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    Mar 28, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Mechanical and Energy Engineering with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering, PhD


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All students pursuing the doctoral degree with a major in mechanical and energy engineering must plan their degree program with the assistance of their major professor and their advisory committee. The requirement for graduation is at least 72 semester credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree or 42 hours beyond the master’s thesis. The student needs to maintain at least a B average in all graduate courses.

Students entering with a BS

Students entering the PhD with a major in mechanical and energy engineering with a bachelor of science must complete 72 semester hours at the graduate level as follows:

  1. Twelve semester credit hours of core courses chosen from the listing provided by the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering.
  2. A minimum of 9 semester credit hours of electives are selected from one of the three areas: general energy, thermal energy and fluids, or solid mechanics and controls. Courses are selected with approval of the student’s dissertation advisor and graduate advisor.
  3. A minimum of 15 semester credit hours of courses from mechanical and energy engineering and related fields approved by the dissertation advisor.
  4. Up to 21 hours of research credits.
  5. Up to 3 hours of seminar.
  6. A minimum of 12 hours of dissertation (MEEN 6950) credit hours that can be registered for only upon the successful completion of the PhD qualifying examination.

Students entering with an MS

Students entering the PhD with a major in mechanical and energy engineering with a master of science must complete 42 semester credit hours of course work as follows:

  1. Twelve semester hours of core courses chosen from the core course listing provided by the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering and posted on its web site.
  2. A minimum of 9 semester credit hours of electives that are selected form one of three areas: general energy, thermal energy and fluids, or solid mechanics and controls. Courses are selected with the approval of the student’s dissertation advisor and graduate advisor.
  3. A minimum of 3 credit hours of courses at the 5000 level or higher offered by mechanical and energy engineering and related fields.
  4. Up to 6 hours of research credit hours.
  5. Up to 3 hours of seminar.
  6. A minimum of 9 hours of dissertation (MEEN 6950) credit hours that can be registered for only upon the successful completion of the PhD qualifying examination.

Examinations

  1. Two written qualifying examinations in the following areas of specialization: general energy, thermal energy and fluids, or solid mechanics and controls.
  2. After passing the written exam, students are required to complete and defend in an oral examination an original research proposal that, if executed, would lead to a PhD dissertation.
  3. Upon passing the written and oral examination by the examination committee, the applicant is admitted to candidacy.
  4. Details of the written examination schedule, expectations and criteria for successful completion are available in the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering.
  5. A pre-dissertation presentation must be conducted between 6 and 12 months prior to final dissertation defense. This presentation is to the PhD committee members and open to the general public. Committee members will identify weaknesses and shortcomings in the research and will provide specific, actionable recommendations to strengthen the dissertation.
  6. The student must give a final oral dissertation presentation to the dissertation committee and that is made open to the general public. The dissertation must be submitted to the committee at least seven days before the oral defense and the time and place of the presentation disseminated to the MEE faculty and students. The student will revise the dissertation following the suggestions of the dissertation committee and submit the final dissertation to the graduate school of UNT.

Requirements


The Doctor of Philosophy degree represents the attainment of a high level of scholarship and achievement in independent research that culminates in the completion of a dissertation of original scientific merit. Hence, it cannot be prescribed in terms of a fixed semester credit hour requirement.

Generally, the degree consists of 72 semester credit hours beyond a bachelor’s degree and 42 hours beyond the master’s degree, with 12 and 9 semester credit hours allocated for the dissertation, respectively. It is expected that the candidate will have published at least two original research articles in a refereed journal prior to graduation.

Admission to the Doctoral Candidacy

Departmental admission to doctoral candidacy in mechanical and energy engineering requires a satisfactory score on the written and oral sections of the qualifying examination (see “Examinations” section below). Contact Toulouse Graduate School or the program for current admission requirements, or see information posted on the graduate school web site at graduateschool.unt.edu.

Approximately a year after the candidate is admitted to candidacy, the student is examined on the chosen area of specialization: in this case Biomedical Engineering (see “Examinations” section below for details).

Enrollment in MEEN 6950  is not allowed until the student has been admitted to candidacy and has successfully passed the examination on the chosen specialization.

Advisors

A student in this program will have two co-advisors; one from MEEN and one from BMEN. Faculty with joint MEEN/BMEN appointments may serve as either the MEEN or BMEN advisor. A student’s graduate program will be constructed with the advice and consent of the two co-advisors within the framework described below.

Dissertation Committee

The dissertation committee will consist of five members: two must be from MEEN and two must be from BMEN including one each from MEEN and BMEN as co-advisors. The committee should be made up with a majority of MEEN or MEEN majority joint appointment faculty.

Examinations

  1. A written qualifying examination is taken after completion of the core curriculum courses and consists of two subjects: one subject is chosen from solid mechanics, thermodynamics/heat transfer, fluid mechanics and vibrations/controls.; the other subject is a specialty exam related with biomedical engineering (e.g., Biomaterials, Tissue engineering, etc.)
  2. After passing the written exams, students will propose and defend a topic that is expected to lead to their Ph.D. dissertation. The topic must therefore be approved by the Ph.D. advisor.
  3. Upon passing the written and oral examination by the examination committee, the applicant is admitted to candidacy.
  4. A Pre-Dissertation Presentation must be conducted between 6 and 12 months prior to final dissertation defense. This presentation is to the Ph.D. committee members only. Committee members will identify weaknesses and shortcomings in the research, and will make specific, actionable recommendations to strengthen the dissertation. It is expected that all recommendations would have been implemented by the student at the time of final dissertation defense.
  5. Details of the examination schedule, expectations and criteria for successful completion are available in the Mechanical and Energy Engineering Graduate Student Handbook available in the department office and posted to the department web site.

Final Examination

This oral examination is primarily a defense of the dissertation, which must be submitted in final form to the final examination committee at least seven days prior to the scheduled oral examination.

Required Courses


For the student who has a BS degree, and for the student who has a MS degree, the approximate requirements follow:

Electives, 24 hours


For students with a BS degree, a minimum of 12 credit hours may be chosen from Biomedical Engineering, and further 12 credits hours from mechanical and energy engineering or biomedical engineering fields, as approved by the major professor and the advisory committee. For students with a MS degree, a minimum of 9 credit hours may be chosen from Biomedical Engineering. Examples of Biomedical Engineering electives include BMEN 5210 - Biomedical Engineering Laboratory  and BMEN 5310 - Clinical Instrumentation .

Individual Research, 22 hours


  • ; 22 credit hours for students with BS degree and 10 credit hours for students with MS degree
  • Additional course work may be taken in lieu of individual research hours.

Seminar in Mechanical and Energy Engineering, 2 hours


Dissertation, 12 hours


​Seminar in Current Topics in Materials Science and Engineering


All doctoral students are expected to attend MTSE 5700  during each term/semester of full-time graduate study. A seminar based on the student’s dissertation research must be given during the regularly scheduled class time prior to and in addition to the formal defense of the dissertation.

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