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Ph.D. Program

Degree Requirements

After completion of the M.S. degree at Carnegie Mellon or elsewhere, students are eligible for admission as candidates for the Ph.D. degree. Typically, at least four years of graduate study beyond the B.S. degree or three years of graduate study beyond the M.S. degree are required.

Examinations

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree will be required to take a Qualifying Examination which consists of two parts:

  1. a comprehensive Candidacy Examination
  2. a Thesis Proposal Examination

A candidate will be considered as having passed the Qualifying Examination when he or she has satisfied the requirements for both parts. Any departure from the stated requirements requires the special approval of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty. It is the responsibility of the Chair of the candidate's Doctoral Committee to organize the committee, to make necessary requests for departure from the established requirements, and to make recommendations on the results of the examinations to the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree will also be examined in a public defense of the Ph.D. thesis. The decision on the acceptability of a Ph.D. defense will rest with the Doctoral Committee and the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Qualifying Examination Details

Candidacy Examination

This examination is designed to evaluate the student's general knowledge and preparation for undertaking a doctoral program in his or her chosen area of study. The Candidacy Examination will be in two parts:

  • A written examination appropriate to the areas represented by the Candidacy Committee. The committee will be responsible for preparing the examination questions and evaluating the results.
  • An oral examination administered by the Candidacy Committee.

The Candidacy Exam Committee

The Candidacy Examination Committee consists of four members, with three faculty members from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, two of whom must be full-time. The fourth member must be from either another department at Carnegie Mellon, another university, or from a governmental or industrial research group, as appropriate. The fourth member must have no affiliation with the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, with the exception of a faculty member of another department who has a courtesy appointment in CEE. The composition of the committee should be mutually agreed upon by the student and his/her advisor. It’s important to note that the Candidacy Examination committee members are not necessarily the same as members of the student’s doctoral committee.

The grading and evaluation of the Candidacy Examination will not be announced until a review has been conducted by the entire faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The exam outcomes are as follows:

  • Unconditional pass: when a student performs satisfactorily in both written and oral portions of the qualifier exam.
  • Conditional pass: when a student needs to perform a set of conditions before s/he can be considered as being deemed to pass the qualifier exam. The committee should be specific on the timeframe for completion of the conditions. A conditional pass should not be awarded when a portion of the exam is to be retaken. A conditional pass does not require another review by the committee.
  • No decision: when the committee cannot agree/decide on whether a student has demonstrated to be qualified to be a PhD student. In these cases, the student can re-take a portion of, or the entire exam at a time specified by the committee and agreed upon by the examinee. It is recommended that retakes are scheduled the following May, but no later than the traditional scheduled exam period, the following January. New questions must be written for partial or full retakes.
  • Fail: when a student did not perform satisfactorily in the exam. When a student fails, there is no option for that student to retake the exam.

Candidacy Examinations will be scheduled immediately following the end of the fall semester. The written examinations will be open book and will involve four days of work. The Oral Examination will take place following review of the written parts of the Candidacy Examination.

A student should plan to take the Candidacy Examination no later than the first scheduled examination following one semester of full-time residence in a Ph.D. program at Carnegie Mellon.

Thesis Proposal Examination

This examination is designed to evaluate the candidate's competence to undertake work in the area of his or her proposed dissertation. It is an oral exam that is normally taken approximately one year after the passage of the candidacy examination. Students should discuss the schedule with their advisor in the event that the advisor recommends a slightly different schedule that is appropriate for the student's dissertation topic. The advisor should communicate their approved modified schedule to the Graduate Program Administrator. Prior to the examination, the candidate must submit a written thesis proposal to the Doctoral Committee.

The Doctoral Committee

The advising and direction for each Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will be through an individual Doctoral Committee. The Committee will be responsible for advising the student on appropriate course work, assisting with thesis development and evaluating the final thesis product. One member of the Doctoral Committee serves as Chair and typically this individual will serve as the principal thesis advisor.

The Doctoral Committee consists of at least four members, with a minimum of two full-time faculty from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, one of which must be a tenured faculty. A third faculty must be from either the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering or another department at Carnegie Mellon, and a fourth member should be from either another department at Carnegie Mellon, another university, or from a governmental or industrial research group, as appropriate. It is the responsibility of the Chair of the candidate's Doctoral Committee to organize the committee, to make necessary requests for departure from the established requirements, and to make recommendations on the results of the examinations to the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The committee will make a pass/fail recommendation to the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineerng who will then inform the student. If a student fails the examination, he or she may be granted an option to be re-examined on all or part of the examination material. The scheduling of this re-examination will be set by the Doctoral Committee. The faculty's decision will be communicated to the candidate following the Departmental review.

Research and Thesis

After passing the qualifying examination, the student enters into full-time research and preparation of the thesis. The thesis may have, to varying degrees, an engineering science orientation toward the extension of fundamental knowledge or an engineering practice orientation toward the improvement of application of knowledge. The thesis is reviewed by a faculty examining committee and defended in a public oral examination to complete final requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

Degree Title Options

The standard title of the Ph.D. degree awarded to candidates in Civil and Environmental Engineering is the Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. The student entering with an M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering normally requires at least three additional years of study. Students must petition the Department Head to use any degree title other than Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Specialization areas can be listed on a student's transcript, such as project management or environmental science.

In recognition of the variety of interests and educational backgrounds of students wishing to enroll in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the following optional degree titles are offered:

Ph.D. in Advanced Infrastructure Systems

This optional degree title is intended for use by those students who have satisfied the degree requirements for the Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental engineering and who have focused their studies and dissertation research in Advanced Infrastructure Systems. Students must formally petition the department head to use this title for their Ph.D. degree.

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering

This degree title is intended for students intending professional practice in civil engineering, particularly those planning on obtaining a Professional Engineering license in Civil Engineering. It may be of particular interest to students without an undergraduate engineering degree from an accredited undergraduate program, since the department undergraduate program is accredited in civil engineering. A candidate for this degree must be a graduate of an accredited undergraduate engineering curriculum or equivalent. Recipients of a B.S. degree in a non-engineering field will also be considered, but will be required to take basic undergraduate engineering makeup courses as specified by the department.

Ph.D. in Computational Mechanics

The Ph.D. in Computational Mechanics degree is intended for students desiring advanced studies in mechanics, materials and computing but who do not have an undergraduate engineering degree. The candidate may be a graduate in engineering or other disciplines. Students must formally petition the department head to use this title for their Ph.D. degree.

Ph.D. in Computational Science and Engineering

This degree title is intended for students in the Mechanics, Materials and Computing specialization area. To be eligible for the degree of PhD in CSE within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the student must complete a program of study that will provide a solid background in three areas: (1) one of the engineering or scientific disciplines practiced within the CEE Department, (2) computer science, and (3) applied mathematics. The major field must be in category (1), and the program of study must demonstrate breadth through substantial academic achievement in the other two. This will be demonstrated through a program of study consisting of a set of 72 course units that the student must complete within the first three years of her/his graduate studies. The program of study must be approved by the members of the student’s comprehensive PhD examining committee within a month after the student has passed the PhD comprehensive examination. Students must formally petition the department head to use this title for their Ph.D. degree.

Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering

This is an optional degree title that can be selected at the student’s discretion. It may be of particular interest to students whose curriculum focuses strongly on environmental engineering. A candidate for this degree must be a graduate of an accredited undergraduate engineering curriculum or equivalent. Recipients of a B.S. degree in a non-engineering field will also be considered, but will be required to take basic undergraduate engineering makeup courses as specified by the department. Students must formally petition the department head to use this title for their Ph.D. degree.

Ph.D. in Environmental Management and Science

This degree is intended for students interested in specializing in this area but who do not have an undergraduate engineering major. Students must formally petition the department head to use this title for their Ph.D. degree.

The following joint/dual Ph.D. degree is also available to Civil and Environmental Engineering students:

Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering/Engineering and Public Policy

This is a Ph.D. program administered jointly with the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. The candidate must pass the qualifying examination approved by both departments.