Doctor of Philosophy
Admission to the Program
A bachelor’s or master’s degree in electrical engineering or a closely related discipline from an ABET-accredited institution is required for admission to the PhD program; international students may have a master’s degree from a recognized international institution. A GPA of 3.3/4.0 on all baccalaureate course work and any graduate work attempted, and a GRE score of 1100 are also required. These are minimums, and are normally surpassed by successful applicants. International students in addition must have demonstrated a minimum achievement of 550 on the TOEFL. Each successful applicant will be expected to have a faculty sponsor who will help the student to establish a plan of study.
Students with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than electrical engineering may be required to complete a department-designated sequence of undergraduate courses with grades of “B” or better prior to attempting graduate electrical engineering work.
Diagnostic Examination
The student who has been admitted to work toward the doctoral degree may, before the end of the second semester of postbaccalaureate study, be required to take a departmentally administered diagnostic examination. It will be designed to appraise the student’s ability to pursue the doctor of philosophy degree in the field and to facilitate counseling in the development of the student’s program of studies.
Admission to Candidacy
The PhD program is logically divided into two parts: namely, requirements for a student to be formally admitted to candidacy for the degree, and requirements to satisfactorily complete the degree program.
In order to formally become a candidate and pursue research for the PhD degree, students must have demonstrated that they have a sufficient academic foundation in electrical engineering, an understanding of the research process, and that they are knowledgeable enough about their chosen field of research to proceed with a reasonable assurance of success. If the student is successful in demonstrating these attributes, then the student may be admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree, and may begin formal research leading to the dissertation. The elements of this process are the following:
Doctoral Preliminary Examination
This examination is intended to determine the student’s academic preparation for the PhD degree. It consists of a written examination covering the field of electrical engineering, including the areas of communications, digital systems, electromagnetics, electronics, power systems, signals and control. The exam should normally be taken during the second semester after admission to study for the PhD. The student must apply to take the examination in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering office by the end of the prior semester. One repeat attempt will be permitted. The examination must be passed within twenty-four months after beginning study for the PhD. Upon satisfactory completion of the doctoral preliminary examination, and upon the recommendation of the supervisory committee, the student will be formally admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree. Registration for dissertation research is then permitted.
Dissertation Proposal
After successfully completing the Doctoral Preliminary Examination, completing the requirement for supervised research (if not waived) and after completing substantially all required courses, the student will prepare and present to the supervisory committee the proposed dissertation topic.
Doctoral Proposal Examination
This is an oral examination given to the student at the time of the presentation of the prospectus or proposed dissertation research area and topic. This examination will establish whether or not the student has sufficient expertise in the selected dissertation area to proceed with the planned research. One repeat attempt will be permitted.
Dissertation
The dissertation must be an achievement in original research constituting a significant contribution to knowledge, and must represent a substantial scholarly effort by the student. Upon completion of the dissertation, an oral defense is required, which consists of a public presentation of the work to the department and the supervisory committee. Students must register for EEL 8985r, Dissertation Defense, before the defense presentation. If the defense is satisfactory, the committee may then recommend award of the degree. Publication of the complete dissertation is required. This may be done in scholarly journals, or via University Microfilms.
Course Requirements
There are no specific courses required for the program. Each student’s courses are defined by the plan of study, which is approved by the supervisory committee. The general requirements are as follows:
- Completion of a minimum of thirty-six (36) credit hours of course work beyond those applied to the satisfaction of other degrees: a minimum of thirty (30) credit hours must be completed on a letter grade basis; up to six (6) semester hours can be completed on a S/U basis, for a total of thirty-six (36) semester hours (minimum). All work completed to satisfy Ph.D. degree course work requirements must be 5000-level or above. These also must include six (6) semester hours in advanced mathematics or advanced courses (5000-level or above) in an area outside of electrical and computer engineering beyond those semester hours applied towards any other degrees;
- Completion of three (3) semester hours of work in EEL 5910r, Supervised Research, to demonstrate the ability to perform independent research prior to registering for dissertation research credit. This requirement may be waived at the recommendation of the major professor, if the student has completed a master’s degree with a thesis option, and the major professor agrees that this satisfies the objective;
- Completion of thirty-three (33) hours (minimum) of dissertation research, EEL 6980r.
Supervisory Committee
The Supervisory Committee for a doctoral degree candidate consists of a minimum of three (3) graduate faculty members who have obtained the doctoral directive status, one of whom is a representative-at-large of the graduate faculty drawn from outside the ECE Department. Additional members may be appointed if deemed desirable. All members of the committee must hold at least the master’s directive status. The major advisor or the co-advisor must be from the ECE Department. At least half of the committee members must be the graduate faculty members from the ECE Department.
Dissertation Defense Announcement
It is the student’s responsibility to post the dissertation defense announcement within the department and the College of Engineering at least one week prior to the defense. The announcement should include: dissertation title; student’s name; student’s department; major professor and committee members; date; time and location of the defense.
Transfer Credits
A maximum of thirty (30) credit hours of letter-grade graduate coursework may be transferred from another academic institution(s) to the student’s current doctoral degree program, with the approval the ECE Departmental Graduate Committee. A grade of “B” or better is required on all transfer credits.
Graduate Seminar Requirement
All full-time Ph.D. candidates are required to enroll in the graduate seminar, EEL 6932r, for each semester that they are enrolled in the graduate program. The details of the seminar are given below under ‘Graduate Courses’.
Journal Paper Submission Requirement
All Ph.D. students are required to publish, or submit and have under review at least one refereed journal article to a journal in their field of interest before their graduation will be approved.
Note: The graduate program in electrical engineering continues to evolve. Candidates are urged to contact the department to obtain the latest information regarding requirements and courses.