Ph.D. Academic Forms, Advising Resources and Feedback

Registration Forms:

• BE Grad Student Request for Transfer Credit
• SEAS Graduate Student Academic Forms and Petitions
• BE 8990 – Special Topic Independent Study
• Evaluation of Laboratory Rotation Experience
• Mentor and Lab Experience Evaluation Form
• The Penn Bioengineering Mentorship Compact

Helpful Scheduling Tools for All Exam and Committee Meetings:

• SEAS Room Reservations
• Doodle.com
• When 2 Meet 

Qualifying Exam Forms:

• Qualifying Evaluation of Exam and Overall Recommendations
• PhD milestones must be recorded and submitted by the student through the school’s Penn Grad Forms BP logix portal. To access the appropriate form for the proposal,  choose – “Penn Graduate Forms” next select “Available forms” then choose and complete the “Qualifying Examination” form by simply entering the date you successfully completed your qualifying exam and then click submit.   This will ensure that your official school record is updated. Thank you!

Dissertation Proposal Forms:

• • Dissertation Proposal Registration Form
  • Acceptance of Proposal Form (Committee chair must complete after proposal)
  • Bioengineering Grad Group Individual Development Form
  • PhD milestones must be recorded and submitted by the student through the BP Logix portal. To access the appropriate form for the proposal,  choose – “Penn Graduate Forms” next select “Available forms” then choose and complete the “Candidacy Examination” form by simply entering the date you successfully completed your proposal and click submit.  This will ensure that your official school record is updated. Thank you!

• Please bring a printed copy of your unofficial transcripts to review courses and progress to completion of requirements to your Dissertation Proposal Meeting.

Annual Committee Meeting Forms:

Committee meetings are required annually. At least one meeting within six (6) months of your defense must be held and your committee must grant you permission to defend at this meeting.  

• Annual Ph.D. Committee Meeting Report
• Bioengineering Grad Group Individual Development Form
  • This form must be completed for thesis proposal and all annual thesis meetings.

Doctoral Dissertation Defense and Applying for Graduation: 

Your defense should be announced three weeks in advance.  Please use the form below to send all of the details for your defense announcement:

Doctoral Dissertation Defense Announcement

Dissertation defenses may be in-person and/or presented via remote conferencing.

All forms required for depositing will be submitted electronically via BP Logix portal, and title page signatures are not required. A printed copy of the dissertation will not be required, and the dissertation must be submitted electronically via ETD Administrator. Refer to our deposit instructions for additional guidance. 

Your committee will vote electronically via the BP Logix portal. After you defend, go to BP Logix portal and choose Penn Graduate Forms and select “Dissertation Defense/Oral Exam” to send out the voting form to your committee.

For the following resources please visit the Penn Provost website for Graduating PhD Students:

• Graduation
  • Graduation Calendars
  • PhD Graduation Checklist
• Dissertation
  • Dissertation Deposit Information
  • Dissertation Formatting
  • Dissertation Copyright
  • Dissertation Embargo
  • ETD Administrator
• Additional FAQs and links to systems are also available.

Exempt From Tuition in Final Term

To be eligible for exemption from tuition and fees in the final semester before graduation, the PhD candidate must have successfully defended their dissertation within the Provost’s “defend by and deposit by” deadlines of the final term they list below. All necessary course work and other requirements must be completed. Please note the student MUST be registered for 9950 dissertation credit in their final term to request the waiver.

Payroll Notification of Stipend Ending

Your stipend ends at graduation, either on your deposit date or if you are continuing to do work in a lab until the official graduation date and degree is posted.  You and your advisor should discuss and plan for an end date of work as a PhD student and stipend. Please notify the payroll office of the date so that they are aware that your stipend should end. You must notify the payroll office so the stipend will end when you are no longer working in the lab as a PHD student.