Comprehensive and Final Oral Examinations

Comprehensive Examination

All students intending to earn the Ph.D. degree are required to pass a comprehensive examination. The examination will be administered by the PC and consists of two parts:

1. Subject matter examination
   The purpose of this portion of the examination is to determine a student's grasp of essential concepts relevant to the Ph.D. degree in general and the student's ability to project beyond existing knowledge. Written and/or oral questions covering the student's graduate course work must be included.
2. Research proposal
   The purpose of this portion of the examination is to evaluate a student's research acumen and ability to develop and present an original research proposal; and, equally as important, to advise the student in finalizing successful research goals and procedures. The formal written proposal containing the research goals, methodology, expected results and contributions of publishable quality will be defended orally before the entire committee.

The comprehensive examination is taken soon after completing the Ph.D. qualifying requirements and at least one academic year prior to making the dissertation defense. Qualified Ph.D. students should take the examination by their fifth semester as full-time students in the MAE Ph.D. program and must pass the examination by the end of the sixth semester. Part-time students should apprise the MAE Chair of a timely schedule for exam completion.

Final Oral Examination

The dissertation defense is an oral examination administered by the PC in accordance with Graduate College guidelines. The purpose of the examination is to evaluate the student's research efforts and written presentation (dissertation), and to determine if the candidate is worthy of receiving a Ph.D. degree. The major area of emphasis of this examination is the student's research dissertation and the general areas of study related thereto. The final thesis defense must be taken within five years of passing the comprehensive examination.