Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 Graduate Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Computer Engineering, Ph.D.


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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.

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.

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