Biosystems Engineering
at Oklahoma State University
Sample
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination
Biosystems Engineering
(11/2/00)
As a service to our new Ph.D. students,
the following exam will provide guidance in the preparations for
their own qualifiers.
Instructions: Read each questions carefully.
Answer all questions completely. Time Limit: 4 hours.
- Physics: Define the Universe.
Write the governing differential equations for its motion.
Build a working model.
- Biology: You have been provided
with a razor blade, gauze and a bottle of vodka. Remove your
appendix. Do not close the incision until your work has been
inspected.
- Engineering Ethics: Take
a position for or against truth. Justify your position.
- Engineering Economics: Develop
a realistic plan for refinancing the U.S. national debt. Discuss
the possible effects of your plan on the following: Cubism,
the Donatist controversy, the wave theory of light. Outline
a method for preventing these effects. Criticize this method
from all possible points of view. Point out all deficiencies
in this criticism.
- Engineering Management:
Develop a critical path analysis for the creation of Life. Write
a generalized algorithm to optimize all managerial decisions
for the project.
- General Knowledge: Estimate
the sociological ramifications which might accompany the end
of the world. Construct a working model to test your theory.
- Extra Credit: Describe in
detail. Be objective and specific.
