Students are advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. after completing all course requirements and passing the Oral Qualification Exam. The exam is given during the second half of the Spring Quarter of the second year of graduate study. Key dates for the Spring 2008 qualifying examination process will be published later this academic year.
Students may choose any problem in biophysics as the subject for their oral examination proposal, including the experimental problem that the student intends to develop as the topic of his/her Ph.D. dissertation. This topic may be subject to the approval of the student's research mentor.
Changes in the topic of the thesis research that occur after the qualifying examination will have no effect on the candidacy status of the student, but will be subject to the approval of the candidate's Dissertation Advisory Committee.
The proposal should adhere to the format of an NIH R01. The proposal must be formulated to test a clearly articulated hypothesis. Both the written proposal and the oral defense will be judged for clarity and originality of thought, as well as for the degree of mastery of experimental design and analysis of data expected for a student at the end of the second year of graduate school. During the oral examination, the student will also be expected to respond to questions of general knowledge in molecular biophysics.
The ad hoc Examination Committee will be composed of four members of the the faculty, at least two of whom should belong to the Molecular Biophysics Graduate Program. The student's mentor is not eligible to serve on the Committee. Committee members and the Committee Chairperson will be chosen by the Chairperson of the Molecular Biophysics Student Evaluation Committee in consultation with the student's mentor. These choices will be based primarily upon expertise in the field of study to be examined.
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