Candidacy Examination

To be admitted to PhD candidacy, each student is required to prepare a written research proposal and present it to their dissertation committee as part of a candidacy examination (this takes the place of the “prelim” requirement of previous years).  For more info on forming your dissertation committee, please see here.

Purpose of Exam

This examination allows the committee to assess the student’s conceptual and research mastery of a topic that will become the focus of a PhD dissertation.  This exam will focus on evaluating both the written proposal document and the oral proposal defense. This is a final technical checkpoint after satisfying the GPA requirement for the three required graduate courses in the program. This is an opportunity for committee members to help enhance the research quality by offering suggestions and opportunities for collaboration. Specifically, this examination is used to evaluate the student’s:

(1) ability to design, articulate, contextualize, and defend a set of proposed aims and research methods

(2) understanding of the broader research context for their proposed work, including an extensive understanding of the back

ground literature in the area of study

(3) ability to develop a sound research methodology with testable hypotheses and premises

(4) ability to anticipate and propose pitfalls and alternative strategies

Written Report Guidelines

Students will prepare a proposal that is 10 pages (maximum) with one inch margins, 1.5 spacing with a 12 point font, exclusive of references and appendices. The proposal should consist of:

• Introduction
• Proposed research problem and importance
• Proposed research strategy and methodology
• Preliminary results
• Timetable for completion
• Anticipated outcomes/milestones of a completed dissertation

In addition to the 10-page proposal, students should include a cover page, a one-page executive summary page, a specific aims page, and list of references that do not count toward this overall page limit. 

• The cover page is a standard cover page
• The one-page executive summary of research proposal should be single spaced with a 12 point font
• The specific aims page is a bullet point summary of the specific goals of the project. It should be placed after the executive summary and should precede the rest of the document.
• The list of references should follow the written report and may be single spaced. 

The inclusion of additional appendices outside this page limit are not allowed. 

• Proposals that do not following these guidelines should be returned to the student without being evaluated.

NOTE: content equivalent to a completed research paper is NOT expected in the candidacy exam

Procedures Prior to the Exam

6 months before the exam

• the graduate office will communicate a calendar of staggered deadlines to serve as the timeline for completing the candidacy exam.

2-3 months before exam

• the student should (in consultation with their advisor) select a committee to serve for this exam.  Beyond the advisor and any co-advisor(s), the candidacy exam committee should consist of at least two additional Chemical Engineering GSC members and one member outside the Chemical Engineering GSC.  Outside members may include faculty from other departments and programs, other universities or research scientists in industry.  The student should compose this candidacy exam committee in consultation with their supervising professor.  After successfully completing the candidacy exam, the dissertation committee must consist of (at a minimum) at least three members of the ChemE GSC and one outside member (in this committee, the advisor/co-advisor count in this total).  Note that for the candidacy exam, it is permissible for 1 person to be missing if schedule conflicts cannot be avoided.

2 weeks before the exam

• the student should provide the committee the written research proposal document via email.

1 week before the exam

• the student should complete the Candidacy Exam form. 

  1. Student initiates the form – 1-2 Weeks Prior to Scheduled Exam
  2. This form should be sent to the Graduate Program Administrator electronically at least 1 week prior to the exam. The Graduate Program Office reviews and verifies committee composition
  3. Student receives the form until after the exam when they hit the “Release” button on the form
  4. Form routes to student’s advisor to enter outcome, include comments, and sign
  5. Form then routes to all committee members for signatures

     Failure to follow these timelines will require the exam to be rescheduled, but such a rescheduling does not provide a waiver for the candidacy exam date deadline set by the graduate office.

Oral Exam Guidelines

Students should plan for an oral presentation of no longer than 30 minutes uninterrupted.  Students should plan on 90 minutes for the entire examination, to allow time for questions during and after the presentation (schedule exam for 2 hours).  Students are expected to answer the questions from the examiners without the help of the supervisor. 

As this is an examination, the entire meeting will be closed door to only members on the student’s dissertation committee.

It is the responsibility of the student to set the date of the exam, and they are advised to do so at least two months in advance to accommodate the committee’s schedule. See Room booking on the Departmental Resources Page for instructions on booking rooms in CPE. The written research report must be given to each of the examiners at least one week in advance of the exam. 

Note: Starting on 1/30/2018, the department requires that no food be brought to the Oral Exam.

Examiners can attend virtually, or the presentation can be given separately if all examiners cannot attend on the same day. However, all committee members must sign off on the exam form (see below).

During the examination, students are expected to demonstrate:

• adequate progress toward identifying an important and impactful research problem
• the creation of a viable research strategy/specific plans
• presentation of preliminary results to warrant continuation on the track toward PhD candidacy
• an overall scholarly understanding of the research area

Progress in this preliminary research proposal will be scored as pass, conditional pass (with conditions such as, “repeat within one semester,” “re-write document,” or “take additional coursework”), and fail. Students who fail the examination will be transferred to the terminal Master’s degree program.

Deadline