Electrical Engineering Ph.D. Requirements

Admission Requirements

1. A Master’s degree, normally in an engineering or science related field with an overall graduate GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale), or a Bachelor’s degree in an engineering or science related field with an overall undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) and the Graduate Record Examination General Test.

2. Satisfy the Graduate School’s English Language Proficiency requirements as published in the Academic Catalog.

Degree Requirements

Students seeking the Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering degree must satisfy all general requirements set forth by the School of Graduate Studies. In addition, they must meet the following requirements set by the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science: 

1.    Degree requirements for students with an approved Master degree:

• Complete a minimum of 24 credit hours of EE 999 Dissertation Research.
• Complete a minimum of 15 credit hours of EE, CSCI, or EECS graduate level coursework.
• Complete 3 credit hours of EECS 500 graduate seminar with a passing grade.
• Complete 18 credit hours of graduate credits that consist of any combination of additional graduate courses and/or additional dissertation research credits (EE 999) as approved by the student’s Faculty Advisory Committee.
• Form a Faculty Advisory Committee in the first semester of the program.  The chair of this committee must be approved by the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Committee.
• Successfully complete the Graduate Qualifying Examination (GQE) consisting of a thorough review of a selection of publications that are relevant to the student’s research area and assigned by their Faculty Advisory Committee.  The GQE should be completed after the student has completed at least 18 credit hours of doctoral study, but prior to the completion of 27 credit hours.
• Successfully complete the Comprehensive Examination consisting of both the written proposal and an oral defense. The comprehensive examination should be completed after the student has completed at least 36 credit hours of doctoral study, but prior to the completion of 45 credit hours.
• Final Examination which includes a defense of the student’s dissertation. The oral defense of the student’s dissertation must take place at least one semester after satisfactory completion of the comprehensive examination. 
• Submission of the dissertation document, approved by the student’s Faculty Advisory Committee.
• At least two high quality peer reviewed journal articles and two peer reviewed conference papers, as the first author, must be published or accepted for publication.  These publications must be submitted with the consent of the student’s academic advisor.  If a student completes all other requirements but is unable to satisfy the publication requirement, a waiver request may be submitted to the SEECS graduate committee for review and approval.

2.     Degree requirements for students with an approved Bachelor degree:

• Complete a minimum of 36 credit hours of EE 999 Dissertation Research. 
• Complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of EE, CSCI, or EECS graduate level coursework.
• Complete 3 credit hours of EECS 500 with a passing grade.
• Complete 21 credit hours of graduate credits that consist of any combination of additional courses and/or additional dissertation research credits (EE 999) as approved by the student’s Faculty Advisory Committee.
• Form a Faculty Advisory Committee in the first semester of the program.  The chair of this committee must be approved by the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Committee.
• Successfully complete the Graduate Qualifying Examination (GQE) consisting of a thorough review of a selection of publications that are relevant to the student’s research area and assigned by their Faculty Advisory Committee.  The GQE should be completed after the student has completed at least 36 credit hours of doctoral study, but prior to the completion of 45 credit hours.
• Successfully complete the Preliminary Exam consisting of both the proposal document and an oral defense of this proposal.  The comprehensive examination should be completed after the student has completed at least 63 credit hours of doctoral study, but prior to the completion of 72 credit hours. 
• Oral Final Examination which includes a defense of the student’s dissertation.  The oral defense of the student’s dissertation must take place at least one semester after satisfactory completion of the comprehensive examination.
• Submission of the dissertation document, approved by the student’s Faculty Advisory Committee.
• At least two high quality peer reviewed journal articles and two peer reviewed conference papers, as the first author, must be published or accepted for publication.  These publications must be submitted with the consent of the student’s academic advisor.  If a student completes all other requirements but is unable to satisfy the publication requirement, a waiver request may be submitted to the SEECS graduate committee for review and approval.