The Ph.D. oral qualifying exam is presented by the student to a committee of three materials faculty at Tulane, chosen in consultation with the research supervisor and the graduate program advisor. A student must choose three research articles in agreement with committee members, one approved by each committee member, with each representative of a different topic in MPE not including the student’s specific research area. The student must present a maximum 10 minute overview of the paper followed by about 20 minutes of questions on that topic. The exam duration is 1.5 to 2 hours total. The student must attempt the oral qualifying exam by the end of the 4th semester. A second attempt is allowed and must be completed by the end of the fifth week of the fifth semester (two total attempts allowed). The committee votes pass/fail on each paper topic, with unanimous agreement required to pass that topic. A student must pass all three topics. If one or more is failed, the student is allowed one additional chance to pass the failed topics, but with a different research article for each (again agreed between the student and committee). Passed topics do not need to be repeated in the 2nd attempt. Any student who has not passed the qualifying exam by the end of the fifth semester of graduate study will be disenrolled from the program.