Program Structure and Requirements

Overall Program Structure

The PhD ENGR consists of a minimum 60 credit hours, distributed as follows: 3 credit hours of Program Core courses, 21 credit hours of Program Technical Elective courses, 36 credit hours of Dissertation research and two zero credit PhD Research Seminar courses. The technical background of the student will be assessed by a Written Qualifying Examination (WQE), followed by a Research Proposal Examination (RPE) which the student must successfully complete in order to progress further in the program. The components of the PhD program are summarized in the table below.

Program Component	Credit Hours
Research Methods in Engineering	3
PhD Research Seminar I	0
PhD Research Seminar II	0
Written Qualifying Examination (WQE)	0
Research Proposal Examination (RPE)	0
Program Electives	21
PhD Research Dissertation	36
Total	60

Program Requirements

Students seeking the degree of PhD in Engineering must successfully complete a minimum 60 credit hours as specified in the program requirements detailed below, with a minimum CGPA of 3.0. Course selection should be made in consultation with the student’s Main Advisor and must be aligned to the chosen area(s) of research. All courses have a credit rating of three credits each, except the PhD Research Seminar, Written Qualifying Exam, Research Proposal Exam, and the PhD Dissertation.

Program Core (3 credit hours)

Students must complete the core courses listed below.

Core Courses

Program Electives and Concentrations (21 credit hours)

Students must complete a minimum of seven technical elective courses from the list below. At least two of these electives (6 credit hours) must be PhD level courses with a substantial mathematical component, as outlined in the ‘Mathematics Requirements’ section above.

Subject to the approval of the dissertation Main Advisor, up to two elective courses (6 credit hours) can be taken from relevant MSc programs in the College of Engineering at KU to help the student bridge a knowledge gap that will support his/her research. The student must not have taken the same or similar MSc level courses to satisfy the requirements of his/her Master’s degree. A copy of the student’s MSc transcript must be provided when a request is made to take MSc level courses.

Students wishing to complete a PhD in Engineering with a concentration in a given area, must select at least four (12 credit hours) of the seven technical elective courses from one of the groups listed below. All selected concentration courses must be at PhD level. The concentration will be noted on the student’s diploma and official transcript provided that the student fulfills the following requirements:

Complete a minimum of four PhD level courses (12 credit hours) from the same concentration; and
Complete a PhD research dissertation within the domain of the concentration.

For a PhD in Engineering without a concentration in a given area, the selected technical elective courses must be aligned to the interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary research the student will be conducting towards the PhD dissertation. The courses must be selected in close consultation with the student’s Main Advisor.

The PhD elective courses are listed below under the various engineering concentration fields supported by the program. Students must take into account the above points when choosing their electives.

Aerospace Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Biomedical Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Chemical Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Engineering Systems and Management

Concentration Field Courses

Material Science and Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Mechanical Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Nuclear Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Petroleum Engineering

Concentration Field Courses

Robotics

Concentration Field Courses

PhD Research Dissertation (minimum 36 credit hours)

Students must complete a PhD Research Dissertation that involves novel, creative, research-oriented work under the direct supervision of at least one full-time faculty advisor from the College of Engineering, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as a co-advisor. The Main Advisor of a student who opts for a PhD with a concentration must be a faculty member in the Department offering that particular concentration. The outcome of research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others. The research findings must be documented in a formal Dissertation and defended successfully in a viva voce examination. Furthermore, the research must lead to publishable quality scholarly journal articles.