/College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Department of Technology, AI and Society

Technology, Policy and Innovation Program 

 

Requirements for the PhD Degree

Dissertation Advisor

Your dissertation advisor is essential to your success as a doctoral student. Upon admission, every PhD student is assigned an advisor from the department for guidance through the early part of their time as a student in the TPI program. This assignment is based on an alignment between the advisor’s research and the student’s stated research interests. Beyond the second year it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they are working on research that aligns with their advisor’s expertise.

If you decide that you want a different advisor, for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to identify a full-time faculty member in the program who agrees to be your advisor. Changes in advisor must be communicated to the Graduate Program Coordinator no more than 2 months after making the change. Students who cannot find an advisor will not make progress, and therefore will not be able to complete their PhD studies. Students who are without an advisor for more than one semester will be put on probation; students without an advisor for two semesters will be recommended for dismissal from the program.

We strongly suggest that you establish a set of expectations with your advisor early on, including meeting times and milestones. Different advisors will have different advising styles. For example, some advisors meet regularly with groups of students working in their lab. Other advisors prefer to meet individually with their advisees. In either case, it is your responsibility to ensure that you meet regularly with your advisor and meet the established milestones. We recommend that you make use of the Graduate Schools Mentoring Plan template.

Course Requirements

A minimum of 31 credits is required prior to advancement to candidacy.

  • Core Courses: 10 credits
  • Research Methods: 6 graduate credits from a social science department
  • Technical Electives: 15 graduate credits forming a foundation for the technical/technology dimension of planned research. 

Upon admission, students may petition to have graduate credits from another institution apply to the technology electives. However, those credits must be relevant to the learning outcomes of the program and may not have been applied to earning another degree. To transfer credits to your Stony Brook graduate degree, please refer to the Graduate School policies.

The Graduate School requires a minimum 3.0 GPA for degree completion.

Core Courses 

  • EST 600 - Technology, Policy, and Innovation: Theory and Practice (4 credits)
  • EST 610 - Data Analysis for Technology, Policy and Innovation (3 credits)        
  • EST 625 - Advanced Theory and Practice in Technology and Policy (3 credits)

All PhD students must take the core courses and earn a cumulative average of at least 3.67. Students who have a lower average may re-take each class once.  No exemptions will be granted.

Analytical Skills Courses 

Analytic Skills Development (Part B requirement) means that all students must complete two research methods courses in social sciences departments (with a grade of at least A-; 3.67 GPA) and the advanced statistics class (EST 610) within the department (with a grade of A- or better). The department expects all students to develop strong analytic abilities, both in terms of practice and understanding a broad range of methods. 

If students come into the program with strong analytical skills, they will still need to take six additional credits in research methods at Stony Brook University. The Research Methodology (Part B) qualifier cannot be based on courses taken outside of Stony Brook. Your advisor can suggest which courses to take. 

Technical Courses

Additional Technical Courses provide PhD students with competence in the student’s chosen technical domain. For this, the TPI program requires that all students take 15 additional graduate credits, with the approval of their advisor, with a technical focus to develop and document their technical expertise. Graduate courses must be taught by a PhD for the course to count as part of the technical requirement. Courses that do not earn a grade of B or better cannot count as one of these courses.

Students are strongly encouraged to take one section of a Grand Challenges course (EST601 or 604) in the early stages of their studies at Stony Brook. This will help to provide a broad view of important research topics in Technology, Policy and Innovation, will expose students to important readings in the area, and give students a good start in pursuing their own research direction.

Students may, in some cases, take courses at other collaborating institutions through the IUDC.

PhD Qualifiers

To make sufficient progress, full-time students should expect to complete both qualifiers (Part A and Part B) in their first two years in the PhD program. Part-time students should complete these in the first three years.

Research Proficiency Exam (Part A) 

For this exam, the student conducts an original independent research project under the guidance of a faculty advisor. In preparation for this exam, the student is expected to become thoroughly familiar with the state of the art in the topic they are focused on. This should start in the first semester in the program; students are expected to present a literature review for their topic area at the end of the second semester.

Results of the student’s research project are presented to a Part A committee, typically during the fourth semester for full-time students or the sixth semester for part-time students. The purpose of the Part A examination is to ascertain the student’s preparation to conduct independent original research in a TPI area. We expect that the quality of the methodology and results should be sufficient for a poster presentation at a leading academic conference. Students should review the rubric as they prepare for the examination.

Students must prepare an original research paper, roughly 12000-18000 words with 50-100 citations, that demonstrates the student’s understanding of a research domain and readiness for independent research. It should be completed and defended by the sixth semester. As noted previously, we recommend that students become engaged with research from the beginning. Thus, work on Part A should start as early as the first year of the student’s tenure in the program. We recommend that students revise and submit this paper for peer-reviewed publication.

The Part A exam may be presented at any time that is convenient for the student and the student’s Part A committee. The student’s advisor and the student will consult to make a recommendation to the Graduate Program Director regarding the composition of the Part A Committee. The student’s Part A Committee will be comprised of three to four faculty members including at least one faculty member from within the Department of Technology and Society and one from outside the department. The student’s advisor may not serve on the student’s Part A committee.

The Part A committee will evaluate the exam in terms of its three components:

  1. Written report - meeting above requirements. The report must 
  2. identify a research question of interest to some research community; 
  3. provide an overview of related background research; 
  4. describe a reasonable approach to addressing the research question; and 
  5. present the results of the research project.
  6. Presentation - approximately 45 minutes. The presentation must 
  7. provide a motivation for conducting this line of research; 
  8. summarize the background material, emphasizing only the most important related work; 
  9. give an overview of the methodology, emphasizing why this approach was taken; and 
  10. give results.
  11. Questions - posed by members of the committee following the presentation. Questions may be related to any aspect of the presentation or the written report.

The Part A examination will be graded as either Pass, Pass with Conditions, or Fail. A student who receives a Pass with Conditions must address the conditions by the end of the following semester. A student who does not pass the Part A examination after two attempts will be dismissed from the program.

Research Methodology (Part B)

The student must achieve an average GPA of 3.67 or higher on three social sciences-related courses:

  • Research Methods I - from a social sciences department
  • Research Methods II - from a social sciences department
  • EST 610 (Advanced Statistics) - within Department of Technology and Society

Students who already have a significant background in research methods are expected to take courses that further enrich their ability to apply these research methods to their studies. In general, the requirement to take three research methods courses at SBU will not be waived.

A student who does not achieve the 3.67 GPA in their initial course work may take an additional research methods course to replace one of the courses taken in a social sciences department. A student who cannot achieve the 3.67 GPA in these courses shall be required to take a statistics examination prepared by department faculty. If the student does not pass this written examination, one retake will be allowed. A student who does not pass the Part B examination will be dismissed from the program.

Advancement to Candidacy 

Students must be advanced to candidacy within 18 months of completing both parts of the qualifiers to remain in good standing. To do this, students must successfully defend their dissertation proposal (Research Proficiency Exam). This status, called G5, is conferred by the Dean of the Graduate School upon recommendation of the Graduate Program. Note that unlike the change from G3 to G4, the change from G4 to G5 is not automatic: the student must request to be advanced to candidacy by notifying the Technology, Policy, and Innovation Graduate Program Coordinator. Students must advance to candidacy at least one year before defending their dissertations. The Graduate School requires full-time G5 students to register for nine credits, which can be research or other graduate courses relevant to their dissertation with permission from the Graduate Program Director. Courses outside of the major require the approval of the dissertation advisor and Graduate Program Director. 

Thesis Proposal (Preliminary Exam) 

Students who pass the qualifying examination are expected to develop a dissertation proposal within two semesters for full-time students, and three semesters for part-time students. This thesis proposal must then be presented and defended in an oral preliminary examination. Failure to fulfill this requirement within 18 months of passing the qualifying examination, and without a formal extension, may be considered evidence of unsatisfactory progress toward the Ph.D. degree.

The dissertation proposal is the roadmap of the dissertation. It specifies the intended contribution and context of the work as well as methods, approach, and schedule for completion. A typical proposal (or prospectus) is approximately 30-50 pages long. It should be written at the technical level of a funding proposal for the NSF or a similar foundation. The committee needs to be convinced of the uniqueness and novelty of the work, the student’s knowledge of the literature, the clarity of the research questions and associated hypotheses, and the efficacy of the proposed research methods.

The major requirements of the dissertation proposal are as follows: 

  1. The student must be working with an advisor from within the graduate program. When someone from another part of the University is better able to advise on a topic, that individual can be a co-advisor; the student still is required to have a Technology, Policy and Innovation program faculty member as their advisor.
  2. The student must be thoroughly familiar with the background and current status of the intended research area. They must also have clear and well-defined plans for pursuing the research objectives; and offer evidence of progress in achieving these objectives.
  3. The student must select a dissertation committee. This committee consists of at least four individuals including the advisor, the committee chair (also a member of the Technology, Policy and Innovation Graduate Program), and a faculty member who does not have a primary or joint appointment in the Department of Technology and Society. Students will be strongly encouraged to have at least one faculty member from another university on their committee. It is in the student’s best interest to assemble the strongest possible committee. The Graduate Director approves the committee and may add additional faculty to serve on a proposal committee.

The student will present the dissertation proposal to the dissertation committee in a seminar presentation, limited to members of the committee. This presentation is held at least two weeks after having submitted the written proposal to the committee members. As part of the preliminary examination, faculty members are free to question the student on any topics they feel are in any way relevant to the student’s objectives and career preparation. Most questions, however, will be directed toward verifying the student’s grasp of the intended specialty in depth. The committee will judge the presented proposal with either pass, fail, or contingent pass. In case of the third result, the committee asks the student to answer written questions and/or make modifications to the proposal.

The findings of the committee will be communicated to the student as soon as possible and to the Graduate School within one week of the presentation of the proposal. A student who does not pass the preliminary examination on the first attempt will be given a second chance. If the preliminary is failed on the second attempt, the student will be recommended for dismissal from the program.

PhD Dissertation and Defense 

A dissertation is intended to advance the state of knowledge in an area of study. It is a significant and substantial piece of scholarship. Students should read a number of dissertations, monographs, and scholarly books in their area to gain insight into the required scope of work. The dissertation document should be of sufficient length to fully describe the novel contribution of the work and demonstrate mastery of the defined area of specialized focus. Further, the level of detailed discussion must be significantly broader than that of an article in a refereed journal, although the dissertation may be based on several previously published articles with a common theme. See the PhD Publication Policy for further information.

The dissertation must be orally defended before the dissertation examination committee, and the candidate must obtain approval of the dissertation from this committee. The oral defense of the dissertation is open to all interested faculty members and graduate students. The final draft of the dissertation must be submitted to the committee no later than three weeks prior to the date of the defense.

The dissertation committee consists of the dissertation advisor(s) (at least one who is internal to the student’s degree program); a chairperson of the dissertation committee, who is internal to the student’s degree program; a member external to the program or university; and one additional member. All members of the committee must have a PhD in a related discipline and be either tenured or on the tenure track. Exceptions may be made for the external member if they hold a PhD and are conducting original research for industry or other organizations. Final approval of the committee is made by the Graduate School.

You want to have the strongest possible committee you can assemble. As you and your advisor identify the committee, it is important to establish a relationship with its members and keep them apprised of your progress. They can be a great asset for early review and comment on your work. Note that it is not unusual for a student’s committee to change membership while the dissertation is in preparation. However, the committee that approved your dissertation proposal can also continue to be your final committee. In any case, the Graduate Program Director may or may not add additional members to it. 

Ultimately, you and your dissertation advisor determine when the manuscript is ready to be defended. Once that point has been reached, the student submits the draft dissertation to the PhD Program Director at least four weeks prior to the planned defense to allow the Graduate School to approve the composition of the final committee and authorize proceeding with the dissertation defense. 

The review and approval of the dissertation is in the hands of the dissertation committee. The final step in the process involves the oral defense of the dissertation in an open meeting, after which the dissertation committee renders its judgment. All members of the committee are required to approve the dissertation in writing in order for the degree to be awarded.

Again, there are three possible outcomes: pass, fail, and contingent pass. For the third of these, the committee asks that student to provide answers to written questions or make modifications to the dissertation. These additional requirements are filed with the PhD Program Director. Upon their acceptable completion, the responses and/or the modified dissertation are also filed with the program coordinator. The final step for the student is the submission of the approved dissertation to ProQuest per the rules of the Graduate School.

Additional Requirements

Departmental Engagement

PhD students in TPI are expected to be "good citizens" of the department. This includes ...

  • Providing regular office hours in the department (for full-time students working as TAs) or maintaining a regular presence in the lab (for RAs);
  • Participating regularly in department sponsored events; and
  • Maintaining a regular presence in the department.

Advisor Meetings

Students are assigned an advisor upon admission. They are expected to meet regularly throughout the semester, although the nature of these meetings may vary according to the professor's procedures.

Students will meet with their advisors annually to discuss their progress. The substance of this discussion will be recorded in a written report, with both the advisor and advisee signing the report. This report will be filed with the student's graduate records by the Graduate Program Coordinator. Items in the report will include ...

  • Formal milestones met, including courses taken and their grades
  • Papers in progress
  • Grants in progress
  • Performance of TA/RA duties (for supported students)
  • Citizenship (“light” scoring of excellent, average, below average)
  • Goals for the coming year

Annual Evaluation

In late spring, all students are expected to attend, and make a presentation, at a department-wide colloquium. Audience members will include all faculty and fellow PhD students. Students will make a brief presentation of their current research, giving other students and faculty the opportunity to provide guidance and feedback.

Publications

Publications are important for students, giving them experience explaining their research and the potential impact of their work. Students are expected to have their research published in a peer-reviewed venue before advancement to candidacy, and are encouraged to have at least two more papers submitted before their dissertation defense. Please be sure to review the department’s publications policy for further information.

Students are also expected to work on grant proposals, either with or without their advisor. Writing effective grant proposals is an essential skill that will benefit the student far into the future.

Teaching Practicum 

In addition to regular course requirements, University policy requires that all doctoral students participate in an appropriately structured teaching practicum. This can be accomplished with a Practicum in Teaching course, in conjunction with T.A. responsibilities.

Timelines

Typical PhD Timeline 

The doctoral program of DTS expects TPI students to earn their PhD in 4-5 years. All entering students are encouraged to work with their initial advisors on a 4-year-path to the PhD, although longer timeframes may be appropriate in some cases, as long as the limits are not exceeded. The following is a sequence of classes suggested for incoming students.

Year 1: EST 600, EST 625, Grand Challenges (EST 604), 692 Research Seminar (recommended), two social science methods classes (see section 4.2.2 for examples)

Year 2: EST 610 (Advanced Statistics), technical electives, research credits. Students are encouraged to complete the Research Proficiency Exam (part A), as well as the Part B course requirements, by the end of the second year. 

Year 3: Research credits plus additional courses as suggested by the advisor. Students need to advance to candidacy within 18 months of completing their qualifiers (Parts A and B).

Year 4 and beyond: Research credits. Students need to defend their dissertation within 18 months of having passed the Preliminary Exam. 

Satisfactory Progress and Time Limits 

Students are expected to finish all the requirements, including thesis research and defense, in four to five full-time-equivalent years. A student who does not meet the target dates for the Qualifying Examinations (parts A and B) and Preliminary Examination (thesis proposal), or who does not make satisfactory progress toward completing thesis research, may lose financial support and/or be placed on academic probation. The candidate must satisfy all requirements for the PhD degree within seven years after completing 24 credit hours of graduate courses in the Technology, Policy, and Innovation Graduate Program at Stony Brook. In rare instances, the Dean of the Graduate School will entertain a petition to extend this time limit, provided it bears the endorsement of the Programs’sGraduate Program Director. A petition for extension must be submitted before the time limit has been exceeded. The Dean or the Department may require evidence that the student is still properly prepared for the completion of work.

Part-Time Studies

Students admitted into the Ph.D. program for part-time study are bound by all the rules set out henceforth. In particular, part-time students should adhere to the schedule for the Qualifying Examination, Thesis Proposal, and Preliminary Examination unless a different schedule has been approved in writing by the Graduate Program Director. Students failing to make sufficient progress towards completing their degree may be placed on academic probation.

General Requirements and Processes 

Academic Integrity

Graduate students are expected to exhibit the highest ethical behavior, in terms of maintaining academic honesty, scholarly conduct, and professional standards. Instances of academic dishonesty range from cheating in exams, plagiarism in projects and homeworks, to unauthorized use of material. Consequences for unethical behavior can include a lower course grade, failure in a course, loss of good standing, and expulsion from the graduate program. 

If a student is accused of academic dishonesty,  the student has the right to view the evidence underlying the charge, and appeal the finding to the department’s Graduate Grievances and Appeals Committee (G-GAC) for review. The G-GAC will conduct a formal proceeding to determine the validity of the charges and the appropriateness of the penalty, and submit a recommendation to the Graduate Program Director. The G-GAC’s recommendation and the Graduate Program Director’s decision may be appealed to the Dean of the Graduate School.

AI Policy 

The Department of Technology and Society (DTS) has established a policy for the use of Generative AI and Large Language Models (collectively referred to as “AI”) in courses, research, publications, and other academic activities. As AI becomes increasingly prevalent and influential, this policy seeks to guide both instructors and students in its responsible use, minimizing academic integrity and ethical challenges. It reflects our department’s commitment to fostering a deep understanding of AI’s transformative potential while promoting ethical use of AI. The following general rules apply:

  • AI use must be attributed (e.g., you must cite your AI software and version and the prompts that were used, and the portion of the submittal that is the result of AI use).
  • AI may not be used as a wholesale substitute for the work expected to be that of students: homework solutions, paper summaries, or major course writing (essays and papers).
  • AI should have very limited use in serious academic work (papers, theses, and dissertations) and then only if it is integral to the work itself (e.g., developing LLMs or a thesis on AI itself).
  • AI may be used for brainstorming ideas, for exam preparation, for finding initial information, for generating initial lists of ideas and/or related papers to investigate, and for some image generation.
  • AI may be used to polish text you have written (e.g., like an advanced spell/syntax checker).
  • Whether AI is used or not, students should be able to stand in front of a class, instructors, and/or TAs, and explain their coursework using their own words, whether in an informal seminar or more formally in writing such as an exam.

Full-Time Status 

International students (i.e., non-US residents in Stony Brook University; non-Korean students in SUNY Korea) must maintain full-time status throughout their course of studies in order to maintain legal immigration status. Furthermore, all students receiving financial assistance are required to maintain full-time status. Full-time status may also be needed for on-campus housing. Domestic students (i.e., US citizens/residents in Stony Brook University; Korean students in SUNY Korea) who are unsupported are not required to maintain full-time status, but they must register for at least one credit each semester. Students in all academic levels must register for at least 9 credits in regular Fall and Spring semesters in order to attain full-time status.

Every graduate student is assigned a level: G1, G2, G3, G4, or G5. G1 and G2 apply to MS students. PhD students typically enter at level G3 and advance to G4 after completing 24 graduate credits. PhD students who have been advanced to candidacy are designated as G5. Students who enter the PhD program after obtaining a graduate degree or having completed 24 graduate credits can request G4 designation (whichever applies) from the Graduate School.

Grades and Academic Standing

Students who do not maintain a cumulative graduate GPA of 3.0 or better will be placed on graduate probation by the Graduate School. Students on probation may not be eligible for research, teaching, or graduate assistantships. Students on probation must bring their GPA to 3.0 or above within one semester (or 12 credits) after being placed on probation Otherwise, they will be subject to dismissal by the Graduate School. Students will receive notifications about their probation status. Students on probation are required to meet with the Graduate Program Director to discuss their academic plan. Satisfactory progress will be determined by the requirements written in the Graduate Catalog and this Handbook in effect at the time the student entered graduate studies in the Department, or, at the discretion of the student, the requirements stated in the current editions of the Catalog and Handbook.

A student may petition to the Graduate School to withdraw from all courses in a semester. For international students, this process starts at the VIS office. Usual tuition penalties apply. The student will get a “W” on the transcript for the currently-enrolled courses.

A student may apply to go on leave from the program by petitioning to the Graduate School. Generally, leave of absence petitions must be submitted within the first 15 days (10 days for SUNYKorea students) of a semester. In rare cases, such as emergency medical conditions, leave of absence may be granted after the 15th day (10th day for SUNYK students) of classes. Applications for medical leave must be accompanied by a doctor’s note substantiating the reason. A semester withdrawal petition must be submitted with the petition for leave.

A returning student should file for readmission at least 2 months before the semester of re-entry. A student returning from an approved leave of absence will be waived the readmission fee. Students returning from leave will also retain their campus housing privileges. A student returning from a medical leave must present a doctor’s note certifying the readiness of the student to return to school. Please consult the Graduate School Catalog for more information about leaves of absence.

Financial Support 

Supported Full-Time Students

PhD students are generally supported on teaching or research assistantships. Teaching or research assistants are assigned part-time duties in the undergraduate or graduate instructional program or in faculty-supervised research projects, but are still able to carry a full academic program.

Beyond the first year, PhD students are typically supported as research assistants by their dissertation advisor. Note that research assistantships are funded almost entirely from sponsored research grants, and the actual amount and availability may vary from year to year depending on the student’s research area and advisor. A student must be registered full time in order to qualify for teaching or research assistantship. PhD students receiving assistantship will also receive tuition scholarship to cover the number of credits needed to maintain full-time status. After a PhD student advances to candidacy, the university provides tuition scholarship for full-time students regardless of other financial support. 

Renewal of financial assistance each academic year depends upon the student making satisfactory progress towards the degree, and satisfactory fulfillment of the duties and responsibilities of any assistantship. The University limits renewals of annual teaching assistantships to three after the first year, for a total of four years. Beyond the fourth year, support is dependent on financial aid other than university assistantships, such as research grants or fellowships. All offers and renewals of financial assistance are subject to Graduate School approval and the availability of funds.

A student on a full assistantship devotes no more than 20 hours/week to his/her assigned duties during the academic year and 40 hours/week during the summer. A student on a fractional assistantship must give the corresponding fraction of full service each week.

Graduate students assigned to teaching duties (teaching assistants) are responsible to the faculty member in charge of the course to which they have been assigned. Duties will be specified by that faculty member and will usually include some or all of the following: lecturing to students on any subject pertinent to the course that will amplify the faculty member’s lectures; answering student’s questions concerning the course work; proctoring examinations; preparing solutions; grading of examinations; correction of homework assignments; supervision of laboratory sections; and holding regular office hours. 

PhD students with teaching duties may register for Practicum in Teaching for up to three credits. Note that this does not count towards the credit requirements for PhD students.

English Proficiency Requirements for International Students

All international students and those who have taken their higher education in a non-English speaking country must demonstrate proficiency in English, as described by the graduate school. The award of a Teaching Assistantship is contingent on the candidate’s ability to speak English proficiently. All non-native English speakers will be required to have TOEFL score of 5 or above, or IELTS overall score of 6.5, with no subsection recommended to be below 6, before being assigned to classroom or other teaching duties. Students who do not meet these requirements must take remedial courses OAE 594, and possibly OAE 592, depending on their TOEFL/IELTS SPEAK scores. First- year international students are advised to take full advantage of every opportunity to improve their fluency in English through frequent conversation with other English speakers, and by enrolling in appropriate English language courses.

 There is no need to submit an English language proficiency test if:

  • you hold a degree such as a high school diploma, bachelors, masters, or PhD from an institution where the primary instruction was in English. 
  • you are a US citizen (or US National) or Permanent Resident.
  • you served as a Teaching Assistant at an institution where the primary instruction was in English.

Students on assistantship who cannot fulfill their obligations may not have their assistantships renewed; students who entered without support or with partial support will not be considered for full support the second year if they cannot assume the obligations of an assistantship.