The ECE PhD program requires a Program of Work consisting of at least thirty semester hours of graduate level classroom instruction courses (ten three-hour courses) taken for a letter grade and not used toward an undergraduate degree nor a prior PhD.
The Program of Work is divided into the following categories.
- At least 24 hours must be at the graduate level.
- 18 hours must be “Major Coursework”.
- At least 12 hours of the 30 must be taken for graduate credit at UT-Austin.
- 6 hours must be “Supporting Coursework”.
Students must complete the full requirements of the PhD Program of Work prior to attempting 9 hours of classroom coursework that cannot be used toward the PhD Program of Work, except as approved for other purposes.*
Which courses may be counted as major work and which may be counted as supporting work can vary not only with the academic track but with the interests of the individual student. Ultimately, all major and supporting coursework must be logically related.
Up to 18 hours of graduate level coursework taken at another university may be used to fulfill the Program of Work requirements for a PhD in our department. Coursework from outside institutions must not have been used towards a previous undergraduate or doctoral degree. It is important to note that this policy of outside coursework does NOT pertain to students that are pursuing a MSE in our department.
For coursework taken at The University of Texas at Austin, a minimum grade point average of 3.33 is required in major coursework and, separately, in supporting coursework within the Program of Work, and no course with a grade of less than a B- may be counted toward the Program of Work. University policy also forbids use of any course with a grade of less than B toward the Program of Work. The Program of Work including coursework taken at another university also should meet these standards.
The student’s PhD Program of Work must be approved by the student's supervising professor or professors, their dissertation committee (see below), which can require additional coursework beyond the above described minimums, the Chair of the ECE GSC, and the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin.
Beyond the requirements for an MSE (whether or not the student actually has or obtains one), the PhD becomes primarily or entirely a research-based degree requiring the student to make a significant original contribution. Research milestones toward the PhD include finding a research supervisor or supervisors, forming a dissertation committee consisting of the research supervisor or supervisors and of other members inside and outside of the ECE GSC, and performing a Candidacy Evaluation and being admitted to PhD candidacy by the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin, passing a Progress Review, and ultimately writing and successfully defending their PhD dissertation, each before their dissertation committee.
PhD students also take accompanying individual instruction research problems and dissertation courses before and after entering candidacy, respectively, as required to meet registration and employment requirements. These matters are discussed in detail in the Rules, Procedures and Expectations Regarding Academic Progress within the ECE PhD Program