Program Structure and Requirements (with only BSc Degree)
Overall Program Structure
The Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (MEEN) program for candidates with only a Bachelor’s Degree 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 Mechanical Engineering program. All the Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering program courses, except the Research Seminar courses, Written Qualifying Exam (WQE), Research Proposal Exam (RPE), and the PhD Research Dissertation, have a credit rating of three credits each.
Summary of Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering Degree Program Structure and Requirements for Candidates with a Bachelor’s Degree
|
Category
|
Credits Required
|
|
Program Core
|
12
|
|
Program Electives
|
24
|
|
ENGR 703 PhD Research Seminar I
|
0
|
|
ENGR 704 PhD Research Seminar II
|
0
|
|
MEEN 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam
|
0
|
|
MEEN 796 PhD Research Proposal Exam
|
0
|
|
MEEN 799 PhD Research Dissertation
|
36
|
|
Total
|
72
|
Students admitted to the PhD program with only a Bachelor’s Degree 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.
Mechanical 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
| MEEN 701 | Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue | 3 |
| MEEN 702 | Damage Mechanics of Solids and Structures | 3 |
| MEEN 703 | Linear and Nonlinear Finite Element Methods | 3 |
| MEEN 704 | Computational Inelasticity | 3 |
| MEEN 705 | Micromechanics of Materials | 3 |
| MEEN 706 | Theory of Plasticity | 3 |
| MEEN 721 | Computational Fluid Mechanics | 3 |
| MEEN 722 | Non-Newtonian Fluid Dynamics | 3 |
| MEEN 723 | Advanced Combustion | 3 |
| MEEN 724 | Advanced Modeling of Cooling Systems | 3 |
| MEEN 725 | Multiphase Flow in Porous Media | 3 |
| MEEN 741 | Advanced Conduction and Radiation Heat Transfer | 3 |
| MEEN 742 | Advanced Convection Heat Transfer | 3 |
| MEEN 743 | Micro-Nano Energy Transport | 3 |
| MEEN 744 | Interfacial Transport and Phase Change Heat Transfer | 3 |
| MEEN 745 | Concentrated Solar Power and Thermal Energy Storage | 3 |
| MEEN 761 | Advanced Process Dynamics and Control | 3 |
| MEEN 762 | Analysis and Simulation of Mechatronics Systems | 3 |
| MEEN 763 | Theory and design of digital control systems | 3 |
| MEEN 764 | Optimal Control | 3 |
| MEEN 765 | Acoustics and Noise Control | 3 |
| MEEN 766 | MEMS Theory and Applications | 3 |
| MEEN 767 | Control of Robotic Systems | 3 |
| MEEN 781 | Materials Selection in Mechanical Design | 3 |
| MEEN 782 | Materials Characterization Techniques | 3 |
| MEEN 791 | Inference and Estimation from Models and Data | 3 |
| MEEN 792 | Advanced Nanomaterials and Their Mechanical Applications | 3 |
| MEEN 794 | Selected Topics in MEEN | 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