PhD Program

PhD Degree Requirements

Students pursuing an ME PhD degree must complete 81 credit hours of graduate-level coursework. This can include credit hours from a master's degree*. In addition, students must take and pass a comprehensive examination, a prospectus defense, and final dissertation defense.

PhD Requirements

Students can apply up to three credit hours ME 607 Seminar toward their degree.

Only courses with a grade of B- or higher will be applied to the degree. The MME Department does not accept ME 502 Independent Study credits.

Students admitted in AY 2015-2016 or earlier can update their catalog to AY 2016-2017 or later.

*ME graduate electives can include graduate credits earned while completing a master's degree. Students should review their Degree Audit Report (DARS) with their advisor to see how many credits of electives are needed.

For previous degree requirements, please see AY 2019-2020 & Earlier Degree Requirements.

PhD Timeline and Milestones

• Comprehensive Exams
  • Must be completed within eight terms (excluding summer) from the time of admission
• Dissertation Committee
  • Must be completed after passing the comprehensive exam and approved prior to prospectus
• Prospectus
  • Students have a maximum of three years from the completion of comprehensive examinations to complete the prospectus and advance to candidacy
• Dissertation
  • Students have a minimum of four months and a maximum of five years from the effective date of advancement to candidacy to complete all requirements for graduation

Students must be registered for at least one credit during the term in which a milestone is completed and associated forms are processed. Forms that are submitted during summer term for a milestone that was completed spring term will be processed fall term unless the student is registered for at least one credit during summer.

Residency and Registration Requirement

Please view PSU's residency requirements for more details.

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Mechanical Engineering PhD Comprehensive Exam

Mechanical Engineering PhD students are required to take and pass the Comprehensive Exam (CE) prior to their prospectus. Students have eight terms (excluding summer) from the time of admission to pass the CE, with a maximum of two consecutive attempts. Master's candidates intending to continue on for a PhD may take the CE in their second year of master's level studies. Students sign up for the CE during the winter term, and the exam is held during spring term.

Comprehensive Exam consists of:

• Three written exams, each in a different subject. Each exam is two hours.
• One oral exam. This generally occurs one week after completion of written examinations.

Timeline

The CE is offered every year. The dates, times and faculty for each exam will be posted at least one month prior to the exam date, generally during winter term. Eligible students will receive a Comprehensive Exam Form to sign-up for the various subject they wish to be tested on. Students planning to take the exam must return this form at least two weeks prior to the exam. Failure to do so may limit subject areas due to exam scheduling. 

The exam is typically held during the beginning of spring term. Students complete the written exam first and the oral examination occurs approximately one week, or as soon as feasible, after.

Grading

The PhD Comprehensive Exam Committee will assess the student's overall performance and assign a grade of pass or fail. In order to develop exam consistency, all exams and corresponding grading will be available to the entire faculty after students have completed them.

Students will be notified of the exam results within one week of the oral exam, preferably on the same day as the oral exam.

Pass

Passing the written and oral exams in all three subject areas will result in a passing grade. The Report on Passing Comprehensive Examinations form (GO-22) will be completed and the official CE completion date will be the date of the oral exam.

Passing the written and oral exam in two subject areas and failing the written and/or oral exam in one subject area will result in a tentative passing grade. Students will need to retake the failed portion of the exam at the next available offering. Prior to retaking the exam, students will need to complete the condition(s) imposed by the exam committee. The conditions are designed to prepare the student for the next round of testing.

Possible Conditions:

• Retake one or more sections of the exam
• Enroll in additional coursework to strengthen weak areas
• Complete a special project in the deficient area
• Act as TA for special classes to address any deficiencies

Students who complete their conditions and pass the exam retake will have their tentative passing grade converted to an official passing grade. The GO-22 will be completed and the official CE completion date will be the date of the exam retake. Failing to complete the conditions and/or failing the exam retake will result in a failed grade and expulsion from the PhD program.

Fail

Failing two or more subject areas in either the written or oral portion of the exam will result in a failed grade. Students must retake the entire qualifying exam at the next available offering. Students retaking the exam are not required to choose the same subject areas they were originally tested on, however, they may be required to complete various conditions prior to retaking the exam. Students who fail the CE twice will be expelled from the PhD program. The conditions are designed to prepare the student for the next round of testing.

Possible Conditions:

• Retake one or more sections of the exam
• Enroll in additional coursework to strengthen weak areas
• Complete a special project in the deficient area
• Act as TA for special classes to address any deficiencies

Please note that a conditional pass is no longer an acceptable outcome in the CE.

Committee

The Comprehensive Exam Committee consists of the faculty administering the various sections of the exam.

Students must choose three of the following subjects to be tested on. One subject must be outside of the student’s area of interest/specialty. Students should reach out to faculty listed for the subjects they plan to be tested on for study preparation.

AY 2022–2023 CE Committee

Interest/Specialty Areas: Design & Manufacturing (Blue), Materials Science (Red), Thermal & Fluid Science (Purple)

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Dissertation & Prospectus Policies

All students should familiarize themselves with the Graduate School (GS) deadlines for establishing their committee, applying for graduation, and defending and submitting their dissertation via the Graduate Candidate Deadlines.

Dissertation Committee

Students pursuing a PhD are required to have a dissertation committee to provide guidance throughout the dissertation process. The committee will approve the student's prospectus and the final written thesis and oral examination. Committee members are selected by the student and their advisor and must be approved by the GS.

Dissertation Committee Breakdown*

Committee must consist of:

• A dissertation advisor/committee chair. Must be a regular, full-time MME instructional faculty, tenured or tenure-track, assistant professor or higher in rank.
• Two MME faculty committee members. May be regular, full-time instructional faculty (tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term) or adjunct faculty.
• One to three additional committee members. May include adjunct or fixed-term PSU faculty and/or one member of the OHSU faculty.
  • If it is necessary to go off-campus for one committee member with specific expertise not available among PSU faculty, a curriculum vitae (CV) for that proposed member must be presented with the GO-16D form.
  • All committee members must have doctoral degrees.

A dissertation committee must be approved by GS using the Appointment of Doctoral Dissertation Committee form (GO-16D). No proposal defense shall be valid without a dissertation committee approved by GS.

*As of January 13, 2020. All committees established prior to January 13, 2020, outlining a Graduate School (GS) Representative are still valid. The GS Representative will transition to a regular committee member and the requirement for two MME faculty committee members will be waived as needed.

Dissertation Policy

PhD students must complete and defend a dissertation. All final documents must contain the following items:

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and List of Figures
• Nomenclature
• Introduction
• Other Chapters
• Conclusion
• Reference/Bibliography

All students should refer to their Permanent Advisor for additional information regarding content. The formatting of thesis and dissertation papers is standard for the University and all documents must meet the requirements outlined in the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Formatting Requirements.

All students must submit their final documents to their dissertation committee at least one week prior to presentation/defense.

Prospectus Policy

All PhD students must complete a prospectus, which consists of a written and an oral presentation of a dissertation proposal. 

The written proposal must contain the following items:

• Introduction
• Background
• Preliminary work/results
• Proposed work
• Expected date of completion/result date

All students should refer to their Permanent Advisor for additional information regarding content.

All students must submit the written proposal to their dissertation committee at least one week prior to presentation.

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