The Ph.D. qualifying oral examination

Upon successful completion of requirement 1, a student will commence advanced study under close supervision of a faculty advisor. A doctoral qualifying oral examination committee of at least four members will be appointed by the graduate program director on nomination by the student’s advisor. Two members, besides the student’s advisor, must be from the graduate faculty, but additional members who are knowledgeable in the area of intended research may be included. The student, the advisor and the graduate program director will agree on the scope of the doctoral qualifying oral examination to be administered by the committee. The committee must be notified, at least two weeks in advance, of the date, time and place of the doctoral qualifying oral examination and must be provided with a study list of the candidate.

Admission to Candidacy

On receiving recommendation of the doctoral qualifying oral examination committee for admission to candidacy, the student must obtain the written consent of a graduate faculty member to act as the doctoral dissertation advisor and apply to the Graduate School for admission to doctoral candidacy. The application for admission to candidacy is made through the graduate program director, who certifies that all requirements for the doctorate except the doctoral dissertation, have been met and that the student has a doctoral dissertation advisor.

Residency Requirements

The residency requirements shall be those imposed by the university at the time of the student’s entrance to the doctoral program.

Doctoral Dissertation

The doctoral dissertation is the heart of the Ph.D. program. An acceptable dissertation will contain a significant advance in the current knowledge of applied mathematics or statistics. On completion of the dissertation in its final form, the dissertation advisor will recommend to the Graduate School, through the graduate program director, to appoint a final doctoral examining committee. The final oral defense of the dissertation will be conducted in accordance with the general Graduate School requirements.

Scientific Minor

In addition, the biostatistics track with the statistics Ph.D. program requires that the student complete a scientific minor in epidemiology and/or cancer research. The students will fulfll the scientific minor requirement by carrying on project research and taking at least three courses in one of the following areas of active biostatistical research:

• Clinical Trials
• Population Epidemiology
• Bioinformatics
• Aging Studies

(The choices for the area for the scientific Minor are not limited to the list given above. Students can do scientific minor in other research areas related to the existing faculty expertise with prior approval from the graduate program director.)