Electrical Engineering, Ph.D.

Students 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. Each full-time student must pass the preliminary exam within one-and-a-half (1.5) years after passing the comps to remain in the Ph.D. program, and part-time students will be given two-and-a-half (2.5) years to pass the preliminary examination. Check the ENEE Graduate Program website for updates to this requirement.

Course Requirements

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

Group A Courses (offered every year):
ENEE 620 - Probability and Random Processes [3]
ENEE 621 - Detection and Estimation Theory [3]
ENEE 630 - Solid-State Electronics [3]
ENEE 680 - Electromagnetic Theory [3]
Group B Courses (selected subset is offered every year)
ENEE 610 - Digital Signal Processing [3]
ENEE 612 - Digital Image Processing [3]
ENEE 622 - Information Theory [3]
ENEE 683 - Lasers [3]
ENEE 684 - Introduction to Photonics [3]
ENEE 605 - Applied Linear Algebra [3]
ENEE 718 - Advanced Topics in Signal Processing [3]
CMPE 611 - Advanced Computer Architecture [3]
CMPE 640 - Custom VLSI Design [3]
CMPE 641 - Topics in VLSI [3]
CMPE 645 - Computer Arithmetic Algorithms and Implementations [3]
CMPE 647 - Analog Integrated Circuit Design [3]
CMPE 650 - Digital Systems Design [3]
CMPE 670 - Biomedical Microsystems [3]
CMPE 684 - Wireless Sensor Networks [3]
CMPE 685 - Principles of Communications Networks [3]
Students must consult with their assigned advisors prior to registration and finalize their course selection with their advisors. A star next to the course name denotes that new course application is in progress for the given course. 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 ENEE Graduate Program website for further requirement details. Students may take pre-candidacy doctoral research (ENEE 898 ) credits before being admitted to Ph.D. candidacy and must take eighteen (18) credits of ENEE 899 for doctoral dissertation research after admittance to Ph.D. candidacy.

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 ENEE PhD Comprehensive Portfolio consists of three (3) components: (a) GPA performance on the required courses, (b) the Research Activity Report (RAR), and (c) two (2) faculty support letters. See the ENEE Graduate Program website at https://www.csee.umbc.edu/graduate/electrical-engineering-m-s-ph-d/ for details on the ENEE PhD Comprehensive Portfolio policy.

Preliminary Examination (Prelim)

Students must select a dissertation advisor and a dissertation preliminary examination committee, and they must pass a two-part preliminary examination. Students will present and defend their dissertation proposal to the preliminary committee. The committee examines the students orally on their proposal and research area(s) to assess their ability to complete the proposed research. Each full-time student must pass the preliminary exam within one-and-a-half (1.5) years after passing the comps to remain in the Ph.D. program, and part-time students will be given two-and-a-half (2.5) years to pass the preliminary examination. Check the ENEE Graduate Program website for updates to this requirement.

Ph.D. Candidacy

After passing the preliminary exam 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 full sequential semesters before the date on which the doctoral degree is to be conferred. Doctoral candidates take at least eighteen (18) dissertation credits (ENEE 899 ). The Ph.D. dissertation committee must include four (4) graduate faculty members from the CSEE department and one external member.