The department uses the following guidelines to determine satisfactory academic progress for doctoral students. Satisfactory progress is one of the major factors used to determine financial support (GTA, GRA, fellowship appointments).

Students who meet the guidelines listed below will be considered to be making satisfactory progress. Students who do not meet these guidelines may still continue in the Ph.D. program but may not receive priority consideration for financial support.

The following is expected in the first year.

• The student must be enrolled in the Ph.D. program and register as a full-time student in graduate-level technical courses. The courses should be selected in consultation with and approved of by the student’s advisor.
• The student must maintain a GPA of 3.5, both cumulatively and in graduate-level technical courses, every semester.
• Students who are initially assigned to academic advisors must make verifiable efforts towards finding and selecting a research advisor.
• The student must achieve a borderline pass or better in the written portion of the Ph.D. qualifying exam in their first attempt at the written exam (students enrolling prior to fall 2019).
• The student should be in good standing with the University and follow the Code of Student Conduct set by the Office of Student Conduct.

The following is expected in subsequent years:

• The student must continue to be enrolled in the Ph.D. program.
• The student must fulfill the qualifying requirement by the end of the second year (students enrolling prior to fall 2019) or fifth semester (students enrolling fall 2019 or later).
• The student must continue to perform well in courses, maintaining a 3.5 GPA each semester.
• The student must demonstrate progress in research by meeting degree milestones in a timely manner (including passing the Ph.D. proposal exam, advancing to candidacy, etc.).
• The student is expected to have a conference or journal publication by the end of the second year in the Ph.D. program.
• The student must have satisfactory teaching evaluations if serving as a teaching assistant.
• The student will compete for merit-based departmental, college, Graduate School, and/or external fellowships that may supplement or replace research assistantship funding (for example, the Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship, the Future Faculty Program, the Dean’s Research Award, the ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship the Graduate School Wylie Dissertation Fellowship).

Additional Financial Information:

• Typically, students who maintain satisfactory academic performance are continually supported as research or teaching assistants subject to the availability of resources. These guidelines are used in determining the renewal of funding.
• Students may receive fellowship or teaching assistantship support or any combination of the two for no more than two years.