Program Overview

Electrical Engineering, PhD

Overview

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is involved in graduate teaching and research in many areas, including communications and signal processing, networking, computer engineering, power engineering, semiconductor devices and quantum electronics, circuits and VLSI. The department has laboratories devoted to research and advanced teaching in the following areas: computing, engineering design methodology, high-performance computing and networking, parallel and neural processing, machine vision, fiber optic sensors and computer graphics, micro and optoelectronics, power electronics, electric power and energy systems, VLSI, telerobotics, DNA sequencing, digital signal processing, and communications.

Admission Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in electrical or computer engineering or computer science from an accredited college or university. Outstanding applicants in other technical or scientific fields will be considered, though special make-up coursework over and above the normal requirements for a graduate degree may be required.
• A minimum grade point average of B in all courses in engineering, mathematics, and science.
• GRE V150, Q159, WA3 (if required by the graduate school); TOEFL 80, IELTS 7 (for international applicants); 3 recommendation letters.

Degree Requirements

Major and Minor Area Requirements

• Major area requirement is satisfied by taking a minimum of three (3) courses from a selected major area with a minimum GPA of 3.5.
• Minor area requirement is satisfied by taking courses from other areas (different from the selected major area) with a minimum GPA of 3.0.

Course Requirements

• A minimum of 14 regular courses (42 regular graduate course credits) beyond the BS degree (including courses taken to satisfy major and minor requirements).
• The ESE 697 - Ph.D. Practicum in Teaching (3 credits) is required to satisfy the teaching requirement.
• At least 15 credit hours of ESE 699 for conducting focused research under faculty supervision.

Advancement to Candidacy

• After successfully completing all major/minor/course requirements (except ESE 697), the student is eligible to be recommended for advancement to candidacy.

Preliminary Examination

• A student is expected to pass the preliminary examination within 1.5 years after advancement to candidacy.

Dissertation

• The most important requirement for the Ph.D. degree is the completion of a dissertation, which must be an original scholarly investigation.

Approval and Defense of Dissertation

• The dissertation must be orally defended before a dissertation examination committee, and the candidate must obtain approval of the dissertation from this committee.

Residency Requirement

• The student must complete two consecutive semesters of full-time graduate study.

Time Limit

• All requirements for the Ph.D. degree must be completed within seven (7) years after completing 24 credits of graduate courses in the department.