Prelim Exam - patrick-shamberger/PHATE_Lab_Handbook GitHub Wiki

Purpose

The objective of the Preliminary Exam in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering is to assess progress in the candidate’s research towards defending their Ph.D. dissertation. Unlike the Qualifying Exam, the Preliminary Exam will be performed on the topic of the candidate’s dissertation.

When am I ready?

You are ready when you can:

  1. Identify the overall objective of your dissertation research (what is the question you are trying to answer? what is the hypothesis you are trying to test? What is the physical mechanism you're trying to explain?)
  2. Break out how will you achieve that objective (what specific experiments or simulations will you complete? how will this accomplish the objective?).
  3. Demonstrate that these experiments are possible and informative (what data do you have that demonstrates the validity of your method? based on your measurements, are you able to answer the fundamental question?)

What about the written proposal?

In MSEN, this is limited to 5-20 pages. You should:

  1. Introduce the subject area. What is already known about this area? Describe the systems and studies that are most closely related to your material system. Describe the methods you are using.
  2. Describe (in brief) the work you have already completed. Generally, this is a brief description of papers you have written.
  3. Describe (in brief) the work that you propose to do.
  4. Provide a timeline for completion.

Documents (from 2024):

[24C_MSEN 2024_GPS Knowledge Center- Preliminary Exam Request.pdf 2024_GPS ARCS Preliminary & Proposal Student Guide.pdf

Ph.D. Preliminary Procedures.pdf](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/16682867/24C_MSEN.Ph.D.Preliminary.Procedures.pdf)