G-MSEG-PHD - PhD in Materials Science and Engineering

At least thirty course credits are required for students with a bachelor’s degree to receive graduate degrees in the MatSci Program. Core courses (3 or 4 credits each) are required to cover fundamentals and to prepare for research with MatSci affiliated faculty. These core courses should be taken in the first year and must be selected from nine options. PhD students may select four to six courses (up to 2 of the six core courses may be replaced by courses deemed critical by advisors and students for their research projects). In addition to the minimum of 18 course credits from the core courses, a three-semester seminar course (3 credits total) and three elective courses (3 or 4 credits each) are required, all of which should be completed within the second year for a minimum of 30 course credits. The elective courses must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. A maximum of one elective course may be replaced with an independent study to receive course credit for research. In the case of PhD students matriculating with a master’s degree, course credit requirements are reduced to 21 credits, and the selection of courses must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. Academic Integrity and Responsible Conduct of Research training is required by The Graduate School: 12 hours for PhD students.

Core Courses

• CHEM 548: Solid State/Materials Chemistry (Fall)

• CHEM 544: Statistical Mechanics (Fall) or ECE 521: Quantum Mechanics (Fall)

• ME 562: Materials Synthesis & Processing (Fall)

• ME 511: Computational Materials Science (Spring)

• ME 563: Fundamentals of Soft Matter (Spring)

• ECE 721/ME 711: Nanotechnology Materials Lab (Spring) or PHYS 800: Into to Experimental Condensed Matter Physics (Spring) or ECE 511: Found. of Nanoscale Sci. & Technology (Spring)

Seminar Course

ME 560S: Materials Science and Engineering Seminar (3 semesters)

Elective Courses

Choose three electives. Must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

PhD Qualifying Exam

The qualifying exam should be taken during the third semester of study and is administered by a Graduate Exam Committee. The exam score is a composite based on grades earned in the core courses, a poster presentation describing the relevance of a current research project to content learned in the core courses, and a three-page poster abstract. In the case of a failed exam, the Graduate Exam Committee will determine the appropriate action that should be taken by the student. 

PhD Preliminary Exam

The preliminary exam is taken before the end of the sixth semester of study. The preliminary committee should comprise four or five committee members, three of whom are required to be affiliated with the University Program in MSE. The preliminary report and presentation will propose a research plan for completion of the PhD.

PhD Defense

The PhD defense committee membership follows the same rules as the preliminary exam.