PhD in Electrical Engineering

Admission to Candidacy

Students should apply for candidacy as soon as they become eligible. A doctoral student is eligible to apply for candidacy when:

  1. He/she has passed the qualifying examination.
  2. A minimum of 3.0 GPA in all courses attempted as a doctoral student has been maintained. Students may not register for dissertation credits until their admission to candidacy.
To be considered for the doctoral candidacy:
  1. The student must pass the Qualifying Examination (QE) administered semiannually by the Department. The examination is based on undergraduate electrical engineering and mathematics coursework and must be taken by all students after completion of 9 credits of Ph.D. coursework. A student who fails the examination may be allowed a second attempt subject to departmental approval.
  2. Following successful completion of the QE, the student must find a qualified faculty member in the Department willing to chair the doctoral (dissertation) committee. The dissertation committee chair will then consult with the student to form the complete committee. Working with this dissertation committee chair, the student must complete the official Admission to Candidacy application form.
Candidacy approval will be based on:
  1. The academic record of the student;
  2. The opinion of the dissertation committee concerning the overall fitness for candidacy, based on the outcome of an oral examination on graduate coursework administered by the dissertation committee;
  3. An approved dissertation topic.
  4. A student may not register for dissertation credit until the application for candidacy has been approved.

Transfer Credits

Any transfer credit toward requirements for the PhD program must be approved by the Department and the University. A maximum of 30 credits (which may include credits taken toward the master's degree with no more than 6 credits for the MS thesis) can be transferred into the student's program of study.