Computer Engineering, Ph.D.

Students are required to take a minimum of 11 courses (33 credits) beyond the bachelor’s degree. At least seven of these courses (21 credits) must be graduate ENEE or CMPE courses, i.e., ENEE/CMPE courses at the 600 or 700 level excluding ENEE 66X and ENEE 67X. The remaining four courses (12 credits) can be MATH, STAT, CMSC, or from any other related discipline. Only three credits of Independent Study (ENEE/CMPE 699) can count toward the total course requirement. Students who have received their Masters at UMBC are allowed to count two 400 level MATH/STAT courses for the PhD degree with approval of their advisors. The doctoral dissertation must be an original and substantive contribution to knowledge in the student’s major field. It must demonstrate the student’s ability to carry out a program of research and to report the results in accordance with standards observed in the recognized scientific journals related to that field.

Doctoral students must: (a) submit their PhD Comprehensive Portfolio and receive a pass grade (P) within four (4) semesters of entrance to the program (six (6) semesters for part-time students); (b) develop and defend a doctoral dissertation proposal and be admitted to doctoral candidacy within four (4) years of entrance to the program (five (5) years for part-time students); and (c) complete all Ph.D. requirements for their field of specialty within four (4) years of admission to doctoral candidacy.

Requests for approval of non-CMPE/ENEE course credits must be submitted before registering for the course. There is a form available for this request and must be signed by the student’s research advisor.

Course Requirements

Students must take at least five courses from the courses listed under Groups A and B, and at least two of these courses must be from Group A.

Group A Courses (offered every year):
CMPE 611 - Advanced Computer Architecture [3]
CMPE 640 - Custom VLSI Design [3]
CMPE 650 - Digital Systems Design [3]
Group B Courses (selected subset is offered every year)
CMPE 641 - Topics in VLSI [3]
CMPE 645 - Computer Arithmetic Algorithms and Implementations [3]
CMPE 647 - Analog Integrated Circuit Design [3]
CMPE 670 - Biomedical Microsystems [3]
CMPE 684 - Wireless Sensor Networks [3]
CMPE 685 - Principles of Communications Networks [3]
ENEE 610 - Digital Signal Processing [3]
ENEE 612 - Digital Image Processing [3]
ENEE 620 - Probability and Random Processes [3]
ENEE 621 - Detection and Estimation Theory [3]
ENEE 622 - Information Theory [3]
ENEE 630 - Solid-State Electronics [3]
ENEE 631 - Semiconductor Devices [3]
ENEE 680 - Electromagnetic Theory [3]
ENEE 683 - Lasers [3]
ENEE 684 - Introduction to Photonics [3]
Students must consult with their assigned advisors prior to registration and finalize their course selection with their advisors. Some instances of CMPE and ENEE 691 may be designated as group B electives; please check with your advisor prior to taking such a course. Check the CMPE Graduate Program website for further requirement details. Students cannot take doctoral dissertation research (CMPE 899 ) credits before passing the preliminary examination, but can take pre-candidacy doctoral research (CMPE 898 ) credits during this period.

Grade Requirements

Students must receive a grade of B or better in two of the Group A courses and achieve an average grade of ‘B’ or better (equivalently, a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better) across all courses. Grades with “+” and “-” are possible for graduate courses.

PhD Comprehensive Portfolio

The CMPE PhD Comprehensive Portfolio consists of three (3) components: (a) GPA performance on the three (3) core plus two (2) focused elective courses, (b) the Research Activity Report (RAR), and (c) two (2) faculty support letters. See the CMPE Graduate Program website http://www.csee.umbc.edu/programs/graduate/computer-engineering-ms-phd/ for details on the CMPE PhD Comprehensive Portfolio policy.

Preliminary Examination (Prelim)

Each student must select a dissertation advisor and a dissertation preliminary examination committee. A student must present and defend the dissertation proposal to the committee. The committee examines the student orally on the proposal and the research area(s) to assess the student’s ability to complete the proposed research successfully. Each full-time student must pass the preliminary examination within one-and-a-half (1.5) years after passing the PhD comprehensive portfolio to remain in the Ph.D. program. Part-time students will be given two-and-a-half years (2.5) to pass the preliminary examination. Check the CMPE Graduate Program website for updates to this requirement.

Ph.D. Candidacy

After passing the preliminary examination and completing the course requirements, the Graduate Program Committee recommends to the Graduate School that the student be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy.

Dissertation Research

The student conducts and reports (dissertation) on a significant original research topic under the guidance of their dissertation advisor. The doctoral dissertation must be an original and substantive contribution to knowledge in the student’s major field. It must demonstrate the student’s ability to: (a) conduct a program of research and (b) report the results in accordance with standards observed in the recognized scientific journals related to that field. This research must be completed and defended within four (4) years of admission to candidacy. Students must be admitted to candidacy at least two (2) full sequential semesters before the date on which the doctoral degree is to be conferred. Doctoral candidates take at least eighteen (18) dissertation credits (CMPE 899 ). The Ph.D. dissertation committee must include four (4) graduate faculty members from the CSEE department and one external member.