Comprehensive Examination
The comprehensive exam consists of both a written and an oral part, followed by a defense of the dissertation proposal. The final outcome of the comprehensive examination is the acceptance of the student to the PhD candidacy in NREM. Based on this examination, the student’s committee will determine if the student: (1) is ready, (2) needs to take more courses to remediate deficiencies in their training, or (3) that the student is not fit for the NREM PhD program. In the process of administering the examination, the committee will test the rigor of the student’s training as: (1) a scientist in general (that the student can follow the scientific method and procedure to address a research problem and also has the analytical skills to conduct research), (2) a scientist in NREM (has in-depth knowledge of what makes their unique compared to other graduates of UH that might have similar interests; in other words, a NREM student focusing on hydrology should not only be trained to deal with a hydrology problem but also should be able to address the natural resources and environmental management implications of that problem as compared to a hydrology graduate from Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology and Geophysics, or Geography and Environment), and (3) a scientist in their specialty area (for example, a NREM PhD student with a specialty in hydrology should have more in-depth expertise in hydrology than other NREM PhD students working in other specialty areas).
Based on this understanding, the comprehensive examination questions can cover: (1) their specialty (i.e., hydrology, forest ecology and management), (2) general topics related to NREM (i.e., core courses, background knowledge), (3) knowledge of general research methods (i.e., statistics, analysis methods, etc.), and (4) the proposed dissertation research.
