Ph.D. Engineering

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Admission Requirements

For the Ph.D. program, there must be a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering who is willing to be your major advisor. Once the Graduate School accepts you, they send your application to the Electrical Engineering Department. Even if the Graduate Committee votes to accept you, there must be a faculty member who is willing to serve as your advisor. A GRE score of at least 302 is also required for the Ph.D. program unless the student's M.S. degree is from the University of Arkansas.

Required Coursework

The following is a summary of the degree requirements for the Ph.D. degree. See the Electrical Engineering section of the Graduate Catalog for a more complete description.

The Ph.D. degree requires 36 hours of coursework, as follows:

    1. A student entering the Ph.D. program with a B.S.E.E. will be required to complete a minimum of 36 hours of graded coursework.
    2. A student entering the Ph.D. program with an M.S. degree will be required to complete a minimum of an additional 12 hours of graded coursework on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, campus.
    3. All Ph.D. students must complete a minimum of 12 hours of graded coursework on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, campus.
  • The course work specified above must include a minimum of 30 hours of course work at the 5000 and 6000 level, and at least 24 of these 5000- and 6000-level hours must be in electrical engineering.
  • The course work specified above must include EMGT 5033,  GRSD 5003 or MSEN 5383.
  • The doctoral program must include at least 72 hours of course work and thesis or dissertation hours. A maximum of six of these hours may be thesis hours. The remaining hours that are not course work must be dissertation. The Graduate School requires a minimum of 18 hours of dissertation for graduation.

Summary of the Main Steps in Completing a Ph.D. Degree

  1. Choose an Advisory Committee. You must choose an advisory committee before the end of your first semester of work. Your advisory committee will oversee your work and administer exams. Your major advisor is the chairman of your advisory committee, and will help select its members.  The minimum number of members on a PhD Advisory Committee is four (4) members of the Graduate Faculty with Group I or Group II Graduate Faculty Status, with the majority of the committee members being inside the Department of Electrical Engineering.  At least one member of the Committee must be outside the department.  Fill out an Advisory Committee form and submit it to the Electrical Engineering department.  If the advising committee members are the same as the dissertation committee then one form maybe used for both committees.
  2. Discuss Which Courses your Committee will Accept from your M.S. Degree. Your advisory committee must decide which courses they will accept from your M.S. degree. Fill out an MS Course Credit Hours Accepted Towards Ph.D. form and submit it to the Electrical Engineering department.
  3. Take Your Ph.D. Readiness Assessment. Your advisor and advisory committee will test your readiness to complete a Ph.D. degree before the end of your first semester. You will be given an exam to determine weaknesses or specific courses of study required. Fill out a Ph.D. Readiness Assessment form and submit it to the Electrical Engineering department. For more details, click here.
  4. Decide Your Schedule of Study. In cooperation with your major advisor and advisory committee, you will choose all your courses for the entire Ph.D. degree. You will choose them all during your first semester. This means that you must plan your entire degree program at the beginning. This planning ahead is necessary to avoid missing any courses that may be offered only once every two years.  The Two-year Tentative Schedule of Graduate Courses shows when each course will be offered. Fill out a Schedule of Study form and submit to the Electrical Engineering department.
  5. Choose a Dissertation Committee. Your dissertation committee will judge your dissertation defense. You major advisor is the chairman of your dissertation committee, and will help you select its members.  The minimum number of members on a PhD Dissertation Committee is four (4) members of the Graduate Faculty with Group I or Group II Graduate Faculty Status, with the majority of the committee members being inside the Department of Electrical Engineering.  At least one member of the Committee must be outside the department.  Your dissertation committee may or may not be the same as your advisory committee. Fill out a Dissertation Committee form and submit it to the Electrical Engineering department.  If the dissertation committee members are the same as the advising committee then one form may be used for both committees.
  6. Take the Ph.D. Candidacy Exam. The candidacy exam is taken after you have completed almost all of your coursework, but at least one year before completing the Ph.D. degree. This is when your advisory committee will review and critique your research plans. Writing a research proposal is part of the candidacy exam. Fill out a Candidacy Exam Announcement and submit it to the Electrical Engineering department. See PhD Candidacy Exam Guidelines for more details.
  7. Decide on a Dissertation Title. You must decide on the title of your research work at least one year before your dissertation defense. Fill out a Dissertation Title form and submit it to the Electrical Engineering department.
  8. Announce Your Final Exam. You must announce your dissertation defense to the Graduate School two weeks before the defense. You must announce your dissertation defense to the Electrical Engineering department about a week before the defense.
  9. Complete Dissertation and Defend It. The last step is to complete your dissertation and defend it in front of your committee.  The Department will require an electronic copy of the dissertation for its records. 
  10. Complete the Record of Progress.  The Record of Progress must be completed and turned in to the Assistant to the Graduate Coordinator in the ELEG Office.

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