PhD Requirements

You, your adviser, the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), and the BAE Graduate Program Committee (GPC) Chair work together in a cooperative, iterative process to develop a degree program that meets your goals and all Graduate School, BAE Program, and subject matter requirements. The full GPC sees copies of programs approved by the DGS and GPC Chair, but doesn’t participate in the program approval process unless requested by the student, adviser, DGS, or GPC Chair. If the GPC is asked to consider a degree program and it does not approve the program, the student’s adviser and/or the student may ask the full BAE Graduate Faculty to consider the program.

Members of your examination committee receive copies of approved degree programs.

If you are a full-time student on an assistantship, we want you to submit your program no later than the middle of the second semester you are enrolled. This will allow you to meet Graduate School requirements; doctoral programs must be submitted to the Graduate School at least two semester before the term in which you plan to take their oral examination.

After your degree program is initially approved, any proposed changes to the program must be submitted to the DGS for approval.

Your Ph.D. degree program must include:

  • a minimum of 45 course credits beyond the B.S. and a minimum of 24 doctoral thesis credits (BAE 8888). A minimum of 12 course credits must be in a minor field or in a supporting program. Ph.D. degree programs include relevant master’s level course work and the Ph.D. degree program form should list all master’s course work that is to be counted in the course credit total. Note that for students who did not get their master’s at the University of Minnesota, 60% of the total course credits must be from the University of Minnesota.
  • BAE 8001, Seminar I (1 cr), BAE 8002, Seminar II (1 cr), and BAE 8003, Seminar III (1 cr). Any of these courses that are taken at the master’s level count toward the Ph.D. and do not have to be retaken. [Note that the requirement for taking BAE 8002 and 8003 will not go into effect until the courses have been approved by the Physical Sciences Policy and Review Council.]
  • BAE 8013, Parameter Estimation (3 cr) unless students can demonstrate to the BAE 8013 instructor that they have already mastered the course material. Students who took 8013 before starting their Ph.D. do not have to retake the course.

Your program should contain a minimum of 9 course credits in a concentrated area of scientific or mathematical theoretical development that is related to your research.
Your program is expected to include mostly 5000- and 8000-level courses (courses primarily for graduate students). If your program contains more than two 4000-level courses (courses primarily for undergraduates) beyond the courses taken for the master’s degree, you and your adviser are asked to include a letter of explanation when the program is submitted for approval. [Note that students who receive their M.S. from the University of Minnesota are allowed to take up to three 4000-level courses without writing a letter of explanation. These students would be allowed to take another two 4000-level courses for their Ph.D. without writing a letter of explanation.]

If your program includes more than 8 credits of special problems or advanced problems courses, you and your adviser are asked to include a letter of explanation when the degree program is submitted for approval.

You are allowed and encouraged to take up to 3 course credits outside of your major area of interest in areas that will broaden your program and help you achieve your academic goals. Examples include (but are not limited to) courses on classroom teaching, extension work, communication skills, or business management. These credits may be counted in the 45-credit minimum.

You must pass preliminary written and oral exams, write a dissertation, and pass a final oral exam. The preliminary written exam is a dossier on proposed dissertation research. Dissertations may be a series of papers that are suitable for publication. A dissertation topic should be selected with emphasis in sound theoretical formulation, development of research procedure, data collection, and data analysis. The project should demonstrate your ability to work independently as a research scholar.

You are encouraged to write two or more articles for refereed journals, or prepare some other scholarly work (for example, literature review, research proposal, extension bulletin, website, or teaching materials).

In this Section

Dossier

Oral Preliminary Exam

Final Exam