Doctoral Degree

Doctoral students are required to achieve a broad understanding of electrical engineering fundamentals and a thorough knowledge, up to its present state, in a chosen specialty. Doctoral students must also perform research in their special field under the guidance of a faculty advisor and write a dissertation that is a scholarly presentation of an original contribution to electrical engineering resulting from independent research. Participation in a substantial teaching project to develop competence in teaching is also required. In addition to the general degree requirements set by the Graduate Division, the following requirements must be met by doctoral students in electrical engineering. See checksheets for summary.

Requirements

Doctoral students must have a Master of Science (MS) degree in ECE or its equivalent; otherwise, the MS program course requirements must be met (equivalent courses taken elsewhere can be counted toward this requirement subject to prior approval from the graduate chair). In addition, the following 40 credits are required:

• 9 credits of 600-level courses in the major track
• 3 credits of 600-level courses outside the major track
• 3 credits of ECE 790 Directed Instruction
• 24 credits of ECE 699 (6 credits can be substituted by 600 level courses in ECE)
• 1 credit of ECE 800 Dissertation Research during the semester of graduation.

The graduate seminar requirement in electrical engineering or a related field, must also be fulfilled (see the seminar policy). Furthermore, doctoral students must pass the qualifying examination, must pass the comprehensive examination for the approval of a dissertation proposal to advance to PhD candidacy, and must pass the final examination for the approval of the dissertation itself. The stages of the doctoral program are as follows.

Pre-Candidacy Stage

The pre-candidacy stage covers the period from the admission until the comprehensive examination is passed. Each doctoral student is assigned a faculty advisor upon entering the program. During the pre-candidacy stage, a doctoral student prepares for the qualifying examination typically by enrolling in a directed reading or research course under the advisor’s direction. This preparation may be in the form of an initial exploration for a dissertation topic or it may be any other research effort on some topic of interest to demonstrate the student’s research potential. As part of this preparation, the student produces a well-written three- to six-page conference-style extended abstract on his or her research efforts. In consultation with the advisor, the student also takes courses as necessary for background knowledge.

Qualifying Examination

The qualifying examination is an oral examination administrated by a committee of three graduate faculty members. One member of the committee is the student’s advisor; the graduate committee selects the final two committee members. At least one of the committee members selected by the graduate committee must be from the student's major track of specialization. The qualifying examination is closed to persons other than the student and the committee members.

The student submits the extended abstract to the committee and the ECE office at least one week prior to the examination. The purpose of the qualifying examination is to determine the student’s research potential and knowledge of pertinent fundamentals. It starts with a presentation through which the student demonstrates his or her ability to conduct significant research. In particular, the student is expected to demonstrate ability to understand technical concepts of sufficient complexity and to produce and implement new ideas. Throughout the examination, the committee may ask any questions broadly related to the topic of presentation to observe the student’s thought process in approaching a research problem. Any one of the following criteria is sufficient, but not necessary, to demonstrate research potential:

• producing a research result that could be accepted for presentation in a peer reviewed conference
• formulating a significant and well-motivated research problem, and proposing a well thought-out approach for solving the problem.

At least two committee members must pass the student; otherwise, the student repeats the examination by the end of the third semester in the program. A student who does not pass the qualifying examination by the end of the third semester is dismissed from the program. The graduate chair reports the results of the qualifying examination to the Graduate Division by using Doctorate Form I (Pre-Candidacy Progress).

After passing the qualifying examination, the student develops a dissertation proposal and prepares for the comprehensive examination. During the development of the dissertation proposal, the student (in consultation with the advisor) acquires the necessary background knowledge through coursework and literature survey, and conducts research on the proposed dissertation topic.

Comprehensive Examination

The student takes the comprehensive examination within three years of entering the PhD program. Prior to taking the comprehensive examination, the student completes the MS course requirements and most of the PhD program course work in major track or outside major track ECE courses (at least 6 of the required 12 credits), writes a dissertation proposal, and forms the doctoral committee. The doctoral committee must satisfy Graduate Division requirements and be pre-approved by the graduate chair. The comprehensive examination is an oral examination administered by the doctoral committee and is subject to the same rules as those set by Graduate Division for the final examination. 

The student submits the dissertation proposal to the doctoral committee and the ECE office at least two weeks prior to the comprehensive examination. The dissertation proposal must have a tentative title, a description of the problems considered, preliminary results, and the proposed research for the completion of the dissertation. The comprehensive examination may be preceded, at the discretion of the individual committee members, by additional oral or written examinations.

The purpose of the comprehensive examination is to critically evaluate the merit of the dissertation proposal as well as the student’s ability and preparation for conducting the proposed research. It starts with a presentation in which the student makes the case for the validity of the dissertation proposal. Throughout the examination, the committee questions the student on various aspects of the dissertation proposal including its scope, the significance of the problems chosen, and the approach. The committee also evaluates the student on the background knowledge necessary for the completion of the dissertation. In addition, the committee can suggest alternative approaches and additional topics for investigation, and can alert the student to new developments relevant to the proposed research. The presentation followed by a short question-and-answer session is open to the public; however, the rest of the comprehensive examination is closed to persons other than the student and the committee members.

A majority of the committee must approve the dissertation proposal in order for the student to pass. The committee members indicate their approval by signing the Advance to Candidacy Form (Form II). A student who fails the comprehensive examination may repeat it only once, no sooner than three months after the first examination. The student must pass the comprehensive examination within four years of entering the PhD program. A student who fails the comprehensive examination twice is dismissed from the program. The graduate chair reports the results of the comprehensive examination to Graduate Division by using Doctorate Form II (Advance to Candidacy).

Candidacy Stage

A student who passes the comprehensive examination advances to PhD candidacy and proceeds with the proposed research and writes a dissertation. The dissertation must satisfy Graduate Division requirements. In particular, the dissertation is expected to be a scholarly presentation of an original contribution to electrical engineering resulting from independent research. The dissertation must be suitable for publication in respected academic journals. The candidate must keep the doctoral committee informed of the scope, plan, and progress of the dissertation research and manuscript. During this stage, the candidate also completes the credit requirements. After completing the dissertation research and writing a dissertation and no sooner than six months after passing the comprehensive examination, the candidate takes the final examination.

Final Examination

The final examination is administered by the doctoral committee. The candidate submits the dissertation to the doctoral committee and the ECE office at least two weeks prior to the final examination. The examination starts with a presentation by the candidate on the dissertation research including the problems chosen, the approaches employed, and the results obtained. Throughout the examination, the candidate defends his or her dissertation in response to the committee’s questions on the correctness and the significance of the approaches and the results.

A majority of the committee must approve the content of the dissertation and the student's ability to defend it in order for the candidate to pass. The committee members indicate their decisions on the final examination by signing Doctorate Form III (Dissertation Evaluation). A candidate who passes may still be asked to make various corrections and revisions to the dissertation. The candidate must make the requested changes and submit the revised dissertation to the entire committee. Doctorate Form IV (Dissertation Submission) is to be signed by the chair and a majority of the committee, including any committee members who may have been physically absent at the final examination. All those who sign must have read and approve the manuscript in its entirety. By signing this form, the committee members indicate approval of the content and the form of the finalized manuscript. A candidate who fails the final examination may repeat it only once with approval from both the graduate faculty concerned and Graduate Division. A candidate who fails the final examination twice is dismissed from the program. The graduate chair approves and reports the results of the final examination to Graduate Division by using Doctorate Form IV.