The Advisory Committee is chaired by the student's advisor and is responsible for administering the written and oral examinations and for evaluating the examination in accordance with the rules of the Graduate Studies Committee and the Graduate School. The advisory committee consists of four faculty members including the student's advisor. The Candidacy Examination will cover the broad aspects of the student's area of specialization, but should not focus significantly on the dissertation subject. If the student has demonstrated a weakness in a major area of his or her Qualifying Examination, then the appropriate faculty member(s) will serve on the Advisory Committee. Each member of the Advisory Committee will prepare one or more questions for the student, for the written examination, which he or she will grade. The Advisory Committee will determine the dates for the written portion of the Candidacy Examination; however, the time period in which the written portion is administered to the candidate will not exceed seven calendar days.

The oral portion of the Candidacy Examination is conducted according to the rules of the Graduate School. The oral portion should be scheduled within one month of the completion of the written portion. The Graduate School appoints a representative from another department who will attend and may fully participate in the exam. This graduate school representative, together with the advisory committee forms the Candidacy Examination committee. The research proposal prepared by the student for ChE 981 should be distributed to those Advisory Committee members who have not seen it, including the Graduate School Representative, not less than 1 week prior to the oral portion of the exam. At the conclusion of the oral portion, the committee determines pass or fail of the entire Candidacy Examination, based on both the written and oral performance.