Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering
The Department offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Electrical Engineering. Interested students should also consult the ECE Graduate Student Handbook and, depending on the university, the FAMU or FSU Graduate Student Handbook.
Admissions
To be considered for admission, candidates must have earned a bachelor of science degree (or equivalent) in electrical engineering, or a closely related discipline, from an Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET)-approved program, a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale on all baccalaureate course work and any graduate work attempted, and a minimum score of 151 points for the quantitative section and 145 points for the verbal section of the GRE test.
International candidates must also pass the TOEFL and obtain a minimum of 80 on the internet-based exam or 550 on the paper-based exam.
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 the graduate electrical engineering work.
Students interested in obtaining a teaching assistantship should submit the TA/Grader Application Form as soon as they have been admitted to the program. Students who are not native speakers of English should take the speaking section of the TOELF test (and have a score of 26 points or higher) or the SPEAK test at FSU (and have a score of 45 points or higher) in order to be eligible to apply to for a teaching assistantship. More information about teaching assistantships can be found on the TA/Grader Application Form.
Course Work Requirement
The students must complete a minimum of 36 credit hours of course work, 3 credit hours of Supervised Research (EEL 5910r), and 33 hours of dissertation research (EEL 6980r) to satisfy the requirements.
The 36 credit hours of course work should satisfy:
- 9 credit hours should be from the student's depth area (see Depth Areas for the list of courses in each depth area).
- At least 6 credit hours should consist of courses from outside the ECE Department typically 5000 level courses or above, or departmental approved substitutes. These courses should be approved by the student major professor and the Graduate Director.
- At least 21 credit hours should be from other letter grade courses. Among the 21 credit hours at most 6 credit hours can be 4000 level courses and can be completed on an S/U or letter grade basis.
The 3 credit hours of Supervised Research should be taken 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.
Graduate Seminar Requirement
All full-time PhD candidates are required to enroll in the graduate seminar, EEL 6932r, for each semester that they are enrolled in the graduate program.
Supervisory Committee
The Supervisory Committee for a doctoral degree candidate consists of a minimum of 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.
PhD 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 & Computer Engineering office by the end of the prior semester. A maximum of 2 attempts 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 Defense Announcement
It is the student's responsibility to post the dissertation defense announcement within the department and the College of Engineering at least 2 weeks 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. Academic courtesy requires that the dissertation be submitted to each member of the supervisory committee at least 4 weeks before the date of the oral examination.
Transfer Credits
A maximum of 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.
Journal Paper Submission Requirement
All PhD 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.
Additional Requirements
After completing 36 credit hours of graduate coursework the student must continuously be enrolled for a minimum of 24 credit hours during at least on consecutive 12-month period (this is called the residency requirement).
