Tutorial for Creating a PhD or Master's Defense Presentation
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This page presents a tutorial for creating a presentation that defends a PhD dissertation or master's thesis. Providing commentary on what makes for a strong dissertation or thesis defense is Dr. Karen A. Thole, who is a Distinguished Professor and the Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. Having guided more than seventy students through either a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, Professor Thole is a leading researcher on gas turbine engines, which are used not only to power jet airplanes but also to produce much of the world's electrical power. In the history of the field's leading journal, the Journal of Turbomachinery, Professor Thole has published the most articles.
Providing excerpts from a sample dissertation is Dr. Jacob Snyder, who won a 2019 Best Dissertation Award at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Snyder's work concerns the application of additive manufacturing to gas turbine engines. Improving the efficiency of gas turbine engines is important. For instance, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, a 1 percent improvement in gas turbine efficiency equates with removing the carbon emissions from 2 million automobiles. |
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The IntroductionThis film presents the first part of a four-part series on creating an effective presentation for a PhD defense in science or engineering. Providing commentary is Professor Karen A. Thole, who is a Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. Providing a sample introduction is Dr. Jacob Snyder who won a best dissertation award at Penn State in 2019. The MethodsThis film presents the second part of a four-part series on creating an effective presentation for a PhD defense in science or engineering. Providing commentary is Professor Karen A. Thole, who is a Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. Providing a sample excerpt of backing up his work with the work of others is Dr. Jacob Snyder who won a best dissertation award at Penn State in 2019 |
The ResultsThis film presents the third part of a four-part series on creating an effective presentation for a PhD defense in science or engineering. Providing commentary is Professor Karen A. Thole, who is a Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. Providing a sample excerpt of his results is Dr. Jacob Snyder who won a best dissertation award at Penn State in 2019. The ConclusionThis film presents the final part of a four-part series on creating an effective presentation for a PhD defense in science or engineering. Providing commentary is Professor Karen A. Thole, who is a Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. Providing his conclusion and answers to questions from the general audience is Dr. Jacob Snyder who won a best dissertation award at Penn State in 2019. |
Commentary on Jacob's Defense Presentation
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One excellent feature of Jacob's presentation that might not be apparent in the video excerpts is how Jacob handled the presentation's scope. In his PhD work, Jacob did much work, as evidence by the five publications listed below. However, Jacob made the wise move of not trying to present all of that work in the dissertation defense. Instead, he presented only a slide of the work. Still, he made it clear to the audience from the fishbone diagram of work in the field (see yellow portion for the slide on the right) that his work focused only on a fraction of the variables that affect the quality of additively manufactured parts. Moreover, Jacob stated that what he was presenting today was only a fraction of what he had done for the entire dissertation.
By not trying to present everything, Jacob was able to adopt a pace that allowed the audience to understand this talk. At the end of the presentation, not only did the audience understand what he had presented but the audience also gathered a sense of how much excellent work Jacob had done for his PhD. |
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References
- 1. Snyder, J., Thole, K. A. (2019), “Effect of Additive Manufacturing Process Parameters on Turbine Cooling,” Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2019: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, GT2019-90862.
- Snyder, J., Thole, K. A. (2019), “Performance of Public Film Cooling Geometries Produced through Additive Manufacturing,” Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2019: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, GT2019-90877.
- Stimpson, C., Snyder, J., Thole, K. A., and Mongillo, D. (2018), “Effects of Coolant Feed Direction on Additively Manufactured Film Cooling Holes,” Journal of Turbomachinery,140 (11), pp. 111001.
- Stimpson, C. K., Snyder, J. C., Thole, K. A., and Mongillo, D. (2017), “Effectiveness Measurements of Additively Manufactured Film Cooling Holes,” J. Turbomach. 140 (1), p. 011009.
- Kirsch, K. L. K. L., Snyder, J. C., Stimpson, C. K., Thole, K. A., and Mongillo, D. (2017), “Repeatability in Performance of Micro Cooling Geometries Manufactured with Laser Powder Bed Fusion,” 53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Atlanta, GA, pp. 1–14.
