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PhD in Electrical Engineering
90.0 credits

General Requirements
The following general requirements must be satisfied in order to complete the PhD in Electrical Engineering:

• 90.0 credit hours total
• candidacy examination
• research proposal
• dissertation defense

Students entering with a master’s degree in electrical or computer engineering or a related field will be considered a post-masters PhD student and will only be required to complete a total of 45.0 credit hours, in accordance with University policy.

Curriculum
Appropriate coursework is chosen in consultation with the student’s research advisor. A plan of study must be developed by the student to encompass the total number of required credit hours. Both the departmental graduate advisor and the student’s research advisor must approve this plan.

Candidacy Examination
The candidacy examination explores the depth of understanding of the student in his/her specialty area. The student is expected to be familiar with, and be able to use, the contemporary tools and techniques of the field and to demonstrate familiarity with the principle results and key findings.

The student, in consultation with his/her research advisor, will declare a principal technical area for the examination. The examination includes the following three parts:

• A self-study of three papers from the archival literature in the student’s stated technical area, chosen by the committee in consultation with the student.
• A written report (15 pages or less) on the papers, describing their objectives, key questions and hypotheses, methodology, main results and conclusions.  Moreover, the student must show in an appendix independent work he/she has done on at least one of the papers – such as providing a full derivation of a result or showing meaningful examples, simulations or applications.
• An oral examination which takes the following format:
  • A short description of the student’s principal area of interest (5 minutes, by student).
  • A review of the self-study papers and report appendix (25-30 minutes, by students).
  • Questions and answers on the report, the appendix and directly related background (40-100 minutes, student and committee).

In most cases, the work produced during the candidacy examination will be a principal reference for the student’s PhD dissertation; however, this is not a requirement.

Research Proposal
Each student, after having attained the status of PhD Candidate, must present a research proposal to a committee of faculty and industry members, chosen with his/her research advisor, who are knowledgeable in the specific area of research. This proposal should outline the specific intended subject of study, i.e., it should present a problem statement, pertinent background, methods of study to be employed, expected difficulties and uncertainties and the anticipated form, substance and significance of the results.

The purpose of this presentation is to verify suitability of the dissertation topic and the candidate's approach, and to obtain the advice and guidance of oversight of mature, experienced investigators. It is not to be construed as an examination, though approval by the committee is required before extensive work is undertaken. The thesis proposal presentation must be open to all; announcements regarding the proposal presentation must be made in advance. 

The thesis advisory committee will have the sole responsibility of making any recommendations regarding the research proposal. It is strongly recommended that the proposal presentation be given as soon as possible after the successful completion of the candidacy examination.  The student must be a PhD candidate for at least one year before he/she can defend his/her doctoral thesis.

Dissertation Defense
Dissertation Defense procedures are described in the Office of Graduate Studies policies regarding Doctor of Philosophy Program Requirements. The student must be a PhD candidate for at least one year before he/she can defend his/her doctoral thesis.