Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
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Graduate students use a fluorescence microscope to investigate the behavior of the microfluidic biochip they have constructed. The biochip circulates water with biomolecules through tiny channels in the chip, and the biomolecules participate in biochemical reactions important to drug discovery and biochemical sensing. This merging of nano and micro technologies plays a critical role in nanobiotechnology of the future. |
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Examinations Each Year at the Start of the Fall and Spring Semesters
The Qualifying Examination (QE) will be offered at the start of the fall and spring semesters each year. All students entering the Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. program must take the Qualifying Examination the second time it is offered after having joined the MSE Department, i.e. students entering in the Fall semester are expected to take the QE the following June, whereas students entering in the Spring semester will take the QE the following January. Students have the option of taking the exam early if they wish.
Any changes to this schedule petition the Graduate Studies Committee for a delay, for example if it determined that a student is not suitably prepared for the exam. In this case the petition must be accompanied by a study plan of overcoming the perceived deficiency in the preparation.
Students admitted to the M.S. Program, must either complete the M.S. degree, and apply and be admitted to the Ph.D. program before they can proceed to take the QE, or formally change to the Ph.D. Program during the first semester at UMCP, they will be able to take the QE following the next time the QE is offered.
Examination Questions and Research Areas
Before the qualifying exam, students will be asked to provide to the Graduate Committee Chair their first, second and third choice of the three research areas in which they wish to take the QE. Students will be assigned a Research Area for the QE that is different from that of their Research Advisor and on a different topic than the one they are planning to perform their Ph.D. thesis research. The research areas are:
- Electronic and Information Technology Materials and Processing
- Organics (Polymers, Biomaterials etc.)
- Metals and Ceramics
- Characterization
The Qualifying Examination will be scheduled at the start of the fall and spring semester each year. The exact dates will be announced during the month before the exam. Two weeks prior to the examination date the examination questions will be given to the students by the chair of each research area examination committee. The students will have 2 weeks to work out a solution to the question. The solution of the exam problem is to be presented in the form of a research proposal and cannot exceed 10 double space pages (12pt font), including figures with 1 inch margins. The page limitation will be strictly enforced. Four copies of the examination solution must be submitted to the chair of each research area examination committee. The report must contain a one-page project summary, a project description including background information and references, the proposed approach to solving the stated problem, preliminary calculations or research results, the expected outcomes of the project, and a summary of the laboratory equipment and computational resources necessary to carry out the project. A copy of the exam question and the report will be kept in each student's file. Within 24 hours of the paper submission, the student will have an oral examination of about 1 hour on his/her solution. The student should plan a 30 minute oral presentation.
Exam Questions
Faculty in each Research Area will be given the number and names of students who have applied to take the examination. Students need to take the QE in a Research Area that is different from that of their Research Advisor and on a different topic than the one they are planning to perform their Ph.D. thesis research.
Examination Results
The grades of the Qualifying Examination are pass/fail grades. These will be based on the pass/fail grades given by each of the three-member Research Area examination committee.
Students are permitted to fail the QE once, and will have to retake the QE at the next available date. Students that fail the QE a second time are no longer in the PhD program of the MSE Department, and can either complete an MS degree within the MSE Department or leave the MSE Department graduate program.
