Qualifying Exam. 1 Credit Hour

Catalog description

The objective of the Qualifying Examination (QE) is to determine if a student has met programmatic expectations with regard to: i) Acquiring a level of scientific reasoning and a knowledge base in his/her field of study appropriate for a graduate student at the current stage of training; ii) Demonstrating skills of problem-solving and development of experimental strategies designed to test hypotheses associated with a specific scientific problem; and iii) Demonstrating the ability to defend experimental strategies proposed for solving scientific problems. Successful completion of the QE is required for Advancement to Candidacy and continuation in the IBMS Ph.D. program. During the Spring semester of Year 2 (4th semester overall) of the student's program, the QE will be administered by a faculty committee approved by a student's Discipline leadership. Each IBMS discipline will administer the QE process for its students so as to achieve the goals of the discipline while satisfying the expectations of the IBMS graduate program. In general, the QE requires the solving of a relevant unsolved problem in the biomedical sciences by writing a research proposal based on an idea conceived and developed by the student, followed by an oral defense-of-proposal to explore the student's problem-solving process, and the soundness of the student's experimental design. Following the QE, a report will be submitted by the chair of the examination committee to the student's discipline leadership indicating the outcome of the exam and any recommendations that may be required to foster further academic progress by the student. IBMS 7001 is divided into 7 modules overseen by the 7 IBMS Disciplines, each that is responsible for providing its students with a detailed description of the examination process, and for ensuring that the programmatic expectations and goals of the QE are met.