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Ph.D. Transportation Engineering

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree is a research-oriented degree requiring a minimum of 64 semester credit hours of approved courses and research beyond the Master of Science (M.S.) degree [96 credit hours beyond the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree]. The university places limitations on these credit hours in addition to the requirements of the Department of Civil Engineering listed below.

A complete discussion of all university requirements is found in the current Texas A&M University Graduate Catalog.

Transportation Engineering Faculty Members

Departmental Requirements

In addition to fulfilling the University requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, a student enrolled in the Civil Engineering graduate program in the area of Transportation Engineering must satisfy the following department requirements.

  • A minimum of 32 credit hours of graduate level coursework taken through Texas A&M University [a minimum of 24 credit hours if the student already has taken at least another 24 credit hours of graduate course work for the Master of Science (M.S.) or Master of Engineering (M.E.) degree].
  • Remaining coursework requirement can be met by 32 hours of CVEN 691 (research)

Transportation Engineering Requirements

The student must also satisfy the following area requirements and/or recommendations described below:

  • Qualifying Exam : A Qualifying Examination will be scheduled with members of the Transportation Engineering The exam will include both written and oral components. The exam should be taken after the first semester (Fall or Spring) of study. The qualifying exam covers three major areas of Transportation Engineering: operations, planning, and design. English writing will be a separate part. The oral exam is generally scheduled within two weeks of the written exam. The students need to pass both the oral and written parts. If a student fails the qualifying exam, he or she has to take it again at the end of the following semester. If the student fails again, he or she will have to leave the program.
  • Degree Plan: An advisory committee must be formed and a Degree Plan must be submitted and approved by the advisory committee after passing the Qualifying The proposed degree plan must be typed on the official form as it appears on the Internet at http://ogs.tamu.edu/ with endorsements by the student’s advisory committee.
  • Written Preliminary Exam: After completion of the coursework listed on the Degree Plan (with the exception of CVEN 691 Research), but no later than the end of the fifth semester (Fall or Spring) of study, a Written Preliminary Examination will be scheduled with members of the advisory This exam consists of written questions from the advisory committee. The exam in total should be given over a period of one week. The individual committee member decides whether a written exam will be given and whether it will be take-home or in-class, open-book or close-book if an exam is given.
  • Research Proposal: As soon as the research project can be outlined in reasonable detail, but no later than the end of the fifth semester (Fall or Spring) of study, the dissertation research proposal should be.
  • Oral Preliminary Exam: After passing the Written Preliminary Exam, but no later than the end of the fifth semester (Fall or Spring) of study, an Oral Preliminary Examination will be scheduled with members of the advisory At this examination, the student will give a presentation of the Research Proposal. The questions in this exam will cover the Written Preliminary Exam, the Oral Preliminary Exam presentation and any relevant coursework.
  • Completion of Dissertation: Upon approval of the Dissertation by the advisory committee chair, the Dissertation will be submitted to the other members of the advisory committee at least 2 weeks (10 working days) prior to the Final Defense.
  • Final Defense: A Final Defense consisting of an oral examination will be scheduled with all of the advisory committee At this examination, the student will give a presentation of the research work completed for the degree and documented in the Dissertation.