Northeastern University

Education

Students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of research projects linking electrical, mechanical and civil engineers. All students are required to participate in a one year supervised teaching experience. Students participate in regular professional activities sponsored by Northeastern's Engineering Research Centers and professional conferences. Students who are interested may pursue internships during their first year of graduate study through Northeastern's Cooperative Education program."

Curricula Requirements for Graduation

Students must demonstrate outstanding academic abilities and have taken at least 52 SH of coursework. Up to 28 SH of coursework taken in an approved Masters of Science program can be applied to graduation requirements. Students will be required to pass three exams: qualifying, research proposal, and defense. The doctoral dissertation must be interdisciplinary spanning at least two fields while demonstrating a solid grounding in the candidates 'home' discpline.

We expect students to acquire fundamental backgrounds in the problem areas, sensing technologies, and signal processing. Therefore, students must take at least two of the courses across the disciplines. Accommodation can be made through petition to the PhD advisor and the SIDR Faculty Leadership Committee to accept necessary courses as part of the SIDR curricula requirements.

Fundamental Courses are those courses that provide necessary fundamental theory and computational tools for advanced study in SIDR.

SIDR Research Requirements: The Doctor of Philosophy is a research degree and all students will be required to complete original and independent research documented in a dissertation. Students will be advised by two co-advisors from two different departments on a jointly defined research projects. As part of research training, students will have the opportunity to participate in a research rotation to be exposed to all aspects of SIDR. The formation of the qualifying exam committee and the dissertation committee will follow the College of Engineering Interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy guidelines, repeated here for completeness. The doctoral dissertation is expected to be a document that describes interdisciplinary contributions.


College of Engineering Interdisciplinary Degree Requirements

The Graduate School of Engineering offers the opportunity for an interdisciplinary doctoral program involving substantial work in two or more departments. A written proposal describing the areas of proposed study and research should be submitted with the student's application. Interdisciplinary study requires favorable recommendation by the sponsoring doctoral degree-granting department and approval by authorized representatives of the graduate study committees of the departments appropriate to the disciplines covered by the student's proposal. The sponsoring department is the registration base of the student.

Formation of Interdisciplinary Committee: A student who has been accepted for interdisciplinary study must obtain the consent of an adviser who will direct his or her doctoral thesis. This adviser, who may or may not be a member of the registration department, will be chairman of the interdisciplinary committee for this student. A second member will be appointed from the registration department by its chairman. These two members will obtain one or more additional members or request the director of the graduate school to do so. At least two departments must be represented on the committee, and a majority of the committee must come from doctoral degree-granting departments. The chairman of the registration department will notify the Director of the Graduate School of the membership of the committee as soon as arrangements are complete.

Duties of Interdisciplinary Committee: A member of the interdisciplinary committee who is also a member of the registration department will serve as the registration officer to approve the course registration for the student. A copy of the approved course registration must also be filed with the other committee members and with the graduate study committee of the registration department.

The interdisciplinary committee will be responsible for the administration of the qualifying examination, language examination, approval of the dissertation, and comprehensive examination. This committee must also certify to the registration department the completion of the requirements for the award of the doctoral degree.

The interdisciplinary committee must assure that the program of the student represents standards comparable to those of the registration department and that the program is not so broad that it has inadequate depth in any area.

The student's program may be reviewed at any time by the Director of the Graduate School to determine whether objectives of the program are being met.


GAANN Fellowship Information