Requirements
Intended candidates for the PhD are required to pass an oral qualifying examination within the prescribed period of time, by taking 4 credits of ME 699 . The purpose of the qualifying examination is to judge students’ ability to pursue research. After passing the qualifying examination, the student will be admitted to the status of candidate in the PhD program. At the discretion of the qualifying examination committee, students who fail the qualifying examination will be dropped from the program.
Students must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 50 credit hours in course work beyond the BS level. They are required to select a major within the following three areas of concentration: materials/manufacturing, mechanics/design/systems/controls, or thermal/fluid sciences.
Students who enter the program with a MS degree may, with the approval of the graduate chair, be credited with up to 30 credits for equivalent work to be counted toward their PhD credit-hour requirement. Up to 8 of these 30 credit hours may be assigned for prior MS thesis work. Students who possess a second MS degree may be credited with up to 9 additional credit hours for equivalent work. Up to 9 credit hours may be assigned for course work taken as an unclassified graduate student. All courses shall be selected by students but must be approved in writing by their committees. These courses must form an integrated education plan. A minimum of 2 credit hours in ME 691 or its equivalent must be included in every PhD program.
Students who desire teaching experience may, with the approval of the PhD committee chair, request that the department chair assign them teaching responsibility for a particular undergraduate course. The department chair will determine whether students are qualified to teach the course in question, and, if they are deemed qualified, they may be given the teaching assignment. Students who teach a course or courses will be assigned a maximum of 3 credit hours toward their PhD course work requirements.
Comprehensive Examination
PhD candidates must pass an oral comprehensive examination to demonstrate their comprehension of the chosen areas of study relevant to their dissertation proposals and basic knowledge of courses taken at the graduate level. Students who fail the comprehensive examination may, at the discretion of the graduate faculty concerned, repeat it once after at least six months. Students who fail the examination a second time will be dropped from the program.
Final Examination
Students are required to complete a satisfactory doctoral dissertation and to pass an oral final examination based primarily upon the dissertation. The final examination will be administered by the respective PhD committee. A student passes the final examination upon the favorable recommendation of a majority of the PhD committee.
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