The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) 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 Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Materials Engineering program.
A complete discussion of all university requirements is found in the current Texas A&M University Graduate Catalog. For example, university requirements include a preliminary examination, a final examination and submission of a dissertation to the university.
Materials Engineering Faculty Members
- Dr. Jeffrey Bullard
- Dr. Amy Epps Martin
- Dr. Nasir Gharaibeh
- Dr. Zachary Grasley
- Dr. Yong-Rak Kim
- Dr. Dallas Little
- Dr. Robert Lytton
- Dr. Dan Zollinger
Advising Committee
The student must select an Advisory Committee Chair, who will serve as their graduate advisor, from the Department’s CEM graduate faculty listed above.
The chair and the student collaborate in selecting the remainder of the Advisory Committee. The advising committee for the Ph.D. degree in CEM must have a minimum of four members from the Texas A&M graduate faculty (the chair counts as a member). One member must be from outside the civil and environmental engineering department. The remainder of the members must be from within the civil and environmental engineering department, with at least two members being from the Department’s CEM faculty listed above. The chair counts as one of these members.
Departmental Requirements
In addition to fulfilling the University requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, a student enrolled in the Civil Engineering graduate program in the area of Structural Engineering must satisfy the following department requirements.
- A minimum of 32 credit hours of graduate level coursework taken through Texas A&M University [a minimum of 24 credit hours if the student already has taken at least another 24 credit hours of graduate course work for the Master of Science (M.S.) or Master of Engineering (M.E.) degree].
- Remaining coursework requirement can be met by 32 hours of CVEN 691
Materials Engineering Requirements
The student must also satisfy the following area requirements and/or recommendations described below:
- Qualifying Exam : During the first semester of study, an oral and written Qualifying Examination will be scheduled with members of the Civil Engineering Materials faculty and a Civil Engineering faculty member outside the Materials The exam should be taken within the first two semesters of study. The written exam will be a take-home exam given to the student 1 week prior to the scheduled oral exam (at which time the completed written exam will be due.
- Degree Plan : An advisory committee must be formed and a Degree Plan must be submitted and approved by the advisory committee after passing the Qualifying Exam and before course registration during their second semester (Fall or Spring) of
- Research Proposal : As soon as the research project can be outlined in reasonable detail, but no later than the end of the fifth semester (Fall or Spring) of study, the dissertation research proposal should be The Research Proposal shall describe the proposed research, including relevant background information, and clearly demonstrate how this research will make a unique contribution of new knowledge to the student’s area of study
- Oral Preliminary Exam : No later than the end of the fifth semester (Fall or Spring) of study, an Oral Preliminary Examination will be scheduled with members of the advisory At this examination, the student will give a presentation of the Research Proposal.
- Completion of Dissertation : Upon approval of the Dissertation by the advisory committee chair, the Dissertation will be submitted to the other members of the advisory committee at least 2 weeks (10 working days) prior to the Final Defense.
- Final Defense : A Final Defense consisting of an oral examination will be scheduled with all of the advisory committee At this examination, the student will give a presentation of the research work completed for the degree and documented in the Dissertation.