The examining committee, which will be the same as the Ph.D. Thesis committee, should be suggested by the adviser and approved and appointed by the chairperson at least three weeks prior to the examination. The exam questions will be formulated by the members of the committee at the graduate level. The exam must be conducted within a year of completion of the qualifying exam. The thesis proposal approval examination, which is diagnostic in nature, should be conducted after the comprehensive exam and at least one year before the final thesis defense. The exam will be oral and will be administered by the Ph.D. thesis committee.
Doctoral research can begin after admission to the Ph.D. program.
However, the major portion of the research should not be started until the comprehensive examination is passed and the thesis proposal is approved by the committee. All research must be conducted under the supervision of a full-time department faculty member and in the laboratories of the university. Off-campus research is possible with the approval of the department chairperson. The preliminary thesis draft must meet the approval of all members of the examination committee. An oral examination in defense of the thesis is given as an open university seminar.