College of Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

To qualify for a PhD degree, a student is expected either to complete at least 42 credits of coursework beyond the requirements for a BS degree; or to complete at least 18 credits of coursework beyond the requirements for an MS degree, plus complete enough credits of dissertation research to have a total of 72 credits beyond the BS degree or 42 credits beyond the MS degree. Completion of this coursework generally requires six semesters of study beyond the BS degree and three semesters beyond the MS degree.  Eighteen credits beyond the BS degree and nine credits beyond the MS degree may be taken in courses outside the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

After a student has completed at least 42 credits of coursework beyond the BS degree, or at least 18 credits of coursework beyond the MS degree, he or she must pass a comprehensive examination, as well as pass a dissertation research proposal defense. The comprehensive examination will be given only after a student has applied and received permission to take the exam. Near the end of the program, the results of the original (publishable) research work will be presented and publicly defended as a dissertation.

Additional information on the PhD in Electrical Engineering is available on the ECE departmental website (ece.usu.edu).