Updated: February 27, 2007
Each student enrolled in the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program will, in conference with his/her academic advisor, formulate a program of study which satisfies both the technical interests of the student and the degree requirements set forth herein and in the General Catalog. No sample Ph.D. degree programs are presented in this section. Students entering with a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering will generally follow the sample program of the MS degree during their first year. Beyond that time programs of study should be tailored to the individual need of the students. Appendices B and C of this brochure contain descriptions of courses offered by the School of Aerospace Engineering and related courses offered by other Schools at Georgia Tech. Appendix C is a listing of the anticipated terms when these courses will be offered. A course will not be offered if there is insufficient demand.
While each program of study can be tailored to the specific interests of the student, it must also satisfy certain minimum coursework requirements set by the School of Aerospace Engineering. The following table summarizes these requirements for the PhD degree. (See below for further discussion of these requirements.)
| Hours |
|
| AE classes (min) | 19 |
| Math (min) | 12 |
| Non-AE* (max) | 19 |
| Non-technical** (max) | 9 |
| Hours at 6000 or above (min) | 41 |
| TOTAL hours | 50 |
* Maximum
number of hours taken outside AE, including nontechnical, but excluding Math.
**Technical courses are any courses in the College of Engineering, College of
Science or College of Computing.
After the program of courses is agreed to by the student and advisor, the courses will be listed on the "Ph.D. Program Summary" form (See Appendix F) by the advisor. This form will be retained with the student's other academic records in the AE Academic Office. Each term, when the student confers with the advisor before registration, the advisor will update this form with the grades obtained and enter any modifications to the program of study.
All students enrolled in the Doctor of Philosophy program must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 50 hours of formal course work beyond the bachelor's degree. These courses must be at the 4000 level or above and can not include any courses required for the Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree at Georgia Tech (See Appendix A). Of these 50 hours at least 19 must be taken in the School of Aerospace Engineering. Of the remaining 31 hours only 9 may be in non-technical areas and only if these courses form a reasonable part of the program of studies. These 50 hours must include at least 41 credit hours at the 6000 level or above. No Special Problem course credits may be included in the above minimum credit requirements. All of these minimum credit requirements must be taken on a letter grade basis.
For the Doctor of Philosophy degree the student must have satisfactorily completed at least 12 credits of mathematics beyond the bachelor's degree. Of these, 9 hours must carry the 'Math' prefix. These are used to satisfy the minor required by the Institute. The remaining 3 hours will either carry the 'Math' prefix or be selected from the list in Appendix E. These courses must be at the 4000 level or above, with the exception of MATH 3215. None of these minimum credit requirements can be taken on a pass/fail basis.
All students enrolled in the Doctor of Philosophy program in the School of Aerospace Engineering are required to maintain a grade point average of at least 3.25 in order to be in good academic standing. This average will be computed for all course work eligible towards the Ph D. degree and taken at Georgia Tech. If a student retakes a class, only the most recent grade will be used to compute this GPA for AE purposes. However, the registrar compiles the official GPA using all grades received while a graduate student at Georgia Tech.
In addition to the overall grade point average of 3.25, the student must maintain at least a 2.8 grade point average in all mathematics courses taken as a graduate student at Georgia Tech.
The student must satisfy the above grade point average requirements in order to take the Ph D. qualifying exam, be admitted to the candidacy, present a thesis proposal or graduate.
A student may receive up to thirty semester hours of "AE Transfer Credit" for graduate-level courses taken at an accredited institution anywhere in the world and not used for credit toward an undergraduate degree. To obtain this transfer of credit, the student must confer with the academic advisor to ascertain that the courses to be transferred are a logical part of the student's program of study. If the courses are appropriate, the student must provide a current transcript which verifies completion of the credit, plus necessary descriptive materials including catalog descriptions and textbooks for evaluation of the credit. “AE Transfer Credit” in Mathematics must be approved by the School of Mathematics. A record of the courses accepted for AE Transfer Credit will be made on the "AE Graduate Student Transfer Credit" form (See Appendix F). This record will be retained in the AE Academic Office with the remainder of the student's academic files.This transter credit will NOT appear on the student's transcript.
The Ph.D. qualifying examination is offered twice a year, usually in September and March. Approximately three months before the date on which the student wishes to take the qualifying examination, the advisor must recommend to the AE Graduate Committee that the student be permitted to continue in the Ph.D. program and, thus, to register for the exam. This recommendation is made by completing the memorandum form entitled "Recommendation for the Ph D Program" (See Appendix F) and is approved by the AE Graduate Committee. Students are generally expected to take this examination during their second year of full-time graduate study. In order for a graduate student to be permitted to take the PhD Qualifying Examination, the student must have at least a 3.25 grade point average in a minimum of 12 credit hours taken at Georgia Tech which count toward the 50 credit hour requirement.
The student, in consultation with his advisor, will select three examination areas from the list of eleven which is given in Appendix D. It should be noted that the general scope of each examination will be based on the enumerated Primary courses plus all associated prerequisite and background material at the graduate and undergraduate level. Every Ph.D. student will take a 55-minute oral examination in each of the selected areas. Each examination will be administered by two faculty members.
All degree requirements must be completed within five years from the end of the semester in which the student passes the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination.
Reexaminations
If a student fails the examination, a reexamination will be automatically permitted. This reexamination must be taken the next time the examination is offered. The reexamination will be given in the same three areas as the first examination. A second failure of the examination will result in dismissal from the Ph.D. program. If a student fails the examination with only two failing votes in one area, he/she may choose to be reexamined that area only. In that case the candidate must recieve a passing grade from both examiners.
Every Ph.D. candidate is required to take at least two AE courses (minimum of 6 credit hours) on a letter grade basis for which graduate credit is admissible in fields outside his/her main area of interest. For this purpose all AE graduate and 4XXX level elective courses are assigned to one of four main areas (See Appendix A and Appendix B): (1) non-reacting / reacting flow, (2) aeroelasticity/ structures, (3) flight mechanics and control, and (4) design. The student must then choose a minimum of 2 courses outside the area in which he/she has taken most of his/her classes. Instructors of Special Topic courses, AE81XX, or new courses must indicate to the AE Graduate Committee the main area(s) with which the course is associated when the course is first offered.
All students enrolled in the Ph.D. degree program will determine their topic of research, which will lead to their dissertation, as early as possible. This decision will be made in conference with their academic advisors. The research effort should represent an original and significant contribution in the major field of study. Definition of the research topic will include identification of the motivation for the investigation, a scheduling of the scope of work associated with the study, and a statement of the anticipated objectives. One purpose of the dissertation is to further the educational development by requiring the student to plan, conduct and report on an organized and systematic program of research in the major field of study; the other is to advance fundamental knowledge in the field of aerospace engineering.
Shortly after the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination has been passed and the research topic has been defined, the student and advisor will select a dissertation "Advisory Committee." This committee will include the advisor as the committee chairperson and two others who are well qualified in the subject matter of the research. At least two members of the committee must be members of the School of Aerospace Engineering Faculty and hold an earned PhD degree. The task of the Advisory Committee is to advise and direct the student on the scope and execution of the research.
The student must write a brief technical report which describes the proposed research effort. This Research Proposal should include the motivation behind the topic selection, a brief account of work conducted by others on the topic, the scope of work to be completed, preliminary results, and the specific objectives of the study. The length of this proposal document is typically limited to about 20 pages of text plus tables and figures. After an editorial review by the advisor, the proposal will be distributed to the other committee members. No less than two weeks following distribution of the proposal, the student will make a presentation of the proposed research effort to the Advisory Committee as a whole. This presentation should be made no later than one year after the student has passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. Approval to schedule the presentation is given by the AE Graduate Committee in response to a written request from the advisor. A public announcement with a short abstract (Appendix F) must be submitted to the AE Academic Office at least two weeks prior to the presentation.
After the Advisory Committee has approved the proposed effort, has verified that the student is technically qualified to conduct the effort, and has signed the "Request for Approval of Thesis Topic" form (See Appendix F), this form and a copy of the Research Proposal will be submitted to the AE Academic Office for approval by the Chair and forwarding to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. At this time the AE Academic Office will also request “Admission to Candidacy” for the student from the Office of Graduate Studies.
At the conclusion of the research effort the student will write the dissertation by setting forth in a clear and articulate form the results and conclusions of the investigation. The "Manual for Graduate Theses," available from the Office of Graduate Students and Research, specifies the requirements for the dissertation.
After the academic advisor has completed an editorial review of the dissertation and have found it to be satisfactory, copies will be distributed to the Thesis Advisory Committee and two others who are well qualified in the subject matter of the research and hold an earned PhD degree. This group of five will constitute the "Final Doctoral Examination Committee." This committee must include at least one but no more than two members from outside the general faculty of School of Aerospace Engineering. Any member of this committee who is not part of the general faculty of the Institute, must be approved by the AE Graduate Committee and the Institute.
The advisor, with consent of the “Final Doctoral Examination Committee”, will submit a written request to the AE Graduate Committee for permission to schedule the "Final Examination” in the form of the memorandum entitled “Final Doctoral Examination Committee and Thesis Presentation” (See Appendix F). This request must be received by the AE Graduate Committee no less than two weeks before the proposed examination date. Futhermore, the members of the “Final Doctoral Examination Committee” must receive copies of the thesis at least 2 weeks before the defense date. The defense must be scheduled at least three days before the thesis due date of the term in which the student is to graduate.
An announcement of the thesis defense must be submitted to the AE Academic Office at least two weeks before the presentation (see Appendix F for suggested formats which must include the title of the thesis, name of the author and the advisor, the time and location of the presentation, and a short abstract). The AE Academic Office will post this announcement on the AE Web Page, will email copies to all faculty and graduate students of the School of Aerospace Engineering, and will post it on the Undergraduate and Graduate Bulletin Boards at least one week prior to the presentation. .
The Final Examination will consist of a formal presentation of the research results and conclusions to Final Examination Committee and others in attendance. Immediately following the presentation and discussion by the general audience the student will be questioned by the committee and any interested members of the general faculty. The Examination Committee will then decide what modifications to the dissertation, if any, they require to be made before it can be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.
After the Final Doctoral Examination Committee has approved the dissertation and signed the "Certificate of Thesis Approval" form (See Appendix F), three copies of the unbound dissertation together with the Certificate of Thesis Approval must be turned in to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. The graduate office also requires a publishable thesis abstract of up to three hundred words, certified for accuracy by the thesis advisor. These submittals to the graduate office must be made no later than a date specified each term by the graduate office.
No sample Ph.D. programs are provided. Most students entering the graduate program with a BS degree will follow a program similar to that outlined in the MS section of this handbook. Students entering the program with an MS will need to tailor their program carefully to their background with the help of their academic advisor. In any case, the student is encouraged to schedule classes related to his/her qualifying examinations, whether similar classes have been taken elsewhere or not.