Degree Requirements 

Each student must complete at least 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree or at least 48 hours beyond the master’s degree. Each student is expected to have a core of knowledge in the key areas in the field. The program is designed so that degree plans will be developed individually beyond that core to reflect a student’s background and research interests. 

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 Other appropriate courses can be selected with the approval of the advisor and program director.

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Other courses can be elected to fulfill this requirement as recommended by the advisor and program director.

Civil Engineering Doctoral Seminar

Students in the program are expected to participate in the Civil Engineering doctoral seminar (CE 6195), a one-credit-hour course that meets every semester. Three (3) semester credit hours of the seminar are required for the degree.

Examinations

During the first year, new students will take an assessment test (set by three members of the doctoral program committee appointed by the director) to assess the student’s technical background and her or his ability to integrate and apply that background to the solution of engineering problems. Based on the results of the test, the committee might recommend specific coursework for students to undertake. This coursework might or might not be applied to the degree plan, depending on the area and level of the courses proposed.

Students in the PhD program must be admitted to candidacy prior to the start of work on their doctoral dissertation. To be admitted to candidacy, a student will be required to take a comprehensive examination administered by his or her Doctoral Advisory Committee. The Program Director, in consultation with the student, will appoint a Preliminary Dissertation Committee of five members of the Doctoral Program Committee. The student will not be allowed to register in dissertation courses until this requirement is satisfied. The comprehensive exam will examine both the candidate’s breadth of knowledge and her or his understanding of basic principles related to the field of research and knowledge and understanding of the topic that the candidate intends to develop into a dissertation.

Doctoral Research

Students must complete 21 hours of independent research (CE 6396) under the direction of a faculty mentor. The work will involve research on topics in Civil and Infrastructure Engineering related to the dissertation or conducted as a component of the student’s overall graduate program.

Dissertation

Students must complete a dissertation in some area of Infrastructure Engineering Systems that is an original work of scholarship of a quality that provides the basis for one or more technical publications. It should demonstrate both the ability to conduct original independent research and competence in scholarly exposition (6 semester credit hours, CE 6398 and CE 6399).

Final Oral Examination

Upon completion of the dissertation, as approved by the dissertation committee, the student must defend, in public, his or her dissertation research. The dissertation committee will be responsible for administering the final oral defense, which will be open to the public.

Degree Plan

Required Credits: 72