Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)
ADMISSION TO PROGRAM
Students entering the doctoral program with a Bachelor's degree must meet the entrance requirements for the Master's program in the appropriate area of concentration and will normally take the qualifying examinations after one year of study at the Polytechnic. Students entering at the Master's level for the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering program are normally expected to have a Master's in Electrical Engineering. Students with a Master's degree may take the qualifying examinations as soon as they are prepared to do so; however they are expected to take these examinations within the first calendar year. Generally, admission to these Ph.D. programs is conditional on a student achieving a 3.5 grade point average in at least 30 graduate credits. This admission is to enable students to take courses which will prepare them to take the Ph.D. qualifying examinations. Students who want to take the qualifying examinations must apply to the ECE Graduate Committee for permission to do so. Permission will be granted to students whose grade point average is 3.5 or greater at the time the examination will be taken. The program of doctoral study and research actually begins after the candidate passes the departmental qualifying examinations and forms a Guidance Committee (described below).
QUALIFYING EXAMINATIONS (Download Application Form)
The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination is divided into two sections: the Written section (a written examination requiring broad knowledge and problem solving ability at the undergraduate level and requiring preparation at the first year graduate level in several subject areas related to the student's Area of Research Interest--see examples below), and the Concentration or Oral section (an oral examination which concentrates mainly on the student's Area of Primary Research Interest).
- Communications
- Computer and Network Architecture
- Controls and Systems
- Electromagnetics
- Networks
- Power/Power Electronics
- Signal Processing
The Written section will be given in late August or early September of each year and the Oral section in the first week of classes of the Fall semester. A grade-point average of 3.5 or better, with at least one semester of study at Polytechnic, is the normal requirement to sit for the Qualifying Examination. A student who takes the Qualifying Examination for the first time and does not pass, may apply for permission to take the examination one more time. Normally, this permission is granted when the student's first-time performance appears to warrant the second attempt.
If a student does well on the Ph.D. written exam, but fails the Ph.D. oral exam, the department may allow the student to retake the oral exam by itself. However, the department will not allow a student to take the Ph.D. oral exam more than twice, for each time he/she is allowed to take the written exam. Students who are allowed by the department to retake the oral exam must do so by December 31 of the same year. It should be emphasized that the opportunity to retake the oral exam is not guaranteed − it is the exception rather than the rule.
The format of the Qualifying Examination is subject to change from one year to the next. Students should watch for announcements of such changes, which will be made early in the academic year preceding the next offering of the examination.
A student taking the Qualifying Examination must choose one area as the Area of Primary Research Interest. At least one (1) problem from that area must be answered in the Written section of the examination and the Concentration (oral) part of the examination will be on that area. Note that if a student who has passed the Qualifying Examination later wants to change the Area of Primary Research Interest, he/she will be expected to retake portions of the Qualifying Examination: the Oral section almost certainly and the Written section if at least one problem was not solved from the new research area. Application for such a change of Area of Primary Research Interest must be made to the ECE Graduate Committee.
Information about exact examination dates, format, subject areas, etc., and copies of sample questions can be obtained from the ECE Graduate Office.
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Admissions/Qualifying Examinations
