her/his chosen research area. It should not be as narrow as a thesis research proposal. The topic should serve as a vehicle for the student to review and know the literature of the field. Students who are new to a research area may find it desirable to do background reading in the area before scheduling the Candidacy Examination. The student may freely use all the resources of the University including faculty and graduate students. The Advisory Committee may reserve the right not to answer questions of judgment but may very well answer questions of fact. The paper should be from 10 to 20 pages in length (not including figures and references), 1.5 line spacing and 11-12 pt font. The paper should include a clear introduction to the topic and complete references. It is permissible for the advisor to review a draft of the written paper and/or the oral presentation before the date of the Candidacy Exam.

Student is responsible for coordinating with the committee members to confirm their availability for a particular date and time for the oral exam well in advance of the exam date, preferably prior to the start of the exam period. Student is responsible for submitting the "Application for Candidacy" form online via gradforms.osu.edu. Advisor and Physics Grad Studies Office approvals are required no later than 10 working days (2 weeks or 14 calendar days) before date of exam.  If the “Application for Candidacy” form is not submitted at least two weeks before the oral exam date, the oral exam date must be rescheduled in order to meet the two-week-before-oral-exam deadline. The Grad Studies office recommends submitting this online form no later than 16 days before the date of the oral examination to allow time for the 2 approvals.

• Student should submit the written exam portion approximately 4 weeks (give or take a few days) after the topic is assigned. Note that the written portion should be completed and submitted to Advisor and Committee at least 1 week before the oral exam date.

• Oral Exam generally lasts two hours, beginning with a summary of the material contained in the paper. The entire oral exam, including committee deliberations after the student has finished and has been excused from the room, must not exceed two hours from the scheduled start of the exam.
• Student should prepare a summary presentation of his/her paper of no more than 20 minutes in length, if given without interruptions.  Note that exam format can vary by research areas and committee members. Exam questions can start immediately at the exam start time and many students may not actually deliver very much of their presentation.
• The Candidacy Examination Committee will question the student about the specific topic of the paper and about broader issues related to the research area, including the material covered in the advanced courses, during and after the presentation. All members of the Committee shall be given the opportunity to participate in the questioning. The Committee will be testing whether or not the student has learned the background, literature, techniques, etc. appropriate to her/his chosen specialty. This "common knowledge" of the field is considerably wider than that required for a dissertation project, but without it the research cannot be related to other work in the field. The Candidacy Examination should test whether a student is prepared to begin a detailed thesis research project.
• The Graduate Studies Office makes the follow suggestion for how to start these exams:  Let the student present a few slides to get through the topic overview and if possible, make the first question something easy for the student to answer. Most students experience a lot of anxiety about this exam process and giving them a chance to present a little of their topic in the first few minutes and then having the first question be one that they can easily answer will help build their confidence to get through that important first 5 to 10 minutes of an exam where anxiety is usually at its highest point.
• Attendance at the oral portion of the Candidacy Examination is strictly limited to the student and members of the Examination Committee. No observers (unless approved by the Graduate School), other faculty or other graduate students may be present.
• Advisor and Committee members should sign the "Report on Candidacy Exam" form online at the end of the exam at gradforms.osu.edu. Approval timing is expected within 24 hours of the exam and timing is VERY critical for exams taking place on the last business day before the start of a new term.
• Note that the total timeline is usually 6 weeks, give or take a few days, but the time line can be as short as 5 weeks. If there are special circumstances that will occur during the 6-week timeline or that happen while the student is in the middle of the exam 6-week timeline, please contact the Graduate Studies office to discuss what, if any, accommodation(s) can be made.
• If the written or oral exam must be postponed for any reason OR if there is a change of committee member due to an emergency, the student MUST NOT start the exam until he/she has filed a "Committee and Examination Petition" form on gradforms.osu.edu; this form needs immediate online approval by the Advisor and the Graduate School BEFORE starting the oral exam.  Graduate School’s Office of Graduation Services will update the “Report on Candidacy” form in order to change out the faculty member name to allow the exam to be valid. Please also contact the Physics Graduate Studies office to alert them of the issue so that they can facilitate the petition to notify the Graduate School that one is pending their immediate review.  Usually the exam can proceed within 5 to 10 minutes of the notification to the Graduate School so the delay is usually minimal.
• The student passes the exam if and only if all committee members judge both the written and oral portions of the exam to be “satisfactory”. Each committee member must indicate their decisions on the 2 report forms for the Candidacy Exam in gradforms.osu.edu accordingly.
  • If one or more committee members marks either or both of the written and oral portions “unsatisfactory”, then the student fails the exam. The committee must then decide among the following alternatives and inform the Graduate Studies Office:
    • The student should not be allowed to take a Second Candidacy Exam.
    • The student should be given a Second Candidacy Exam using the same topic or a narrower version. A narrower version may facilitate the student acquiring the necessary expertise. If the committee decides that only the oral portion is unsatisfactory, the committee can allow the written portion of the second Candidacy Exam to be identical or nearly identical to the original written portion.
    • The student should be given a Second Candidacy Exam using a new topic.
  • If early or midway into the exam a student becomes extremely flustered and is unable to continue with the exam, then the exam should be halted. The student is given an “unsatisfactory” for the oral exam and the committee must recommend how to proceed as indicated above.
  • For the Second Candidacy Exam, which will be the student’s last allowed attempt, the Graduate School will assign a faculty member from outside of Physics to attend the exam.

(note these bullet points are also sent to students in Docusign to amend their grad appointments for their raise to the Post Candidacy stipend rate.)

• Apply to Graduate: Student should file online an "Application to Graduate" on gradforms.osu.edu to receive their Master's after they successfully pass their candidacy exam. This form can be filed the same term the exam is scheduled, but the application is subject to verification that the exam was passed before the start of the following term. Otherwise, this form can be submitted by the 3^nd Friday of the term following the one in which the exam was taken.
• Per the Graduate School’s Handbook, the candidacy period is 5 years. Students can petition one time for a one-semester extension of the candidacy period. If the student would still not finish during that extra semester, then the student and committee will need to do a Supplementary Candidacy Exam.  See below for the Physics Supplemental Candidacy Exam process.
• For the term following the candidacy exam, a student will register for 3 credit hours of Physics 8999 Thesis Research. If student would decide or the Advisor recommends that they take a class, then the student would register for that class only and skip registering for research hours for that term. If the class would be more than 3 credit hours, the student will need permission to exceed the 3 credit hour standard.  If on GRA, the student will need advisor’s permission to exceed the 3 credit hour maximum.  If a student is on GTA for term then permission is needed from both Prof. Pelz and Prof. Gramila. The Graduate School’s permission REQUIRED if a student is on any Fellowship. If the class is only for 1 or 2 credit hours, then the student would register for that class and the remaining credit(s) under Physics 8999 Thesis Research to total 3 credit hours for that term.
• Please note that post candidacy students can only change their course schedules through the 1st Friday of the term, which is the deadline for the last day to add a class online.  Any changes after that 1st Friday will only be eligible for a partial tuition refund.  
• Please note that auditing a class still costs tuition but does not count toward required 3 credit hours of continuous enrollment or toward the 80 graduate credit hours required for a PhD. Most instructors expect auditing students to still participate in the class so please discuss the restrictions on auditing a class first with Professor Pelz BEFORE you enroll.  In addition, Audit does not count for an International student’s full-time enrollment status, therefore post candidacy international students would have to be over-enrolled for additional credit hours that semester to count toward the 3-credit-hour minimum enrollment. As an alternative, students who may wish to “sit in” on a class informally will need to discuss that with the instructor and their advisor.
• New post-candidacy students should review the graduate student web page on our Physics website under the “Current Students” heading on the right menu and the subpage “Progress to PhD.”  Toward the bottom of that page there is information a student should review and also included are webpage and PDF links regarding research and publication ethics.
• Student’s annual review will be conducted annually with the 4-person thesis research advising committee. This committee usually consists of the same faculty members as the Candidacy Exam committee, but a member can be changed as needed due to retirement or change of research advisor. No formal update to the Graduate School is required to update an advising committee.
• If a student would need to change advisors due to a retirement or other change in the current advisor’s employment, the Graduate Studies Office will need to be notified of the new advisor and an update email sent to the Graduate School to update the student’s advisor in the Student Information System (SIS).

• If a student needs to renew their candidacy status beyond 5 years and 1 semester, the student will need to schedule a Supplemental Candidacy Exam before the end of the semester.
• The new renewal will last for 2 years.  If at the end of the 2 years the student does not successfully defend their thesis, the student will not be eligible to finish their PhD at OSU.
• All Graduate School rules pertaining to candidacy examinations must be followed.
• Department recommends a minimum timeline of 3 weeks for the Supplemental Candidacy Exam with the written chapter(s) due to the committee to allow them at least 5 to 7 days to read it.  The committee and Grad Studies office must approve the Application for Candidacy –Candidacy Type=Supplemental Candidacy no less than 2 weeks before the oral exam date.
• If there was a prior failed attempt at candidacy and then the student passed the 2^nd attempt, the Graduate School will assign an outside faculty member representative to this supplemental exam.
• The exam will consist of both a written report and an oral portion that lasts approximately 2 hours.  The written report can be a chapter or two from the thesis; the advisor should consult with committee members on the chapter selection.  It is recommended that some input from the student about which chapter(s) he/she feels the most comfortable with at that time should/could be considered.  Please note that this process is similar to how a first candidacy exam topic is selected, which is done by the advisor in consultation with the committee. The advisor then communicates the exam topic to the committee, the student, and the Physics Graduate Office.
• After passing the Supplemental Candidacy exam, the student and committee are free to schedule the thesis defense as soon as 2 weeks from the Supplemental exam date as long as the committee and the Graduate Studies office have approved the “Application for Final Examination” form at least 2 weeks prior. A student’s extension period is typically 2 years.

Most graduate students in the Ph.D. program receive financial support as Graduate Associates, (either Teaching Associates (GTA), Administrative Associates (GAA) or Research Associates (GRA)) or as Fellows during their student career. These appointments cover the cost of tuition and the instructional fee, monthly stipend, and 100% subsidized health insurance. Renewal of GA appointments is subject to the student adhering to the code of student conduct, and remaining in Good Standing with the Physics Department.

Good Standing in the Physics Department generally requires that the student meets the Physics Core-Course GPA requirement (at least 3.30 GPA in the core courses), the Graduate School’s GPA requirement (at least 3.00 GPA in all graduate courses, see below), has satisfactory teaching performance as a GTA (as determined by the Physics Vice Chair for Administration), and is making reasonable progress towards their degree (as determined by the Physics Graduate Studies Committee). Graduate School policy is that a student with a GPA in all graduate courses below 3.00 is put on probation by the Graduate School, and is not eligible for graduate appointment for the semester following their GPA falling below 3.00 without petition from the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies to the Graduate School.

Appointment titles and the semester stipends will be sent via Workday before the start of each semester. All graduate appointments are subject to good academic standing, prior performance as well as available funding per section 9.2 of the Graduate School Handbook.  

2023-24 Stipends

Most of our students are supported for a full 12 month year that runs mid-August to mid-August for Autumn, Spring and Summer semesters with monthly stipend amounts for students appointed through the Department of Physics are:

Pre Candidacy $2585/month    Post Candidacy $2660/month  

The department remains committed to providing successful candidacy exam salary increases on a semesterly basis. A change is needed so our department policies are aligned with the HR requirements for processing graduate student appointments. To comply with these requirements, the following schedule will be implemented starting Summer 2024:  

• Students who successfully complete their candidacy exam by July 1st will receive a salary increase effective at the beginning of Autumn semester (Aug 16, 2024).
• Students who successfully complete their candidacy exam by November 1st will receive a salary increase effective at the beginning of Spring semester (Jan 1, 2025).
• Students who successfully complete their candidacy exam by April 1st will receive a salary increase effective at the beginning of Summer semester (May 16, 2025).

• Pay Dates are the last working day of month.

  Autumn: 8/16 - 12/31   August, September, October, November, and December (4.5 months)
  Spring: 1/1 - May -last business day before start of Summer term:   January, February, March, April and May (4.5 months)
  Summer: May -1st day of Summer term   May 16, June, July and August  15 (3 months)  

  Requests to move ON or OFF TA support must be made by the student’s Advisor to the Graduate Studies Office NO LATER THAN:   May  for Autumn; October 15th for Spring; March 1 for Summer 

  Date(s) per term by which unit expects to make reappointment decisions:  

                   For Autumn - May 15; Spring - October 15; Summer - March 15

   Tuition and Fees

   

The Department of Physics will make GA appointments in a manner such that students will not be billed for tuition. If a GA fails to register for classes according to the schedule published by the Registrar’s Office or class/registration information provided by the Graduate Program Coordinator, the student will be responsible for any late registration penalties that are assessed. 

The GA will also be responsible for obtaining student health insurance or waiving it if student is still on parental plan. Student Health Insurance is subsidized 100% by the University.

Primary Duties

Teaching Associates:

• Instruction of introductory physics course recitations and/or labs.
• Mandatory attendance for all associated preparation, training/organizational weekly meetings.
• Proctoring examinations as assigned.
• Duties also include grading homework and exams, record keeping, examination proctoring, holding 1 to 2 office hours
• per week, tutor room hours as assigned .
• Enroll and attend Physics 7891A teaching seminar for first academic year of teaching assignment. (Students who have already been a GTA are not required to register for this course.)
• Reappointments require satisfactory teaching performance in prior semesters.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Reappointments require satisfactory performance in prior semesters. Graduate students in our program are required by the department to maintain a 3.3 GPA in the core courses and a 3.0 overall GPA is required Graduate School policy as noted in their handbook
• *Must be available during entire term of contract.

 Research Associates:

• Responsible for conducting a directed scientific research project with a graduate faculty research advisor.
• Conduct experiments and/or performing calculations as well as organizing or analyzing data.
• Presenting findings in a publication and/or dissertation, collaborating with faculty in preparing publications, mentoring/coaching work of other GRA’s, or undergraduate students.
• Other research activities and other related duties as assigned.
• Other duties as assigned
• Re-appointments require satisfactory performance in prior semesters. Graduate students in our program are required by the department to maintain a 3.3 GPA in the core courses and a 3.0 overall GPA is required Graduate School policy as noted in their handbook.
• Please note that you must be available during entire term of contract as your tuition authorization and health insurance subsidy are both dependent on you being enrolled AND employed for the entire semester.

        *See Section 11 on Benefits in Graduate School Handbook for guidelines on short term absences.

                 Section 11.2 Time Off under Sick/Bereavement Leave 

Most graduate associates are part-time student employees (50 percent time) and therefore do not meet the eligibility criterion for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy 6.05(opens in new window). GAs, fellows and trainees do not accrue vacation or sick leave. Rules regarding time off during semester or term breaks or other times are determined by the GA’s appointing unit. GAs must check with their appointing units to determine when they are expected to be on duty. GAs that have held an appointment for more than 60.1 percent FTE for an entire 12 month period may qualify for leave under FMLA and should contact their local unit and FML Administrator(opens in new window) to determine eligibility. 

Legal Holidays. GAs are not required to work on legal holidays noted on the university calendar. When university offices are required to maintain services on certain holidays and GAs are scheduled to work on a holiday, they must be given an alternate day off.

Each program unit can determine the policy or guidelines for graduate student paid leave. Any leave additional to legal holidays is optional, but are strongly encouraged by the Graduate School. One day off for students working 20 hours per week is recommended to be assessed as 4 hours/day over 5 working days. The Graduate School has the following guidelines that are strongly encouraged for students holding a GA, fellow or trainee appointment. 

• Sick/Bereavement Leave. A period of one to three consecutive days at a time for up to a maximum of three times for personal and/or family illness each spring or autumn semester may be taken. Sick days do not accrue beyond a semester. Many GAs have nine-month appointments and thus sick leave would not be granted in the summer term. If the student is a summer GA, fellow or trainee, then 1-3 days off up to twice per summer term is recommended.
• Personal Leave. A period of up to 10 business days per year (two weeks per year) for vacation and/or personal reasons may be taken. Personal leave does not accrue.
• Professional Development Leave. It is recommended that at least 5 business days per year be allotted for professional development activities such as attending workshops, or attending and presenting scholarly work at national and international meetings.
• Parental Leave. Up to 3 weeks of leave may be granted for childbirth or adoption. Up to 3 additional weeks for health recovery of the birth mother is recommended (Appendix F). One suggested allocation would be to use remaining sick-leave, personal leave, and professional leave followed by paid leave for up to 3 or 6 weeks as applicable. Parental leave should be discussed and planned with the advisor and local unit.

An annual review is a requirement for all graduate students.  These instructions apply to post-candidacy students. The only exception for not completing an annual review will be if you have filed your “Application to Graduate” form on gradforms.osu.edu to finish in the current term. If you do not graduate in Spring 2025 term, you WILL then need to complete your Annual Review before the end of the semester.  Reviews for 2024-25-24 academic year are mandatory for all students and will mostly likely be due around the end of spring semester but due for 2025 date is yet to be determined. 

Download and complete the Physics Graduate Studies Annual Review form found on the Carmen course “Physics Annual Review for Post Candidacy.” Next, please schedule a meeting with your advisor and all of your advising committee members.  Please contact your committee by (date TBD) to set up your meeting between  (dates TBD) These meetings typically should run about 15 minutes for students in their 3^rd and 4^th years and 30 to 45 minutes for students in their 5^th and 6^th years. Please note that most faculty will likely have these annual review meetings scheduled back-to-back in some cases and therefore if additional time is needed then a follow up meeting may need to be scheduled for later.  

Prepare a 3-to-5-page progress summary in Power Point, PDF, Word or your preferred document program for a 5 minute talk that should be a high level overview. Save or print the document to PDF. See Appendix below for more details for the recommended contents and suggested order. 

Update your C.V. or Resume with your accomplishments over the last year or more and save as a PDF.  The C.V./resume document is a good place to summarize some of the things you put on your review form about your recent activities. Before you meet with your full committee for your annual review, email each member the 3 PDF files (form, progress summary, CV) so they can review it prior to the meeting. For the actual meeting with you committee, bring paper copies of the 3 PDF files for each committee member who will meet in-person. It is not recommended to use a projector for in-person participants since this tends to take more time, unless your committee prefers that format. Please check with your advisor for the preferred presentation format.

 The Physics Graduate Studies program requires that students meet with all 4 of advising committee members at the same time, which can be on Zoom or a combination of in person and on Zoom (hybrid) or all on Zoom. If you need to meet with 3 out of 4 members of your committee and then later meet with the 4th person, that sort of set up is OK with the advanced approval of your advisor.  Your review will be considered “complete” after you have met with your full advising committee, your advisor has approved the annual review (see below), and you have uploaded your 3 documents to Carmen. Incomplete information on the form or missing assignments will need to be updated and uploaded. You should contact your committee no later than by (date TBD) to schedule your Annual Review for no later than (2025 date TBD). 

After meeting with your advising committee, upload your 3 PDFs to the Carmen course “Physics Annual Review for Post Candidacy” as 3 separate homework assignments. No paper copies will be accepted. Preferred file name format is: Last name, first name -C.V.; last name, first name -form; last name, first name -summary.

Your advisor will approve your Annual Review form to confirm that the annual review meeting was completed, and it will also serve as approval of your research progress toward your Ph.D. See instructions under THESIS ADVISOR below for the advisor to approve the form. Your C.V. and Research Summary will be graded by the Grad Studies office awarding a point to check in these 2 documents.  Later, your annual review document will be reviewed by the Graduate Studies office then it may be assigned to a Graduate Studies Committee faculty member. If needed, any issues or concerns will be discussed by the Graduate Studies Committee.  Should any follow up with you be required, we may contact you to have a meeting with the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies and/or the Co-Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee to discuss.  You are also welcome to contact the Physics Graduate Studies office to discuss your review should you feel that is needed.

You should meet with or have an email conversation with your student before the review meeting with the full advisory committee to discuss the contents of the filled-out annual review form and the student’s research summary.  Please be sure to both discuss and provide information for question 6 about financial support for your student(s), and please include comments on current/future funding if you feel that would be appropriate. 

You must approve the Annual Review form after the meeting. You can approve the form in one of two ways: (1) sign a paper copy of the form, which your student with then scan and upload to the Carmen course, or (2) go to the Carmen course “Physics Annual Review for Post Candidacy”, look up your student’s assignments, and award 1 point as a grade for the Annual Review form assignment. Using Speed Grader is the best option for grading. The point serves to confirm that the meeting with the committee was completed and that progress toward a Ph.D. is approved. Should there be any concerns you may request a meeting with the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies for discussion.

The Graduate Studies office will grade the other 2 assignments to confirm that all 3 documents have been uploaded.

Please work with your advisees to schedule the annual review meeting and include your meeting format preference of in person, hybrid, or all on Zoom. We require that students meet with their full committee if at all possible.  If you cannot be present for the full committee review, please do schedule another time with your advisee for an individual meeting. 

Suggested topics to cover during annual review meeting:

1. Review milestones accomplished over last year.
2. Review funding plan/student support for coming year.
3. Review plans for future presentations, conferences, workshops, summer schools, and publications.
4. Review career goals post Ph.D. and the plans to achieve them.

Before the annual review meeting ends, the Graduate Studies Office asks that the Advisor leave the room (or go to breakout room) to allow the student to talk privately with the rest of the Advising Committee in case there are issues that the student or the advising committee would like to discuss without the advisor present.

      Suggested questions to ask students in the private section of the annual review meeting:

1. What are you concerned about?  (eg. working conditions, climate, your future, etc.)
2. Are you clear on expectations for progress and graduation?
3. Are you satisfied with your progress?
4. Do you get adequate feedback?  (Can include feedback from advisor as well as group members and collaborators.)

At the end of an annual review meeting, please have the student note any comments or concerns on the student’s copy of the form. If you think private communication is needed, please send email to the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies and/or the Program Coordinator with any issues or concerns you have.

The Advisor will be approving the Annual Review form on Carmen on behalf of the committee thus confirming the student’s review material and their progress toward finishing a Ph.D.  Advisor will use Speed Grader to award 1 pt for completing the review. If you have any questions or concerns after a review, you are welcome to contact the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies for further discussion.

1. Graduate Studies (GS) Annual Review Form saved as PDF with the file name as your “Last name, First name -form; -CV.; -summary. Examples: “Buckeye, Brutus -form.pdf; Buckeye, Brutus -summary.pdf; Buckeye, Brutus -CV.pdf”  
2. The 3 to 5 page PDF document with your progress summary/overview.

Page/Slide 1-2: Your name, area of research and year you started in program. Summarize or bullet-point your research progress/accomplishments made toward your degree in the past year.  Please include such things as:

• Highlights of your research activity/project(s)                
• Any scholarships or awards you received. (ex: poster competition awards or a fellowship)
• Conferences or workshops you attended             
• Published or submitted papers (including name and full authors list (if fewer than 10 authors), noting whether or not you are first author, and journal)
• Presented or were a named contributor to a poster or talk (please indicate title of the talk, name of the conference, and whether you presented the poster or talk             
• Participated in outreach events (GRASP camp, State Fair, Breakfast of Science Champions, school visit, etc.)
• You are an officer or serving member of an OSU student organization. (Includes SWiP, PGSC, CGS, etc.)
• Other activities related to progress toward your PhD

Page/Slide 2-3: Remaining objectives for completing your research and dissertation and give a time table for achieving them.

Page/Slide 3-4: High level work plan. Please specify both student and advisor’s input where appropriate.

3.   1 to 2 page C.V. or resume in the style or format of your choosing.  

The OSU Physics Department supports the student developed and run, Physics Graduate Student Council (PGSC), which is the representative body for physics graduate students at Ohio State. The PGSC is an active and engaged group that advocates and facilitates communication and activities between the department and graduate students on all matters of mutual interest. The PGSC holds quarterly meetings and meets regularly with the department chair and vice chairs to discuss issues of concern as raised by the graduate student body. The council also hosts regular social events, mentors new graduate students, helps publicize graduate student research opportunities, organizes an annual graduate research poster competition and "core-course" faculty teaching awards, and generally enhance the social, academic and reserach experience for all physics graduate students. As such the PGSC has developed some great resources for incoming graduate students. Please feel free to browse their First-Year Survival Guide, and their website as a whole. 

First Year Survival Guide: https://u.osu.edu/pgsc/resources

PGSC Website: http://pgsc.physics.osu.edu/

OPERS

OPERS will be taken out of your first paycheck even if you opted out. If you did submit your form to opt out of OPERS they should reimburse you in Octover for the amount they took out in September. However, it is a good idea to call and verify with them that they did receive your form. 

More information on OPERS can be found here: OPERS help

Student Center Account Holds

If you are unable to register for classes, there might be a hold on your account. Please check to see if you've signed the Financially Responsibility form as well as checking off your vaccicination status. 

Start of classes: Autumn 2024 August 20th (Tues) / Spring 2025 January 6th (Mon) /Summer 2025 May 6th (Tues)

• Please enroll for the coming term for all courses and research hours and be FULL time enrolled a month before the first day of the next semester's HR appointment start dates.  Procrastinate At Your Own Peril!  (See below for how many credit hours are required to be full time enrolled for a term.)  Start of graduate appointment periods: Autumn 2024 August 16th / Spring 2025 January 1st / Summer 2025 May 6th
• Step one for registering for classes:  CLEAR Financial Responsibility Statement FIRST which can be found by clicking on your To Do item labeled as that on the right menu in SIS.  
• ALWAYS verify after you submit your course registration how many credit hours you registered for as you have to change the default of 1 credit hour when registering for Physics 7998 or 8999 research and it is easy to forget to do that!
• Last Day you can ADD a full semester course ONLINE is the 1st Friday of the term!
• Deadlines Matter!  You can’t change your mind for enrolling or dropping any course AFTER the first Friday of a term as the First Friday is the deadline for a full refund of tuition.
• Remember, you should always ADD FIRST then DROP LAST. : )   SIS will not warn you that you won’t be able to add a full semester course after the first Friday as the online drop window is open until the 3^rd Friday.   Please check with the Grad studies office if you need to make any changes to your schedule after the fee payment deadline 1 week before the start of a new term.
• All PRE Candidacy students for Graduate support titles (GAA, GTA, GRA):    Autumn & Spring terms: 8 credit hours minimum but we recommend  maximized registration at 16 credit hours for autumn and spring; Summer Term: 4 credit hours. After registering for any courses, please use Physics 7998 (non-thesis research) for the full semester session that will be meet for the entire term.
• All PRE Candidacy students on Fellowship or GRA GS-Match funding):   Autumn and Spring terms we recommend maximized your enrollment to 16 credit hours then Summer Term: 6 credit hours. Please use Physics 7998 (non-thesis research) for the full semester session.
• All POST Candidacy students for all Graduate or Fellow support titles:   3 credit hours ONLY, likely for Physics 8999 (Thesis Research).  If you plan to take a course, please only register for that course if it is 3 credit hours. If it is a 1 or 2 credit hour course, then you would register for the balance of credit hours in Physics 8999. Auditing a course will NOT count toward your credit hours for your employment status therefore you will need to discuss auditing with your advisor AND the Graduate Studies office as it will need to be as additional course registration over your 3 credit hours of Physics 8999 research.  
• All POST Candidacy students: you will need advisor permission copied to the Graduate studies office to pre-approve anyone registering for extra credit hour(s) over 3 since there will be an extra amount charged for tuition if you go over 3. For post candidacy GTAs, this will require the Graduate Studies office permission working with Profs. Gupta & Heckler for pre-approval.
• POST Candidacy students that are Dissertation year Fellows, you will need to have the permission from the Graduate school to take any formal course which means that any course that isn't Physics 8999 research.  You should contact the Physics Grad Program Coordinator for assistance with this process if you decide to take a formal course during your dissertation year and you are on a Graduate School Fellowship.