This graduate committee continues to follow the student through the first two-year period of required and elective courses, lab rotations, seminars, journal clubs etc., and helps the student choose a mentor and laboratory in which to perform dissertation research. During this period, students must maintain an overall 3.0 average. Student performance during rotations, seminars, and journal clubs is also evaluated annually by the faculty. Near the end of the second year students take a qualifying examination. Students prepare and submit a research proposal on a topic different from their intended dissertation research.
Students then defend the research proposal before a committee of faculty members.
A student who passes the exam and has fulfilled all course requirements is admitted formally to the doctoral program by the faculty. At the discretion of the faculty, a student whose performance is less than satisfactory may by permitted to retake the exam within three months. At the time a student is admitted formally into the doctoral program, a Supervisory Committee of at least three members is appointed by the Graduate Committee, in consultation with the student and mentor. This committee will include the mentor and at least two members of the graduate faculty. They will guide the student in the preparation of a dissertation proposal, evaluate the suitability and significance of the proposed research, and preside over the formal defense of the proposal.