The interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) track on “Automation in Civil Infrastructure” (ACI) focuses on advancing all aspects of civil infrastructure, including construction and operation, and its interaction with its environment and humans by harnessing developments in automation, robotics, manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI). This degree is a research-oriented degree requiring a minimum of 64 semester credit hours of approved courses and research beyond the Master of Science (M.S.) degree [96 credit hours beyond the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree]. The university places limitations on these credit hours in addition to the requirements of the Department of Civil Engineering.
This track is intended to host Ph.D. students pursuing graduate research in areas relevant to this track. A complete discussion of all university requirements is found in the current Texas A&M University Graduate Catalog.
NOTE: All documents requiring departmental signatures must be submitted to the Civil Engineering Graduate Office in DLEB 101 at least one day prior to the Office of Graduate Studies deadline.
Automation in Civil Infrastructure Faculty Members
- Dr. Anna Birley
- Dr. Jeffrey Bullard
- Dr. Zachary Grasley
- Dr. Stefan Hurlebaus
- Dr. Yong-Rak Kim
- Dr. Maria Koliou
- Dr. Anand J. Puppala
- Dr. Petros Sideris
Research Areas
Major areas covered by this track include:
- Construction 3D printing
- Computational modeling and simulations in additive and modular construction
- Lifecycle analyses and risk assessment in additive and modular construction
- Extraterrestrial automated construction
- Additive manufacturing (AM) of metamaterials for civil infrastructure applications
- AM with sustainable materials, such as bio-composites and geopolymers
- Smart structures and sensing
- Robotic construction and assembly
- Robotic inspection
- AI, robotics and augmented reality in infrastructure design, construction, maintenance, and management
While this list is not exhaustive, it is representative of the research focus of the affiliated faculty.
Admission and Exit From the Track
Students may apply directly to this track or they may choose to transfer from other tracks.
Direct applications to the track will be evaluated by the Track Coordinator and should also meet the minimum requirements of the Department for entry to the graduate program.
Transferring to this track from existing tracks should abide by the adopted departmental policy. According to this policy, a student may request a transfer to this track with the approval of the coordinator of this track at any time before taking the qualifying exam in the initially admitted track. This request from the student should explain the rationale for the change. If a current student is approved to change from one track to another, they must complete the Track Change Request Form and send it to the CVEN Graduate Advising Office so notification can be sent to their original area coordinator. Please read the CVEN department policy on changing tracks.
A student who has failed the qualifying exam once in their current track may request to transfer to this track. This request from the student should explain the rationale for the requested transfer and needs to be supported by the Chair of the student’s advising/dissertation committee before it is reviewed by the coordinator of this track.
A student who has failed the qualifying exam twice in their current track may request to transfer to this track. This request from the student should explain the rationale for the requested transfer and follow all related departmental policies.
A student who does not pass the QE twice in this track will be required to drop this track. A student who has failed up to once the qualifying exam in their previous track will be granted two chances to pass the qualifying exam in this track. A student who has failed twice the qualifying exam in their previous track will be given one chance to pass the qualifying exam in this track.
Advising/Dissertation Committee
The student's committee Chair should be a faculty affiliated with this track. The advising/dissertation committee should be formed in accordance with current Departmental Policies. It is recommended that the student consult with the Chair of the advising/dissertation committee to determine the remaining members of the committee.
Departmental Requirements for PhD
In accordance with departmental policies, a student joining this track toward a Ph.D. degree would be required to accumulate:
- 64 credit hours in the Ph.D. program beyond the M.S. degree. A minimum of 24 credit hours of graduate-level coursework is required (out of these 64 credit hours) for students who have already taken another 24 credit hours of graduate coursework for a Master of Science (M.S.) or Master of Engineering (M.E.) degree.
- 96 credit hours in the Ph.D. program beyond the B.S. degree. A minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate-level coursework is required, out of these 96 credit hours.
- A maximum of 3 credit hours of CVEN 685 Directed Studies can be applied toward this requirement.
- Studies deadline.
- Qualifying Exam
- Degree Plan
- Written Preliminary Exam
- Oral Preliminary Exam
- Research Proposal
- Completion of Dissertation
- Final Defense
NOTE: All documents requiring departmental signatures must be submitted to the Civil Engineering Graduate Office in DLEB 101 at least one day prior to the Office of Graduate Studies deadline.
Course Requirements
No course requirements apply to this track. A student’s coursework should be determined by the student and their Committee Chair with the agreement and approval of the student’s Committee.
All students of this track are required to enroll in 4 semesters of a division seminar course taught on a bi-weekly basis. The student may select one of the three division-level seminar series – the one closest to their area of research. The Students can enroll for 0 or 1 semester credit hour and, at most, count 1 credit hour towards their degree plan.
Qualifying Exam
Per Departmental guidelines, all Ph.D. students in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are required to pass a Qualifying Examination (QE). The qualifying exam should be taken before the completion of the first year of study unless the advising/dissertation committee recommends otherwise. Per Departmental guidelines, the objective of the Qualifying Exam is to evaluate: (i) whether the student has the general area knowledge required to successfully pursue PhD studies; and (ii) whether the student has demonstrated successful research potential.
The qualifying exam will be administered by a 3-member QE committee appointed by the Track Coordinator. If a student has already formed their advising/dissertation committee, the three members should come from this committee, with one of them being the student’s advisor (Chair of advising/dissertation committee). If a student has not already formed their advising/dissertate, their QE committee should be formed as follows. One of the QE committee members will be the student’s advisor (Chair of advising/dissertation committee). At least one of the remaining two committee members should be affiliated with this track, while the other member may not be affiliated with the track but should be a CVEN faculty. The track coordinator is required to seek feedback from the Chair of the student’s Advising/Dissertation Committee to form the QE committee for the student’s QE.
The Qualifying Examination will include a written component and an oral session. For the written component, the student will receive two research questions and will be given a week to provide their response. The first question will require the student to perform a critical evaluation of 2-3 state-of-the-art journal publications related to their dissertation topic. These publications will be provided by the QE committee. The second question may be more focused on the student’s intended research approach and the fundamentals related to the research the student is planning to undertake. When addressing these questions, the student is expected to show that has the general knowledge and technical aptitude to pursue Ph.D. research.
The oral session will be performed one week after the student submits the written part to the QE committee. In this session, the student will give a 15/20-minute PowerPoint presentation on the research questions of the written part. Following this presentation, the QE committee will ask questions on the written submission and the oral presentation. Following the completion of the Oral session, the QE committee will immediately convene to make a pass or fail decision at the end of the oral session. In case of a fail decision, the QE committee needs to provide feedback to the student indicating areas of improvement. In case of a fail decision, the student should re-take the qualifying examination during the next semester.
The qualifying exam will be given prior to the beginning of the Fall or Spring semesters unless otherwise determined by the Track Coordinator in agreement with the QE committee.