GUIDELINES FOR THE DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING At the City College of New York

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1 GUIDELINES FOR THE DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING At the City College of New York INTRODUCTION The doctoral program in civil engineering at CCNY consists of three specialty areas: structural engineering and mechanics, transportation systems and planning, and water resources and environmental engineering. ADMISSION TO THE DOCTORAL PROGRAM Eligibility: Applications for the doctoral program are welcomed from students who have completed a Bachelor s degree in civil engineering or a closely related field from an accredited institution. Applicants will be evaluated using the following criteria. Academic record. Prospective students are expected to hold a master degree in engineering or a closely related field with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.5. Prospective students who do not hold a master s degree but hold a bachelor s degree in engineering or a closely related field can also apply but their GPAs are expected to be at least Applicants with a lower GPA may be accepted in the master s program first. Upon successful completion of the master s program with a GPA of 3.5 or higher, the student may reapply to the doctoral program. Standardized test scores. All prospective students must take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). International students who have completed their course work in an institution where the language of instruction (during the duration of an applicant s study there) was any language other than English must also submit TOEFL Exam scores. The desirable scores for GRE and TOEFL are: GRE: 750 is the minimum Quantitative score; Verbal scores should be above the 50 th percentile or approximately 400; a minimum score of 3.5 is required on the Analytical section. TOEFL: The minimum scores considered for admission are 550 for paper-based tests, 213 for computer-based tests, and 79 for internet-based tests. Letters of recommendation. A minimum of two letters of recommendation are required for the application. These letters should come from two faculty under whom the student has studied or who are familiar with the student s analytical and intellectual capabilities. Personal essay. A personal essay of no more than 500 words is required for the application. This essay should describe the student s academic aspiration, research interests and long-term goals. It is especially important to explain how admission to the doctoral program at City College of New York will help the student achieve their long-term goals. Deadlines. The admission decision will be made only after the receipt of all valid documents, including: Application form filled in and with the personal essay Transcripts from all schools at which the applicant has studied Letters of recommendation GRE scores TOEFL scores, if applicable Application fee. The application should arrive prior to the following deadlines: Updated: October

2 Fall Semester May 1 st Spring Semester - November 15 th Students in need of financial support should consider applying for Fall semester admission. Application forms can be downloaded from the admissions page of the CCNY web site: ( REQUIREMENTS FOR A DOCTORAL DEGREE Credits: A minimum of 60 graduate credits must be completed within the area of specialty. Forty-eight of these are course credits and 12 credits are research credits (CE58990 doctoral dissertation research). Students with a Master s degree may transfer up to 30 credits from their previous institution. Levels: The doctoral student s level reflects the progress made by the student toward the completion of the degree requirements and affects the tuition charged. The student will be classified as: Level I: Upon acceptance into the doctoral program. Level II: After completion of 45 credits and the passing of the 1 st exam (Ph.D. qualifying exam). Level III: After the successful presentation and defense of the 2 nd exam which consists of the Ph.D. dissertation proposal, the completion of 48 credits of coursework with grades of B or better in each course, the completion of 12 credits of doctoral dissertation research, and demonstration of the necessary skills and tools for completing the proposed research. A level III student is a Ph.D. candidate. Ph.D. candidates must register for one credit of ENGR90000-dissertation supervision every semester until graduation. Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering: The degree is awarded following the successful completion of the 3 rd exam which consists of a presentation of the Ph.D dissertation and its defense before an examining committee consisting of the candidate s mentor and 4 examiners. If a student enrolls in the program with only a Bachelor s degree, the expected time to complete the requirements for the Ph.D. degree is approximately 5 years. A recommended schedule is shown in Table 1. Students admitted with a Master s degree normally require 3 to 4 years to complete their requirements. Table 2 shows a schedule for students with a Master s degree, assuming that 30 credits have been transferred from his/her previous institution. A maximum of 8 years is allowed for the completion of the degree requirements. A minimum full-time residency of one year is required although longer periods of residency are recommended. 2

3 Table 1. Estimated Schedule for Students with a Bachelor s Degree Schedule Credits Exam Schedule Levels Year 1, Fall 12 credits Level I Year 1, Spring 12 credits Level I Year 2, Fall 12 credits Level I Year 2, Spring 12 credits 1 st exam Level I Year 3, Fall 6 credits (CE58990) Level II Year 3, Spring 6 credits (CE58990) 2 nd exam Level II Year 4, Fall 1 credits (ENGR90000) Level III Year 4, Spring 1 credits (ENGR90000) Level III Year 5, Fall 1 credits (ENGR90000) Level III Year 5, Spring 1 credits (ENGR90000) 3 rd exam Level III and graduation Table 2. Estimated Schedule for Students with a Master s Degree (with the assumption of 30 transferred credits) Schedule Credits Exam Schedule Levels Year 1, Fall 12 credits Level I Year 1, Spring 12 credits 1 st exam Level I Year 2, Fall 6 credits (CE58990) Level II Year 2, Spring 6 credits (CE58990) 2 nd exam Level II Year 3, Fall 1 credits (ENGR90000) Level III Year 3, Spring 1 credits (ENGR90000) Level III Year 4, Fall 1 credits (ENGR90000) Level III Year 4, Spring 1 credits (ENGR90000) 3 rd exam Level III and graduation To remain in good academic standing, a Ph.D student s overall GPA must not fall below 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. In addition, all requirements for the degree must be completed no later than eight years after matriculation. A student who matriculates after the completion of 30 credits of acceptable work must complete all requirements within seven years. ADVISING By the end of the 1 st semester, all Ph.D. students should select an advisor, or the department will assign one. Starting from the 2 nd semester, Ph.D. students without an advisor will not receive any financial support from the department. Any change of the advisor has to be approved by the department Ph.D. committee. All Ph.D. students are expected to work with their advisors closely throughout their Ph.D. program. THE FIRST EXAM (QUALIFYING EXAM) Students should take the qualifying exam within the first three semesters of their enrollment in the Updated: October

4 program. The qualifying exam is intended to test the student s grasp of basic topics at the undergraduate and graduate level. The first exam consists of a three-session written exam (analytical techniques and two specialization exams), which may be followed by an oral exam at the discretion of the examination committee, if the examination committee is uncertain about the student s understanding of the material. The written exam for Civil Engineering is offered once per year, generally between the end of the Fall semester and the beginning of the Spring semester. Each of the three sessions is four hours in duration. The three sessions are given on three alternate days. The analytical techniques session in the exam is common to all students, regardless of their specialty. Students are encouraged to audit or take courses to help them prepare for the qualifying exam. Selected copies of previous exams are available for inspection by students. Students who wish to view prior exams may request in the office of Professor Reza Khanbilvardi (who is the chair of the Ph.D. committee for Civil Engineering). Students who do not pass one or more of the sections may be permitted to retake the relevant section(s) during the next exam cycle. Students who do not pass on the second attempt will be dismissed from the Ph.D. program. First session: Analytical Techniques The first session tests knowledge of mathematical and statistical techniques relevant to research and analysis in all relevant areas of civil engineering. All Civil Engineering doctoral students must take this exam. The topics covered are: Numerical methods, Ordinary and partial differential equations, Laplace and Fourier transforms, Vector calculus, and Probability and statistics. The student generally has a choice of questions to answer, for example, eight out of twelve questions. Typically, four questions are related to topics covered in CE H1000 (Analytical Methods in CE); four questions are related to numerical methods, Laplace and Fourier transform, and vector calculus; and four questions are in probability and statistics. Suggested courses that help prepare a student for this exam include CE H1000 (Analytical Methods in CE), CE G4500 (Advanced Data Analysis), ENGR I1100 (Introduction to Engineering Analysis), ENGR I1400 (Applied Partial Differential Equations), and ENGR I1500 (Introduction to Numerical Methods), as well as relevant courses in probability and statistics. The second and third sessions of the Qualifying Exam are specific to the student s specialization. They are described below. Structural Specialty Second session: Solid Mechanics Topics will include mechanics of materials, elasticity, plasticity, structural stability, structural dynamics, finite element methods, and soil mechanics. Third session: Structural Analysis and Design: Topics will include linear and nonlinear analysis of structures, steel design, concrete design, earthquake engineering, bridge engineering, design of foundations, condition assessment and structural rehabilitation. Transportation Specialty Second session: Transportation Engineering and Economics Topics will include traffic engineering, infrastructure design, infrastructure management, and transportation economics. Students are required to answer six questions out of eight. Suggested courses 4

5 covering these topics are CE52000 (Traffic Engineering) 1, CE I2400 (Analytical Techniques in Transportation), H2100 (Flexible and Rigid Pavements), CE I2200 (Transportation Asset Management), and CE H0200 (Transportation Economics; or equivalent course : ECO B9502: Urban Economics or ECO C0010 Transportation and Economics) Third session: Transportation Planning, Policy Topics will include transportation planning, modeling, and policy. Students are required to answer six questions out of eight. Suggested courses covering these topics are CE I2600 (Urban Transportation Planning), CE I2000 (Travel Demand Forecasting), CE I2900 (Transportation Project Evaluation), G4900 (Transportation Network Analysis) and CE I2700 (Transportation Policy). Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Specialty Second Session: Fundamentals of Fluids, Hydraulics, Environmental Eng. Typical topics will include analysis of fluid mechanics, conservation of mass, energy and momentum principles, fluids properties in closed and open conduits, design of pipe networks, pumping stations, detention facilities, collection systems, and reservoirs. Other potential questions could deal with fundamental analysis of environmental and air pollution issues. Students are required to answer six out of eight questions in this exam. Third Session: Advances in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Typical areas covered in this exam include: design and analysis of hydraulic structures, watershed and river hydrology, remote sensing of land cover and water resources features (vegetation, precipitation, snow, soil moisture, etc), advanced fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, water and wastewater treatment, waste management, air pollution analysis and management. Appeal Students who take the exams have the right to appeal if they are unsatisfied with the grades they receive or the decision that the Ph.D. committee makes. Students who intend to appeal should write a formal letter to the chair of the Ph.D. committee for Civil Engineering: Prof. Reza Khanbilvardi at rk@ce.ccny.cuny.edu, requesting to appeal. In the letter, the student should specify which specific questions or exam(s) to be re-evaluated. THE SECOND EXAM (PROPOSAL DEFENSE) All students are required to prepare and orally present their proposed research. Students will work with their mentor to identify and develop a research topic that complements their long-term goals. Once the mentor reaches the decision that the student has made enough progress on the research topic and a draft copy of a proposal is available, the research advisor will consult with the department Ph.D. committee and the chair, or sometimes the Graduate Dean and identify 3 or 4 faculty colleagues to act as the dissertation proposal committee. The dissertation committee will hear the student s oral presentation and conduct the Second Examination to determine if the topic and student s knowledge are adequate for doctoral work. The dissertation proposal committee should consist of at least four members including the mentor from the CE department. An additional member or more from other departments or from outside CUNY can be added if desired. The Second Examination need not be restricted to the topic of the proposal; part of the exam could involve general knowledge deemed to be required to conduct the particular research topic. The Executive Officer of the Doctoral Program (currently Dean Kassir) should be notified at least 10 days prior to the date of the 2 nd exam. The exam 1 Undergraduate course. Updated: October

6 will be open to the public and engineering community. In announcing the Second Examination, the Graduate Dean officially appoints the dissertation committee which was chosen as mentioned above. THE THIRD EXAM (DISSERTATION DEFENSE) After the proposal defense, students are expected to dedicate the majority of their time to investigating their research topic. A student meeting all recommended deadlines should plan to orally defend his/her dissertation to their committee at the end of the Ph.D. program. The committee to conduct the Third Examination consists of the dissertation committee (described above under the Second Exam) plus one additional member from either the CE department, or other departments, or from outside CUNY who is familiar with research topic. There are no specific rules on selecting the additional member, traditionally a member outside CUNY is chosen. Concerning student s research achievement for the degree, there are no rules or guidelines but typically the committee should request to see a list of publications and conference presentations of the student with at least one paper in a referred journal to indicate minimum contribution of the student. At the end of the exam, the committee chooses one of the four possible decisions: accept as it is, accept with minor revisions, accept with major revisions, or reject. Typically, if the decision falls within the first three categories, the time between the 3 rd exam and the final filing of the dissertation should not exceed 1 year. The date of the examination is set by the student after consultation with his/her mentor. The Executive Officer of the Doctoral Program (currently Dean Mumtaz Kassir) should be notified at least two weeks prior to the date of the 3 rd exam. The exam will be open to the public and engineering community. AVAILABILITY OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT Depending on the availability of funds and the student s performance, a variety of financial support options may be available. In general, there can be the following types of financial support: university fellowships (e.g., science fellowship) and departmental fellowships (which can range from teaching assistantships to research assistantships). Students in need of financial support should consider applying for Fall semester admission. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Information about degree requirements can be obtained from the Executive Officer of the Doctoral Program in Engineering. The current executive officer is: Dr. Mumtaz Kassir. Graduate Studies at CCNY School of Engineering Steinman Hall 152 (212) kassir@ccny.cuny.edu The current chair of the Doctoral Committee for Civil Engineering is: Prof. Reza Khanbilvardi. Steinman Hall 107 (212) rk@ce.ccny.cuny.edu 6

7 Prospective and newly accepted graduate students should contact the appropriate area coordinator, to identify a permanent graduate advisor from the Civil Engineering faculty whose research interests complement the student s own interests. Coordinators for each specialty area are listed below: Structures Prof. Anil Agrawal Steinman Hall 121 Tel: (212) agrawal@ce.ccny.cuny.edu Transportation Prof. Cynthia Chen Steinman Hall 127 (212) c.chen@ccny.cuny.edu Water resources and environmental engineering Prof. Vasil Diyamandoglu Steinman Hall 184 Tel: (212) vasil@ce.ccny.cuny.edu Updated: October