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ECE Graduate Handbook

Ph.D. Degree Requirements

Please also check Graduate School requirements for Doctoral degrees in the Graduate Catalog at http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/catalog

To fulfill all requirements for the Ph.D. degree, students must:

satisfy a course requirement (36 credits)
satisfy the Ph.D. qualifying requirement (written and oral exams)
prepare a written research proposal, and pass the oral research proposal exam
complete 12 credits of doctoral dissertation research
conduct original research and write the Ph.D. dissertation, and pass an oral defense

After successful completion of items 2 and 3 above, students are eligible for doctoral candidacy. Students must be admitted to candidacy within five years of enrollment in the Ph.D. program. Once admitted to candidacy, students have four years to complete the remaining requirements and confer the degree. Admission to candidacy must take place at least six months before the date on which the degree is to be conferred.

It is the responsibility of the student to submit the APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION TO CANDIDACY form when all the requirements for candidacy have been fulfilled. This form must be submitted at least three business days prior to the 25th of the month in order for the candidacy to be effective on the first day of the following month.

Course Requirement

To satisfy the course requirement for the Ph.D. degree, the student must successfully complete 36 credits of course work (grade of C or better in all courses) and at least 12 credits of ENEE899 (Doctoral Dissertation Research). An overall minimum GPA of 3.0 must also be maintained.

All Ph.D. students must complete and gain approval for a proposed Plan of Study within the first semester of enrollment. The Plan of Study is completed online through MEGS (https://apra.umd.edu). The main conditions for approval are:

in the opinion of the student’s Advisor and Graduate Director, the program must be coherent;
the program must satisfy the rules listed below;
non-ENEE courses that are not pre-approved (see Course Information) must receive special approval by the student’s Advisor and the Graduate Director, in the context of the proposed Plan of Study; such approval must be requested at least one semester in advance of taking the course.

Modifications to the Plan of Study can be filed subsequently, again subject to approval by the student’s Advisor and the Graduate Director.

For the purposes of meeting the Plan of Study requirement, all transferred courses (see below) will count as B (3.0 grade point value). However, grades obtained on transfer courses do not affect the GPA as recorded on the official UM transcript.

If two or more attempts are taken at a course, only the grade obtained at the latest attempt counts towards the GPA.

For all doctoral students (except those with a previous M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering or Electrical and Computer Engineering from a U.S. institution — see below), a valid Plan of Study must include at least 36 credits of approved course work. Moreover, the Plan of Study must satisfy the following rules:

All credits must be at the 600-level or above, excluding ENEE899 (Doctoral Dissertation Research);
Three credits of ENEE698 (Graduate Seminar) must be included, but no more than three may be included;
Prerequisites must be fulfilled before taking courses that require them;
Combined total number of credits of ENEE 699 (Independent Study) and 799 (Master’s Thesis Research) included in the Plan of Study may not exceed six;
At least 18 credits of ENEE lecture courses must be included; and
At least six credits of approved non-ENEE courses at the 600-level or above must be included (see Course Information section).

Previous UM credits

Approved courses taken at the University of Maryland, College Park before the student enters the Ph.D. program may generally be counted towards the Ph.D. Plan of Study. Also, courses taken while the student is enrolled in the Ph.D. program but that were used towards the M.S. degree can be counted for the Ph.D., provided that the credits have not been used for another Ph.D. degree and that all the rules specified above are satisfied.

Note: If credits towards an M.S. at UM were earned seven or more years ago, the student should select the credit reduction option below in order to have some course work count towards the Ph.D.

Credit reduction option: Previous M.S. degree from U.S. institution

Optionally, for students who have obtained an M.S. degree in Electrical or Electrical and Computer Engineering at a U.S. institution, the course work requirement is reduced to 21 credits. When this option is selected, all other rules above apply except for item 5 – only 12 credits of ENEE lecture courses need be included.

Students selecting this option, however, are not allowed any additional credit transfer.

Transfer of credit

A maximum of 15 credits can be transferred. The following conditions must be met:

Any course to be transferred must be equivalent to a graduate-level (600-level or above) lecture course available at the University of Maryland, College Park. Also, if a course is transferred, the equivalent UM course may not be included in the Plan of Study;
At least a B (or equivalent) must have been obtained in each course transferred; and
The courses must have been taken for graduate credit at the original institution, but may not have been used towards another Ph.D. degree.

Credit transfer is approved only in the context of a specific proposed Plan of Study. When applying for credit transfer, the student must produce an official transcript, as well as evidence that the course is indeed equivalent to a course offered at The University of Maryland, College Park. Specifically, documented evidence should include a course description, as well as a syllabus showing what material was covered in the specific offering the student took, and what text was used. Additional required forms are available in the Graduate Studies Office.

Ph.D. Qualifying Requirement

The Ph.D. Qualifying Requirements consists of two components: a written examination and an oral examination. The purpose of the written examination is to test basic knowledge, understanding, and problem solving at an undergraduate level. The purpose of the oral examination is to test the student’s ability to integrate material in a field chosen by the student, to think creatively, and, to a lesser extent, to demonstrate proficiency in the chosen field.

Written Examination

• Basic Physics:
Sample

These parts are at a level not to exceed that of junior 300-level courses. The exam lasts three hours and 45 minutes. A student has two chances to pass the exam. If the student fails twice, then the student does not qualify for further Ph.D. study.

In order to give students an idea of the level of material covered in the written qualifying examination, listed below are University of Maryland courses with material relevant to the eight parts listed above. Students with undergraduate training from other institutions should be able to identify corresponding courses from their undergraduate institution by comparing course catalog descriptions.

Basic mathematics: MATH 140, 141, 240, 241, 246
Probability: ENEE 324
Electromagnetism: ENEE 380, 381
Circuits: ENEE 204, 206
Linear systems: ENEE 322
Devices: ENEE 303, 313
Computer architecture and systems: ENEE 350
Digital logic: ENEE 244
Software: ENEE 140, 150 (formerly ENEE114, 159A)
Basic Physics: PHYS 161, 260, 270

Administration of the Written Exam

The written examination is given two times per year, usually a few days before classes begin each semester. Students must pass the written examination within one year of entry into the graduate program. They are given two chances to pass and three opportunities to take the exam. Specifically, if a student enters in the fall, the available times that he/she could take the exam would be the end of August (i.e., just before the start of the student’s first fall semester), the end of January (just before the start of spring semester), and the end of the following August. The student must inform the ECE Graduate Studies Office of his/her intention to take the written examination at least one week before the exam is scheduled to be given unless an earlier registration deadline has been stated otherwise.

Oral Examination

Students who pass the written examination are eligible to take the oral examination. The student will choose two 600-level courses in one of the following five areas for the oral exam:

Communications & Signal Processing: ENEE 620, 621, 627, 630
Computer Engineering: ENEE 641, 644, 646, 647
Controls: ENEE 620, 660, 661, 664
Electrophysics: ENEE 680, 681, 690, 691
Microelectronics: ENEE 600, 601, 610, 611

Technical material covered in the oral exam involves undergraduate material in the chosen area and graduate material as represented in the two chosen 600-level courses.

Students must pass the oral exam within two years of entering the graduate program. They are given two chances to pass the exam. The number of opportunities depends upon when the student passes the written exam.

Administration of the Oral Examination

The oral exam is given twice a year, once each semester. It is typically held in November and in April. Registration for the oral examination will be announced and handled in advance by the Graduate Studies Office.

The oral examination normally 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 GSO, the student will be notified.

Appeals

A student may make a written appeal of a fail to the Ph.D. Qualifying Committee. The Ph.D. Qualifying Committee may elect to make a decision based on the written appeal, to interview the student, or to obtain input from the oral examination committee if an oral exam is being appealed before coming to a decision.

Course-based Qualifying Requirement (Pre-Fall 2004 enrollees)

Doctoral students who fall under the old course-based qualifying requirement should consult the Fall 2004 Graduate Handbook or the Graduate Studies Office for prior policy regulations.

Research Proposal Examination

The specifics of this examination are as follows:

Students may register for their first attempt only after having satisfied the Ph.D. Qualifying Requirement but must register before the end of their fourth year. For example, a student who entered in fall 2003 must register by August 2007, before the start of classes of the student’s fifth year.
Students register by submitting a completed PH.D. RESEARCH PROPOSAL EXAMINATION COMMMITEE SELECTION form to the Graduate Studies Office, with one hard copy of the research proposal attached. The proposal should contain:

motivation for the research,
a concise statement of the proposed problem,
an outline of the methodology and
a careful survey of relevant literature.

Three attempts may be taken at the examination. A repeat attempt must take place at least three months after the previous attempt. The proposal exam must be passed before the end of the student’s fifth year. For example, a student who entered in fall 2003 must pass the proposal exam by August 1, 2008, before the start of the student’s sixth year. (As per Graduate School regulation, students must advance to candidacy within five years of entry; the proposal is a candidacy requirement.)

Each examination is conducted by an ad hoc Ph.D. Research Proposal Examination Committee consisting of three full members of the Graduate Faculty. The candidate’s advisor chairs the Committee. The second member of the Committee is selected by the student (with the advisor’s approval). The second member must be a regular ECE faculty member or affiliate member; however, if the candidate’s advisor is an affiliate member of the department’s faculty, the second member of the Committee must be a regular ECE member. The third member of the Committee is selected by the Graduate Studies and Research Committee (GSRC) once the student has registered for the attempt. The third member will be a regular ECE faculty member, and the advisor/student may suggest potential members for GSRC consideration (see form). For a repeat attempt, the Committee consists of the same faculty members who served for the first attempt.
The examination must be scheduled for a two-hour period. Barring exceptional circumstances, it must take place no later than four weeks after the candidate has been notified of the identity of the third Committee member. The student is also responsible for scheduling and room reservation. The student is also responsible for announcing the time and place to the Committee and providing PDF copy of his/her proposal to all committee members at least one week in advance of the examination.
All Electrical and Computer Engineering regular faculty members are allowed to attend the examination, but only Committee members may address questions to the examinee. Upon invitation by the Chair of the Committee, other faculty may be allowed to attend the entire examination. Other members of the department or interested visitors may attend the presentation portion (first 30 minutes) at the discretion of the Committee in consultation with the student.
At the examination the student is requested to:

give a 30-minute presentation on the main lines of his/her proposed Ph.D. research
answer questions from the Committee

Not counting the time devoted to the research proposal presentation, a significant portion of the examination may be devoted to questions assessing the soundness of the proposed research. The remainder of the examination may be given to questions probing the student’s mastery of the fundamentals in his/her proposed field of specialization, taken in a broad sense.

At the end of the examination, all but the Committee members must leave the room for the Committee’s deliberations. In order for the student to pass, the Committee’s decision must be unanimous.

Doctoral Dissertation Research Credit (ENEE 899)

Every Ph.D. student must successfully complete 12 credit hours of ENEE899: Doctoral Dissertation Research. Students are eligible to take ENEE899 only after they have advanced to candidacy. Doctoral candidates are automatically registered by the Registrar for each fall and spring semester until they graduate for six-credit blocks of ENEE899 and are billed at a flat tuition rate.

Students who have not yet reached candidacy may register for ENEE898: Pre-candidacy doctoral research. ENEE898 does not fulfill any course requirements and is not equivalent to ENEE899 in satisfying the dissertation research credit requirement.

Doctoral Dissertation and Oral Defense

Directions for the preparation and submission of dissertations can be found in the Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide, on-line at: http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/publications. Contact the Graduate School, gradschool@umd.edu, (301) 405-0376 for additional information.

Barring exceptional circumstances, as per departmental regulation, the dissertation committee must include all three members of the student’s Research Proposal Examination Committee. (Department rules for proposal examination committees are detailed above.) Dissertation committees may have co-chairs upon recommendation of the department’s Graduate Director and with the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School. In addition, membership on dissertation examining committees must adhere to Graduate School policy.

From the Graduate Catalog on the Dissertation Examining Committee (http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/catalog):

Dissertation Examining Committee Membership. The Committee must include a minimum of five members of the Graduate Faculty, at least three of whom must be Full Members. The Chair of the Committee normally will be the student's advisor, who will be a Full Member of the Graduate Faculty, or who has been granted an exception to the policy by the Dean of the Graduate School. Each Committee will have appointed to it a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School.

Chair. Each Dissertation Examining Committee will have a chair, who must be a Full Member of the Graduate Faculty or, by special permission, has been otherwise appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School. Dissertation Examining Committees may be co-chaired upon written recommendation of the program's Graduate Director and with the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School; at least one of the co-chairs must be a Full Member of the University of Maryland Graduate Faculty.

Representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. Each Dissertation Examining Committee will have appointed to it a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dean's Representative should have some background or interest related to the student's research. The Dean's Representative must be a tenured member of the Graduate Faculty at the University of Maryland and must be from a graduate program other than the home program of the chair and co-chair (if one exists) of the examination committee. In cases where a student is in an interdisciplinary graduate program, the Dean's Representative must be from a unit other than the home unit(s) of the chair of the committee and student's advisor.

Special Members. Individuals from outside the University of Maryland who have been approved for Special Membership in the Graduate Faculty may serve on Dissertation Examining Committees. These Special Members must be in addition to the required three Full Members of the University of Maryland Graduate Faculty...

The student is responsible for scheduling the defense with the committee and reserving a conference room for the dissertation defense. The student must also provide PDF copy of his/her dissertation to all committee members at least 10 working days in advance of the defense.

The student must provide the Graduate Studies Office with the date, time, and location, and abstract at least two weeks in advance of the defense so that it may be announced to the department. Information about the proper announcement format can be obtained from the Graduate Studies Office.

For more details, and for the rules governing the dissertation oral examination, see the Graduate Catalog at: http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/catalog

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