PhD in Electrical Engineering Overview

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers a program of graduate study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy Degree. The program has three basic components:

• Selected courses, primarily in electrical engineering.
• Examinations, written and oral.
• Independent research culminating in a dissertation.

Each student's plan of study is individually formulated around these components through consultation with an Advisory Committee (also known as the PhD Dissertation Committee).

Funded research opportunities exist for doctoral students in the following multidisciplinary centers, laboratories, and industry−sponsored programs. For more information on these opportunities, please visit ECE Research Areas.

Our requirements for the PhD degree are given on the following pages. Some of these requirements are university-wide and can also be found in the Texas Tech University Catalog under Graduate school.

Admissions

Admission to doctoral study is restricted to applicants whose backgrounds show great promise of success on this, the highest level of academic endeavor. All applicants must apply through the Texas Tech University Graduate School Admissions portal. The formal requirements for admission to the doctoral program are a distinguished record in previous work (undergraduate and graduate) as evidenced by university transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and detailed responses to the program specific questions in the application. Although the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are not currently mandatory, they are highly recommended.

Note: The ECE Department can only accept PhD applicants with faculty member support in the form of either a Teaching Assistantship or Research Assistantship. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact faculty in the department regarding the possibility of assistantship funding in their area of research interest.

Typically, students enter our doctoral program with a master's degree in electrical engineering. However, a master's degree is not a mandatory prerequisite for admission to the PhD program. Applicants with exemplary undergraduate records may also be considered for admission.

Qualified students with graduate degrees in other branches of engineering or in the sciences may be accepted subject to completing specified preparatory (leveling) courses in electrical engineering.

Leveling Requirements

Students who do not hold a bachelor's or master's degree in electrical engineering may be required to complete undergraduate leveling work. Required leveling courses generally follow the requirements for a minor in electrical engineering. A list of required courses is available on the electrical engineering minor web page.

Major & Minor

The doctorate degree demands substantial depth and breadth of study in the major subject, electrical engineering; at least 60 degree hours of graduate coursework exclusive of the dissertation must be taken. A maximum of 18 degree hours may be taken as ECE 5331 Individual Studies. Such courses involve an arrangement between a student and a faculty member in which the student carries out assignments in a subject not available in a regular course. Students are not required to take a formal minor subject. However, if a minor is declared, the minor must be represented by a faculty member from the minor department on the student's Advisory Committee.

Courses included under the major subject will be primarily taught in the ECE Department, but courses from other departments may be included (other than courses in the minor if one is declared) if they provide coherent support for the major. A maximum of 9 credit hours from outside the ECE Department may be applied to the degree plan, pending department approval.

Degree Plan

Early in a student's doctoral studies an evaluation will be made of his or her background preparation by the student's dissertation advisor and the ECE Graduate Advisor. On the basis of this evaluation the student's course of study will be projected. The student will complete the Doctoral Degree Plan form. The form lists all the courses a student plans to take for the doctoral degree together with his or her dissertation title and the names of the Advisory Committee members. The form must be signed by the ECE Graduate Advisor and by the Graduate Advisor of the minor department, if any. The student should follow the plan in subsequent course enrollments and dissertation work. Revisions of the plan are permitted as needed.

There is no automatic transfer of coursework credits from another institution toward a PhD degree. However, upon the recommendation of the ECE Graduate Advisor, a maximum of 30 credit hours of an earned master's degree from another institution may be transferred. No courses with a grade lower than ‘B', and no courses with a grade of pass/fail or satisfactory, are eligible for transfer.

Publication Requirement

The department strongly encourages publication of student research in peer-reviewed journals and takes such as evidence of the student's intellectual maturity, ability to think critically, and written communication skills. PhD students must have at least 2 peer-reviewed journal publications before their final defense (please see further details below).

PhD Candidacy and Qualifying Exam

Qualification for PhD Candidacy in the ECE Department consists of three components:

1. The nationally administered Fundamentals of Engineering Examination (FE), with the discipline−specific Electrical & Computer Engineering option. The ECE Department strongly encourages PhD students to pass the FE examination within the first year of doctoral study. Students are required to provide evidence (a link provided by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying - NCEES - with their results) to the ECE Department. Passing Electrical Engineering FE Exam results from previous years meet this requirement.
   
   The Fundamentals of Engineering Examination, as administered by NCEES, is a comprehensive and fair indication of the mastery of basics for our students and the department requires a passing score for the MSEE and PhD degree programs.
2. At least 1 peer-reviewed journal article, accepted or published, in the current research topic of the student's PhD dissertation. Alternatively, 2 published peer-reviewed conference papers may be substituted for up to 1 peer-reviewed journal article, pending approval by the Chair of the Advisory Committee. Conference abstracts will not meet this requirement.
3. A written dissertation proposal and an oral presentation of the proposal. The format of the written proposal is at the discretion of the Chair of the Advisory Committee, but the recommended length is at least one page. The student's Advisory Committee, chaired by the student's dissertation advisor, conducts the proposal defense. Notification of the subject of the examination and its time and place must be provided in advance to the ECE Department, so that any interested faculty members can attend.

When a student passes the proposal defense and has met the other two candidacy requirements, they have completed the department's Qualifying Exam. The ECE department sends the “Qualifying Exam Report” form, signed by the Chair of the student's dissertation committee, to the Texas Tech University Graduate School to be "admitted to candidacy" for the PhD degree. This is a formal step that must be completed at least four months prior to the proposed graduation date.

Advisory Committee & Dissertation

The PhD Advisory Committee consists of the dissertation advisor, who will act as chair of the committee, and at least 2 other members of the graduate faculty (including the minor subject if a minor is declared). At least 50% of the committee must be in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The PhD student and the dissertation advisor will propose the faculty members for the committee. The student's doctoral work will be directed by this committee.

A dissertation is the signal accomplishment of doctoral study in electrical engineering. The subject of the dissertation must be approved by the Advisory Committee. The dissertation must demonstrate a mastery of the techniques of research, a thorough understanding of the subject, and skill in organizing and presenting material. It must be a scholarly treatise representing a significant contribution to, or a substantial re−evaluation of, existing knowledge. Work on the dissertation progresses under the supervision of the Advisory Committee and any other specialists the committee may consider necessary. The dissertation manuscript must conform to the published policy found at the Graduate School Website. The final copy of the dissertation will be submitted electronically to the Texas Tech University library.

Final PhD Dissertation Defense

A final public PhD dissertation oral defense is required for the doctorate. Before the final defense can be scheduled, the PhD candidate must present evidence of at least 1 peer-reviewed journal publication (published or accepted) in addition to the 1 accepted or published peer-reviewed journal article for the proposal defense.

The Advisory Committee must have a copy of the dissertation draft available to them at least 2 weeks before the defense date. Notification of the defense must be submitted to the Graduate School, using the Defense Notification Form, at least three weeks before the defense is held. The defense is conducted by the Advisory Committee and a faculty member from outside of the ECE Department representing the Dean of the Graduate School. Committee members vote to determine the outcome of the defense. Faculty members other than the members of the committee, including the Graduate Dean's representative, may participate in the defense but have no vote. At the conclusion of the examination the Advisory Committee will send written notice to the Graduate School giving the result of the examination.

Grade Point Average

Although the Graduate School requires a 3.0 grade-point average each semester, the ECE Department expects all doctoral students to maintain a 3.5. No lecture courses other than seminars may be taken with a Pass-Fail option.

Graduate Seminar

PhD students must take the graduate seminar each semester until they become a candidate.

Years of Study

A minimum of three years of graduate study beyond the bachelor's degree is required for the doctorate. Work completed for the master's degree may be considered as part of this period if it forms a logical sequence in the entire program of study. Credit ordinarily will not be given for work completed more than seven years prior to admission to the doctoral program at Texas Tech University.

Residence

Regardless of the amount of graduate work that may have been completed elsewhere, every doctoral student is required to complete at least one year of graduate study in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering beyond the master's degree (or beyond the first 30 credit hours if proceeding directly to the doctorate from the bachelor's degree). This requirement is intended to ensure the intellectual immersion of the student in a research and learning environment with faculty, peers, and staff.

Time Limit

All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed within a period of eight consecutive calendar years or four years from admission to candidacy, whichever comes first. Graduate credit for coursework taken at Texas Tech University that is more than eight calendar years old at the time of the final examination may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.