Doctoral Program: Chemical or Nuclear Engineering Option

The doctor of engineering degree is designed to produce qualified professionals for technical management positions in the chemical, nuclear or related industries; for administrative positions in government;and for teaching careers in colleges and universities. The goal of the doctor of engineering program is to develop decision-making engineers with sound theoretical and technical research knowledge who are design and development-oriented and who also have a firm background in engineering management.  Please refer to the graduate catalog for more information.

Admission Requirements
Applicants are required to have at least a B.S. degree in chemical or nuclear engineering. Students may apply and transfer up to 24 credit hours of graduate course work toward the doctoral degree. If students have an M.B.A., the management portion of the doctor of engineering program may be waived.

Degree Requirements
A total of 63 credit hours of graduate-level courses are required for the doctor of engineering degree. The general degree requirements follow:

1. Thirty-three (33) approved credit hours of graduate-level engineering courses, including the core requirements;
2. A two-course sequence in advanced mathematics (with approval of the graduate coordinator);
3. Nine (9) credit hours of management/non-technical courses;
4. Twenty-one (21) credit hours for the dissertation;
5. Students must enroll in at least two semesters of graduate seminar;
6. Students are required to be in full-time residence at the University for at least one year; and
7. Students must have a minimum grade point average of 3.25 to graduate.

Exceptions may be made for students whose master's degree is in a discipline other than engineering. Students may register for no more than six credit hours of research in preparing a formal dissertation proposal. This proposal and students' ability to perform research must be orally defended before their doctoral committee and other interested parties. This constitutes their candidacy examination. Upon passing this examination and completing all course requirements, students become candidates for the doctor of engineering degree and may register for additional research credit with the advisor’s approval.

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Qualifying Examination

1. Students are permitted two attempts at passing the qualifying examination, which is administered on a declared schedule. Students who fail the qualifying examination the first time must retake the exam at its next scheduled offering. Students failing the doctoral exam twice will automatically be dismissed from the doctoral program. Those who do not take the examination at the prescribed time may lose all their financial support, if any, and may be dismissed from the doctoral program.
2. The written portion will be a closed-book examination and will be administered during two consecutive days. The first day will focus on basic mathematics and engineering and will cover five topics: mathematics, material and energy balances, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and thermodynamics. The second day will focus on a specialty area selected by the student. For the chemical engineering option, the specialty areas are chemical processing, materials and biotechnology/bioprocessing. Each of the specialty areas will cover five topics. For the chemical processing area, the topics will be transport phenomena, thermodynamics (chemical and phase equilibria), separation processes, reactor design and kinetics and process dynamics and control. For the materials area, the topics will be general materials (including colloids, nanomaterials and polymers), ceramic materials, electronic materials processing and characterization, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction. For the biotechnology/bioprocessing area, the topics will be fermentation, cell culture, separation processes, analytical techniques, biocatalysis and kinetics. For the nuclear engineering option, the topics will be nuclear physics, reactor physics, reactor engineering and safety, reactor dynamics and control and nuclear fuel cycle issues. The examination is evaluated by the Graduate Examination Committee, which determines whether students are eligible to take the oral part.
3. Students who pass the written part of the qualifying examination must take the oral part of the examination within six weeks of notification of results of the written exam. For the oral examination, a research proposal must be prepared in the NSF format and then presented to an examining committee. The topic for the proposal must be in an area unrelated to the thesis dissertation. The oral examination may also focus on topics unrelated to the research proposal.  top

Dissertation
The research work for the dissertation shall be conducted under the supervision of a departmental faculty advisor and a committee of two others. Students must defend and submit an acceptable proposal for the dissertation prior to beginning the research work.

Core Requirements
The core requirements will consist of two courses in advanced mathematics, two courses in thermal/fluid processes and one course in solid mechanics. The specific courses follow:

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Elective Requirements

A total of 18 credits of elective courses must be taken. For the chemical engineering option, the courses will be from either the processing, materials or biotechnology/bioprocessing area. For the nuclear option, the courses will be from the nuclear area. The specific courses in those areas follow:

Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Physics with an Option in Energy Engineering
A doctor of philosophy degree in applied physics with an option in energy engineering is offered through a joint program of the Department of Physics and the Energy Engineering program. For further information about this program, please refer to the appropriate sections under physics in the Graduate Catalog.

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