Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering

The Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering (Ph.D. in Engineering) awards candidates who complete taught courses and research components. Students complete advanced courses in engineering and carry out an independent investigation in a specialized engineering area. They prepare and present a thesis on their chosen area, supervised by experienced researchers, and research may cover topics aligned with the University’s focus areas.

Program structure uses credit requirements, including program core courses, technical elective courses, and dissertation research. Candidates complete PhD Research Seminar I and PhD Research Seminar II, and must pass a Written Qualifying Examination (WQE) and a Research Proposal Examination (RPE) to progress. The dissertation involves novel, creative, research-oriented work under faculty supervision and is defended in a viva voce examination, and the research findings must lead to publishable quality scholarly journal articles.

Modules

• Research Methods in Engineering
• PhD Research Seminar I
• PhD Research Seminar II
• PhD Written Qualifing Examination
• PhD Research Proposal Examination
• PhD Research Dissertation

Minimum CGPA: 3.0. Candidates must successfully complete the taught courses and research components, and must successfully complete the Written Qualifying Examination (WQE) followed by the Research Proposal Examination (RPE) in order to progress further in the program.

• With a Master’s degree: a minimum 60 credit hours with a minimum CGPA of 3.0.
• With a Bachelor’s degree: a minimum 72 credit hours with a minimum CGPA of 3.0; candidates may only attempt ENGR 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) after successfully completing a minimum of 27 credits of formal coursework.