The qualifying examination (QE) required by College of Engineering seeks to assess whether the candidate is ready to begin their graduate research. Departments have different methods of performing this assessment, from conducting written examinations on core topic areas in the major to research-topic specific oral examination by a QE committee of departmental faculty. In all cases, when a student fails to pass the QE (QE pass/fail policies are made available to students), they get one additional attempt to take the QE within a year. If they fail the QE a second time, they are dismissed from the PhD program. In the unlikely event that a GLEAM fellow fails the QE twice, they will be provided the opportunity to switch to one of our MS degree programs

The comprehensive examination (CE) required by the Graduate College seeks to assess the PhD candidate’s readiness to pursue their dissertation project to completion. The candidate is expected to propose their dissertation project aims with adequate background, preliminary data, and planned future studies through both a written report and an oral presentation. Evaluated by an examination committee of at least four faculty members with adequate expertise, the candidate is voted to pass (no more than 1 fail vote) or fail (more than 1 fail vote). Committees may also pass conditionally by requesting specific modifications of the proposed project plan. The examination committee will specify in writing the deadline by which the student must fulfill these requirements. The comprehensive examination may be repeated once at the discretion of the examination committee.

The final examination, sometimes referred to as a thesis or dissertation defense, is a critical inquiry into the purpose, methods, and results of the dissertation research and may include intensive examination in areas related to the investigation. Its policies and procedures are publicly available on the Graduate College website. Administered by the candidate’s examination committee from the CE, the final examination consists of an oral presentation by the candidate of their research project, with a typical uninterrupted presentation length of approximately 20-40 minutes, although committee members may interrupt the presentation to ask questions. They are open to the public. The examination committee members may vote as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Two or more unsatisfactory votes constitute a ‘fail,’ and the examination may be repeated at the discretion of the examination committee.

Department-specific requirements for PhD candidates include the core courses that all candidates in the department are expected to complete, limitations on elective courses, minimum cumulative GPA, course- specific policies on acceptable grades, and minimum number of courses and research credits. These tend to vary by department. GLEAM fellows will follow all department-specific policies.

GLEAM-specific requirements will fit within the core or electives for any College of Engineering department and hence will not require additional efforts by GLEAM fellows compared to any other PhD candidate in the college. Each fellow is required to complete at least one course each from two of the four topical areas and take at least two courses from a selected focus area (thus at least three total courses from the list of 18 advanced manufacturing-relevant courses). The topical areas and courses are as follows: