Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering

Program Information

For students who are interested in a Ph.D. but are unable to attend school full-time, there is a part-time option. The guidelines for admission to the program and the degree requirements are the same as for full-time Ph.D. students. All students must have an academic advisor and an approved plan of study.

Degree Requirements

Each program for doctoral study is individually tailored to the student's background and research objectives by the student's supervisory committee. The program will require a minimum of 75 semester credit hours beyond the baccalaureate degree. These credits must include at least 30 semester credit hours of graduate-level courses beyond the baccalaureate level in the major concentration. All Ph.D. students must demonstrate competence in the master's level core courses in their research area. All students must have an academic advisor and an approved plan of study.

Also required are:

• A qualifying examination, as approved by the Electrical Engineering graduate committee, demonstrating competence in the Ph.D. candidate's research area. A student entering the Ph.D. program with an MS degree must pass this exam within three (3) long semesters, and a student entering without a BS degree must pass this exam within four (4) long semesters. A student has, at most, two attempts at this qualifying exam. The exam will be given during the fall and spring semesters.
• A comprehensive exam consists of a written dissertation proposal, a public seminar, and a private oral examination conducted by the Ph.D. candidate's supervising committee.

Areas of Research

The principal concentration areas for the MSEE program are: Circuits and Systems; Communications; Control Systems; Digital Systems; Photonic Devices and Systems; Power Electronics and Energy Systems, radio-frequency and Microwave Engineering; Signal Processing; Solid State Devices and Micro Systems Fabrication. Besides courses required for each concentration, a comprehensive set of electives is available in each area.

Doctoral level research opportunities include: VLSI design and test, analog and mixed-signal circuits and systems, radio-frequency and microwave engineering, biomedical applications of electrical engineering, power electronics, renewable energy, motors and drives, vehicular technology, computer architecture, embedded systems, computer-aided design (CAD), ASIC design methodologies, high speed system-on-chip design and test, reconfigurable computing, network processor design, interconnection networks, nonlinear signal- processing, smart antennas and array processing, statistical and adaptive signal processing, multimedia signal processing, image processing, real-time imaging, medical image analysis, pattern recognition, speech processing and recognition, control theory, robotics, digital communications, modulation and coding, electromagnetic-wave propagation, diffractive structures, fiber and integrated photonics, nonlinear optics, optical transmission systems, all-optical networks, optical investigation of material properties (reflectometry and ellipsometry), optical instrumentation, lasers, quantum-well optical devices, theory and experiments in semiconductor-heterostructure devices, plasma deposition and etching, nanoelectronics, wireless communication, network protocols and evaluation, mobile computing and networking, and optical networking.

Interdisciplinary Opportunities

In keeping with the established tradition of research at UT Dallas, the Electrical Engineering Program encourages students to interact with researchers in the strong basic sciences and mathematics. Cross-disciplinary collaborations have been established with faculty across various departments (e.g. Computer Science, Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering) and schools (e.g. Management; Natural Sciences and Mathematics; and Brain and Behavioral Sciences).

Graduates of the program seek positions such as Professor, Research and Development Engineer, and Consulting Engineer in the public and private sector.