All second year graduate students are required to present a short seminar at the weekly Graduate Research Seminar (GRS) or Graduate Research Conference (GRC) about two to three weeks prior to their qualifying examination. The seminar is presented to a general audience of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. Usually each student will give a 20-25 minute talk (including time for discussion /Q&A) on their PhD research project and its general chemistry background. The seminar is presented at a level that most of first- and second- year graduate students will not have difficulty following. The faculty serving on the qualifying exam will be present and will give written assessment of the seminar. This assessment will be considered in the graduate student's final evaluation at the time of their qualifying examination.