Ph.D. in Engineering Science with emphasis in ME| MAME | SIU

Ph.D. in Engineering Science with emphasis in ME

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Engineering Science with emphasis in Mechanical Engineering and Energy Processes is designed for students who desire positions requiring advanced preparation at the highest level with emphasis on theories of curriculum and instruction and in-depth preparation in research.

Retention

Any prospective doctoral candidate with a grade point average of less than 3.25 and 20 semester hours of doctoral work will not be allowed to continue in the program and will not be re-admitted at a later date. Students must accumulate an overall grade point average of 3.50 for all doctoral work to qualify to take the preliminary examination.

Prior to the completion of 30 semester hours of course work, students meet with their major professors to determine whether or not to continue as doctoral students. Such matters as grade point average, progress in the program, course completion, motivation, general academic scholarship, and skills in writing and research are considered. A report is then made to the doctoral committee and the program director. Students who are not making satisfactory progress or who violate the regulations of the school, college, or university may be dropped from the program.

Curriculum

A minimum of 26 semester hours of course work, including 2 hours of seminar, and 24 semester hours of dissertation research is required. The course work must be completed in 2 areas: area of concentration and program core. A student must complete a minimum of 15 hours of course work relevant to an area of concentration. The course work in the area of concentration is intended to provide depth in the student’s area of research. The program core consists of 11 hours of course work. A dissertation must be completed in the student’s area of research interest with the approval of the dissertation committee.

Program Core

The program core consists of 11 hours of course work: 6 hours in math, 3 hours in engineering or science and 2 hours of seminar. The math courses to choose from are: all 400 and 500, except MATH 400, 411, 412, 458, 480, 483, 511, 512, 513, and 516. The engineering courses to choose from are: ENGR 530 - Engineering Data Acquisition: Theory and Practice, ENGR 540 - Design of Engineering Experiments, ENGR 545 - Advanced Numerical Methods in Engineering, ENGR 521 - Probability and Stochastic Processes for Engineers. The science course could be any 400 or 500 level course in Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry or Geology, as approved by the student’s advisor. The seminar course, ENGR 580, must be taken in two separate semesters, each time as one-hour course. It is suggested that one-hour seminar is taken before candidacy and the other after candidacy.

Guide for Core and Concentration Courses

• Only two 400-level courses (typically 6 hours) can be counted towards the minimum required 26 semester hours of course work.
• Special Investigation course can be taken under ENGR 590 - Special Investigations in Engineering Science, and only 3 hours can be counted towards the minimum required 26 semester hours of course work.
• Students with an M.S. degree in Physics must take at least 9 hours of ENGR courses, one of which can be ENGR 590.
• Students with an M.S. degree in Physics from SIUC can substitute PHYS 500A and 500B Mathematical Physics for six hours of math requirement in program core.
• Transfer credit will normally be given for some of the graduate level courses suitable to the program upon review by the college Ph.D. Committee. Proficiency examinations may be authorized by the committee for areas in which questions of transfer credit arise. No credit will be given for industrial experience. A maximum of six hours of course work can be transferred in all cases due to residency requirement, which states that every student must complete at least 24 semester hours of approved course work at SIUC prior to taking the candidacy examination. Of the 24 hours, only 6 hours can be dissertation (ENGR 600) hours before candidacy.
• A student transferring credits from a master’s program must have earned those credits over and above the required course work to obtain the M.S. degree in his/her institution. Credit cannot be transferred from master degrees obtained from international institutions.

Candidacy

A Ph.D. student must satisfy all Graduate School requirements to become a candidate. Acceptance to Ph.D. candidacy is contingent upon the completion of all courses with A or B grades and successful completion of a written and an oral test in the student’s area of concentration. One of the one-hour seminars can be taken after the candidacy.

The examination in the area of concentration is organized and administered by the student’s academic advisor. The candidacy examination committee consists of at least three faculty chosen by the advisor in consultation with the student. The committee has to be approved by the program director before it conducts the examination. Normally, the examination can be conducted at any time during the year when classes are in session. In the written examination, the student is tested in at least two major topics of the area of concentration with an appropriate number of questions prepared by the members of the student’s candidacy committee. Each student has to score at least 70% in each major topic test in order to successfully complete the written part of the candidacy examination. If a student fails to pass any topic test of the written examination, a second chance is given for the failed topic test. If a student does not successfully complete the written examination after two attempts, he/she will not be accepted to candidacy in the engineering science Ph.D. program. A student is qualified to take the oral examination only after successfully completing the written examination.

The oral examination is conducted within two weeks of the successful completion of the written examination. In the oral examination, the student is tested again in the area of concentration by at least three candidacy committee members. If a student fails to pass the oral examination in the first attempt, a second chance is given. If a student does not successfully complete the oral examination after two attempts, he/she will not be accepted to candidacy in the engineering science Ph.D. program.

After the completion of the concentration examination, copies of the graded tests, along with signoff sheets for both the written and oral examinations are submitted to the director of the Ph.D. program, who is also the Dean of the College.

Dissertation

A dissertation must be written under the direction or co-direction of an engineering faculty member and approved by a dissertation committee consisting of a minimum of five members, one of whom must be from outside the College of Engineering. The dissertation adviser must be chosen by the end of the student’s first academic year. The dissertation committee must be formed no later than immediately after successful completion of the candidacy examination. The members of this committee need not be the same as the members of the candidacy examination committee.

A dissertation research proposal must be approved by the dissertation committee. Candidates will be required to present an acceptable dissertation describing original research performed with minimal supervision.

Dissertation approval is based on a successful oral defense of the dissertation research and approval of the dissertation. This requires approval of at least 80 percent of the dissertation committee.

Graduation Timeline

Although the time to completion of the doctoral program changes from individual to individual, the average completion time is about four years. The following outline shows the steps for completing the program, with links to various forms needed to show completion of the various stages of the program. Forms shown in italics are required by the Graduate School.  The other forms are required by the College of Engineering.

1. Admission to the program.
2. Student completes the core and concentration courses.
3. A candidacy (qualifying) exam committee, comprised of at least three faculty members and chaired by the advisor, is formed (Candidacy Committee Form).
4. Student takes the candidacy (qualifying) exam: first the written exam and within two weeks the oral exam. Advisor reports the exam results to the Dean (Candidacy Exam Results Form). The advisor sends the form to the Dean along with copies of the graded written exam papers. A candidacy request form is then sent to the Graduate School to request candidacy status for the student. The advisor, student, and the Dean sign this form (Admit to Candidacy Form).
5. A Ph.D. Committee, comprised of at least five faculty members (one of which is from outside our college), and chaired by the advisor, is formed to guide the student in his/her dissertation research. (Graduate Faculty Committee Approval Form).
6. Student defends dissertation proposal. The advisor sends the form to the Dean along with a copy of the proposal (Dissertation Proposal Approval Form).
7. Student defends dissertation (Oral Defense Form). The Dissertation Approval Form is to be completed and deposited at the Graduate School (Dissertation Approval Form, to be printed on 25 % cotton paper). A copy of this form must be filed at the Dean's Office. The dissertation is to be submitted to the Graduate School electronically in a pdf format.  For spring, summer, and winter graduation dates and deadlines check the Graduate School website.