Doctor of Philosophy in Aerospace Engineering

The Doctor of Philosophy program in Aerospace Engineering (PhDAE) is a traditional program that requires students to successfully demonstrate their abilities in a broad spectrum of aerospace technology, mathematics and original research. To earn the PhD degree students must:

• Complete PhD course requirements in accordance with an approved plan of study
• Pass the Doctoral Qualifying Exam (DQE)
• Complete the Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship (RS²) requirement
• Satisfy the residency requirements
• Pass a comprehensive oral examination
• Prepare and defend a PhD dissertation which must contain an original contribution to the field by the candidate.

Minimum Course Requirements

The PhDAE degree typically requires a minimum of 60 credit hours beyond the BSAE degree (or equivalent). These 60 hours must be distributed as follows:

• Core courses of at least 9 credit hours of graduate mathematics beyond the BSAE degree. The 9 hours must include a minimum of 6 hours of graduate-level mathematics courses.
  • Graduate mathematics courses are those taken that are at the 600 level and higher, plus MATH 590, Linear Algebra
  • AE 712, Techniques of Engineering Evaluation, is a mathematics-intensive engineering course that meets the Core requirement
• Breadth courses of at least 12 credit hours of technical courses (above 600 level) must be distributed outside the area of specialization in the areas of:
  • structures and materials
  • aerodynamics
  • design
  • dynamics and controls
  • propulsion
  • astronautics
• Depth courses of at least 15 credit hours of technical courses (above 600 level) in the area of specialization
• At least 24 credit hours of doctoral dissertation

Students must also take at least .5 hours of AE 690, Professional Development for Graduate Students.