Ph.D. in Engineering - Energy Systems Emphasis

Overview

Providing sustainable energy for a rapidly growing world population is a grand challenge of the 21st century. Power generation and environmental emissions are a technical, social and political issue that affects economies and the environment on local, national and global scales. The Energy Systems program examines diverse technical, socio-political, and ecological dimensions of power generation and consumption including:

• Energy generation, storage, and conversion technologies;
• Impacts of energy and environmental policy on the power generation sector;
• Quantitative, qualitative, and descriptive models of energy flows and storages that illuminate the role of energy in the functionality of the biosphere and modern society;
• Ecological systems functionality and how this pertains to ecosystem health and ecological services provided to support humankind;and
• Interconnections with food and water systems.

The Energy Systems Emphasis Area stresses a holistic approach and offers exposure to many disciplines beyond engineering including natural and social sciences, public policy, and business. The curriculum is highly flexible and offers personalized plans of study.

Admission to the Emphasis

Students holding a B.S. degree or M.S. in engineering from an ABET accredited program or a B.S. or M.S. in a related field from an accredited institution are invited to apply for admission to masters or doctoral programs. Students not having an ABET accredited B.S engineering degree but having degrees in math or physical/biological science or other disciplines may be asked to take additional selected course work to adequately prepare them for their specific engineering studies.

Base requirements for consideration for admission to the College of Engineering’s Graduate Programs are listed below. Specific degree programs and emphasis areas may add additional requirements:

• Completion of a B.S. and M.S. (for Ph.D. applicants) with a minimum GPA of 3.00 (out of 4.00) from an ABET accredited program or program in a related field. The average undergraduate GPA and graduate GPA of recently accepted students is 3.4 and 3.6, respectively.
• Submission of the online UGA Graduate School Application and submission of:
  • Official undergraduate and graduate academic transcripts.
  • A statement of purpose.
  • Three letters of recommendation.
  • CV or resume.
  • General Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Scores. Average Quantitative GRE scores of recently accepted students range near the 80th percentile. Applicants holding a UGA degree may waive this requirement if they meet GPA and undergraduate research requirements.
  • TOEFL is required for international students whose native language is other than English.
• Additional requirements may be applicable for admission to discipline-specific M.S. and Ph.D. Programs and Emphasis Areas offered through the College’s schools.

Program of Study

Requirements for the Ph.D. in Engineering with Emphasis in Energy Systems further expand on those of the Ph.D. in Engineering. These include a minimum of 72 credit hours in the student’s program of study beyond the B.S. degree. A thesis master's degree from an approved university may be accepted for up to 30 credits hours, in which case a minimum of 42 credit hours of approved course work, research and dissertation beyond the M.S. degree would be required as follows:

• A minimum of 16 semester hours of coursework, which must include:
  • At least 15 hours of 8000- and 9000-level courses in addition to research, dissertation writing, and directed study of which 9 hours must be selected from the Energy Systems Course List (below).
  • 1 hour of Graduate Seminar ENGR 8950*
• A minimum of 23 Doctoral Research hours (Doctoral research (9000) or Doctoral project-focused research (9010)) for students with an M.S. **
• The Program of Study must include 3 hours of ENGR 9300 Doctoral Dissertation.

* Only 3 hours of Graduate Seminar may apply on the Ph.D. Program of Study. Students are strongly encouraged to continue regular attendance of speaker series presentations even if not formally registered in the seminar.

** A typical student’s total research hours will exceed these minimums.

Emphasis Area Course List

As a requirement of the Ph.D. in Engineering with an Emphasis in Energy Systems, students must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours selected from the Energy Systems Course List below. Students will work with their graduate advisor to select the most appropriate coursework to ensure breadth of understanding as well as mastery of knowledge in a specific subject area. In addition to completing 9 credit hours selected from the list below, students may work with their graduate advisor to develop an interdisciplinary plan of coursework drawing from the extensive graduate course offerings available at UGA.

• ENGR8103 Computational Engineering (Sp)
• ENGR8160 Advanced Fluid Mechanics (Sp)
• ENGR8170/80 Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer
• ENGR8250 Combustion Science
• MCHE8850 Gas Dynamics
• MCHE8380 Continuum Mechanics (F)
• PHYS8301 Statistical Mechanics I
• STAT 6315 Statistical Methods Researcher (Sp)
• MIST6550 Energy Informatics