PhD in Engineering Sciences

The Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences at ITESO is listed on the National Registry of Quality Graduate Programs by the National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT, in its initials in Spanish), as a Research-oriented Industry-linked Program, accredited as a Newly Created Program.

General and particular objectives of the Ph.D. program

The general curricular objective of ITESO's Ph.D. Program in Engineering Sciences is to:

Form competent, free researchers who are sensitive to the issues that demand attention in their social context, and who are capable of pushing the limits of knowledge and developing theoretical and methodological perspectives that can have an impact on technological innovation with a high level of added value.

Through this Ph.D. program ITESO seeks to:

• Promote the formation of research engineers and the implementation of research projects in collaboration with industry, with an eye to enhancing the region's scientific-technological capacity and contributing to economic development, job opportunities, social well-being, and regional sustainability.
• Consolidate ITESO's position as a strategic partner for the high-tech industry operating in our region.
• Provide ITESO's professors engaged in engineering and exact science research with a more robust academic space that will enhance the quality and quantity of their research work.
• Offer a complete, comprehensive and coherent package of educational and research programs in engineering and exact sciences, covering all four formational levels: undergraduate, specialization, master's degree, and doctorate.

Candidate Profile

Candidates for the Ph.D. in engineering sciences of ITESO must:

• Show a clear interest in improving their formation in research in engineering and technology.
• Show an interest in developing a research project based on one of the program's lines of research.
• Be able to dedicate 30 effective hours of work per week to the graduate program.
• Demonstrate consistency between their academic backgrounds and/or their professional experience and the field of research they wish to pursue the Ph.D. program.
• Have a master's degree in engineering, physics, or mathematics.
• Have an intermediate level of English.

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Reasons to Study this Degree Program

You join a school of engineering that is closely linked to the industry in the region.

You conduct research projects supported by cutting-edge technological industries.

You have access to the ITESO Program for Innovation and Technology Management and its intellectual property services, plus the ITESO Technology-Based Business Incubator, and the university's Technology Park.

The faculty is made up of professionals with solid track records in research.

ITESO's School of Engineering has a solid, functional and mutually enriching structure encompassing the four educational levels: undergraduate, specialization, master's degree, and Ph.D.

The Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences is an educational program that is structured around the research apprenticeship model. It is taught by way of an advisory support system that seeks academic quality and personalized attention to students. It offers the possibility to conduct multidisciplinary work with other ITESO graduate programs in the most diverse areas of knowledge.

You join a group of over 200 Jesuit universities around the world that share a tradition of educational quality, in a university environment that promotes the integral development of human beings.

You connect to a significant group of ITESO graduates who work for leading companies in the region.

ITESO's Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences promotes the formation of engineers who develop research projects in conjunction with industry, thus increasing the region's scientific-technological capacity, and favoring economic development, job opportunities, social welfare, and regional sustainability.

The program envisions engineering research as an effective tool for social transformation. It is a platform that promotes researchers' sensitivity towards the social problems in their context so that they advance the frontiers of knowledge and develop innovative, value-added theoretical and methodological perspectives that have a positive impact on society.

The doctoral program has two lines of research with several fields of concentration:

1. Design of electronic devices, circuits, and systems
   • CAD for high frequency
   • Telecommunications
   • Integrated circuits
   • Digital and embedded systems
2. High-performance software
   • Computer simulations
   • Pattern recognition
   • Big data

Graduate Profile

As a result of the formation process offered by the Ph.D. program in engineering sciences, graduates are generally expected to master the resources needed to conduct research projects autonomously. Thus, upon completing their Ph.D. studies in engineering sciences, students will have acquired:

• The ability to formulate, conduct, and evaluate independent and original research projects in a certain field of engineering or the exact sciences, in accordance with the program's lines of research.
• The mastery of methodological and technical competencies to design and carry out engineering research projects grounded in a solid theoretical framework, with a methodology that is consistent with the problem being addressed, and with a scientifically verifiable validation.
• The ability to make contributions to the state of the art in a certain field of engineering or the exact sciences.
• The ability to effectively communicate research developments and results in writing and orally, in both English and Spanish.
• The ability to give effective technical presentations to a highly qualified audience, in both English and Spanish.
• The ability to publish research projects in rigorous peer-reviewed scientific journals.
• A spirit of technological innovation of products, processes, or systems, combined with sensitivity to social problems.
• A desire to search for methodological alternatives in the field of engineering, with an eye to greater sustainability and social welfare.

Curriculum

Lines of Research

The doctoral program currently has two lines of research with several fields of concentration:

Design of electronic devices, circuits, and systems

• CAD for high frequency
• Telecommunications
• Integrated circuits
• Digital and embedded systems

High-performance software

• Computer simulations
• Pattern recognition
• Big data

Courses

Fundamentals

• Engineering research seminar.

Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI)

• In these seminars your receive group and individual orientation to develop your final project.
• A minimum of 9, a maximum of 13 RDI seminars.

Electives

You must accredit from 2 to 4 elective courses, depending on the number of RDI seminars you pass; you can choose electives, in conjunction with your advisor, from any ITESO graduate program or from other universities having academic collaboration agreements with ITESO.

The graduate elective courses directly related to the doctoral program lines of research are:

• Analog integrated circuit design
• Advanced analog integrated circuit design
• Analog systems design based on commercial devices
• Advanced topics in analog integrated circuit design
• Advanced Topics in VLSI Design
• Digitally integrated circuit design
• Digital system design
• Verification of digital systems
• Microprocessor design
• Microprocessor architecture
• Operating system design and implementation
• Embedded systems
• Advanced embedded systems
• Software engineering in embedded settings
• Operating systems design in embedded settings
• Development of communication software for embedded settings
• Digital signal processing
• Introduction to analog and digital telecommunications
• Integrated circuit testing
• Printed circuit board design workshop
• High-frequency electronic design
• Programming tools to automate VLSI integrated circuit design
• Electronic circuit simulation methods
• Optimization-based circuit design and modeling
• Algorithms analysis and design
• Advanced computational mathematics
• Distributed systems
• Parallel systems
• Big data management and analysis
• Cloud applications and services
• Advanced databases
• Advanced operating systems