HELP 2010-2011 University Catalog Electrical and Computer Engineering, PhD Print-Friendly Page

Banner Code: VS-PHD-ECE

School: The Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering 

Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering 

The PhD program in Electrical and Computer Engineering educates students to do original research on ECE topics and to become technical leaders in their fields.  It has a strong and growing reputation, as graduates from the department have become professors at other universities and researchers in various industrial and government research centers.  Students may choose a research emphasis in areas such as communications, networking, computer engineering, control and robotics, signal processing, micro/nano-electronics, and bioengineering. The ECE PhD program requires course work, a qualifying exam, a teaching assignment, a dissertation proposal and research competency exam, a research seminar, dissertation research, and a dissertation defense.  Mason’s general doctoral requirements apply to this program.

Admission Requirements 

All general Mason and specific Volgenau School admission requirements apply. Applicants must submit official transcripts, a resume, a goals statement, three letters of recommendation and official GRE General Test results. The GRE requirement is waived for GMU ECE master’s graduates with a 3.0 or greater GPA.  Applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate proficiency by taking the TOEFL or IELTS exam. The minimum score required for admission is 575 on the TOEFL paper-based exam, 230 on the TOEFL computer-based exam, 88 on the TOEFL internet-based exam (with a minimum of 20 in each section), or 6.5 on the IELTS exam.  Application materials are reviewed by the ECE PhD committee, which makes a recommendation to the ECE department chair.

Advisor and Dissertation Director  

Upon admission to the program, each student is assigned an ECE faculty member as advisor. When the student passes the qualifying exam, the dissertation director becomes the student’s advisor.  A dissertation committee should be formed within a year after the student has passed the qualifying exam. The committee is headed by the dissertation director and includes two more graduate faculty members from ECE department and one from outside the department. One more member, from outside the university, may be added to the dissertation committee if justified by the subject of the dissertation. All decisions concerning the student’s course requirements and dissertation committee must be approved by the PhD advisor and the ECE department chair. 

Course Requirements  

Students must complete a minimum of 72 graduate credits, which may be reduced by a maximum of 30 credits from a completed master’s degree.  More than half of the 72 credits applied to the doctoral degree must be earned at Mason.  The 42 hours of required doctoral-level credits typically consist of 18 credits of regular course work and 24 credits of dissertation research. Courses that constitute a student’s plan of study will be chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor and/or dissertation committee.

For the required 18 hours of doctoral course work, a maximum of 6 credits may be at the 500 level, and at least 9 credits must be at the 700 level or higher. For courses taken elsewhere, the equivalent levels are to be determined by the PhD advisor, subject to approval by the ECE Department chair. Individualized reading courses at any level cannot account for more than 6 credits.  Note that ECE 798 Research Project is primarily a master’s level course and is not intended to be part of the PhD course work. Research in the PhD program should be included in ECE 998 and ECE 999 courses.  PhD students are required to take 3 credits at the 600 level outside the department in a subject considered foundational for their area of emphasis. Typical examples are advanced mathematics or statistics courses for those pursuing an emphasis in communications, signal processing or control, physics courses for those desiring an emphasis in micro/nano-electronics, computer science courses for those pursuing the computer engineering emphasis, and biology courses for those pursuing a bioengineering emphasis. Because such courses are usually not taken for master’s degrees, this requirement can rarely be satisfied with a course taken previously.  Students are required to take two courses (6 credits) within the department but outside their area of emphasis.  This requirement may be satisfied with courses taken during previous studies, subject to approval.

Students must complete a minimum of 12 credits of doctoral proposal (ECE 998) and doctoral dissertation research (ECE 999), including at least 3 credits of ECE 999. A maximum of 24 credits of ECE 998 and ECE 999 may be applied to the degree.  Students who choose to take fewer than 24 credits of ECE 998 and ECE 999 may earn the remaining credits from approved course work.  Students cannot enroll in ECE 999 before they have advanced to candidacy.  Students advanced to candidacy after the add period for a given semester must wait until the following semester to register for ECE 999.  Students cannot advance to candidacy and defend their dissertation during the same semester.  Once enrolled in ECE 999, students must maintain continuous registration in ECE 999 each semester until graduation, excluding summers.  Students who defend in the summer must be registered for at least 1 credit of ECE 999 during that summer term. 

Qualifying Exam  

The department offers the doctoral qualifying exam at least once each year. The exam tests students’ familiarity with fundamental concepts.  Students must take the exam within the first year after they have entered the program with an MS degree.  Students who enter with a BS degree must take the exam within the first year after they have completed 24 credits beyond the BS degree.  Students transferring from the Information Technology PhD program are required to take the ECE qualifying exam.  The qualifying exam may be repeated once.  A student failing the exam twice is removed from the program.  The exam is typically offered in late August, prior to the start of the Fall semester.

The qualifying exam consists of a written in-class exam and an oral interview.  The exam is not tied to any particular course.  Students select one area of concentration for their qualifying exam from the following list:

·         Area A: Communications, Controls, and Signal Processing

·         Area B: Computer Engineering

·         Area C: Electronics and Devices

Each area consists of four subjects.  The written exam contains two problems in each subject. Students must solve five problems from no more than three subjects in their selected area.   Students with a non-ECE background may substitute one subject compatible with their background and relevant to their planned research. 

Teaching Requirement 

To acquire teaching experience, each PhD student is required to participate in the department’s teaching activity. The requirement is typically satisfied by working as a recitation instructor for one semester, presenting several lectures within a course, or performing other teaching work approved by the department.

Dissertation Proposal, Research Competency Exam, Advancement to Candidacy  

The student prepares a written dissertation proposal outlining the proposed research and submits it to the dissertation committee for approval.  After completing coursework requirements and preparing a proposal, the student takes a research competency exam to demonstrate their preparation for dissertation research. The exam consists of a presentation of the dissertation proposal followed by an oral exam. The exam is administered by the student’s dissertation committee.  The purpose of the oral exam is to verify that the student is familiar with the relevant material related to their research.  The student is advanced to candidacy when he or she passes the oral exam and the dissertation committee approves the proposal. 

Dissertation Research and Defense 

Students conduct dissertation research under the guidance of their dissertation director, with regular consultation with other members of the dissertation committee.  During this period, students must present their research results at least once in the form of a department seminar.  The dissertation must represent an achievement in research, must be a significant contribution to its field, and should be deemed publishable in refereed journals or at highly selective conferences. On completion of the dissertation the student may be asked, at the discretion of the dissertation committee, to present a predefense in the presence of the committee members.  The dissertation committee and the department chair approve the student’s application for a public defense of the doctoral dissertation.  A copy of the dissertation must be placed in the University Libraries four weeks prior to the public defense. After a successful public defense and completion of the final form of the dissertation, the dissertation committee recommends the candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy.