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The SMU Electrical Engineering Department emphasizes the following major areas of interest:
1. Articulation courses, if necessary, are used to prepare a student for graduate study in
electrical engineering (to bring the student’s knowledge to the required level). Students must
complete any required articulation courses with a GPA of 3.0 prior to entering the program.
2. All students must select a primary area and a secondary area from the areas listed in this
section. A total of eight courses must be taken in these two areas with a minimum of four
courses (12 term credit hours) in the primary area and a minimum of two courses (six term
credit hours) in the secondary area.
1. A student who does not pass the exam can take it a second time.
2. A student who fails the exam both times will not be permitted to continue in the Ph.D.
program.
3. A student who repeats an exam must do so at the earliest possible time after the first attempt.
4. If, after passing the written exam, the student decides to change his or her research area, he
or she will be required to pass another written exam in the new area.
The oral qualifying exam will be administered by the student’s supervisory committee. The exam
will be taken after the student has passed the written exam and has completed most of the
required coursework, but no later than one year after completing all coursework. A student who
does not meet the deadline must petition the doctoral program committee for permission to take
the oral exam.
The main focus of the oral exam will be on the research the student proposes to conduct for his or
her dissertation. The student is expected to write up a description of the research problem,
previous results and the approach or approaches he or she proposes to consider in the
investigation. The write-up must be made available to the supervisory committee at least two
weeks prior to the scheduled date of the exam and should clearly indicate the significance and
originality of the research, the proposed approaches and the expected results.
The student will be admitted to candidacy upon passing the oral qualifying exam. A student who
does not pass the oral exam may be permitted by the supervisory committee to retake it once. If,
after admission to candidacy, the student decides to change his or her research area, he or she will
be required to take the qualifying exam again and be readmitted to candidacy before being
permitted to complete the dissertation.
Final Examination
Upon completion of all other requirements, the student is required to take a final examination
conducted by his or her supervisory committee, in which he or she will present the dissertation.
The student will notify the Lyle School of Engineering graduate division in advance of the date,
time and place of the exam so that it can be publicized on campus. The student should provide
copies of the complete draft version of the dissertation to the supervisory committee at least three
weeks prior to the date of the final exam. It is recommended that students submit the results of
their research for publication at conferences or in journals before taking the final exam.
The supervisory committee may ask questions and make comments or require changes in the
dissertation to satisfy itself that the quality of the work is in keeping with the highest standards of
research. If the dissertation requires substantial changes, the student should submit the revised
dissertation to the supervisory committee for re-examination.