Doctoral Requirements (Ph.D.)

Full details of the doctoral program can be found in the EECE Graduate Student Handbook

Graduate Forms, Links and Procedures, written by EECE 

There are several focus areas for the Ph.D. program. Click here for more details. 

Courses Requirements

Ph.D. (with M.S.) program: requires a total of 24 post-master's credit hours of coursework, plus an additional 12 dissertation credits. (A master's degree is considered to be the equivalent of 24 coursework credits so this coursework requirement is the equivalent of 48 credits beyond the bachelor's degree, exclusive of dissertation credits.)

Other Requirements include:

  • Completion of a Doctoral Program Planning Form by end of the first year of full-time studies with help of a research advisor
  • Completion of the doctoral written qualifying examination (WQE) must be taken by the end of the third semester of study. Details of the WQE requirements are in The Graduate School Handbook Section VI.B.3. Student's should carefully consider their selections for their program of study. Here is a link to the doctoral written qualifying examination rules
  • Course requirements are listed and determined by the selected focus area
  • At least 24 of the credits of coursework must be taken at Marquette University
  • At least 18 of the 24 credits of coursework must be taken in EECE
  • At least 12 credits of the 24 credits (after the 24 credits hours for the M.S. degree) must be from regular 6000 – level courses. (Regular 6000-level courses exclude independent study (EECE 6995), research seminar (EECE 6953) and Cooperative Education (EECE 8986).) Please also see the course requirements for the M.S. degree
  • The total number of independent study (EECE 6995), research seminar (EECE 6953) credits, and cooperative education (EECE 8986) that may be applied to one student’s degree program(s) are limited to a maximum of 6 credit hours in the Ph.D. program
  • EECE 6952 Department colloquium (zero credit) is required each semester for all full-time students
  • EECE 8999 Doctoral Dissertation
  • Students must successfully complete a dissertation together with a public dissertation defense of their work
  • Completion of all university Graduate School requirements and forms

Ph.D. (with B.S.) program (for qualified students with only a B.S. degree): requires a total of 48 post-baccalaureate credit hours of coursework, plus an additional 12 dissertation credits. Students must complete the course requirements for the M.S. degree to continue in the program. If the student wants to earn the M.S. degree along the way, he or she must fulfill all the M.S. degree requirements with the advisor's approval.         

Other requirements are similar to the ones listed above:

At least 24 of the credits of courses must be taken at Marquette University. At least 12 credits of the 24 credits (after the 24 credits hours for the M.S. degree) must be from regular 6000 – level courses. (Regular 6000-level courses exclude independent study (EECE 6995), research seminar (EECE 6953), and Cooperative Education (EECE 8986).) Please also see the course requirements for the M.S. degree.

The total number of independent study (EECE 6995), research seminar (EECE 6953) credits, and cooperative education (EECE 8986) that may be applied to one student’s degree program(s) are limited to an overall maximum of 9 credit hours total for a combined M.S./Ph.D. program.