Ph.D. Program Degree Requirements

This is a coordinated program between the College of Engineering and the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mathematics. It is designed to train students in the formulation, analysis, and solution of mathematical models in a variety of application areas. It also emphasizes interdisciplinary research and teamwork. The program addresses the State and Regional needs for students with advanced training in interdisciplinary research, and prepares students for employment in government agencies, industry, and universities.

Detailed admission requirements can be found in the Graduate Bulletin under the section Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Degree. On gaining full admission to the Ph.D. program, the student will meet with an applied mathematics advisor from the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mathematics to discuss issues relating to fundamental courses, transfer credits, and degree requirements.

Students without a bachelor's or master's degree in mathematics may be required to complete the following fundamental courses or their equivalents. This course work is in addition to the other degree requirements. (Note that most of these courses can be taken for graduate credit and some will count as electives in the applied mathematics or engineering Master's programs.) The fundamental courses are:

Students without a bachelor's or master's degree in engineering may be required to complete fundamental course work in engineering in addition to the other degree requirements. (Note that the graduate credits can count as electives in the applied mathematics Master's degree program.):

To receive the degree of Ph.D. in Engineering in the Engineering Applied Mathematics program, the student must:

1. Meet with the initial advisor committee to conduct a placement review and to establish a first year plan of study.

    

2. Identify a Dissertation Director, and an Interdisciplinary Doctoral Committee whose membership shall be equally distributed between faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and the College of Engineering. This committee should be formed before the student has completed 18 credits of work in the doctoral degree program.

    

3. Complete a formal Plan of Study that is acceptable to the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Committee. The Plan of Study must have at least 36 credits of course work, at the 600/700 level. At least 18 credits of course work must be from the College of Engineering and at least 18 credits must be from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The minimum total credit hours for the doctoral program is 96.

    

4. Satisfy the language requirement specified by the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Committee.

    

5. Pass a Qualifying Examination composed and administered by program faculty from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and from one department in the college of Engineering. The purpose of the qualifying examination is to determine admissibility to the doctoral program and to identify any technical weakness.

    

6. Present an acceptable Dissertation Proposal describing the proposed research to the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Committee.

    

7. Pass a Candidacy Examination whose purpose is to test the student's ability to conduct independent research.

    

8. Present and successfully defend the dissertation before the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Committee.

    

9. All this must take place within ten years of the student's admission to the Ph.D. program and must satisfy the university's residency requirement of two successive semesters of full-time study.

    

Last updated 6/3/2005