Ph.D. Degree Requirements
The IMS Ph.D. degree requires a total of 72 hours with a minimum of 24 hours of formal coursework, of which 15 hours will be from the IMS core. Students must complete each course with a grade of B or higher. The IMS core courses must be taken in the first semester in which the course is available. The course consists of five fundamental areas. The Materials Fundamentals course is required of all IMS graduate students. From the remaining four areas, a student must select one from three different areas. Within each selection, the student has options as to which course fulfills that requirement as shown.
The core consists of:
- Materials Fundamentals
- MSE 6310 Atomic Arrangements in Solids - Research Rotations
- MSE 6391/92 Research Rotations
Three courses from three of the four areas below:
- Solid State Materials
One of the following:
- EECE 6301 Solid-State Materials
- EECE 6306 Solid-State Effects and Devices I
- ME 8364 Nanophotonic Materials
- PHYS 5640 Physics of Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics
One of the following:
- CHBE 6110 Advanced Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
- CHEM 5350 Statistical Thermodynamics
- ME 8320 Statistical Thermodynamics
- PHYS 5200 Statistical Physics
- PHYS 8040 Statistical Mechanics - Quantum
One of the following:
- CHEM 5320 Quantum Chemistry
- PHYS 5651 Advanced Quantum Mechanics
- PHYS 8030 Quantum Mechanics
- PHYS 8152 Quantum Mechanics of Solids - Chemistry
One of the following:
- CHEM 5040 Nanoparticles
- CHEM 5340 Applications of Group Theory
- CHEM 5410 Molecular Modeling Methods
- CHEM 5420 Computational Structural Biology
- CHEM 5610 Chemistry of Inorganic Materials
- CHEM 5620 Chemistry of Biological Materials
- CHEM 5630 Macromolecular Chemistry
- ME 8391 ST-Spectroscopy
The remainder of the 72 hours can be taken as dissertation research, coursework, or transfer credit (if applicable). Performance in dissertation research does not affect the student’s GPA. However, it is critical to note that until 72 hours is reached that a full 9-credit hours are taken each semester. This may be all in research, all in courses and seminar, or some combination thereof.
Outline of Elective Course Requirements
All students are required to take 9 credit hours of elective courses. These can be selected from any courses within the School of Engineering or Science-related Graduate classes within Arts & Sciences. Additional courses taken from within a single core focus area (e.g. taking CHEM 5610 and 5040) will qualify as an elective course. Below we highlight courses currently listed within many focus areas to serve as a guide to students in selecting their electives. Students are under no obligation to choose courses from the below lists and the availability of these courses is subject to change without notice depending on the prerogatives of the listing department.
Bio
- BME 5200 Principles and Applications of BioMEMs
- BME 5500 Nanobiotechnology
- BME 7310 Advanced Computational Modeling and Analysis in Biomedical Engineering
- BME 8901 Special Topics: Advanced Fundamental Biomaterials
- BSCI 5252 Cellular Neurobiology
- EECE 5892 Optical Tweezers in Biology and Medicine
Computational
- BME 7310 Advanced Computational Modeling and Analysis in Biomedical Engineering
- CHBE 5410 Molecular Modeling Methods
- CHBE 5830 Molecular Simulation
- CHEM 5420 Computational Structural Biology
- ME 8365 Micro-Nano Energy Transport
- PHYS 5237 Computational Physics
Energy
- ME 5265 Direct Energy Conversion
- ME 8365 Micro-Nano Energy Transport
- ME 8391 ST-Energy Conversion
Fundamental
- CHBE 5840 Synthesis and Applications of 2D Nanomaterials
- CHBE 5850 Semiconductor Materials Processing
- CHBE 5870 Polymer Science and Engineering
- CHEM 5150 Electrochemistry
- EECE 6307 Solid State Effects in Devices II
- IMS 5320 Nanoscale Science and Engineering
- MSE 6343 Electron Microscopy
- ME 8323 MEMS/NEMS
- ME 8391 ST-Spectroscopy
- PHYS 8159 Experimental Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization
- PHYS 8164 Many-Particle Quantum Theory
Optics
- BME 7140 Fundamental of Optics
- EECE 5288 Optoelectronics
- EECE 5892 Optical Tweezers in Biology and Medicine
- EECE 6303 Nanophotonic Devices
- ME 8364 Nanophotonic Materials
- PHYS 8158 Interactions of Photons with Atoms, Molecules and Solids
Radiation Effects
- EECE 5604 Radiation Effects
- EECE 6307 Solid State Effects in Devices II