The Doctor of Philosophy degree is a research-oriented degree requiring a minimum of 64 semester credit hours of approved courses and research beyond the Master of Science or Master of Engineering degree in an approved and related program [96 credit hours beyond the Bachelor of Science degree.
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.
Structural Engineering Faculty Members
- Dr. Luciana Barroso
- Dr. Anna Birely
- Dr. Joseph Bracci
- Dr. Mary Beth Hueste
- Dr. Stefan Hurlebaus
- Dr. Peter Keating
- Dr. Maria Koliou
- Dr. Lee Lowery
- Dr. John Mander
- Dr. John Niedzwecki
- Dr. Arash Noshadravan
- Dr. Stephanie Paal
- Dr. Petros Sideris
- Dr. Kinsey Skillen
Advising Committee
The student must select an Advisory Committee Chair, who will serve as their graduate advisor, from the department’s structural engineering graduate faculty. A student can have a co-chair from a faculty member that does not have an appointment with the department’s structural engineering group. A committee must have either one chair or one chair and one co-chair.
The chair and the student collaborate in selecting the remainder of the Advisory Committee. The advising committee for the Doctor of Philosophy in structural engineering must have a minimum of four members from the Texas A&M graduate faculty (the chair counts as a member). There must be at least one member from outside the civil and environmental engineering department and there must be a majority from within the department, with at least two members being from the structural engineering faculty (the chair counts as one of these members).
Departmental Requirements
In addition to fulfilling the University requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, a student enrolled in the civil and environmental engineering graduate program in the area of Structural Engineering must satisfy the following department requirements.
- For the 64 credit hours Doctor of Philosophy program beyond the S. degree, a minimum of 24 credit hours of graduate level coursework is required provided the student already has taken at least another 24 credit hours of graduate course work for the Master of Science or Master of Engineering degree.
- For the 96 credit hours Doctor of Philosophy program beyond the S. degree, a minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate level coursework is required.
- For both PhD programs, a maximum of 3 semester credit hours of CVEN 685 Directed Studies can be applied toward this
Structural Engineering Requirements
The student must also satisfy the following area requirements and/or recommendations described below:
- Seminar: 0 or 1 semester credit hours
- Qualifying Exam: A Qualifying Examination will be scheduled with members of the structural engineering The exam should be taken prior to the student’s second semester (fall or spring) of study.
- Degree Plan: An advisory committee must be formed that includes at least two structural engineering faculty members, and a Degree Plan must be submitted and approved by the advisory committee after passing the Qualifying Exam and early during their second semester (fall or spring) of The degree plan must be filed before the course registration for the third semester of study.
- Written Preliminary Exam: After completion of a majority of the coursework listed on the Degree Plan (with the exception of CVEN 691 Research), but ideally no later than the end of the fourth semester (fall or spring) of study, a Written Preliminary Examination will be scheduled with members of the advisory
- Oral Preliminary Exam: After passing the Written Preliminary Exam, but ideally no later than the end of the fourth semester (fall or spring) of study, an Oral Preliminary Examination will be scheduled with members of the advisory
- Research Proposal: As soon as the research project can be outlined in reasonable detail, but ideally no later than the end of the fifth semester (fall or spring) of study, the dissertation research proposal should be
- 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
- Final Defense: A Final Defense consisting of an oral examination will be scheduled with all of the advisory committee members.