[Jfporco]

First congrats! Dedication, perserverence, and a bit of insanity are all required to complete the "Piled Higher and Deeper" degree. It's been over 25 years since I finished, but what I learned in my doctorate defense was that my committee was not particularly interested in my ability to recite theories, or the names of scholars living and deceased, but rather academically defend my topic, my subject knowledge, and why I deserve to be a contributing part of the academic community. She must see herself as the expert of her dissertation topic so be prepared to defend it from a philosophical, methodological, and scholarly standpoint. how does her work advance academic thought, what are the weak points of the dissertation and how do they impact (if at all) the conclusions and overall hypotheses? Is her dissertation a departure from existing thought in her field, or are they confirmatory? If it is a departure from existing thought, why is it better than current thought/theories. What does her work offer the academic community and how does it help advance knowledge in her field.

I realize these are general thoughts, but my experience was that my committee was looking for my ability to academically defend my work, my position, and my potential contribution as a scholar to the academic community. She is 90% of the way there...the last 10% is validation...

Like is said its been over 25 years.
The good news is that the twitching and nightmares typically go away after 4 or 5 years. LOL