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PhD Program in ASE – Required Examinations
Approved:
Dec. 5th,
2003
Effective Date:
Fall 2004 (students admitted to the PhD program on or after the
first day of classes.)
Revised and Approved:
Important Note:
This document details the Departmental guidelines for the
Qualifying Examinations, the procedure for obtaining approval of the
dissertation topic, and the Preliminary/Comprehensive Examination (denoted as
Candidacy Examination in this document). It is meant to complement the general
guidelines published in the Graduate Studies Bulletin of Mississippi State
University (the current document is available online here). Please refer to the Bulletin for more
background material on these examinations.
Doctoral Qualifying
Examinations:
These examinations are meant to test the understanding of
essential undergraduate-level material in Aerospace Engineering. They
are required of all students seeking a Doctoral degree, and are to be taken
at the earlier of the following two deadlines: during the first Fall or
Spring semester after a student has completed 18 graduate credit hours at MSU
(only hours completed after admission to the PhD program shall be counted); or
during the first Fall or Spring semester after a student has completed one
third of his/her program of study.
Each student has to select three topics among those listed
below. At least two of the topics have to be in different major areas.
Students who have completed the courses indicated in parenthesis below, or
their equivalents, should be well prepared to pass the topic examinations. A
student may choose one topic in each area.
I.
Solid
Mechanics area:
a.
Aircraft
Structures (ASE 4623)
b.
Mechanics of
Materials (EM 3213)
c.
Vibrations
and Dynamics (EM 3413)
II.
Fluid
Mechanics area:
a.
Incompressible
Aerodynamics (ASE 3313)
b.
Compressible
Aerodynamics (ASE 4343)
c.
Propulsion
(ASE 4413)
III.
Flight
Mechanics area:
a.
Static Stability
and Control (ASE 3123)
b.
Dynamic
Stability and Control (ASE 4123)
c.
Astrodynamics
(ASE 4143)
Examination Rules:
(1)
These
examinations are to be conducted by an Examination Committee appointed by the
Department Head, with membership drawn from the Faculty within the Department.
The Chair of the Committee shall have a Level 1 appointment to the Graduate
Faculty at MSU.
(2)
These
examinations shall be offered once each Fall/Spring semester, during the fifth
and sixth weeks of classes.
(3)
Each topic
examination shall be in a written format, and its duration shall be two hours.
All examinations in one of the major areas above shall be offered on the same
day; the examinations for each major area shall be scheduled in different days.
(4)
Each student
must take all three examinations in the same Semester. A student who fails one
or more topics is required to take the failed topic examination(s) the next
time it is offered. Failure to pass the topic examination(s) on the second
attempt will result in dismissal from the doctoral program.
(5)
The
Examination Committee shall grade all examinations. The final result shall be a
grade of pass/fail in each topic separately, for each student. Any grade
appeals shall follow the University procedures (detailed in the Graduate Bulletin),
with the Examination Committee Chair serving as the Instructor of Record for
this purpose.
Approval of Dissertation
Topic:
Each student shall submit a written proposal for doctoral research
to his/her Doctoral Committee. The proposal shall outline significant
preliminary findings to date, the proposed avenue of research, and a research
plan with key milestones. The proposal is due no later than the
tenth week of the first Fall or Spring semester after a student completes 10
graduate research hours (only research hours completed after admission to the
PhD program shall be counted). Early submission of this proposal is
encouraged, in order for the Committee to be in a position to be more effective
in directing the research efforts of the student. Within four weeks of
the submission to the Committee, an oral defense of the proposal shall be
scheduled by the Chair of the Doctoral Committee (the defense shall be closed
to the general public: only the student and all departmental Faculty who are
members of the Graduate Faculty shall be admitted. An observer from the
Graduate School may also be present, at the request of the student). The
outcome of the oral defense shall be the formal approval/disapproval of the
dissertation topic by the Doctoral Committee. If the dissertation topic is
conditionally approved, the Chair of the Doctoral Committee shall have the
responsibility of ensuring that the conditions are satisfied before granting
final approval. If the dissertation topic is rejected, the student shall have
one more chance to submit a new written proposal, not earlier than six
months after the first submittal. A second rejection shall result in
dismissal from the doctoral program. The dissertation defense shall not be
scheduled before at least one calendar year has passed from the date of
the formal approval of the dissertation topic.
Doctoral Candidacy
Examination (DCE):
The role of the Doctoral Committee shall be predominant after the
student has passed his/her Qualifying Examination. In addition to the Doctoral
Committee, the Department Head and the Graduate Coordinator shall have an ex-officio
participation in the administration of the DCE examination. In the following,
the Examination Committee will indicate the Doctoral Committee augmented
by the Department Head and the Graduate Coordinator. As stated in the
University Graduate Bulletin, this examination may be taken only after the
student has completed or is within 6 hours of completing his/her course work,
and has the dissertation topic approved.
Examination Rules:
(1)
The
Candidacy Examinations shall be composed of a written and an oral part. In
special circumstances, and only with the unanimous consent of the Examination
Committee, the written part of the examination can be eliminated.
(2)
The written
examination shall be conducted only on those courses/topics that are closely
related to the candidate's proposed research. The Examination Committee shall
prepare the examination, and its format and length shall be at the discretion
of the committee.
(3)
Following
the written examination there shall be an oral examination, open to the entire
departmental Faculty, resulting in the formal granting of Candidacy status upon
the student by the Examination Committee. A student who fails this examination
cannot apply to take another until four months have elapsed from the
date of the original examination. Two failures of this examination shall result
in dismissal from the doctoral program.