Presentation of Abstracts
The preliminary examination process begins with a meeting with the Prelim Committee to discuss two potential proposals. Normally the student will have thought about potential topics for several months prior to declaring their intent to take the prelim exam. The student should write an approximately two page abstract (with a few key references) for each proposal and distribute these to the Prelim Committee members several days before the meeting. Each abstract should include a brief introduction, state the scientific problem being addressed, present a specific hypothesis, and propose experiments to test this hypothesis. Including a figure can sometimes be helpful. These proposals must be on research areas outside of the student's thesis research. The abstracts need not be polished treatments of the subject. They should, however, both represent significant and meaningful proposals. The student may be asked to rewrite one or both abstracts if they are not considered by the Committee to be properly designed or written.
The student will briefly present each proposal to the Prelim Committee. This should consist of a 5-10 minute verbal presentation with PowerPoint figures. The Committee will then select one topic to be developed for the preliminary examination. The Committee may steer the proposal into specific areas of research and may recommend that specific experimental approaches be abandoned in favor of alternative strategies. The student should remember that this is not the exam, and that the Committee is there to help the student refine their proposal into a form that can be developed for the final written proposal.
It is possible that the Prelim Committee will decide that the proposal topic or specific aims need to be significantly modified before the student is ready to begin writing their final document. Under these circumstances, the committee is encouraged to arrange for email contact to approve a modified version of the proposal or, if necessary, schedule another meeting one week after the initial meeting to approve the modified proposal. Not all committee members need to be present at a follow-up meeting. The student is encouraged to actively communicate with their committee during this one week period as they reshape their proposal. Approval of a majority of the committee is required before the student can move on to preparing their detailed written proposal. Note that the final prelim exam must occur 5 weeks after this second meeting in order to stay within the 7 week exam time limit.
Copies of abstracts and written proposals from students who successfully passed the exam are available from either the Graduate Secretary or Patty Lisieski (5200 EIHG). They can be borrowed and copied, but should be returned so that other students can use them.