Program Structure and Requirements (with MSc Degree)
Overall Program Structure
The PhD in Petroleum Engineering 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 Petroleum 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 (21 credit hours)
Students must complete a minimum of seven technical elective courses from the list below.
Subject to the approval of the dissertation Main Advisor, up to two elective courses (6 credit hours) can be taken from other PhD programs at KU.
The elective courses of PhD program in Petroleum Engineering are listed below (all 3cr)
Electives
| PEEG 723 | Stimulation of Conventional and Unconventional Reservoirs | 3 |
| PEEG 730 | Fluid Flow and Transport Processes in Porous Media | 3 |
| PEEG 731 | Chemical Flooding | 3 |
| PEEG 732 | Hybrid Enhanced Oil Recovery | 3 |
| PEEG 733 | Miscible Gas Flooding | 3 |
| PEEG 749 | Characterization and Modelling of Unconventional Reservoirs | 3 |
| PEEG 752 | Simulation of Naturally Fractured Reservoirs | 3 |
| PEEG 794 | Slected Topics in Pet. Enginee | 3 |
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 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and at least another full-time KU faculty who acts as a co-advisor. 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.
Dissertation
Total Credit Hours: 60