The Bioinformatics Second Year Qualifying Examination is designed in an innovative manner to test the ability of students to think analytically and in an interdisciplinary manner. This method was suggested by students of the Program during the first two years after inception.

Students are expected to come up with a research problem different from the one she/he may have been working on with a Faculty Advisor and write a proposal that can be defended at the Oral Examination to a faculty committee appointed by the Chair of BQE. The written document is expected to be in the form of a Proposal to NSF or NIH, where the student provides the specific aims of the project, the background for and significance of
the problem chosen, some preliminary results and/or observations and specific details on the design of the research. The student is tested on his/her ability to formulate and design the problem as well as on the interdisciplinary nature of the approach. Once the student passes the oral portion of the examination, the student is deemed to be qualified for
advancing into Ph.D. thesis research in Bioinformatics. The student can schedule this examination at any time of the year, but with two provisions. First, the student should have completed all the required and most of the elective courses assigned and second, the examination should be taken before the student completes his/her second year in the Program.

At the time of BQE, the student should have decided on her/his two mentors/research advisors, and should have discussed with them about joining their laboratories and obtaining guaranteed funding for the duration of research as long as he/she is in good academic standing. The BQE Oral Examination Committee will discuss these specifics and other Program requirements with the student at the Oral Examination.