Current Students

Ph.D. Proposal Presentation

“As of Fall quarter 2010, a new format for the Qualifying Exam has been put in place. Students admitted to the PhD program prior to Autumn 2010 will have the option to take the exam in either format”

Deadline: February 24th to turn in Quals applications for Spring 2012

Exam Purpose

The exam evaluates your capacity to perform outstanding research, and has several goals:

      1. To motivate you to review and synthesize course work and research material.
      2. To determine your creative potential to pursue doctoral research.
      3. To determine your ability to understand and apply fundamental concepts.
      4. To test your oral communication skills and your ability to respond to questions.
      5. To identify areas that need strengthening as you work towards the doctorate.

 

Exam Structure

Exams are given during the third week of the Fall and Spring academic quarters. Exams will be based on 3 topics from the list below. The exam will usually consist of 30-minute topical exams in three subjects chosen by the student in consultation with their advisor from the list below.
Each topic will be offered by a pair of approved examiners, and that pair of examiners will give all the exams in that topic during that season. The exam performance will be scored on a simple scale by each of the examiners, and the scores will be submitted to the graduate curriculum committee. Final determination of pass or fail will be made by the graduate curriculum committee on the basis of the scores.

Administrative Procedure to Schedule your Exam

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE QUALIFYING EXAM FORM HERE

PLEASE DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THE POLICY AND PROCEDURES HERE

For graduate students that were enrolled in the program prior to Fall 2010 and would like to review the old version of Quals, please click here for the policies and procedures.

 

    1. Obtain a Faculty Sponsor. An Academic Council Member from the Department of Mechanical Engineering must be willing to supervise your Ph.D. program and dissertation. The decision by the faculty member to supervise the program and dissertation is based on your potential to become an independent scholar, as well as many other factors, including your undergraduate and graduate course record, research, teaching, and professional experience. The most important factor is the direct knowledge the faculty sponsor has of your research capabilities. You need a minimum graduate Stanford GPA of 3.5 to be eligible for the exam. Students are encouraged to work together to prepare for the exam. Typically the exam is taken shortly after earning the masters degree. Students with MS degrees from elsewhere are expected to take the qualifying exam during spring quarter of the 1st year, or autumn quarter of the 2nd year of the Ph.D. program.

    2. Prepare an Application Folder.  The folder includes:

      a)   Updated transcripts of all non-Stanford graduate course and Stanford graduate course work.   A GPA of 3.5 or higher is required.  The GPA calculation must be based entirely on letter grades in Math, Science and Engineering classes at the graduate level.  Grades from independent study or dissertation research are not to be included in this calculation. (Exceptions to the GPA requirement must be requested by petition written and signed by the research advisor.)
      b) Curriculum vitae including standardized examination scores prior to admission.
      c)   Preliminary dissertation proposal (two to three pages) providing a rationale and methodology for the proposed research.  Examiners will have access to this proposal, and may use it as a basis for exam questions.
      d)  The nomination form signed by your research advisor.

      NOTE : All exceptions to all eligibility and timing requirements are subject to petitions to be signed by the Research Advisor, and reviewed by the Chair of the Graduate Curriculum Committee.

       


    3. Choose an Academic Quarter for the Examination. Exams must be taken in the third week of the Autumn or Spring quarters. The application folder must be submitted first to the faculty advisor for approval on the date indicated below. Approximately two weeks later, the folder is due to the Office of Student Affairs.

        Choose Three Subjects.   Together with your faculty sponsor, choose any three subjects from the list below.  For each topic, the student will list the 2 or more course numbers within that topic area that they will prepare to be examined on.  For each of the subjects, descriptions of the materials to be used as a basis for the exam will be provided.  Individual topic descriptions are being drafted by the GCC with support of the faculty likely to be involved in those topics.Note : these topic descriptions are not final.  Some revision of this list and its content is expected prior to the start of the Fall Quarter, 2010

      Math: Exam is based on ME300A/ME300B/ME300C (Linear Algebra/PDEs/Numerical Methods) – Please select 2 out of 3 of these classes, or indicate 2 other classes.
      Automatic Controls: This exam will be based on the content normally offered in E105 + ME205, with some practical content from ME206 if appropriate.
      BioMechanical Engineering : BME exams are based on one of these focus areas :
      Option 1: Biomechanical Dynamic: ME281, ME386 Neuromuscular Biomechanics, ME331A Classical Dynamics. (Cannot take with Dynamics exam topic)
      Option 2: Cardiovascular Biomechanics : ME284A Cardiovascular Bioengineering, ME284B Cardiovascular Bioengineering, ME287 Soft Tissue Mechanics.
      Option 3: Cell and Tissue Mechanics : ME239 Mechanics of the Cell, ME287 Soft Tissue Mechanics, ME338A Continuum Mechanics. (Cannot take with Mechanics exam topic)
      Mechatronics: This exam will be based on ME218AB or ME210+ME220.
      Design Methodology: This exam will be based on ME310AB
      Design for Manufacturing: This exam will be based on ME317AB
      Fluid Mechanics : based on 2 of ME351A, ME351B, {ME355 or AA210A}
      Energy Systems: This exam is based on 370A-C. Taking 370A and either 370B or C should prepare the student for this exam.
      Reactive Gas Dynamics (formerly HT Gas Dynamics): This exam is based on ME362A, ME362B, ME364, ME371 and ME372. The student will be examined on material covered in any two courses selected from this sequence.
      Heat Transfer: This exam is based on ME 352 A, B, C and ME 358. The student will be examined on material covered in any two courses selected from this sequence.
      Solid Mechanics: This exam is based on {ME333 and 338A or 340A}, or {335A and 335B or 335C}.
      Dynamics: This exam is based on ME331AB
      MEMS and Devices: This exam is based on content in E240, E341, ME414 and ME457, based on the courses indicated.
      Robotics and Kinematics: This exam is based on CS223A + one of CS225A, ME322, or ME326.
      Materials and Stress Analysis : Exam based on any 2 courses selected from ME345, MatSci270, ME309, ME348

      Examiners for exams for the standard topics will be selected by the Graduate Curriculum Committee. The selections will be made on the basis of the faculty expertise and experiences with the courses that are the basis of the topical exams, and with a goal of distributing workload evenly where possible. It is possible that the advisor for a PhD student will be one of the examiners on a single topical exam on occasion. The curriculum committee will insure that the advisor is not the examiner for more than one topic for one of their own PhD students, and that they are not the examiner for the custom topic exams. The assignment of faculty to examination topics will be announced before the second week of the quarter.

      Custom Subject - This exam may consist of a research exam with a presentation, or a topical exam in a topic not represented above. It is important for the Custom Subject Proposal to describe how the content of the Custom Exam is distinct from the content of the 2 topical exams already being selected.

      Custom exams are private events, and may be attended by other faculty, but not by students, family and friends. If the examination consists of a presentation followed by Q&A, the advisor may attend the entire session as a “silent observer”. Other faculty are excused after completion of the presentation portion of the examination.

      Detailed proposals for a Custom Exam topic are to be prepared with and signed by the research advisor, and will be approved or rejected by the Graduate Curriculum Committee within 3 days of submission of the application.  The Graduate Curriculum Committee will select 2 examiners from the list of 3 or more names provided in the application.

      The recommended format for custom research exams is based on a 20-minute presentation related to the PhD research that the student is working on, followed by up to 40 minutes of questions by 2 examiners.

      Looking ahead, we would like to offer some additional guidance on the format and execution of these custom exams:

      a)     The goal of the presentation is to demonstrate that the student can explain some specific key issue in their proposed research, and describe the work that they are doing to resolve this issue.  The content of the presentation should be accessible to faculty with modest expertise in the PhD research topic.  Therefore, it is the responsibility of the student to prepare a presentation that is clear and informative, and which can serve as the basis for rigorous questions by many faculty in our department. 

      b)     It is the responsibility of the Student and Advisor to define a custom examination specification that is clearly distinct from the content of the 2 topical examinations.  Specifications that do not address this distinction in detail will be rejected.

      4.      Submit the Examination Application.  The research advisor is required to sign the qualifying exam application. The advisor-signed application is due to the Student Services Office no later than the last day of the quarter before the exam is planned.   The examiners for each exam topic will be determined by the graduate curriculum committee no later than the 3rd week of the quarter in which the exam is offered.

      5.      Take the Exam.  The time and location for the topical exams will be arranged by the Student Services Office no more than 2 weeks prior to the exam.

       Examination Outcomes
      If a student receives a passing score from the examiners on a topic, that topic is considered passed the exam. 

      At the completion of the first attempt at the exam, students who have passed all three topics are considered to have passed the exam.

      Students who did not pass one or more topics on the first attempt may re-take the exam one time, during the next offering of the exam, subject to support of their advisor.  Students may re-take the failed subjects, or select new subjects.

      If the student passes the remaining subjects during the re-take, the student is considered to have passed the exam. 

      Outcomes for students who do not pass one or more subjects during the retake will be determined by the graduate curriculum committee.


      Top of Page>