ECEDU:PHD - Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering and Computing Education

Graduation Requirements

The graduation requirements for the program will be:

(1) Completing a total of 75 credit hours of coursework beyond the bachelor degree (see section VIII. C. for detail), with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.

(2) Successful completion of the Comprehensive Exam. This examination serves as an evaluation of student preparedness for doctoral study. This examination assesses a student’s understanding of the field of engineering and computing education and the major theoretical concepts, applied issues, and means of inquiry for undertaking research in the field. The student must pass the Comprehensive Exam by the end of the seventh semester (excluding summers) in the program if they were admitted without a Master's degree or by the end of the fifth semester if admitted with a Master's or the equivalent 15 credit hours. Two attempts are permitted. Any exception needs to be approved by the Graduate Committee.

(3) Choosing advisor(s). The student will choose a faculty from the College of Engineering and Computing as their dissertation advisor. A co-advisor could be selected from within the College or from outside.

(4) Assembling a Dissertation Committee. The students will assemble a Dissertation Committee of at least four faculty members [including Major advisors]. Two committee members must be SUCCEED faculty, or SUCCEED-affiliated faculty and one must be FIU faculty from outside of SUCCEED.

(5) Successful presentation and submission of a dissertation proposal. The student will present and defend their plan for dissertation study. The purpose of the proposal is to provide an opportunity for the student to demonstrate their abilities to scope and plan a research project and communicate that plan both in writing and orally. The proposal will be submitted to at least three members of the candidate's dissertation committee (at least two of whom will be from SUCCEED or the STEM Transformation Institute). The candidate presents their accomplishments and proposed research and answer questions from the committee and others in the audience.

(6) Upon completion of the required core courses, the Comprehensive Exam, and the dissertation proposal the student advances to Candidacy.

(7) Satisfaction of the teaching requirement. The ability to teach at the university level is an important skill that should be encouraged in all graduate students. For this reason, students will be required to take the course Foundations of Engineering and Computing Teaching and Learning course prior to candidacy and participate in a mentored teaching practicum for one semester during their PhD studies in order to gain exposure to the classroom or laboratory teaching environment. Students with teaching experience from previous graduate programs may petition to waive the teaching requirement, in which case the three-credit course should be replaced with an alternate course. Waivers will be granted at the discretion of the Graduate Program Director.

(8) Submission and defense of a dissertation based upon original research in Engineering or Computing Education. A dissertation is required of all candidates for the PhD degree and must conform to the format outlined in the Regulations for Thesis and Dissertation Preparation Manual available to students online from the FIU Graduate School. Students must complete a minimum of 15 dissertation credits.

(9) After submission of the dissertation and completion of all other required work for the PhD degree, the candidate will be given a final oral thesis defense examination by the Dissertation Committee. Successful completion of all of these steps will culminate in the granting of the PhD degree.

For admission into the program, students will:

(1) Have a bachelor degree in Engineering or Computing or a closely related field.

(2) Have either an upper division GPA of at least 3.0 in the bachelor’s degree, calculated based on the last 60 credits attempted or the overall undergraduate GPA, or GPA of at least 3.0 from a Master’s program in a closely related field

(3) Have three letters of recommendation, a copy of the transcript, and a copy of the university graduate application to the Graduate Program Director in accordance with University Graduate School deadlines.

(4) Have received approval of the departmental graduate committee.

(5) International students whose native language is not English must obtain a score of 80 or higher on the TOEFL iBT (this corresponds to 550 on the old TOEFL test), 6.3 overall on the 1ELTS, or equivalent test as approved by the University Graduate School. The University Graduate School has a list of countries that are exempt from this requirement.

There are no majors associated with this program.