A public presentation of the proposal to an audience of the student's peers will precede an oral examination session. Success in this exam marks the beginning of candicacy for the Ph.D. degree. Students then begin research in their thesis laboratory and select a committee of faculty members, with which they meet periodically to discuss their research. Thereafter, almost all of the student's time is devoted to thesis research. The culmination of the program is the submission of a written doctoral thesis, which is evaluated by several expert readers and then presented in a public lecture attended by members of the department and the university.
Students generally fulfill the requirements for the Ph.D. degree within four to six years.