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Doctoral Requirements
A doctoral student must complete the program of study prepared in collaboration with his or her permanent adviser and outlined on an approved Doctoral Program Planning Form. The program typically requires 60 credit hours of course work beyond the baccalaureate degree (30 credit hours beyond the master's degree), plus 12 credit hours of dissertation work. A student must select one of the three departmental areas of study (Energy Systems, Manufacturing Systems, or Mechanical Systems) as a primary area and one of the two remaining areas as secondary. The student must take a minimum of 6 credit hours of approved mathematics course, 21 credit hours of primary area (including 12 credit hours of dissertation work) and 6 credit hours of secondary area. At least one-half of the total course work requirement must involve 200-level courses. Students are required to take at least one-half of their total coursework from the Mechanical Engineering course offerings. A maximum of 6 credit hours of graduate level credit from other accredited institutions may be accepted towards the requirements of the degree. Independent Study coursework can account for a maximum of 3 credit hours. The student must also attend and participate in the departmental seminar. Finally, he/she must pass a doctoral qualifying examination and submit and successfully defend a dissertation. The dissertation must represent an original research contribution and demonstrate both high scholarly achievement and the ability to conduct independent research.
Steps in Completing Degree Requirements
Students pursuing the Ph.D. degree will normally proceed through the following stages:
- Acceptance into the Graduate School and assignment of temporary Advisor.
- Selection of a permanent (dissertation) advisor.
- Selection of dissertation committee and submittal of Doctoral Program Planning Form.
- Successful completion of the Proficiency Examination.
- Completion of the Dissertation Outline Form.
- Presentation to and acceptance of the Doctoral Dissertation Outline Form by the dissertation committee.
- Successful completion of the Qualifying/Dissertation Proposal Examination.
- Completion of coursework.
- Successful presentation/defense of dissertation.
Instructions for preparing the dissertation are given in the Dissertation Directives. In the semester during which a student plans to complete the requirements for a degree, he/she must fill out an Application for Graduation Form.
Dissertation Committee
The dissertation committee must consist of a minimum of 5 members, one of whom must be the student's dissertation advisor. A minimum of 3 committee members (including the student's dissertation advisor) must be chosen from tenured or tenure track faculty from within the department. The remaining committee members may be chosen from other departments, academic units, universities/colleges, or industry. The Department Chairperson and the Dean of the Graduate School must approve dissertation committee.
Proficiency Examination
The proficiency examination is a written examination that is administered and graded by the graduate committee. Students are eligible to take the examination after 18 credit hours toward their degree and the examination must be taken before enrolling in 27 credit hours of work. The examination is designed to test the candidate's proficiency in engineering mathematics and both their primary and secondary areas of specialization over the material normally covered in the following courses:
Mathematics
MEEN 201: Advanced Engineering Mathematics
Energy Systems
MEEN 135: Transport Phenomena
MEEN 136: Intermediate Thermodynamics
Manufacturing Systems
MEEN 148: Design of Experiments
MEEN 168: Processing and Formation of Materials
Mechanical Systems
MEEN 150: Applied Stress Analysis I
MEEN 152: Mechanical System Vibrations
The examination is given to all eligible candidates at the same time each year in the spring semester. Students who fail only one part must retake that part next time. A failure on two or more parts of the examination will require that the entire examination be retaken. Two successive failure of the examination will lead to discontinuation of the student's enrollment status as a Ph.D. candidate.
Qualifying/Dissertation Proposal Examination
Students are eligible to take this examination after three semesters of full time work towards their degree and are encouraged to take the examination as early as possible; however, they must pass their proficiency examination prior to scheduling this examination. The student must arrange a meeting for this examination with members of the dissertation committee. During this examination, the student is required to identify the proposed dissertation research topic and plan that will be used for bringing the dissertation to a successful conclusion. The committee members will evaluate the scientific and technical merit of the dissertation proposal and then accept the plan, reject the plan or offer suggestions for modification of the proposed work. The committee's final decision will also be based upon its assessment of the student's academic readiness to undertake and complete the research task. The final defense of the dissertation cannot be taken earlier than one year after this examination.
Dissertation Defense
The Ph.D. Program culminates with the successful defense of the student's dissertation. The defense occurs at a meeting period that is scheduled by the student. Students must submit a copy of their completed dissertation to all members of the committee at least 4 weeks prior to the examination. Public notification of the defense must be posted through the Department and the Graduate School at least 4 weeks prior to the meeting period. During the dissertation defense, the dissertation committee reviews and evaluates the integrity of the dissertation through oral inquiry and, ultimately, approves or disapproves the student's dissertation. A dissertation defense must be completed within 5 years of beginning the Ph.D. Program, or 7 years after enrolling in the Graduate School.
Important Forms and Directions
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