Ph.D. Program

Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Requirements for Admissions

General requirements for admission are described in the Admissions section of the Graduate Catalog. Specific admission requirements for the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) are described below.

1. Graduate degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering or a related field from an ABET accredited institution in the United States, or proof of equivalent education from an international institution with a GPA of 3.3/4.0 (or its equivalent from an international institution). Undergraduate students with GPAs above 3.5/4.0 may enter the Ph.D. program immediately upon completion of the bachelor's degree.
2. Demonstration of academic achievement and potential as indicated by the results of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and upper-level undergraduate and graduate coursework. The GRE requirement is waived for applicants with a degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering from UTEP.
3. Three letters of recommendation and any other evidence of background, knowledge, research and scholarship, or work experience in Electrical and Computer Engineering that may be relevant.
4. A written statement of interest, describing his/her career goals and describing his/her vision of the path to those goals (including a summary of previous preparation and of his/her expectations from the graduate program).

Conditional acceptance may be offered to students who do not meet all of the specific criteria for full admission but who show promise of success in graduate studies. Following US government visa policy, conditional admission to the Ph.D. Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering is not offered to international students.

The ECE Committee of Graduate Studies will review applications after they are released by the Graduate School. Application documents are released to the Department once Graduate School verify that the all required application documents have been received. The ECE Committee of Graduate Studies will review the application documents and provide one of the following recommendations to the Graduate School: admission, conditional admission, or rejection of the application.

Degree Requirements

General Track

Each student must complete 72 semester credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, or 42 hours beyond the master's degree. Students entering the doctoral program directly after the bachelor degree must complete 72 semester credit hours, including: 1 credit hour of graduate seminar EE 6195; 33 credit hours of approved graduate coursework with at least 24 credits in ECE graduate courses; 32 credit hours of EE 6X94 Graduate Research or EE 6392 or EE 5392 Research Methods or other courses to strengthen the student research skills with prior approval of the Graduate Programs Director; and 6 credit hours of EE 6398/EE 6399 Dissertation. Students entering the doctoral program with a master's degree must complete 42 credit hours, including: 1 credit hour of graduate seminar EE 6195; 18 credit hours of approved graduate coursework with at least 12 credits in ECE graduate courses; 17 credit hours of EE 6X94 Graduate Research or EE 6392 or EE 5392 Research Methods or other courses to strengthen the student research skills with prior approval of the Graduate Programs Director; and 6 credit hours of EE 6398/6399 Dissertation.

Specific coursework to meet degree coursework requirements will be selected by the student in consultation with the dissertation advisor and the ECE Graduate Advisor to meet and support the student professional and research interests and to meet program requirements.

Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Specialization Track

The Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE) requires nine (9) credit hours of Industrial, Manufacturing or Systems Engineering graduate courses and allows ECE doctoral students to specialize in ISE-related research. The track is designed to equip students with knowledge and skills of modern industrial and systems engineering, as well as state-of-the-art knowledge and experience in design, implementation, and evaluation of processes. Students will apply their understanding of advanced technologies and integration of knowledge from diverse fields to develop ISE engineering approaches for complex problem-solving in industry, academia and government. Please see the Industrial, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering (IMSE) Department section of the catalog for course descriptions.

Each student must complete 72 semester credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, or 42 hours beyond the master's degree. Students entering the doctoral program directly after the bachelor degree must complete 72 semester credit hours, including: 1 credit hour of graduate seminar EE 6195; 18 credit hours of approved ECE graduate concentration coursework; 9 credit hours of approved ISE graduate concentration coursework; 6 credit hours of approved ECE graduate coursework not in the concentration area; 32 credit hours of EE 6X94 Graduate Research or EE 6392 or EE 5392 Research Methods or other courses to strengthen the student research skills with prior approval of the Graduate Programs Director; and 6 credit hours of EE 6398/EE 6399 Dissertation. Students entering the doctoral program with a master's degree must complete 42 credits, including: 1 credit hour of graduate seminar EE 6195; 12 credit hours of approved ECE graduate concentration coursework; 6 credit hours of approved ISE graduate concentration coursework; 17 credit hours of EE 6X94 Graduate Research or EE 6392 or EE 5392 Research Methods or other courses to strengthen the student research skills with prior approval of the Graduate Programs Director; and 6 credit hours of EE 6398/EE 6399 Dissertation.

Specific coursework to meet degree coursework requirements for the ISE Track will be selected by the student in consultation with the dissertation advisor and the ECE Graduate Advisor to meet and support the student professional and research interests and to meet program requirements.

Committees

Admission into the program is awarded by the Graduate School upon recommendation from the ECE Committee of Graduate Studies. The committee is composed of the ECE Chair, the ECE Graduate Advisor, and three faculty members elected from the ECE Graduate Faculty.

For each Ph.D. student, a Dissertation Committee will be formed consisting of a Dissertation Advisor and at least three additional faculty members with expertise in areas related to the student's program of study and research. At least one committee member must be from a department other than Electrical and Computer Engineering. At least one member of the committee must be an ECE Graduate Faculty Member with appointment in ECE. The dissertation advisor must be a member of the ECE Graduate Faculty. The Dissertation Committee will be appointed in consultation with the student after two semesters of enrollment. The appointment must be approved by the Graduate Programs Director. The Dissertation Committee will provide mentorship to the student during dissertation research, Dissertation Proposal defense and the final Dissertation Defense. In addition to guiding the student in research efforts, the committee may recommend or require (I) coursework in addition to the degree requirements specified in the catalog, and (2) submission of articles to peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings prior to completing the dissertation or dissertation proposal. Requirements beyond those in the catalog need to be approved by the ECE Committee of Graduate Studies.

Examinations

Upon entering the Ph.D. program each student will be required to take a Qualifying Examination. To pass this examination, a student must demonstrate both competency in the fundamentals of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the ability to conduct research in the selected discipline of study. The Qualifying Examination will consist of two sections: (1) Electrical and Computer Engineering Fundamentals, and (2) Research Competency. A passing grade in the Qualifying Examination indicates that the student is allowed to continue with his/her studies in the Ph.D. program, while a failing grade will result in dismissal from the program. Failure to take a given examination at the scheduled time without prior authorization from the Graduate Programs Director will result in forfeiture of the attempt.

The objective of Section 1 of the Qualifying Examination, ECE Fundamentals, is to have the student demonstrate mastery of the fundamental areas in Electrical and Computer Engineering. To successfully complete this section of the examination, a student must be able to pass tests related to at least five of the areas representing "ECE Fundamental Knowledge". Ordinarily, each student will be required to take this examination at the beginning of the second semester of enrollment. If the student does not pass the initial examination, he/she will be allowed to retake it a second time. Failure to pass the exam after the second attempt may result in dismissal from the program. A third and final attempt may be permitted for students who demonstrate significant progress in their research work. A third attempt request needs to be endorsed by the student's doctoral committee and approved by the Department Committee of Graduate Studies.

In the ECE Fundamentals section, the student chooses to be examined in at least five of the following areas:

1. Digital Design (at the level of EE 2369 Digital Systems Design I)
2. Electric Circuits (at the level of EE 2350 Electric Circuits I)
3. Electronics (at the level of EE 3338 Electronics)
4. Electronic Devices (at the level of EE 3329 Electronic Devices)
5. Electromagnetics (at the level of EE 3321 Electromagnetic Field Theory)
6. Microprocessor Systems (at the level of EE 3376 Microprocessor Systems)
7. Probability Theory (at the level of EE 3384 Probabilistic Methods)
8. Signals and Systems (at the level of EE 2353 Cont. Time Signals and Systems)
9. Software Design (at the level of EE 2372 Software Design I)
10. Systems Engineering* (at the level of EE/SE 5341 Systems Engineering Fundamentals).
    Available only for the ISE/ECE Ph.D. Track students

The exam will take place during the beginning of the semester. The student will receive a letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) for each area exam. A minimum grade of C is required to pass one area and an overall GPA of at least 3.0 is required to pass the fundamentals section of the Qualifier after combining the grades of the five area exams. A student may attempt more than five topics. Only the best five grades will be counted for the overall passing grade.

The objective of Section 2 of the Qualifying Examination, Research Competency, is to have the student demonstrate skills required in research. Each student will be required to successfully complete the Research Competency Section by the fourth semester of enrollment. In consultation with the Student's Dissertation Committee and the Graduate Programs Director, the research competency can be satisfied with of one of the following options:

1. Submission of a paper to a peer-reviewed journal. The paper should be reviewed and approved by the dissertation committee. Dissertation committee review and approval is waived if the peer­ reviewed journal paper is published. The paper has to be in an area related to Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2. Completion of a master's thesis at UTEP in Electrical or in Computer Engineering, along with submission of a paper to a peer-reviewed journal or conference based on the thesis work.
3. Pass EE 5392 or EE 6392 Research Methods with A.

Dissertation Proposal Defense

All doctoral students are required to complete a dissertation proposal. The dissertation proposal must demonstrate both the ability to conduct independent research and the competence in scholarly exposition. It should present original investigation at an advanced level of a significant problem in Electrical and Computer Engineering and should provide the basis for publishable contributions to peer-reviewed journals in the field.

The dissertation topic is developed by the student and the research advisor in collaboration with the dissertation committee. A Dissertation Proposal must be prepared and defended. The Dissertation Proposal Examination consists of (1) an evaluation of a dissertation document prepared by the student, and (2) an oral examination including an oral presentation of the dissertation proposal by the student. The student must submit a draft of the dissertation proposal, with the approval of the dissertation advisor, to the Dissertation Committee, and to the ECE Graduate Advisor at least two weeks before the Dissertation Proposal. A student can only prepare and defend a dissertation proposal after passing the qualifier examination. The student can apply to the graduate school for Ph.D. candidacy after successfully defending the dissertation proposal. A dissertation proposal defense must be announced to the ECE faculty and graduate students at least one week before it takes place. Dissertation proposal defenses are open to the academic community.

Dissertation Defense

The doctoral student can enroll in EE 6398 Dissertation for the first time during the semester that the proposal examination will take place. The student will be allowed to enroll in EE 6399 if the proposal defense is successfully completed and will need to continuously enroll in EE 6399 until completion and successful defense of the dissertation.

After completion of the proposed dissertation research, the student will be examined with regard to the dissertation research outcome in the Dissertation Defense. The Dissertation Defense consists of evaluation of a dissertation document prepared by the candidate, and an oral examination including an oral presentation of the dissertation by the student. The student must submit the draft dissertation document, with the approval of the dissertation advisor, to the Dissertation Committee, to the department and to the Graduate School at least two weeks before the Dissertation Defense. A dissertation defense must be announced to the ECE faculty and graduate students at least one week before it takes place. Dissertation defenses are open to the academic community.

Doctoral candidates are expected to have published multiple peer-reviewed publications by the time they defend their dissertation. Successful publication of peer-reviewed publications is a form of validation of the work by the scientific community. Although it is not a program requirement, individual dissertation committees may require peer-reviewed publications as part of the instruments used to assess the contribution of the candidate's research work.

Time Limits and Catalog Changes

All requirements for the degree must be completed within the eight-years period preceding the awarding of the doctoral degree. Work more than eight years old is lost and can be reinstated only by special permission of the Graduate School upon recommendation of the Departmental Admissions Committee. Further, all requirements for the doctorate must be completed within five years of the approval of the Dissertation Proposal.

General and specific requirements for degrees in the Graduate School can be altered in successive catalogs. Provided the requisite course continues to be offered, the student is bound only by the course requirements of the catalog in effect at the time of admission or readmission within an eight-year limit, unless, with the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School, the student elects to be bound by the course requirements of a subsequent catalog. This regulation applies to course requirements only.

*ABET (Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology): ABET, Inc., the recognized accrediting organization for college and university programs in applied science, engineering, and technology.

**IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

***NSF:National Science Foundation

Graduate Course Description