Students will prepare a written proposal based on their intended research project, as perceived at that time. The proposal will be in the form of a short postdoctoral fellowship application. The proposal should be 6-10 typed pages in length, and have no more than 7 figures. After submission to a 2-faculty qualifying exam committee, the student will present and defend the proposal before this committee. The proposal must be submitted to the committee at least 10 days before the oral defense of the proposal. The committee will probe the studentıs general knowledge in the area represented by the project, the area represented by the sponsorıs laboratory, and the areas covered in courses the student has taken. Students should be prepared to describe any procedure proposed in the research plan. Although the structure of the oral examination will be that of a defense of the proposal, the emphasis will be as much on general knowledge in these areas than on the merits of the specific research proposed. The examining committee will be made up of two faculty members and will generally not include the studentıs research sponsor. This committee, plus the sponsor, will constitute the studentıs research progress committee that will meet at least annually with the student thereafter. Students whose performance is judged unsatisfactory on this exam will be given one additional opportunity to take the exam before the Fall of the third year. In this case, a new committee would be constituted for the second exam, consisting of 2 new faculty members plus the sponsor. Should the student pass the second exam, the new committee would continue as the studentıs research progress committee.