2 - Specific Information for Ph.D. Students

2.1 - Ph.D. Degree Requirements

2.1.1 - Course Requirements

The Ph.D. requires 54 credit hours (36 credit hours of course work and 18 credit hours of dissertation). The specific program of study should be decided with the approval of your advisor and advisory committee. See 1.5 - Program of Study (Courses) for more details.

Required Courses

You must complete 19 credit hours of required courses.

This includes 13 credit hours of the following core courses:

In addition you must complete 6 credit hours from the list of approved math and statistics courses given in Section 2.2.

Elective Courses

You must complete 17 credit hours of elective courses.

ChEn 791R policy: You may include an additional 1 credit hour of ChEn 791R as an elective course, giving a maximum total of 3 credit hours in the program of study.

Dissertation Credits

You must complete 18 hours of ChEn 799R - Dissertation.

Advanced Classes

Your Program of Study Plan must include at least 3 credits of 600-level or higher engineering or science courses (not including ChEn 601).

Undergraduate-Level Courses

• No courses numbered between 100-499 may be counted towards the required 54 required credit hours except for those listed in the table below.
• Up to 6 credit hours of the following courses may be counted as long as they were not taken and counted towards a B.S. degree.

2.1.2 - Prospectus and Oral Exam

You must complete and defend a Ph.D. Prospectus and successfully pass the comprehensive oral exam to qualify for the Ph.D. See Section 2.4 for details.

2.1.3 - Dissertation

You must complete and defend a Ph.D. Dissertation. See Section 2.8 for details.

2.1.4 - Other Requirements

Teaching Assistant

You must serve as a teaching assistant for either:

• 20 hrs/week for one semester, or
• 10 hrs/week for two semesters.

Residence

You must be a full-time student (6 credit hours per semester) on campus for at least two consecutive semesters.

Three-Minute Thesis

You must participate in the department three-minute thesis competition during your second year. This typically happens during the Winter semester.

Time Limit

You must complete the Ph.D. degree within 8 years of the first semester of enrollment.

2.1.5 - Minor

• You may declare a minor based on 12 hours of coherently related courses.
• A minor may even be from another department if approval is first obtained from the Graduate Program Coordinator and the chair of the minor department.

2.1.6 - Students with an M.S.

Up to 18 credit hours of previous graduate coursework may apply towards the above course requirements (including core courses and mathematics requirement).

Credit for previous graduate coursework requires approval from the Graduate Program Manager and the Graduate Program Coordinator.

2.2 - Approved Math and Statistics Courses

2.2.1 - List of Courses that Satisfy the Requirement

• Ch En 513 - Molecular Modeling
• Ch En 536 - Dynamic Optimization
• Ch En 541 - Computer Design Methods (formerly known as Numerical Methods for Engineers)
• Ch En 641 - Combustion Modeling
• Ch En 687 - Statistics for Physics-Based Systems
• Me En 505 - Applied Engineering Math
• Me En 541 - Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer
• Me En 575 - Optimization Techniques in Engineering
• Ec En 521 - Introduction to Algorithm Design
• Ec En 670 - Stochastic Processes
• Ec En 671 - Mathematics of Signals and Systems
• Ec En 672 - Detection and Estimation
• Ec En 770 - Information Theory
• Ec En 773/Me En 733 - Linear Systems Theory
• Ec En 774/Me En 734 - Nonlinear Systems Theory
• CE En/Me En 507 - Linear Finite Element Analysis
• CE En/Me En 607 - Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis
• Physics 601 - Mathematical Physics
• Physics 602 - Mathematical Physics
• Math 510 - Numerical Methods for Linear Algebra
• Math 511 - Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations
• Math 521 - Classical methods in Applied Mathematics
• Math 522 - Methods of Applied Math 2
• Math 525 - Network Theory
• Math 532 - Complex Analysis
• Math 536 - Applied Discrete Probability
• Math 534 - Introduction to Dynamical Systems
• Math 547 - Modeling and Analysis of Partial Differential Equations
• Math 565 - Differential Geometry
• Math 570 - Matrix Analysis
• Math 611 - Finite Element Methods for Numerical Partial Differential Equations
• Math 635 - Dynamical Systems
• Stat 511 - Statistical Methods for Research 1
• Stat 512 - Statistical Methods for Research 2
• Stat 535 - Linear Models
• Stat 536 - Statistical Learning and Data Mining
• Stat 537 - Mixed Model Methods
• Stat 538 - Survival Analysis
• Stat 641 - Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics 1
• Stat 642 - Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics 2
• Stat 651 - Bayesian Methods
• Stat 666 - Multivariate Statistical Methods
• IS 555 - Data mining
• CS 513 - Robust Control
• CS 618 - Computational Biology
• CS 670 - Multi-Agent Systems
• CS 678 - Advanced Machine Learning Models
• Bio 664 - Bioinformatics

2.2.2 - List of Courses that Do Not Satisfy the Requirement

• Me En 570 - Computer-Aided Engineering Software Development
• Ec En 673/Me En 633 - Digital Control
• Ec En 674/Me En 634 - Flight Dynamics and Control
• Ec En 777 - Digital Signal Processing
• Math 410 - Introduction to Numerical Methods
• Math 411 - Numerical Methods
• Math 425 - Mathematical Biology
• Math 431 - Probability Theory
• Math 435 - Mathematical Finance
• Math 436 - Dynamics and Modeling 1, Differential Equations
• Math 438 - Dynamics and Modeling 2, Optimal Control
• Math 447 - Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
• Math 465 - Differential Geometry
• Stat 624 - Statistical Computation
• Stat 637 - Generalized Linear Models
• IS 537 - Data Structures and Algorithms
• CS 412 - Linear Programming and Convex Optimization
• CS 470 - Artificial Intelligence
• CS 478 - Machine learning
• CS 650R - Computer Vision
• CS 712R - Topics in Algorithmic Decision Processes
• CS 778R - Topics in Neural Networks and Machine Learning

2.2.3 - General Principles

The mathematics core requirement ensures that a student obtains training that extends his/her knowledge beyond an undergraduate level in: (i) probability, statistics, and data analysis, (ii) analytical mathematics (e.g. PDEs), and/or (iii) numerical methods, algorithms, and programming.

The principles used to identify courses that satisfy this requirement are:

• The course must be 500-level or above.
• The course should focus on (i)-(iii) rather than the application of quantitative concepts to another discipline or to the use of specialized software.
• No “literature survey”, seminars, or unnamed special topics courses.

With the approval of the advisory committee, a student may petition the Graduate Program Coordinator to add a new course to the approved list that is in line with the principles outlined above.

2.3 - Ph.D. Advisory Committee

The advisory committee for a Ph.D. student will consist of at least four members:

• The primary advisor (chair)
• A committee member selected by the department
• Two committee members selected by the student

Additional committee members and special members can be included according to the policies described in Section 1.7.

2.4 - Overview of Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam

Section 1.9 provides a general description of the written prospectus for all degree programs. This section provides specific details for the Ph.D. degree.

You are required to complete:

1. a written prospectus (Section 2.5),
2. a prospectus defense (Section 2.6), and
3. an oral qualifying exam (Section 2.6).

Successfully completing and passing 1-3 constitutes the comprehensive examination that qualifies you to progress to Ph.D. candidacy. The rubric describing the standard needed to pass the exam is given in Section 2.7.

Failure on this exam (or failure to complete it on time) will result in a change of your degree status to an M.S. It is not possible to retake the exam, but there is an alternate process for qualifying for a Ph.D. after completing an M.S. (see below).

M.S. students are not required to take this exam. However, if they wish to re-classify as a Ph.D. student before completing the M.S. they must do so.

A flow chart illustrating these processes is given below.

2.4.1 - Requirements to Sit for the Exam

• You must complete this exam in the Spring term immediately following the completion of ChEn 531, ChEn 533, ChEn 535 and ChEn 601 in your 1^st or 2^nd year.
  
  • The approved Program of Study sets the time for this exam.
  • The department will schedule the exam during the Spring term following enrollment in 601.
  • If you need additional time (e.g., to take remedial courses) or if you need to reschedule (e.g., due to extenuating circumstances) you must obtain approval from the Graduate Program Coordinator.
• You must have a cumulative program of study GPA ≥ 3.0

2.4.2 - Process for Taking the Comprehensive Examination

• You should complete a draft of your written prospectus by the end of ChEn 601 (end of Winter semester).
• The Graduate Program Manager will schedule your prospectus defense/oral exam during the Spring Term following completion of Ch En 601.
• Submit a pdf copy of the prospectus through the Graduate Progress website at least two weeks before your scheduled defense date.
• Inform your advisory committee and the Graduate Program Manager (e.g., by email) that you are submitting your prospectus.
  
  • You should be prepared to provide an electronic or printed copy upon request as a courtesy to your committee or the GPM.
• You should prepare your defense presentation and study for the oral exam questions before the defense date.
• Your advisor's and advisory committee members' approval of the prospectus defense via the Graduate Progress website constitutes a formal "pass".

2.4.3 - Alternate Qualification Process

If you complete an M.S. in Chemical Engineering at BYU, you may petition your advisory committee to qualify for Ph.D. candidacy if:

• You have the approval of the Graduate Program Manager and Graduate Program Coordinator.
• You have a cumulative Program of Study GPA ≥ 3.0.
• You inform your advisory committee of your intent to pursue a Ph.D. before your M.S. thesis defense.
• You submit a supplemental document (5 or fewer pages) outlining the research you propose to complete during the PhD along with your M.S. thesis.

In this case, the M.S. thesis defense will be altered as follows:

• The oral defense will include questions related to the student’s knowledge of chemical engineering concepts and their proposed research (see the rubric in Section 2.7 ).
• The committee will make two separate pass/fail decisions during the defense:
  
  • Defense of the M.S. thesis
  • Qualification to pursue a Ph.D.

2.5 - Ph.D. Written Prospectus

2.5.1 - Content Guidelines

The content of the written prospectus should follow the guidelines in Section 1.9.

2.5.2 - Prospectus Document Requirements

• The document may not exceed 30 pages, excluding front matter (title page, table of contents, etc.), references, and appendices.
  
  • Appendices are permitted but discouraged. They may not include material that is essential for the advisory committee to read.
• Document formatting:
  
  • Double-spaced
  • Margins no less than 2 cm
  • Font greater than or equal to 11 pt
• Document organization and tone should be consistent with a technical proposal or technical report.

2.5.3 - The Written Prospectus is Part of the Examination

Because the prospectus forms part of an examination, it must be the product of your own writing.

• Your prospectus cannot contain writing from another professor (e.g., advisor) or student.
• Your advisor may only provide limited feedback on the document before it has been submitted to the committee.
  
  • Your advisor should not provide detailed edits or iterate multiple times with the student.
  • Note that this is an important difference between the Ph.D. prospectus and the M.S. prospectus or thesis/dissertation.
• By contrast, your advisor is strongly encouraged to provide training related to research skills, instruction on important research concepts, perspective on the literature and the purposes for research, and resources and tools for improving your writing.

2.6 - Prospectus Defense and Oral Exam

2.6.1 - Overview of the Defense Procedure

The prospectus defense and oral exam consists of the following elements:

1. An introduction by the chair of the advisory committee
2. Student presentation of the prospectus
3. Questions by the public
4. Questions about the prospectus by the advisory committee
5. Oral examination of the student by the advisory committee
6. Advisory committee deliberation and vote
7. Student notice of the defense/oral exam outcome.

Parts 1 to 3 are open to the public, and parts 4-7 are not. Parts 4-5 are done with the student and the advisory committee, part 6 is completed by the advisory committee alone, and the student returns for part 7. It is also customary to have a brief recess (if needed) between parts of the exam to allow for bathroom breaks, etc.

It is expected that all participants, including the student, attend the defense in person. Exceptions will only be allowed in cases of significant hardship and require the permission of the Graduate Program Coordinator.

A custom has developed where students bring refreshments to the defense. There is no expectation that you do this.

You should plan for the exam to last approximately two hours.

2.6.2 - Student Presentation and Public Questions

The public portion of the exam is open to all faculty and students.

You should prepare a presentation that is approximately 30 minutes long. There is no proscribed format, but it should include a discussion of the content in the prospectus including:

• the research purpose,
• the research hypothesis,
• the current state of the literature,
• preliminary results,
• proposed tasks and methodology,
• benefits of the research.

Like the written document, the presentation should be your own product. Your advisor may give you limited feedback, but they should not provide detailed edits or iterate multiple times.

The public will be permitted to ask questions during and after your presentation, and then they will be excused.

2.6.3 Questions by the Advisory Committee

Following the presentation by the student, the dissertation committee asks questions about the written prospectus and presentation to determine the student’s level of preparedness to pursue a PhD.

Each committee member will be given a turn to ask questions. However, your advisor is discouraged from asking or answering questions during this portion of the exam.

This portion of the exam is expected to take approximately 30 minutes.

2.6.4 - Oral Qualifying Examination

Following the defense of the prospectus, the advisory committee will examine you on the fundamentals of chemical engineering:

• applied mathematics,
• thermodynamics,
• transport phenomena, and
• reaction kinetics.

Each committee member will ask a question.

• You will have 10 minutes for an interactive dialog with the committee member to respond to the question.
• Your advisor will not ask a question and should not respond to questions posed to you.
• A question may have elements of multiple core subjects and does not need to be strictly limited to only one area.
• Committee members will ensure that the questions posed have sufficient breadth to probe your knowledge in all of the core subjects.

This part of the exam is expected to take approximately 30 minutes.

2.6.5 - Committee Deliberation and Vote

Following the conclusion of the above, your committee will vote using the rubric given in Section 2.7. Following the vote, the committee will inform you of the decision.

There are two possible outcomes:

• Pass - You advance to "PhD candidate" status.
• Fail - You do not advance to Ph.D. candidate status, but you may continue towards an M.S. degree.

2.6.6 - The Prospectus Defense is a Semi-Annual Evaluation

Your prospectus defense also counts as your semi-annual progress evaluation for the semester. As is the case with every semi-annual evaluation, your committee may make specific recommendations to help you make academic progress. At the time of the prospectus defense, common recommendations may include (these are examples only):

• Following up with discussion items from your defense with specific committee members,
• Revisions to your prospectus document,
• Modifications to your program of study, or
• Serving as a TA for a specific class.

The committee will follow up with these items during future semi-annual progress evaluations.

2.7 - Ph.D Candidacy Evaluation Rubric

The evaluation of the Ph.D. comprehensive exam (decision for Ph.D. candidacy) is based on the rubric described in this section.

The committee considers the following sources of information for making their decision:

• Grades in Program of Study courses
• The written prospectus
• The prospectus presentation and Q&A
• The oral exam Q&A
• Feedback from the advisor
• Previous semi-annual evaluations

The assessment of “Pass” or “Fail” is based on a wholistic assessment of your performance based on the categories given below.

A majority of the committee (i.e., three out of four or three out of five members) must vote “pass” for you to receive a passing score.

2.7.1 - Technical Communication

The Written Prospectus demonstrates skill in English language and grammar, logical document organization, coherent sentence and paragraph construction, and attention to detail in document formatting.

The Oral Presentation demonstrates foundational verbal communication skills, the ability to explain concepts related to their project, and the appropriate use of visual aids.

Evaluation

• A student who passes this competency demonstrates the foundational skills in writing and presentation described above, and thereby exhibits the potential to develop into a researcher capable of independently producing technical documents and presentations.
• A student who fails this competency shows a lack of foundational skills in writing and presentation. It may be difficult to understand their proposed research plan. There are serious concerns that the advisor will need to carry the load for technical communication based on their research.

2.7.2 - Knowledge of Core Subjects

During the oral qualifying examination (and to a lesser extent in the written prospectus and oral presentation), the student demonstrates foundational knowledge at a graduate level in applied mathematics, thermodynamics, transport phenomena, and reaction kinetics.

Concepts in Applied Mathematics includes vector and tensor calculus, linear algebra, ordinary and partial differential equations, and basic computer programming and numerical analysis.

Concepts in Thermodynamics include the 1st and 2nd law for closed and open systems, calculus of thermodynamics, pure fluid properties, equilibrium and stability, phase equilibrium, mixtures, chemical equilibrium, and molecular thermodynamics.

Concepts in Transport Phenomena include dimensional analysis, derivation of the conservation laws of mass, energy, and momentum, transport properties and constitutive laws, and mathematical solutions to basic and applied mass transfer, heat transfer, and fluid flow problems.

Concepts in Reaction Kinetics include elementary rate laws for homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions, the theory of chemical kinetics, ideal reactors, catalysis, and non-ideal reactors.

Evaluation

• A student who passes demonstrates significant knowledge of the above concepts. They may make mistakes with details or misremember auxiliary concepts. However, they know key concepts and equations, and they are able to reason from first principles. It is clear that they have foundational knowledge that they can build upon during future research.
• A student who fails seems lost and shows a basic misunderstanding of multiple core concepts. They make large conceptual errors or are unable to identify key principles. There are serious concerns that the student will be able to apply fundamental chemical engineering concepts to their research topic.

2.7.3 - Knowledge Related to Proposed Research

In both the Written Prospectus and Oral Defense, the student exhibits a developing understanding of their research area. This includes grasping relevant foundational concepts in their field and familiarity with the literature that describes the knowledge frontier. Furthermore, the student is able to:

• articulate a research hypothesis and propose feasible research tasks that align with it,
• articulate the purpose for their proposed research and the resultant benefits, and
• thoughtfully express an awareness of the context and significance of their research with-in the existing body of literature.

Evaluation

• A student who passes demonstrates evidence of a developing expertise. They show that they are engaged with the literature and are thoughtful in the expression of their research ideas. They demonstrate a sense of ownership over their research proposal.
• A student who fails shows a lack of understanding of core concepts, the state of the field, or the purposes for their research. They regurgitate ideas from their advisor or others without thinking for themselves. There is little or no sense of ownership for their project.

2.7.4 - Research Skill and Progress

In both the Written Prospectus and Oral Defense, the student provides evidence of growing skills to complete the research tasks that they have articulated and of research progress commensurate to their time in the graduate program. They are able to knowledgeably describe their proposed methodology (e.g., experimental design, simulation methods) and demonstrate a developing expertise in executing research tasks. They demonstrate positive traits of a good student and researcher including: reliability, time management, organization, continuous learning, etc.

Evaluation

• A student who passes has a positive track record of research ability in their time in the program. They demonstrate positive traits and there are limited concerns about their effort or capacity to complete the proposed research tasks.
• A student who fails has made little or no research progress during their time as a student. There are significant concerns about their effort or their abilities to complete the proposed research tasks.

2.7.5 - Final Assessment

The above categories represent the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to complete a PhD in Chemical Engineering and the student should show competence in these categories. However, students have individual strengths and weaknesses, so a final evaluation should be made holistically. A committee recommendation of “pass” permits the student to continue to pursue a PhD. A “fail” permits a student to pursue an MS, either as a terminal degree or en route to an eventual PhD. A “fail” by the committee does not normally dismiss a student from the program, the latter taking place via the annual evaluation process.

Evaluation

• A student who passes demonstrates competence in most or all of the above categories and leaves the committee confident that they demonstrate potential for performing independent and technically sound research at a PhD level.
• A student who fails shows major deficiencies in one or more categories, leaving serious concerns that the student will need significant “handholding” to perform research. The committee may see the pursuit of an MS degree as the best option for student development and welfare.

2.8 - Ph.D. Dissertation Requirements

2.8.1 - Ph.D. Dissertation Contents and Approval

The Ph.D. dissertation should contain, at a minimum, research results and analysis of similar quantity and quality to three first-author, peer-reviewed journal articles. This should constitute a substantial contribution to the current body of knowledge in the literature.

In addition, the dissertation research should contain substantive, meaningful, and creative ideas that originate from the Ph.D. student, demonstrating their ability to conduct independent research.

2.8.2 - Dissertation Document Requirements

The dissertation must be less than 200 pages. If necessary, appendices should be used to archive extensive tables, computer codes, derivations, etc

Additional details related to the formatting of the thesis are described in Section 1.11 - Preparing the Thesis/Dissertation.

2.9 - Ph.D. Degree Progress Milestones

*Assumes Fall admission. For a non-Fall admission, program deadlines begin with the first Fall semester following admission.

**The deadline for completing this requirements is decided by the advisory committee in the Program of Study.

2.10 - Ph.D. Financial Support

2.10.1 - Overview of Support

Ph.D. students are generally provided with student wages and tuition support.

Tuition support only covers classes that are part of the approved study list.

2.10.2 - First-Year Support

The chemical engineering department provides two semesters of a full-tuition scholarship and six months of student wages during the first year of enrollment.

2.10.3 - Annual Stipend Amount