Students in two doctoral programs at Capitol Technology University arrived on campus Friday (November 30) for a residency in which they will present their research-in-progress to faculty.
Capitol’s online DSc program in cybersecurity and its PhD program in business analytics and decision sciences both include a residency component. Students in these programs attend three residencies during their doctoral studies, each designed to gauge progress at different stages of the dissertation process.
Each attendee at the residency has a turn in the “fishbowl” – a glass-lined room in which individual students present their projects to assembled faculty. The experience is designed to be supportive, but also formal enough to encourage students to prepare adequately, as they would for a doctoral dissertation defense.
Workshops are also provided, covering topics such as working with a dissertation chair, statistics in research and preparing for the dissertation defense.
“For first-year students, the goal is to come away with an approved research topic, problem, and purpose,” said Dr. Ian McAndrew, dean of doctoral programs at Capitol Tech. “For students in their second and third years, we’ll be making sure they are on track and making satisfactory progress towards completion of their dissertations.”
Capitol currently offers five doctoral programs. The DSc in cybersecurity and the PhD in business and decision sciences are offered online, though with the on-campus residency requirement.
Three newer PhD programs – in critical infrastructure, technology, and unmanned systems applications – follow a European-style model that foregrounds research and publication.
The two models serve different kinds of students, Dr. McAndrew said. For industry professionals with highly specialized interests, the European model allows a more concentrated focus on research. “If you are in industry – and we have a senior Boeing executive who is doing a PhD in technology at the moment – you will likely be interested in the use of technology to assist complex manufacturing processes: for instance, how Google Glass could be used to make sure complicated wiring looms are manufactured without fault. You’re focused on an actual industrial problem.”
The traditional models, by contrast, are well-suited to students who are seeking to cultivate broader expertise. “They will have had the chance to study the whole range of issues that drive their field at the moment,” McAndrew said.
Interested in earning a doctoral degree in cybersecurity, business analytics and decision sciences, critical infrastructure, technology, or unmanned systems applications? Contact our admissions department at gradmit@captechu.edu to find out more!