Ph.D. PROGRAM

The Department does not administer a qualifying (or diagnostic) examination. A student holding an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from another school who gains admission is considered to be qualified. A student who is in our M.S. program and who wishes to continue on to a Ph.D. should make her/his intentions known to the Department Chair. This is normally done toward the end of the second semester in residence. Shortly thereafter, the Chemical Engineering faculty will meet to consider the application. The faculty will evaluate each application, basing their decision primarily on the student's performance in graduate level chemical engineering courses and on evidence of research aptitude. A favorable decision by the faculty will constitute an offer of admission to the Ph.D. program and automatic qualification to pursue the Ph.D. degree. If the decision is favorable, the student must make a formal application to the Graduate School. Once a student has been officially accepted into the Ph.D. program, the course and examination requirements of this program come into effect.

Course Requirements

The Department of Chemical Engineering, recognizing that the Ph.D. degree is a research degree, holds to the minimum course requirements set by the Graduate School at WSU. That is, 34 credits of graded course work beyond the B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and a minimum of 17 credits in ChE 800. As part of the 34 graded course work credits, the student is also required to fulfill the M.S. requirements. That is the completion of ChE 510, 541, 596 and 597 or their equivalents. In addition, 18 graded course credits in 500-level chemical engineering courses are also required. The specific program of study is subject to approval of the student's Ph.D. committee and it is possible that the committee could require more than this minimum. Also, see policy concerning electron microscopy course.

Preliminary Examination

Successful completion of a preliminary examination is required by the Graduate School at WSU in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering. The preliminary examination should be taken upon completion of the majority of formal course works, typically after 4 semesters from the B.S. degree. The examination is divided into two parts: a written examination on the course works taken, and the preparation and oral defense of a formal research proposal. The following is a statement of policy regarding the procedures, schedules, and requirements for each portion of the examination.

Written Exam

The written portion of the examination will be waived for resident students who have earned a 3.5 GPA based on all 500 level ChE courses (except Che 596 and 597). The 3.5 GPA must be earned in at least 12 credits of these courses taken on the Pullman campus.

The written examination will be given once a year (early summer) and will consist of an open book examination, four hours in length. Candidates will answer four of the six questions from the general areas of: Transport Phenomena, Applied Mathematics, Kinetics and Reactor Engineering, Thermodynamics, Process Control, and Unit Operations.

If a candidate fails to pass the written examination, she/he may be given the opportunity to retake the examination six weeks after being informed of the failing grade. A second failure will result in a termination of the student's Ph.D. program.

Research Proposal

Upon being informed of the waiver or the successful completion of the written examination, the candidate will prepare and formally present a research proposal. This must be done within six weeks after being informed of passing or waiving the written exam. Failure to do so within the allotted six weeks will result in having to take or retake the written exam the following year.

The proposal should not deal directly with the student's doctoral dissertation but rather on some related aspect that will not be covered during the thesis work. It should also be kept in mind that the proposal should deal with a "new" research idea and is not simply a review of research that has already been completed or reported in the literature. The presentation will be formal and will be given to the entire Chemical Engineering faculty, including the Ph.D. committee. Each ChE faculty and committee member will then vote on whether the candidate has successfully passed the preliminary exam and be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D.

Bypassing the M.S. Degree

Provisions exist for bypassing the M.S. degree and proceeding directly from the B.S. degree to the Ph.D. degree. However, this option is available only to students who hold a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. To be granted this provision a student must first obtain approval from his/her major professor. With this approval the Chemical Engineering faculty will then meet to consider the request. If the faculty decision is favorable, the student must then meet the Graduate School requirements of 26 credits of graded course work and two (2) credits of ChE 702 and will be awarded a non-thesis M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering. The successful completion of ChE 702 requires that the student prepare a manuscript suitable for publication or a formal report detailing the results of the research completed to date.