Program Structure and Requirements (with only BSc Degree)
Overall Program Structure
The Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering (MSEN) program for candidates with only a bachelor’s degree (Direct BSc to PhD) consists of a minimum of 72 credit hours. The required program credits are distributed as follows: 12 credits of Program Core courses, 24 credits of Program Elective courses, 36 credits for a PhD Research Dissertation, and two zero-credit PhD Research Seminar courses. The table below summarizes the structure and requirements of the Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering (MSEN) program. All the Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering program courses, except the Research Seminar courses and the PhD Research Dissertation, have a credit rating of three credits each.
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.
|
Category
|
Credits Required
|
|
Program Core
|
12
|
|
Program Electives
|
24
|
|
ENGR 703 PhD Research Seminar I
|
0
|
|
ENGR 704 PhD Research Seminar II
|
0
|
|
MSEN 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE)
|
0
|
|
MSEN 796 PhD Research Proposal Exam (RPE)
|
0
|
|
MSEN 799 PhD Research Dissertation
|
36
|
|
Total
|
72
|
All the courses that the students will take are at PhD level. The students will only be able to attempt MSEN 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) after successfully completing a minimum of 27 credits of formal coursework.
Program Requirements
Students admitted to the PhD program with only a bachelor’s degree (Direct BSc to PhD) must satisfy the following requirements:
- Complete a minimum of 36 credits of coursework (12 courses of 3 credit hours each). This is in addition to two zero-credit PhD Research Seminar courses. Subject to the advisor's approval, up to two PhD level courses (maximum of 6 credits) can be taken from other doctoral programs offered at KU.
- Pass all courses with a minimum passing grade of C in every course.
- Achieve an overall CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of at least 3.0 out of 4.
- Pass the Written Qualifying Exam (WQE), which assesses the technical background of the student. WQE is administered after the student successfully completes a minimum of 27 credits of formal coursework.
- Pass the Research Proposal Examination (RPE), typically before the end of the 6th semester of full-time study.
- Have at least one full paper accepted for publication in a quartile one ranked journal, per Scopus, in the research field of the dissertation before submitting the request of intent to defend the dissertation. The paper must be based on one of the research contributions in the dissertation, and the student must be the lead author of the paper.
- Complete a Dissertation on original research and defend it successfully in a viva voce Dissertation Defense examination.
Program Core (12 credit hours)
Students must complete four of the core courses listed below. The ENGR 701 must be one of the selected four courses.
Material Science and Engineering - Core Courses
Concentration Core Courses
Program Electives (24 credit hours)
Students must complete a minimum of eight 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
| MSEN 701 | Electrochemical Processes and Devices | 3 |
| MSEN 705 | Micromechanics of Materials | 3 |
| MSEN 710 | Advanced Solid State Physics | 3 |
| MSEN 712 | Imaging of Materials: Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis | 3 |
| MSEN 715 | Advanced Imaging of Materials: Transmission Electron Microscopy | 3 |
| MSEN 730 | Science and Engineering of Thin Films, Surfaces and Interfaces | 3 |
| MSEN 740 | Advances in Investigation of Intermolecular and Surface Forces | 3 |
| MSEN 745 | Concentrated Solar Power and Thermal Energy Storage | 3 |
| MSEN 750 | High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells: Designs and Technologies | 3 |
| MSEN 760 | Thin Film Solar Cells: From Design to Applications | 3 |
| MSEN 792 | Advanced Nanomaterials and Mechanical Applicaitons | 3 |
| MSEN 794 | Selected Topics in Materials Science and Engineering | 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: 72