Graduate Catalog

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program Outline

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) endeavors to stimulate research and development to foster innovative solutions to challenges in science, technology, and engineering. The PhD programs are structured with integral taught core and elective courses in addition to the central research component. A shared pool of elective courses from different departments is available to students undertaking each program. KU offers the following PhD programs:

College of Science

  • PhD in Chemistry
  • PhD in Earth Sciences
  • PhD in Mathematics
  • PhD in Molecular Life Sciences
  • PhD in Physics

College of Engineering

  • PhD in Engineering:
    • Aerospace Engineering
    • Biomedical Engineering
    • Chemical Engineering
    • Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering
    • Electrical and Computer Engineering
    • Engineering Systems and Management
    • Material Science and Engineering
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Nuclear Engineering (Program offered to UAE National and sponsored Saudi Arabia National students only)
    • Petroleum Engineering
    • Robotics

Program Components

The PhD program typically consists of 60 credit hours for the regular PhD (With MSC) and 72 credit hours for the Direct PhD (Without MSC).

  • Taught Courses: In this component the student is required to complete a program of advanced study in a given area. The taught courses component is equivalent to a minimum of 24 credit hours and typically consists of eight courses comprising one core course and seven electives for the Regular PhD (With MSC) programs. and 36 credit hours comprising four core courses and seven electives for the Direct PhD (Without MSC).
  • Dissertation: In this component the student is required to carry out an independent investigation in the area of study. The research component is typically equivalent to a minimum of 36 credit hours. The student must successfully defend the dissertation in an oral examination.

For the award of the PhD degree, the student must satisfy the following requirements:

  • Courses: The student must satisfy all taught course requirements of the program.
  • Written Qualifying Examination (WQE): The student must successfully pass a written qualifying examination on a set of topical areas.
  • Research Proposal Examination (RPE): The student must prepare a research proposal and pass an oral research proposal examination before being allowed to progress further in the program.
  • Dissertation Examination: The student must complete a dissertation on original research and defend it successfully in a dissertation oral examination (Dissertation Defense).