Once the Ph.D. aspirants have completed the required curriculum, the requisite number of cumulative examinations, and the FLORS requirement, they are eligible to schedule the Oral Comprehensive Examination. Aspirants for the Ph.D. in Chemistry must pass this examination before the beginning of the fourth year of graduate study. Students who fail to meet this requirement will be ineligible for support through Departmental or research funds until this requirement is passed.
The committee for the Comprehensive Oral Examination shall consist of five faculty members at least one of whom must be from a department other than the aspirant’s major department. Three of the five members of this committee will normally be selected for the research advisory committee after the Oral Comprehensive Examination has been passed (see Section G).
1. Before the examination, the aspirant will prepare a novel and creative research proposal in an area outside of his/her own specialty. Here specialty is used to describe an area closely related to the aspirant’s thesis work but not necessarily the discipline (i.e. physical, analytical, etc.). The format of the proposal shall follow the current NSF or NIH guidelines and shall be no longer than 10 pages in length. (Guidelines for this format are included in this document as Appendix A.)
2. Exams must be scheduled with the graduate school no later than two weeks before the examination at which time the student will distribute a copy of the proposal to each member of the examination committee. Any member of the committee may request revisions before acceptance for presentation at the exam. Final revision must be completed no later than one week prior to the examination.
3. The aspirant will present and defend the research proposal to the committee at the oral examination. Although the research proposal will normally be a major portion of the oral examination, the committee may also examine the aspirant on more general subject areas (not necessarily related to the proposal) or on his/her current research activities.
4. Typical comprehensive examinations last 2 to 3 hours. The grade on this examination will he "Honors", "Satisfactory", or "Unsatisfactory". If the aspirant receives a grade of "Unsatisfactory" on the comprehensive oral examination, he or she may be allowed upon the recommendation of the Department, to repeat it; but under no circumstances may the aspirant take it more than twice. In any case, the examination may not be repeated until at least 90 days have elapsed since the last unsuccessful attempt.
NOTE: Due to time constraints or to allow time for the aspirant to clear-up concerns the committee may have on particular issues, examinations may be adjourned and reconvened at a time agreed upon by the examination committee. The committee will inform the aspirant as to the specific material to be covered in this follow-up session.
5. Optional requirements: At the request of the aspirant’s research advisor, the student may be asked to prepare an additional research proposal for the examination. The length, format, and area of the second proposal shall be determined in consultation with the aspirant’s research advisor.
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