3 - Specific Information for Ph.D. Students

3.1 - Degree Requirements

We anticipate that a regularly matriculated student can complete a Ph.D. degree in 4 calendar years. With diligent work and wise use of time, this goal is regularly achieved. The student and advisor should plan and work together to complete the Ph.D. degree in about 4 years from the time of enrollment. All students must complete the Ph.D. degree within 8 years of the first semester of enrollment. Department financial aid will not be given to students after 5 years from the time of enrollment.

• Credit Hours
  
  • A minimum 54 semester hours, at least 36 of which must be course work beyond the baccalaureate degree, plus 18 hours of dissertation (ChEn 799R). All courses taken to satisfy degree requirements must be approved by the student's advisory committee. Candidates without a master’s degree: 36 hours. There must be at least 6 hours o
    

    n 600- or 700-level lecture courses beyond the required ChEn 601 course. Candidates with a master’s degree: with committee approval, up to 20 hours of previous graduate work, may apply toward the doctorate, but at least 36 hours must be taken at BYU (including 18 dissertation hours). Courses taken in the master’s program may apply toward the required 6 hours of advanced mathematics.

• Required Courses
  
  1. Core Courses
     
     • ChEn 531 - 3 hrs Thermodynamics
     • ChEn 533 - 3 hrs Transport Phenomena
     • ChEn 535 - 3 hrs Kinetics and Catalysis
     • ChEn 601 - 2 hrs Directed Graduate Studies
  2. Seminar
     
     • ChEn 791R 2 hrs Graduate Seminar (must take each semester on campus)
  3. Dissertation
     
     • ChEn 799R 18 hrs Dissertation Research
  4. Math Requirement
     
     • Six (6) hours of the above 36 hours of graduate coursework must be from graduate-level math or statistics courses. Engineering courses that cover equivalent content, such as ChEn 541 and MeEn 505, may be used. The department maintains a list of courses that meet these requirements. These are posted on the department website, and are included in the Appendix 8.6 of this document. In general the characteristics of these classes are that new math concepts are taught above concepts previously learned.
     • The student’s PhD advisory committee may submit a petition to modify this requirement with justification that the modification is in the best interest of the student’s education and career.
  5. English-as-a-second language (only for students with a non-English native language)
     
     • Competency in writing, as determined by the Advisory and/or Graduate Committee is required. Normally TESL 404 is the minimum requirement, but ESL exams, taken upon arrival at the University, may suggest other requirements.
• Undergraduate Courses
  In general, no undergraduate courses (100-499 level) count toward the required 36 graduate course work hours. However, we have an exception for students in certain research areas, in which up to 6 credit hours of undergraduate interdisciplinary course work may be counted toward the 36 graduate course work hours as follows:

These undergraduate hours may only be counted if the student is performing his Ph.D. research in that particular area. For example, a student doing a dissertation in the combustion area may not count any of these undergraduate classes toward the minimum of 36 graduate course work hours. If these courses were taken and used for undergraduate credit toward B.S. graduation, they may not be used towards the Ph.D. degree.

• Advanced Classes
  At least 3 credits of 600-level or higher engineering or science courses, not including ChEn 601, must be included in the approved study list.
• Teaching Assistant
  Each student must serve the equivalent of 20 hrs/week for 1 semester as a teaching assistant. The word equivalent here allows other options such as 10 hrs/week for 2 semesters.
• Minor
  If you desire, you may declare a minor based on 12 hours of coherently related courses. To do so, you must select a graduate faculty member to serve on your advisory committee who will write and/or administer an oral or written comprehensive examination in the minor area. A minor may even be from another department if approval is first obtained from the chemical engineering graduate coordinator and the other department's chair.
• Residence
  All students must study on campus at least two consecutive 6-hour semesters (see University Graduate Studies Catalog).

• Qualifying Examination
  All Ph.D. students must take the comprehensive written qualifying exam, with the exception of case 3A and 3B B below. Results of the qualifying exam will be combined with grades in the core graduate courses to determine Ph.D. candidacy, as explained in section 3A, B below. The department wants to see students succeed through preparation and hard work. A "high pass" will enable admission to Ph.D. candidacy, and generally corresponds to a minimum level of about 70% on the exam. A "pass" means that the student will be dropped from Ph.D. candidacy and admitted to the M.S. program, and generally corresponds to a level of about 50% on the exam. Students who receive a "fail" will be dismissed from the ChE graduate program. It is our hope that the entrance requirements and class preparation will minimize the number of students receiving this latter evaluation.

  The qualifying level of preparation is listed below for several of the most common cases:
  

  1. A student with a B.S. degree from any university must pass the qualifying examinations at the "high pass" level to be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy.
  2. A student with an M.S. degree from a university other than BYU must pass the qualifying examinations at the "high pass" level to be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy.
  3. A student already completing a M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from BYU may subsequently pursue a Ph.D. degree if A) the student received a "high pass" evaluation on the qualifying exam (either during the first try or during a subsequent try), and B) less than one year has lapsed since graduation with the M.S.
• Research seminar
  The graduate seminar must be taken and passed each semester that a student is doing research or classwork on campus. The student does not need to take 791R when the student is doing an internship or is off campus for the entire semester. If the student is present on campus for part of the semester, the students should take the seminar and attend, and an incomplete or E grade will not be given if the student attends the seminars for the weeks the student is on campus. For example, if the student defends her/his dissertation in October and leaves Provo, there is no need to attend the remainder of the seminars.
  Two (2) hours of 791R is required for graduation. No more that 2 hours will count toward the required credit hours for graduation (i.e., the student continue to take 791R each semester, but this does not fulfill other elective hour requirements).
  At the beginning of the second academic year in the program, each Ph.D. student will prepare a 3-minute-thesis presentation or a 10-minute oral presentation of their research plans and progress. The presentation will be given to the faculty and other graduate students, typically scheduled in September as part of the graduate seminar (ChEn 791R).
• Time Limit
  We anticipate that a regularly matriculated student can complete a Ph.D. degree in 4 calendar years. With diligent work and wise use of time, this goal is regularly achieved. The student and advisor should plan and work together to complete the Ph.D. degree in about 4 years from the time of enrollment. All students must complete the Ph.D. degree within 8 years of the first semester of enrollment. Department financial aid will not be given to students after 5 years from the time of enrollment.

3.2 - Advisory Committee

The Ph.D. advisory committee consists of at least 3 members in addition to the chairman. Two of these are selected by the candidate, and 1 is selected by the graduate committee. (see Section 2.7)

3.3 - Prospectus

The Ph.D. prospectus is an extensive written document. The literature survey and problem definition in the prospectus often may become the framework for the first few chapters of the dissertation. It should not be verbose, but must adequately address the issues stated in Section 2.11. This is a written document of no more than 30 pages, excluding front matter (title page, content, etc.), references and appendices. The format must be double spaced with margins no less than 2 cm and font no smaller than 11 pt. Appendices are not required for the students to write nor required for the committee to read. The prospectus and proposed research are defended in an oral exam open to all faculty and students. The student should prepare a 25- to 30-minute seminar summarizing the proposed work. Following the presentation by the student, a closed examination is held, during which the examining committee, consisting of the members of the advisory committee, one of which serves as chairman, ask questions about the prospectus, the research objectives, methodology, and significance. This part of the exam is generally 30 to 40 minutes long. Subsequently, the examining committee votes and informs the student of the decision. The conclusion of the committee may be "fail," or "pass." Any two "fail" votes will constitute failure. In the event of failure, only one repeat attempt to pass the prospectus exam is permitted. Regardless of the evaluation, the student must make any changes in the prospectus required by the examining committee before the results become official.

A draft of the bibliography section of the Ph.D. prospectus must be submitted to the advisor prior to completion of the ChEn 601 class. The student must submit and successfully defend a written prospectus on his/her proposed dissertation research topic within 15 months of completing the ChEn 601 class or 15 months after completing the M.S. degree, unless an exception is approved by the advisory committee.

To facilitate the preparation of the prospectus, the candidate must obtain the appropriate signatures on the Ph.D. Prospectus Worksheet before the prospectus defense is scheduled; see Section 8.1 of this document. The prospectus defense will be chaired by one of the two committee members selected by the graduate committee.

3.4 - Admission to Candidacy

The decision to admit a student to Ph.D. candidacy is made by a vote of the faculty after the qualifying exam. This decision is based on a composite evaluation of the student's performance on:

1. Study-list courses and grades therein (~40%)
2. Qualifying exam (~60%)
3. Annual evaluations (if appropriate)

Finally, at the prospectus defense, the advisory committee makes the decisions to continue candidacy based on grades, performance on the qualifying exam, annual evaluations, and performance on the prospectus.

Except in unusual circumstances where permission is granted from the graduate coordinator, all of the above items must be completed within 15 months of completing the ChEn 601 class. Students who fail admission to candidacy, or do not continue candidacy, may complete an M.S. degree only—or they may be dismissed from the graduate program.

3.5 - Originality

A significant amount of meaningful, creative, original work by the student must be included in the dissertation work. The dissertation must constitute a contribution to the current body of knowledge and large portions should therefore be publishable in the peer-reviewed literature. All work applying toward the degree must be completely open for University review and publication. Any exceptions to this policy must be supported by written approval by the department and college and obtained in advance of any work performed. Publication of the results of the dissertation in the open literature is an expectation of the Ph.D. degree.

3.6 - Length of Dissertation

It is imperative that the dissertation be written in a logical and concise manner. A recommended length is 125 to 150 pages, in double-spaced format (excluding the appendix). Documents longer than 200 pages will be returned to the candidate. The appendix should be used to archive extensive tables, computer codes, derivations, etc

3.7 - Graduation Evaluation

Graduation evaluation is based on the completion of the above requirements and the quality of the dissertation, including the oral exam and the written document.

3.8 – Publications

An important aspect of the educational experience is to generate and then disseminate new knowledge. In addition to writing and defending a dissertation, the quality research and new knowledge must be transferred to the scientific community. A Ph.D. student is expected to produce at least 3 peer-reviewed articles in archival journals, based on the dissertation research. It is best for the student to write and submit these papers before leaving campus.