III. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

When the PhD student is sufficiently prepared as determined by the Research Committee, the Preliminary Examination will be scheduled. This examination must be completed at least one academic year prior to graduation. The Preliminary Exam will not be a retest of previous course work unless that course work pertains directly to the area of research. Performance on the Preliminary Examination will be decided by vote of the Research Committee. Satisfactory completion of this examination requires that the student receive no more than 1 negative vote. Successful completion of this examination admits the student to candidacy for the doctoral degree.

The format of the Preliminary Exam will be determined by the student's major professor, based on two options:

a) Oral defense of a NIH-format research proposal prepared by the student

Preparation of such a proposal should help the student to develop writing skills, discover library resources and, in particular, to become acquainted with the large body of primary research literature pertinent to his/her field. It is expected that this proposal will have relevance to the dissertation research. The defense will be conducted by the Research Committee and will be open to the faculty. The defense may include questions related in any way to the proposal, including relative basic science questions, theoretical questions about proposed techniques, questions on rationale for techniques, questions about the literature cited, etc.

b) Combined written and oral examination

The student will be required to answer written questions in a format determined by the Committee. The oral examination to follow may key on the answers to the written portion, or be unrelated.