The Ph.D. qualifying requirement consists of two research seminars, a course-based component, and an oral qualifying exam (if needed).

Research seminars: In their first year, students must take ENEE698Q: Colloquium Seminar and ENEE698P: First Year Research Seminar and earn a grade of S. ENEE698Q may be taken in either the fall or spring semester of the first year. In ENEE698Q, students will attend the Booz Allen Hamilton Colloquium talks and submit their feedback on each talk. ENEE698P must be taken in the spring semester of the first year. In ENEE698P, students will be required to read technical papers on a topic of their choosing and write a scholarly paper of approximately five pages in double column format, summarizing these papers. Additionally, at the end of the semester, the students will be required to prepare and present a research poster on their selected topic. 

Course-based component: By the end of their third semester, students must take four or more core courses from any area. If they earn a minimum G.P.A. of 3.5 in four core courses, as declared by the student, the Ph.D. qualifying requirement is fulfilled. Only the first attempt at the core course may be counted towards the qualifying requirement. Students should submit the Ph.D. Qualifying Requirement Course-based Declaration form upon satisfying the course-based requirement. 

If students fail to earn the 3.5 G.P.A in four core courses, they must pass the Ph.D. oral qualifying exam to fulfill the qualifying requirement. In order to be eligible to register for the Ph.D. oral qualifying exam, students must have a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher, i.e., not be on academic probation as defined by the Graduate School. 

Oral exam (if needed): The Ph.D. oral qualifying exam will examine students on the graduate-level curriculum in their technical area. Students will be tested on the two core courses in which they earned their lowest grades. They may select the core course(s) on which to be tested only in the case of a tie. For example, if a student earned: ENEE620: B, ENEE630: A, ENEE621: B, ENEE627: B-, the student will be examined on ENEE627: B- and may select one course from the following: ENEE620: B or ENEE621: B.

The deadline for students who must pass the oral exam to fulfill the qualifying requirement is the end of the fifth semester. For example, students who enrolled in fall 2019 must pass the oral exam by the end of the fall 2021 semester. They are given two chances to pass the exam. The oral exam is given twice a year, once each semester. It is typically held in November and in April. 

The oral examination is given by a panel of three appointed ECE faculty members, one of whom is designated as the panel chair. The exam lasts approximately one hour but shall not exceed 90 minutes. Panel members are expected to confer briefly before the examination begins. After the examination ends, the student is expected to leave the room, and the panel will again confer privately to reach a pass or fail decision. A majority vote will suffice if the decision is not unanimous. After the decision is reported to the ECE Graduate Studies Office, the student will be notified. 

Technical material covered in the oral exam involves graduate material as represented in the two core courses that are defined by the list of topics for each core course and undergraduate material related to these two core courses. Upon passing the oral exam, the Ph.D. qualifying requirement is fulfilled.

List of Core Course Topics (click on each research area to access a pdf with course topics)

Computer Engineering - ENEE640, ENEE641, ENEE645, ENEE646

Communications and Signal Processing - ENEE620, ENEE621, ENEE627, ENEE630

Controls - ENEE660, ENEE661, ENEE662, ENEE664

Electrophysics - ENEE680, ENEE681, ENEE690, ENEE692

Microelectronics - ENEE600, ENEE601, ENEE610, ENEE611, ENEE612