ICS Curriculum and Coursework

CURRICULUM

The minimum degree requirement for the Integrated Coastal Sciences (ICS) PhD program is 57 semester hours (s.h.), distributed across Core Courses (11 student credit hours [s.h.]), 9 sh in a Primary Concentration Area, 3 s.h. of Research Methods, 6 s.h. from a Secondary Concentration Area (the area NOT chosen as a Primary Concentration Area), 6 s.h. of Integrative Coursework.

1. Core Courses – 11 s.h.

  • ICS 7003 – Natural Dimensions of Coastal Sciences
  • ICS 7005 – Human Dimensions of Coastal Management
  • ICS 7007 – Research Design in Marine and Coastal Studies

Choose one of the following research ethics courses:

  • HUMS 7004 – Ethics and Research
  • KINE 7004 – Research Ethics for a Complex World
  • NURS 7004 – Research Ethics for a Complex World

2. Primary Concentration – 9 s.h. (minimum)

Select one of the following as the primary concentration area:

a. Coastal Natural Sciences and Engineering
b. Coastal Social and Health Sciences

Students meet with the Dissertation Committee to determine appropriate coursework. With the program coordinator’s approval, the concentration is submitted to Degree Works via petition.

Note:  Core courses do not count toward the primary concentration requirements.

3. Research Methods – 3 s.h.

Students take 3 s.h. of coursework in research methodology or practical skills relevant to their dissertation, selected with their dissertation committee and approved by the program director.

4. Secondary Concentration – 6 s.h. (minimum)

Students take at least 6 s.h. from the concentration area not selected as the primary area.

Note: Core courses do not count toward the secondary concentration requirements.

5. Integrative Coursework – 6 s.h.

  • ICS 8000 – Integrative Problem Solving in Coastal Sciences I
  • ICS 8001 – Integrative Problem Solving in Coastal Sciences II

6. Dissertation – 22 s.h.

  • ICS 9000 – Dissertation

Selection of Major Professor

Students are assigned a faculty advisor upon admission or shortly thereafter. The advisor assists with course planning and dissertation development and serves as chair of the dissertation committee. Students are encouraged to identify a major professor by the end of the first year.

Annual Student Evaluation

All ICS doctoral students are evaluated annually as required by ECU’s Graduate School. Continued funding depends on satisfactory academic progress, assessed jointly by the program director and major professor.

Doctoral Candidacy Examination

Acceptance into doctoral candidacy is based on maintaining a grade of B or better in all graduate level coursework, successfully passing the written Qualifying Examination, and successfully defending the oral dissertation proposal. Upon completing these requirements, the student is admitted to candidacy for the degree.

Part 1. Qualifying Examination

Students must complete the qualifying exam by the end of their second spring semester. The exam assesses mastery of key concepts in the student’s primary and secondary concentration areas and their ability to integrate across natural and social sciences. The student’s dissertation committee will provide reading materials and write the exam.

The written exam consists of three parts—primary concentration, secondary concentration, and integration—and takes approximately one day to complete. An 80% score is required to pass each part. One failed section may be remediated at the discretion of the examiner. If two or more sections are failed, a follow-up oral exam (about two hours) is required before the next fall semester. One re-exam is allowed.

At the conclusion of the oral re-exam, the committee may recommend: (1) PASS, (2) ADDITIONAL REMEDIATION, or (3) FAIL. Students who fail may appeal through the Graduate School.

Part 2. Dissertation Proposal Defense

Prior to the preparation of the dissertation, students are required to prepare and defend before their doctoral advisory committee a proposal that provides a literature review of the topic proposed for study; a statement of the objectives and hypotheses or research questions guiding the study; a description of the proposed methodology; and a statement about the contribution the proposed project will make compelling coastal problem.

The dissertation proposal must be written in consultation with the dissertation committee, and be no more than 30 double spaced pages in length. The dissertation proposal must be approved by the doctoral advisory committee prior to preparation of the doctoral dissertation itself. The proposal defense presentation is open to the university community at large. Essentially, the proposal defense is the opportunity for the student to demonstrate that they are knowledgeable about coastal matters in general and more specifically, adequately prepared to undertake their proposed research.

Students are able to advance to candidacy upon successful completion of Parts 1 and 2.

Committees

Doctoral Advisory Committee

It is the student’s responsibility to explore and identify prospective doctoral dissertation topics as early as possible. Once a topic has been identified, the student should invite faculty members to serve on a Doctoral Advisory Committee to provide the guidance and oversight required to support completion of this requirement.

A minimum of five individuals (4 internal to ECU and 1 external to ECU) are required for a full ICS PhD student committee. Most of the committee, including the chair, must have expertise in the primary concentration area. At least one committee member must have expertise in the secondary concentration area. The external committee member may be an individual from another university or a specialist (e.g. federal or state agency representative) with demonstrated research expertise of relevance to the ICS PhD student’s primary or secondary concentration area. The external committee member must submit a vitae for approval to ECU’s graduate school. A committee will be considered unacceptable unless at least one faculty member (internal or external) is an expert in the student’s secondary concentration area.

Doctoral Dissertation

Each doctoral student is to write and successfully defend orally, a dissertation of high quality, representing original and meaningful interdisciplinary research that contributes to the literature in the field of integrative coastal sciences.

The content of the dissertation is the responsibility of the student. It is essential that the dissertation be written so that it addresses an important problem in a coastal area and provides a novel integrative solution embracing natural and social/health sciences. In other words, the student’s dissertation must represent PhD level study in BOTH their primary and secondary concentration areas.

The student shall submit preliminary drafts of the dissertation to the members of the doctoral advisory committee. The committee members, either separately or jointly, should advise the student as to how the dissertation might be improved. The committee should keep in mind that the student may receive conflicting advice and should allow maximum freedom for the student’s judgment to operate. A final draft of the student’s dissertation proposal must be approved by the committee and the program director (via signatures on the Advancement to Candidacy Form).

When in the judgment of the advisory committee, the dissertation is essentially complete and defensible, the student, in consultation with the committee chair, members, and program director shall schedule a formal presentation of the research open to the public. Upon completion of the public presentation, the student will defend the dissertation before the committee. Upon satisfactory completion of this oral defense and appropriate modifications of the dissertation manuscript and their assessment, the committee and the program director will sign and submit to the Dean of the Graduate School certification that the student has completed the requirements to receive the doctoral degree.

Other

In addition to course requirements, students are expected to participate in scholarly activities, such as experience as teaching assistants and involvement in university-wide seminars (e.g. such as the Going Coastal Interdisciplinary Seminar Series) and assist with regional ocean sciences bowl games (e.g. Blue Heron Bowl). Such activities should be considered as components of the overall program of study.