Total Required Credits – 72 Credits

• For a student who possesses a bachelor’s degree, a minimum of 72 semester hours of graduate-level coursework credits will be required.

Graduate Chemical Engineering Core Courses – 12 Credits (s.h.)
       CHE 06586: Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics. 3 s.h.
       CHE 06515: Advanced Reactor Design 3 s.h.
       CHE 06514: Transport Phenomena for Engineers 3 s.h.
       CHE 06530: Experimental Methods in Chemical Engineering 3 s.h.
Graduate Level Writing Course – 3 Credits
Graduate Level Mathematics Course – 3 Credits
Graduate Technical Electives – 12 Credits
Doctoral Dissertation Research – 42 Credits

• For a student who possesses a master’s degree in a related field, a minimum of 42 semester hours (credits) of graduate-level coursework beyond the master’s degree will be required.

The total requirement will still be 72 credits, but up to 30 credits earned in pursuit of the master’s degree in related field may be transferable on application and approval by the Graduate Committee Members, thus making the minimum requirement as 42 credits. 

Note: All classes should be completed with a GPA of 3.0 or above

The PhD Dissertation Committee should include a minimum of 5 committee members as per the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering requirements. At least one of the committee members must be an external member (i.e. not affiliated with the HMR College of Engineering).

This committee should be appointed within the first academic year and the following form should be submitted to the Graduate Program Coordinator: Form Link

It is expected that a student should appear for the Qualifying Exam towards the end of their first academic year.

• Timeline – Around June end (between 15 to 30^th June) of the 1^st academic year of the PhD student
• Examination Committee – Ph.D. Advisor and Graduate Committee Members (at least 2 members from the committee are required)
• Exam Format – Oral Presentation for ~30 mins and 15 mins of Q&A
• Presentation Topic – related to their doctoral project but not same (should be decided by mid-October of the entering year Fall semester)
• Expectations – Detailed Literature review containing:
  • What has been already completed/accomplished in the topical area?
  • What are the key findings/limitations?
  • What are the knowledge gaps? Suggest a plan that can address these gaps.

• Written requirement – report/term paper composed of the findings from literature review (~12 to 15 pages)
• Additional requirements – Coursework GPA should be 3.0 or above

The PhD Proposal Defense should be completed before the end of the second academic year for the PhD student. The Thesis Advisor and the student are responsible for planning the Proposal Defense and the Examiners will include the Dissertation Committee appointed.

• Suggested Timeline – Before Spring Break (usually March 1^st or 2^nd week) of the second academic year of the respective student

• Academic requirements – All classes should be completed with a GPA of 3.0 or above
  • Only two chances will be given to pass the core classes with the required grade
  • Students can change electives as needed to meet the minimum required GPA
  • Writing course and a Math course is also required

• Proposal Defense Format – Written proposal to the doctoral committee at least 2 weeks before the proposal defense and Oral Presentation for ~45-50 mins, followed by audience Q&A, then closed Q&A with committee members

In the 4^th year of their Ph.D. each student will be required to schedule a progress meeting with their Doctoral Dissertation Committee

• Purpose - The goal of this meeting is to provide clarity to your dissertation committee regarding the progress to date and the structure and plan for the final defense
• Timeline – any time during the 4^th year as per the availability of the committee members
• Suggested Format - Update presentation and anticipated Ph.D. defense completion date 

Note: If the dissertation defense is not completed within a year of this progress meeting, then an additional committee meeting will be required

The Final PhD Defense is usually scheduled based on the consensus of the Advisor and student as well as feedback from the Dissertation Committee members. Typically for a PhD in Chemical Engineering the duration can range between 4 to 5 years from the start date of the program.