Graduate Programs

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Engineering Ph.D. Program

Introduction

The College of Engineering and Computer Science offers a program of graduate study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree in engineering. The degree is awarded for demonstrated scholarly excellence in study and research that provides a significant contribution to specific areas in the field of engineering. In addition to faculty expertise, the program’s strength lies in its unique multidisciplinary approach and outstanding opportunities for collaborative research.

Admission

Students may be admitted to the Ph.D. in Engineering Program with a bachelor’s degree from an ABET-accredited program or a master’s degree from an engineering program; satisfaction of the admission requirements as set forth by the School of Graduate Studies; and a record (transcripts, statement of research interests, GRE scores, and, if applicable, TOEFL scores) that indicates potential for a career in engineering research as evaluated by the program’s admission committee. Students should come to the program with a strong understanding of engineering fundamentals. Interest in financial support should also be indicated at the time of application.

Collaboration

The program’s six research focus areas are not intended to be disciplinary boundaries; rather, they are intended to focus and help define research efforts across disciplinary boundaries in a way that exploits collaborative opportunities.

The Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI) provides collaboration opportunities through the graduate engineering courses, faculty, and research resources of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), the University of Dayton (UD), The Ohio State University (OSU), and the University of Cincinnati (UC). Students enrolled in Wright State’s Ph.D. in engineering program are effectively considered resident students of both AFIT and UD. Additionally, WSU engineering Ph.D. students have the faculty and research resources of OSU and UC available to them, as well as courses on a transfer credit basis.

Degree Requirements

To obtain the Ph.D. in Engineering degree, the student must complete an approved program of study containing at least 135 quarter graduate credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent degree, or 90 quarter graduate credit hours beyond a master’s degree in engineering. At least 30 of these credit hours must be for graduate course work beyond a master’s degree. The program must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 3.0.

The following requirements must be satisfied to complete the requirements of the Ph.D. in engineering degree:

• Complete at least three courses from the following interdisciplinary core courses:

EGR 701 Linear Systems
EGR 702 Systems Engineering and Analysis
EGR 703 Computation Engineering Analysis
EGR 704 Design Optimization
EGR 705 Design and Analysis of Engineering Experiments

• Pass a written qualifying exam on three of the five interdisciplinary core courses.

• Complete courses in a major specialization area – at least 24 credit hours of 700-level or above courses must be taken in electrical, mechanical, materials, biomedical or human factors engineering, or in a research focus area.

• Complete courses in a breadth area – at least 12 credit hours of graduate credit must be taken in research focus areas that are outside the student’s own.

• Complete at least 8 hours of graduate credits in mathematics (MTH) or statistics (STT). For students entering the program with a master’s degree, the minimum is 4 graduate credit hours.

• Complete 6 credit hours of seminar courses.

• Complete at least 12 credit hours of course work in the focus area selected for the dissertation research. Note: This requirement might not involve additional hours since these hours could be included in the major or breadth requirements.

• Satisfy the collaboration requirement. At least 10 percent of the courses in a student’s program of study will come from other Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI) member institutions.

• Satisfactorily complete a Candidacy Exam and Research Proposal Defense as defined and judged by the student’s dissertation committee. The dissertation research must fall into one of the six focus areas below:
o Computational Design and Optimization
o Controls and Robotics
o Electronics and Microwave
o Humans in Complex Systems
o Processing and Properties of Materials
o Sensor Signal and Image Processing

• Complete at least 45 credit hours of dissertation research and submit a doctoral dissertation. A maximum of 60 credit hours of dissertation research may be applied toward fulfilling the degree requirements.

• Submit at least one substantial, original paper based on the dissertation research to a refereed, archival journal before approval is granted for the dissertation.

• Present a one-hour dissertation seminar through the seminar course, EGR 891.

• Successfully defend the doctoral dissertation as judged by the student’s dissertation committee.

Facilities

A wide range of computing systems interconnected by both local and wide-area networks supports the program. Full Internet connectivity is available in campus labs. Equipment includes an NCR WorldMark 4800 Data Warehouse, DEC Alpha servers, Silicon Graphics (SGI) servers, Sun Microsystems servers, and SGI and Sun workstations as well as numerous PCs and X-Windowing terminals. Access is also available to the Ohio Supercomputer via the Ohio Academic and Research Network (OARNET) and Internet2.

Faculty

The program is a collaborative effort in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Program faculty at Wright State reside in the departments of biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering; computer science and engineering; electrical engineering; and mechanical and materials engineering.

Graduate Assistantship

Teaching assistantships are available on a competitive basis for students who have established strong academic credentials and can demonstrate good communication and teaching skills. A number of departmental research assistantships are awarded annually based on exceptional performance or potential. Additional graduate support is available in the form of assistantships associated with research projects of the faculty. Scholarships are also available from the Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI). Application forms for teaching and research assistantships are available from the department for students admitted to the graduate program. The online application form for DAGSI scholarships is available at www.dagsi.org.

Research

The program supports research in six focus areas: computational design and optimization, controls and robotics, electronics and microwave, humans in complex systems, processing and properties of materials and sensor signal and image processing.

Recent and current sources of research support include federal agencies, military agencies and local industries. Research at Wright State is not limited to on-campus facilities. Several industrial laboratories, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base laboratories, the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the laboratories of other local and regional universities are involved in joint research efforts with Wright State University.