The Doctoral Degree Requirements in Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Steps to the Doctoral Degree in CEE

Approval of the doctoral program and admission to general exam
Satisfactory performance in the general exam, Part 1 and 2
Formation of Doctoral Thesis Committee and approval of Doctoral Research Proposal
Completion of the academic program and satisfactory defense of the Ph.D. thesis

Typical Student Progression in Academic Years (AY)

September AY1: Student enrolls in a graduate program
October AY2: Student Interview - approval of doctoral program and admission to general exam
January AY2: Student passes Part 1 general exam
Spring Term AY2: Student passes Part 2 of general exam and becomes a doctoral student
By end of AY2: Student forms Doctoral Committee, which approves his/her thesis proposal
AY5 or AY6: Student defends doctoral thesis.

A Doctoral Program consists of 120 units, including a 5-subject Core Program and one breadth subject. The Core Program reflects the core knowledge in the student’s chosen field within CEE, which is tested in Part 1 of the General Exam (see below). The core subjects are credited to the student by passing the general examination, irrespective of whether the subjects were actually taken. The remainder of the doctoral program is made up of graduate subjects that complement the Core. The remainder program also includes one breadth subject. The breadth subject must be drawn from a discipline that is distinct from any discipline included in the Core Program. For example, students should consider subjects in writing, foreign language, political science, business, law, and/or other branches of science and engineering. Finally, up to 24 units of graduate credit taken outside MIT may be transferred to the doctoral program.

General Examination

The General Examination consists of two parts.

General Exam Part 1

Part 1 of the General Exam is a written, take-home exam that lasts 3 and ½ days and covers the subjects included in the Core Program. The Core Program consists of 5 H-level subjects, including a minimum of four subjects from course 1. The five questions are written and graded by the faculty/staff in charge of the subjects. A student may request one additional subject from outside CEE (i.e. for a total of two from outside CEE), but the question for the second non-CEE subject must be written and graded by a course 1 faculty. If this requirement cannot be met, the academic program will be considered to be an interdepartmental doctoral program. Please consult MIT Graduate Student Policies and Procedures for the appropriate guidelines.

In answering Part I questions, any written material (textbooks, journal papers, class notes) may be used as long as answers include appropriate references. Interaction with fellow students (past or present) and faculty members — other than the one in charge of a question for the purposed of clarification — is not permitted during the Part I examination.

Student performance on Part I is evaluated by a committee of CEE faculty and staff. The outcome of the examination may be pass, fail with recommendation to retake, or fail with no option to retake. Students are allowed only two attempts at passing the general examination. If allowed, the retake of the exam must occur the next time the exam is offered. Changes in the core program are not permitted.

General Exam Part 2

Part 2 of the general exam consists of a written document and an oral presentation. Part 2 tests two sets of skills. First, can the student formulate a research question, set out a plan of research, and interpret the research results. Second, can the student clearly present and defend this research. The research presented can be drawn from a variety of sources, e.g. SM or MEng thesis, the first year or so of an RA, research conducted as part of an internship. The oral presentation is 45 minutes, followed by 45 minutes of questions. The document may be a maximum of 10 pages of single-spaced text and figures, using a minimum of 12-point font. The necessary components are given below. The examining committee for Part 2 includes faculty and staff responsible for the core subjects, as well as faculty and staff close to the student’s research area. The committee must include a minimum of three faculty/staff, with a minimum of two from CEE. The committee chair must be in CEE, and may not be the student’s advisor. The chair may be chosen by the student, or assigned to an eligible faculty/staff member at the start of the Part 2 presentation.

Performance on Part 2 is evaluated by the examining committee. The outcome may be pass, fail with recommendation to retake, or fail with no option to retake. The Committee Chair communicates the result of Part 2 to the student, and then to Kris Kipp via email, with cc to all committee members.

Required Components of the General Exam Part 2 Report:

This report should have a maximum of 10 pages, single-spaced, 12-point font. Students may ask their advisor for advice in the preparation of this document. Students may also get assistance from MIT’s Writing and Communication Center.

The research report should contain the following elements.

Abstract: Present a concise summary of the motivation and specific objectives of the research, the methods used, and the key results. A person unfamiliar with the topic area should be able to understand from the abstract the goals of the research, the major results, and why the results are important.

Introduction: Introduce the general topic of the research and explain its relevance, e.g. what is the practical or fundamental importance of this topic. Demonstrate familiarity with previous studies related to the research. Clearly state the specific goals of the project.

Methods: Outline and describe the methodology you employed in the research.

Results: Describe specific results from the research.

Discussion: Compare and contrast the results with other research in the literature. Explain the implications of your results to broader questions and/or applications contained in the motivation.

Timeline for the General Exam

Part 1 of the general examination is given during the first full week of January and the first full week of May. Students are expected to take Part I at the end of the third semester as graduate students, and must take it by the end of their fourth semester. Part 2 must be completed by the end of the term following the passing of Part 1, specifically, by the end of Spring term following January exams and by the end of the summer term following May exams.

Approval of the doctoral program and admittance to the general exam are based on a review of academic and research performance and the Student Interview, where the student may be asked questions about their doctoral program and proposed research. The Student Interview is held with a group of faculty and research staff in the student’s CEE program. The Student Interview occurs in the semester prior to the written exam. To accommodate changes to the program, the Student Interview should occur by the 7th week of term, i.e. before drop date. One week before the Student Interview students submit the following to their General Exam Officer

Professor Elfatih Eltahir, Environmental Science and Engineering (Parsons Laboratory)
Professor Oral Buyukozturk, Mechanics of Materials and Structures

- One-page summary of proposed research written for a general scientific audience.
- Doctoral Program form without signatures.
- If your core program includes a subject from outside the department, you must submit a completed Outside Examiner’s Letter with appropriate signatures. Only one subject may be examined by a faculty/staff from outside CEE.

After the Student Interview, the students admitted to the General Exam obtain the signatures of faculty and staff in charge of the core program on the Doctoral Program Form. If your core program includes a second subject from outside the department, the CEE faculty/staff who will write and grade that question signs the form. Within one week after the Student Interview, submit the signed copy of the Doctoral Program Form (and, if necessary, Outside Examiner form) to Kris Kipp, the CEE Academic Programs Officer (1-290), and one copy to your General Exam Program Officer (listed above).

The Doctoral Program Form and the Outside Examiner’s Letter are available at the Forms Related to Graduate Study page.

Doctoral Thesis Committee and Approval of Doctoral Research Proposal

After passing both parts of the general examination, the student forms a Doctoral Thesis Committee, which consists of a minimum of three faculty/staff, including a minimum of two members from CEE. The student invites one of the committee members to be the chair. The committee chair must be a member of CEE, and may not be the student’s advisor. Once the Thesis Committee is formed, the student prepares a Research Proposal and schedules a date to present the proposal orally to the Doctoral Thesis Committee. The goals of the research proposal may be prepared with guidance from the advisor, as most doctoral research is funded by existing projects developed by the advisor, and may need to meet specific benchmarks. The thesis proposal must be 15 single-spaced pages. Longer proposals will not be accepted. The necessary components are given below. The oral presentation is 45 minutes.

At least 10 days prior to the scheduled meeting, the student delivers copies of the written proposal to the committee members with a final schedule of when and where the presentation will take place. After delivering the final proposal to the committee, the candidate should neither solicit nor expect to receive feedback from any of the committee members, including the advisor, prior to the presentation. On the day of the presentation, the student should bring a copy of the form, Record of Approval of Doctoral Thesis Research, which is available at the Forms Related to Graduate Study page.

Following the oral presentation, the Committee members may ask questions related to the oral presentation, the written proposal and/or the general topic of the proposed research. The Committee may raise questions about the motivation, potential impact, and feasibility of any aspect of the proposed research. At the end of the question period, the student leaves the room while the Committee members evaluate the candidate’s performance in four areas.

Quality of written presentation
Quality of oral presentation
Technical quality of proposed research
Ability to respond to questions

The thesis proposal may be accepted as written, or with recommendations for alteration. The outcome and specific requirements for alteration are recorded by the committee chair on the Record of Approval of Doctoral Thesis Research form, and the chair then forwards the completed form the CEE Academic Programs Office (Room 1-290). If the proposal is not approved, the committee explains the shortcomings to the student, and the chair sends an email to Kris Kipp with the result.

Approval of the thesis proposal should occur within one year after Part 2 is completed. If the student is ready, the Thesis Proposal may be combined with Part 2 of the General Exam. In this case, the written document follows the requirements of the Thesis Proposal.

After the approval of the thesis proposal, the student schedules regular meetings with the doctoral committee to demonstrate progress and receive feedback. Students should plan two meetings per year (or one per semester). Bring a copy of the form, Record of Doctoral Thesis Committee Meeting, to each meeting. At the end of the meeting, bring the original, signed form to CEE Academic Programs Office (1-290). Keep a copy of the form for you own records. The form is available at the Forms Related to Graduate Study page.

If at some point the subjects in the Doctoral Program change, the student should submit a Petition for Revision of Doctoral Program, which is available at the Forms Related to Graduate Study page.

Required Components in the Research Thesis Proposal:

The thesis proposal is a 15-page, single-spaced, 12-point font document. Students may ask their advisor for advice in the preparation of this document. Students may also get assistance from MIT’s Writing and Communication Center.

The Thesis Proposal should include the following sections:

Abstract: Present a concise summary (less than one page) of the research topic, the objectives/hypotheses to be achieved/tested and the manner of the work. A person unfamiliar with the topic area should be able to understand from the abstract what is being proposed and why it is important.

Introduction: The main goal of this section is to motivate the proposed research. You must convince the reader why the proposed project is important. The following progression is recommended.

Introduce the general topic and explain the broader relevance, e.g. what is the practical or fundamental importance of this topic;
Demonstrate familiarity with previous studies in this area;
Identify areas of knowledge where new research is needed. The third element should be clearly connected to the specific objectives of your proposed research.

Objectives/hypotheses: Clearly state the objectives of the proposed research and/or the hypotheses to be tested.

Proposed research: Outline and describe the methodology to be employed in sufficient detail to give the informed reader a clear picture of how the goals of the proposed research will be achieved. Emphasis should be placed on what the student plans to do and not on what s/he has already done (already completed preliminary experiments belong in the introduction or in an appendix). Include a timeline to demonstrate that the proposed sequence of work is feasible within the duration of a typical PhD degree.

Expected results: Describe specific results expected from the proposed research and explain how specific results would address specific aspects of the stated objectives and/or hypotheses.