Program Structure and Requirements (with MSc Degree)
Overall Program Structure
The PhD ESMA 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 ESMA 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 another relevant PhD program in KU.
Electives
| ESMA 701 | Advanced Systems Optimization | 3 |
| ESMA 710 | Times Series Analysis Modeling and Prediction | 3 |
| ESMA 711 | Advanced Business Analytics | 3 |
| ESMA 720 | Advanced Production and Operations Management | 3 |
| ESMA 721 | Stochastic Processes and Applications | 3 |
| ESMA 722 | Technology strategy | 3 |
| ESMA 730 | Complex Network Analysis | 3 |
| ESMA 740 | Sustainable Development: Theory & Policy | 3 |
| ESMA 741 | Advanced Modeling for Energy Planning | 3 |
| ESMA 742 | Energy Economics, Finance and Policy | 3 |
| ESMA 743 | Engineering for Energy and Poverty Solutions | 3 |
| ESMA 780 | Advanced Urbanism: Urban Design Ideals and Action | 3 |
| ESMA 781 | Modeling Urban Systems Energy Flow | 3 |
| ESMA 794 | Selected Topics in ESMA | 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 College, 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 must be a faculty member in the Department offering that particular program. 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