Doctor of Philosophy Programs
Major Professor and Graduate Committee
It is the responsibility of each graduate student to determine what area will be studied and to select a Major Professor to further guide them. For Electrical Engineering majors, the Major Professor is selected from within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
For Computer Engineering majors, the Major Professor may be selected from either Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering or Computer Science and Engineering. The student's Graduate Committee, however, will consist of at least one faculty member from each of the departments.
All committee members should hold graduate faculty standing. Graduate faculty are listed in the back of the current Graduate Bulletin.
Changes to the committee require approval through the submission of a Change of Committee form to the Graduate Program Director. Both the Program of Study and Change of Committee forms are available online in editable acrobat form through Office of Graduate Studies Publications.
Program of Study (Doctor of Philosophy)
It is the responsibility of each graduate student to make out a detailed graduate program of study signed by their Major Professor during the student's second semester of their graduate study. Doctoral students are required to file Program of Study forms with the ECE Graduate Program Director prior to preregistration in the second semester of enrollment. The Program of Study form must have the signatures of all committee members, minor graduate coordinator (if applicable), and students before being submitted to the departmental Graduate Program Director for approval. The departmental Graduate Program Director will forward doctoral students' Program of Study forms to the Office of Graduate Studies at the time the student takes the comprehensive/preliminary examination. Graduate students should realize that any course work taken before their program of study is placed on file in the ECE Department, is subject to disapproval by the committee. Extra course work to upgrade any deficiencies may be required. These requirements will be determined by the student's graduate committee and/or Graduate Program Director.
Minimum program of study requirements are 72 hours past the B.S. (48 hours past the M.S.) for a Ph.D. Extra course work to upgrade any deficiencies may be required. These requirements will be determined by the student's graduate committee and/or Graduate Program Director. At least half the course credit hours in the program must be graduate level only. Graduate course hours taken elsewhere and passed with a grade of B or higher are transferable upon request and approval by the Department to a graduate program for degree within the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. In cases of this kind, however, the last year must be done at Mississippi State University.
In general, Electrical Engineering programs are to be signed as follows:
- Major Professor (ECE)
- Committee Members (3)
- Department Graduate Program Director (Dr. N.H. Younan)
Computer Engineering programs are to be signed as follows:
- Major Professor (ECE or CS)
- Committee Members (3)
- Department Graduate Program Director (Dr. N.H. Younan)
If a minor area is chosen outside the Department, a faculty member from the minor area will serve as a committee member and the program of study must be signed by the minor area's Graduate Coordinator.
Admission to Candidacy (Ph.D. Program Examination Procedure)
For admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, students must successfully passed the qualifying exam, the preliminary exam, and have their dissertation proposal approved. The preliminary exam can be taken if the student is within six hours of completing course work.
NEW STUDENTS:
- ECE Qualifying Exam All students enrolled in the Ph.D. program in ECE are required to pass a written qualifying examination. The purpose of this exam is to assess the students' broad background in ECE and ensure their capabilities in carrying Ph.D. work. This exam covers undergraduate ECE course work. Students who are classified as Ph.D. must pass the exam within their first three semesters, excluding summer sessions. All graduate students enrolled in the ECE Department at Mississippi State University are permitted three opportunities to pass the exam. MSU Senior undergraduate ECE students with GPA of 3.5 or higher and M.S. students may also take this exam.
The qualifying exam is given twice a year, each Fall and Spring semester, usually the first Saturday in October and March, or as scheduled by the Department. Students planning to take the exam must complete the Qualifying Exam Form by the specified deadline. This exam is administered as follows: Upon receiving the qualifying exam form, each student will be issued a code number by the Department. Students taking the exam must record their code number on the exam materials to be graded, names are not recorded.
The qualifying exam consists of a total of 20 problems. 10 problems form core courses in ECE and 10 problems from discipline specific areas. Each student must select a total of 8 problems (a minimum of two problems from discipline specific areas) to work within a 4-hour duration for grading. A pass/fail result will be reported. The exam topics that students choose from are:
Core courses:
- ECE 3714 - Digital Devices and ECE 3724 - Microprocessor (2 Problems)
- ECE 3313 and ECE 3323 - Electromagnetics I and II (2 Problems)
- ECE 3413, ECE 3424, and ECE 3434 - Electronic Circuits (3 Problems)
- ECE 3163 - Signal and Systems (1 Problem)
- ECE 3414 - Energy Systems (1 Problem)
- MA 4533 - Probability and Random Processes (1 Problem)
Discipline Specific
- Digital Computing (2 Problems)
- ECE 4713 - Computer Architecture
- ECE 4743 - Digital System Design
- Signal Processing (2 Problems)
- ECE 4463 - Into to DSP Microelectronics(2 Problems)
- ECE 4243 - Physical Electronics
- ECE 4263 - Intro VLSI Design
- Power and Controls(2 Problems)
- ECE 4613 - Power Transmission Systems
- ECE 4633 - Power Distribution Systems
- ECE 4663 - Insulation Coordination in Electric Power Systems
- ECE 4913 - Feedback Control Systems I
- Electromagnetics and Telecom (2 Problems)
- ECE 4813 - Communications Theory
- ECE 4990 - Antennas
- CSE 4153 - Data Communication Network
Preliminary Exam
- The purpose of the preliminary exam is to determine the students’ ability to develop scholarly research. This exam is normally taken after a student has completed the course work requirements for the Ph.D. degree, passed the qualifying exam, and demonstrated the research skills necessary for the dissertation. Students are expected to present their current research activities toward their dissertation proposal including the identification of a specific research topic, literature review, proposed method, and preliminary results, in both written and oral forms. The student’s graduate committee may also ask questions related to course work pertaining to the student’s dissertation proposal. Passing the preliminary exam requires the approval of the Ph.D. dissertation topic by the student’s graduate committee. An electronic copy of the final Ph.D. dissertation proposal must be submitted to the Department prior to admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. Students must file an Announcement of Doctoral Oral Examination form with the Office of Graduate Studies at least one week prior to the preliminary examination
- NOTE: The dissertation proposal should be approximately 20 pages in length and must include the followings:
- Background information
- Literature review
- Motivation
- Proposed method
- Preliminary results
- Complete references
CURRENT STUDENTS
Written Exam Students pursuing the Ph.D. will take written examinations over the graduate course work for the degree during the month before their oral examination. Note that the research proposal presentation may occur at the oral examination or may be done at a later time. These written examinations typically take the course of three 3-hour sittings. In Electrical Engineering, this would be one over a minor area outside the Department, one over the minor area within the Department, and one over the major area. In Computer Engineering, examinations are given in major and minor areas of Electrical and Computer Engineering and in Computer Science and Engineering.
Oral Exam Students are required to make a comprehensive and detailed review of all graduate course work taken toward the degree in preparation for the oral examinations. A discussion of the specific nature of the examination with the Major Professor (and any other members of the committee the Major Professor may designate) is encouraged. The student's Major Professor will see to the scheduling and content coverage of all examinations, oral and written. To be eligible to take the oral exam, the student must have a 3.0 GPA and must be enrolled during the semester the exam is taken. Major Professors forward notices of intent to take oral examinations to Department Graduate Program Director and to the Office of Graduate Studies at least one week prior to the examinations. These notices will be posted on the Office of Graduate Studies' Web site. At least 5 professors will attend this oral exam: the committee and the Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering or a duly appointed representative. After the exam, the committee signs the Result of Examination form indicating whether the student has passed or failed. A copy of the Result of Examination form must be submitted to the Graduate Program Director to be placed in the student's file. The department will forward the original and one copy of the Results of Examination form to the Office of Graduate Studies. Students must file an Announcement of Doctoral Oral Examination form with the Office of Graduate Studies prior to the oral examination.
All parts of the preliminary examination must be passed by: November 1 to be eligible to graduate in May; February 1 to be eligible to graduate in August; and June 1 to be eligible to graduate in December. The student must be enrolled during the semester in which the examination is administered. A student who fails this examination cannot apply to take another until four months have elapsed from the date of the original examination. Two failures on this examination will result in the student being dropped from further consideration as a doctoral candidate.
Dissertation Proposal After passing the preliminary examination, students must have their dissertation proposal approved. A proposal presentation must be arranged with the presence of all committee members. Students are also required to submit a copy of their dissertation proposal to their committee members at least one week prior to the proposal's presentation.
Submission of Admission to Candidacy Form The Major Professor submits the Admission to Candidacy form to the department office after the doctoral student has passed the preliminary/comprehensive oral examination and has had the dissertation topic approved. The department will forward this form to the Office of Graduate Studies.
Dissertation Defense
After completion of the approved research, a final dissertation defense exam will be conducted. The oral examination committee shall be composed of (a) the student's specific Graduate Committee, (b) the Department Graduate Program Director, and (c) someone representing the Graduate Council. Students are referred to the Graduate Academic Calendar in the front of the Graduate Bulletin for the regulations concerning the time of these examinations versus graduation date and the due dates for results of these exams to be reported to the Graduate Office for graduation. A notice of the intent to defend the dissertation must be filed with the Office of Graduate Studies at least two weeks prior to the examination. These notices will be posted on the Office of Graduate Studies' Web site.Additionally, students must complete the Ph.D. Dissertation Defense form and return it to the program Graduate Program Director at least two weeks prior to scheduling the final defense. This form verifies that the Major Advisor/Dissertation Director has read and approved the dissertation and that copies have been provided to the committee and Graduate Program Director two weeks prior to the defense date. It also requires Department and Web advertisement two weeks prior to the defense. A copy of the dissertation must be posted to the Web. Students are required to post a notice of the time, date, room, title of their dissertation, and an abstract. This notice should be posted (1) using email directed to faculty and graduate student aliases (faculty@ece.msstate.edu and grads@ece.msstate.edu), (2) to the College, Dr. Roger King, Associate Dean (rking@engr.msstate.edu), and (3) to the departmental Web site. Web postings should be directed to Michael Lane (Send E-mail). Also an Announcement of Doctoral Defense form must be filed with the Office of Graduate Studies 2 weeks prior to the Defense.
Typically, a finished copy (not a draft) is to be provided to the readers. The Graduate Program Director will be provided with a finished copy of the dissertation at least one week before the signature is required.
After the examination the committee signs the Result of Examination form indicating whether the student passed or failed the examination and submits it to the department. The original and one copy of the form are forwarded to the Office of Graduate Studies by the date given in the Graduate Academic Calendar. A student who fails the final examination cannot apply for another until a period of six months have elapsed from the date of the original examination. Two failures on the final examination will result in the student being dropped from further consideration as a doctoral candidate.
Students submit dissertations to the Technical Services department for the Acquisitions Unit in Mitchell Memorial Library by the deadline posted in the Academic Calendar in the current Graduate Bulletin. Each semester, the Library conducts thesis and dissertation formatting workshops to assist students in the formatting of theses and dissertations. Guidelines for Preparing Dissertations and Theses are available in the Office of Graduate Studies and in the Library. Unless otherwise approved by the Major Advisor, dissertations should conform to IEEE guidelines where not in conflict with the Office of Graduate Studies requirements. Following final revisions, an electronic copy identical to that supplied to the library will be submitted to the Graduate Program Director.
Required Signatures on Dissertations:
- Major Professor
- Committee Members (3)
- Department Graduate Program Director
- Dean, College of Engineering
Dissertation research hours receive no grade other than U or S. Dissertation research hours are scheduled as _ __900X where X denotes the number of hours.
Applying for Graduation
Students apply for graduation over the web or in the Registrar's Office. The deadline to apply for graduation is early in each semester and the deadline date is posted in the Graduate Academic Calendar in the front of the Graduate Bulletin.
