TO: Second Year Materials Science Graduate Students
DATE: January every year
FROM: B. Fultz, Option Representative
SUBJ: Candidacy Examination

It is time to plan for your candidacy examination.

You should go now to the Graduate Office and obtain the Candidacy Form for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. You need to list your five-member examining committee in section I of this form. Notice that the choice of committee requires approval of the Option Representative (Fultz) and the Division Chairman (Murray). You should discuss the committee membership with your adviser and Fultz before completing this section of the form. Arrangements for the examination are partly up to you, subject to these constraints:

1) Time: before the end of May

2) Committee of five faculty consisting of:
a. your adviser
b. three faculty from materials science (none of whom is your adviser)
c. one or two other members of your choice

After your committee has been approved, it is up to you to arrange a suitable time and room for the examination. Pam Albertson will help with the room arrangement.

Before the examination, you need to complete section II of the Candidacy Form, listing all courses in your Ph.D. degree program including those you have not yet taken. Bring the Candidacy Form with you to the exam.

One week before the examination, you should give each member of the examining committee a brief (one page) description of your research. At the same time, you should also send a memo to each committee member and Pam Albertson informing them of the time and place of the examination.

The examination will last up to three hours. The first 45 minutes will be devoted to a presentation of your research results. The purpose of this part of the examination is to convince the committee that you are capable of completing an independent research project. You should rehearse your presentation beforehand, and your uninterrupted presentation should take less than 20 minutes. (With questions from the faculty, the presentation often requires 50-60 minutes.)

The second part of the examination is devoted to general questions that cover subject matter in materials science at the level of your Caltech coursework. In principle, these questions will be related to your research topic, but in practice this is not necessarily so. To prepare for this part of the examination, you should begin immediately a thorough review of the Caltech courses you have taken, especially those taught by members of your examination committee. You should concentrate on solving problems of a fundamental character.

You will remember the details of your candidacy examination for the rest of your life.
We want you to do well.
Be prepared.