Degree Title: Doctor of Philosophy

Program Name and Number: Civil Engineering - PH7252

Department/Unit: Civil Engineering

Delivery Mode: Athens Campus

Program Mission: The Ph.D. candidate is challenged to become a leading expert in his/her research area, become competent in applying the scientific method to the discovery of engineering principles, be able to design and execute experiments, teach, demonstrate the ability to independently direct research, become conversant in the body of literature, and be able to defend his/her research work, which will stand as a significant and unique contribution to the body of civil engineering knowledge.

Program Learning Objectives: For the student, achievement of this degree will represent the completion of extensive advanced coursework in CE in a specialized area of environmental, geotechnical, structural, or transportation coupled with state-of-the-art research and culminating in a written and defended dissertation.  The Ph.D. degree serves many purposes, first and foremost to prepare advanced students for careers in the CE profession, to convey the skills necessary to perform cutting-edge research, and to solve complex interdisciplinary problems concerning society.  Graduates will go on to advanced positions in industry, government, or tenure-track faculty positions at other universities.

Program Overview: The Civil Engineering Department offers a Doctor of Philosophy degree program with focus areas of environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and transportation engineering. 

Concentrations: The Focus Areas in Civil Engineering include Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Transportation Engineering.

Opportunities for Graduates: The doctoral degree program in Civil Engineering at Ohio University will prepare students for advanced engineering/research work in industry, government, or academia.

Link to Program:   http://www.ohio.edu/engineering/civil/academics/graduate/phd.cfm

Graduation Requirements:  

Students must obtain a minimum of 60 credit hours of approved graduate work, as specified under “Course Requirements” below, including 33 hours of Dissertation (CE 8950) and/or Doctoral Research (CE 8940). Other requirements for the degree include:

• The student must select one of the focus areas and identify his/her advisor by the end of the first semester of enrollment.
• By the end of the first semester of course work towards the Ph.D., the student must submit his/her Program of Study and form the Dissertation Committee in close collaboration with the student’s major advisor.  The make-up of the committee must follow the College’s guidelines and is recorded on the Committee Approval Form.  The committee will include at least five members, including the major advisor, one college representative, and one member from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). The student’s Dissertation Committee and the Department Graduate Committee Chair must approve the Program of Study. 
• By the end of the second semester the student must take a written Qualifying Exam.  This will test mastery of the necessary fundamentals to pursue the Ph.D. degree.  The subject areas of the exam will be determined by the Dissertation Committee, based on the student’s specialty area.  A student who fails the exam will have one more opportunity to take and pass the exam.  Remedial courses may be required before retaking the exam.
• Of the 27 credit hours of courses, at least 18 credit hours must be from courses with numbers greater than or equal to 6000, including at least 9 credit hours from courses at the 7000 level or higher.  No more than 3 credit hours may be from dual-listed 5000/4000 courses open to both graduate and undergraduate students.   Some courses outside the Civil Engineering Department may be included in the Program of Study. 
• Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA to remain in the program.  No credit hours below a C may be counted toward the Ph.D.
• Following the completion of the majority of the coursework, a student is required to take and pass a written and oral Comprehensive Exam.  This examination will test the candidate’s knowledge of advanced coursework, his/her ability to integrate knowledge from courses, and his/her ability to work independently in the specialty area.  The examination will be prepared and administered by the student’s Dissertation Committee and recorded on a Comprehensive Examination Form. 
• After completion of the comprehensive exam, a written Research Proposal must be submitted and presented orally to the Dissertation Committee for evaluation and review via a Research Topic Approval Form.
• A written dissertation must be prepared and defended at an oral examination that will occur at least two full semesters after the Dissertation Committee’s approval of the Research Proposal. 
• At least 14 days before the date of the dissertation defense, the College’s Oral Examination Arrangement Form must be submitted.   
• The student must first provide, at least 14 days before the scheduled oral examination, each examination committee member a copy of the dissertation. 
• At the oral defense of the dissertation, the candidate will present his/her research findings and answer questions.  The oral presentation will be open to the university community.  Approval of the dissertation will not occur if either the Major advisor, the College Representative, or two members of the Dissertation Committee do not ratify the dissertation on the Oral Dissertation Defense Examination Form.

Admission Requirements:   An M.S. in civil engineering or a closely related field is required for admission to the Ph.D. program.  For admission the student should have excellent academic records, demonstrated skills in oral and written English, and an aptitude for research.  Students who are not native speakers of English must meet the university’s English proficiency requirement before starting the graduate program in Civil Engineering.  GRE results, TOEFL score, transcripts from all previously attended universities, a resume, and at least three letters of reference must be submitted by the applicant for review by the Civil Engineering Department Graduate Committee.  A majority vote of the Graduate Committee will determine whether the applicant will be admitted unconditionally, admitted conditionally, or denied admission.  Students admitted with conditional status must obtain a 3.0 GPA after completing 10 credit hours, which should include a minimum of three civil engineering graduate courses.  Conditionally admitted students are not eligible for a graduate assistantship appointment until promoted to unconditional admission status.

Course Requirements:  The courses in the program are listed in groups below in numerical order as follows: courses required of all students, courses required by each focus area, and graduate courses offered by the Civil Engineering Department in this program.  Courses should be selected in consultation with the student’s Major advisor and Dissertation Committee.  A minimum of 60 credit hours is required, which must include at least 33 credit hours of either Doctoral Research (CE 8940) or Dissertation (CE 8950) and 27 credit hours from courses. 

Courses required of all students:

• ET 6020 Technical Writing (1 hr)
• CE 6915 Civil Engineering Seminar (1 hr)
• CE 8915 Seminar in Teaching Civil Engineering (1 hr)
• CE 5200 Finite Element Methods in Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 8950 Dissertation and/or CE 8940 Doctoral Research (≥33 hr total) 

Courses required in Construction Engineering and Management focus area: 

• CE 6150 Heavy Construction Management (3 hr)
• CE 6160 Computer Aided Construction Management (3 hr)
• CE 6170 Construction Productivity (3 hr)

Courses required in Environmental Engineering focus area: 

• CE 7570 Subsurface Remediation (3 hr)
• CE 8530 Environmental Geotechnology II (3 hr)

Course required in Geotechnical Engineering focus area: 

• CE 5720 Advanced Soil Mechanics (3 hr)

Courses required in Structural Engineering focus area: 

• CE 6320 Structural Dynamics (3 hr)
• CE 6310 Structural Reliability (3 hr)

Courses required in Transportation Engineering focus area: 

• CE 7680 Advanced Traffic Signal Operations (3 hr)
• CE 8620 Transportation System Design II (3 hr)
• CE 8670 Traffic Flow (3 hr)

Course required in Water Resources Engineering focus area: 

• CE 7430 Stochastic Modeling (3 hr)

Complete list of courses:

• CE 5100 Applied Boundary Surveying (2 hr)
• CE 5150 Geodetic Surveying (2 hr)
• CE 5160 Construction Estimates & Equipment (3 hr)
• CE 5170 Construction Planning & Scheduling (3 hr)
• CE 5190 Project Development, Construction, & Law (3 hr)
• CE 5200 Finite Element Methods in Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 5240 Strength of Materials II (3 hr)
• CE 5250 Advanced Strength of Materials (3 hr)
• CE 5260 Theory of Stability (3 hr)
• CE 5270 Experimental Stress Analysis (3 hr)
• CE 5280 Theory of Elasticity (3 hr)
• CE 5310 Experimental Methods in Structural Dynamics (3 hr)
• CE 5350 Advanced Steel Design (3 hr)
• CE 5360 Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design (3 hr)
• CE 5370 Timber Design (3 hr)
• CE 5380 Prestressed Concrete Design (3 hr)
• CE 5400 Water Resources (3 hr)
• CE 5410 Stochastic Hydrology (3 hr)
• CE 5430 Open Channel Hydraulics (3 hr)
• CE 5450 Design of Hydraulic Structures (3 hr)
• CE 5530 Solid/Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal (3 hr)
• CE 5540 Sustainable Construction (3 hr)
• CE 5580 Water Quality Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 5630 Introduction to Highway Safety (3 hr)
• CE 5670 Traffic Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 5720 Advanced Soil Mechanics (3 hr)
• CE 5740 Soil Mechanics Laboratory (3 hr)
• CE 5750 Advanced Foundation Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 5760 Soil Stabilization (3 hr)
• CE 5770 Rock Mechanics and Design (3 hr)
• CE 5820 Bituminous Paving Materials and Mixes (3 hr)
• CE 5830 Principles of Pavement Design (3 hr)
• CE 5860 Plates and Shells (3 hr)
• CE 5880 Soil Dynamics (3 hr)
• CE 5900 Special Investigation (3 hr)
• CE 6000 Applied Statistics for Civil Engineers
• CE 6150 Heavy Construction Management (3 hr)
• CE 6160 Computer Aided Construction Management (3 hr)
• CE 6170 Construction Productivity (3 hr)
• CE 6180 Project Risk Management (3 hr)
• CE 6230 Continuum Mechanics I (3 hr)
• CE 6250 Finite Elements in Mechanics (3 hr)
• CE 6310 Structural Reliability (3 hr)
• CE 6320 Structural Dynamics (3 hr)
• CE 6330 Earthquake Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 6340 Bridge Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 6345 Bridge Design (3 hr)
• CE 6500 Chemical Fate and Transport (3 hr)
• CE 6520 Bioremediation (3 hr)
• CE 6530 Environmental Geotechnology I (3 hr)
• CE 6550 Advanced Water Treatment (3 hr)
• CE 6560 Advanced Wastewater Treatment (3 hr)
• CE 6590 Surface Water Quality Modeling (3 hr)
• CE 6610 Environmental Analysis of Transportation Systems (3 hr)
• CE 6620 Transportation System Design I (3 hr)
• CE 6630 Highway Safety and Risk Management (3 hr)
• CE 6640 Urban Transportation Planning (3 hr)
• CE 6650 Traffic Impacts (3 hr)
• CE 6670 Traffic Parameters (3 hr)
• CE 6700 Computational Methods in Geotechnical Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 6840 Constitutive Equations (3 hr)
• CE 6915 Civil Engineering Seminar (1 hr)
• CE 7100 Energy Principles (3 hr)
• CE 7230 Continuum Mechanics II (3 hr)
• CE 7290 Mathematical Theory of Elasticity (3 hr)
• CE 7300 Finite Element Methods II (3 hr)
• CE 7360 Advanced Concrete Design (3 hr)
• CE 7430 Stochastic Modeling (3 hr)
• CE 7500 Design of Water Treatment Facilities (3 hr)
• CE 7510 Sludge Treatment Processes (3 hr)
• CE 7520 Industrial Waste Treatment (3 hr)
• CE 7570 Subsurface Remediation (3 hr)
• CE 7630 Advanced Highway Safety Studies (3 hr)
• CE 7640 Mass Transportation Systems (3 hr)
• CE 7650 Airport Planning and Design (3 hr)
• CE 7680 Advanced Traffic Signal Operations (3 hr)
• CE 7710 Engineering Behavior of Soils (3 hr)
• CE 7740 Experimental Soil Mechanics (3 hr)
• CE 7900 Special Topics in Civil Engineering (3 hr)
• CE 8530 Environmental Geotechnology II (3 hr)
• CE 8620 Transportation System Design II (3 hr)
• CE 8630 Transportation Safety Analysis (3 hr)
• CE 8640 Transit Planning (3 hr)
• CE 8670 Traffic Flow (3 hr)
• CE 8680 Progressive Systems (3 hr)
• CE 8850 Soil-Structure Interactions (3 hr)
• CE 8915 Seminar in Teaching Civil Engineering (1 hr)
• CE 8940 Doctoral Research (1-6 hr)
• CE 8950 Dissertation (1-6 hr)