The Comprehensive Exam is one of the devices by which the faculty monitors the progress of a student toward the Ph.D. degree. The goal of this exam is to test in a comprehensive fashion whether the student has assimilated formal studies and research experiences in a manner and to a degree that indicates adequate progress toward becoming an independent research scientist.

The exam proceeds as follows:

A committee of five faculty is formed and each committee member presents the student with a research question/topic suitable for the design of a hypothetical grant proposal. After a period of preliminary literature searching (usually no longer than one week), the student selects one topic for the focus of the exam. The student then informs the chair of the exam committee of the choice of topic and proceeds to develop a research proposal related to that topic.

The student prepares the written portion of the exam in the form of a grant proposal using the NIH or NSF guidelines. The grant proposal should have the following properties:

• A face page with the title of the project.
• A project summary.
• A research project plan.
• A list of references with titles and names of all authors.

A copy of the written proposal is delivered to each member of the exam committee five weeks after the list of topics is received. The student then prepares a 50-minute seminar which is presented to departmental faculty and students one week after the submission of the written exam. The oral presentation ordinarily occurs during the regular Monday Graduate Research Colloquium. The oral examination and defense before the exam committee takes place on the same day after the seminar.  Details concerning the comprehensive exam are available in the Graduate Student Handbook.