Mar 28, 2024  
2014-2015 SDSM&T Academic Catalog 
    
2014-2015 SDSM&T Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ph.D.


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Contact Information

Dr. Sangchul Bang
Professor and CENE Graduate Coordinator
Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
Email: Sangchul.Bang@sdsmt.edu
Phone: (605) 394-2440
Office: CM 238

Faculty

Professors Bang, Fontaine, Gribb, and Kenner; Associate Professor Stone; Assistant Professors Benning, Cetin, Gadhamshetty, Nam, Robinson, and Shearer.

Background Requirements

All SDSM&T Graduate College admissions requirements apply to the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CENE) Ph.D. program. In addition, a GPA of 3.00 or better is required, as is the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for applicants except School of Mines graduates.

Students with a B.S. degree who apply to the Ph.D. program will be admitted to the CENE M.S. program until they have accumulated sufficient course credits for an M.S. degree. Admission to the CENE Ph.D. program is normally limited to qualified students who have already earned an M.S. degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering or a related field. Students holding an M.S. but with extensive undergraduate deficiencies may be placed into the CENE M.S. program until these deficiencies are remedied. Students placed into the M.S. under one of these two circumstances will be admitted to the CENE Ph.D. program after passing the qualifying exam.

Incoming students should have completed the courses presented below. Deficiencies in these areas must be remedied by taking the necessary coursework prior to enrollment in the doctoral program.

Calculus I, II, and III
Differential Equations
Probability and Statistics
General Chemistry I and II
General Physics I
Statics

All CENE doctoral students are also expected to have completed the appropriate background courses for their intended research emphasis area (refer to the CENE Ph.D. Program Handbook: http://www.sdsmt.edu/Academics/Departments/Civil-and-Environmental-Engineering/Roadmap-To-Success/). Additional subjects may be required by the student’s graduate committee. These requirements will be documented as a formal component of a student’s Program of Study.

Qualifying Exam

All CENE Ph.D. students are expected to take a qualifying exam to demonstrate their potential for independent research. Students entering with a B.S. degree will take the examination in the semester immediately following the completion of 24 credits of graduate coursework. Students placed in the M.S. program due to undergraduate deficiencies must take the qualifying exam in the semester immediately following completion of all deficiencies. Students entering with a completed M.S. degree will take the qualifying exam before the end of their second semester in residence.

To pass the qualifying exam, the student must 1) complete all undergraduate deficiency requirements, 2) submit a valid Ph.D. Program of Study to the CENE Ph.D. program coordinator Dr. Sangchul Bang; 3) complete a literature search and paper on a topic related to the student’s area of concentration; and 4) present and defend the paper in an oral examination by the student’s Advisory Committee. The paper should reflect a sustained effort and culminate in an analysis of potentially significant research problems. The identified problems need not match the eventual dissertation topic.

The Comprehensive Examination and Admission to Ph.D. Candidacy

When the student’s program of coursework has been substantially completed, she or he will undertake the comprehensive examination for admission to candidacy. This exam will consist of two parts:

  • A written examination based on emphasis area courses as specified by the student’s advisory committee. This will be a 3-hour written examination. The written examination will be graded by the student’s advisory committee prior to the dissertation proposal presentation.
  • The student will prepare a written dissertation research proposal and complete an oral presentation of that proposal in the presence of the CENE faculty and the student’s Advisory Committee, preferably as a presentation of the CENE graduate seminar series.

Satisfactory completion of the comprehensive examination requires successful completion of the written exam and the dissertation proposal defense, with no more than one member of the graduate student advisory committee votes against passing. If the student has conditional pass (usually requiring a re-write and/or re-submittal of the proposal), the committee shall inform the student promptly as to how and when the conditions may be removed. Admission to candidacy should normally be passed at least 5 months before the dissertation is defended. Additional details about the comprehensive exam are presented in the CENE Ph.D. Program Handbook.

Dissertation Defense Requirements

The dissertation defense will be scheduled at any time after the student has completed the required coursework and after the graduate student advisory committee is satisfied that the dissertation is an acceptable manuscript. A schedule of exam and defense deadlines is available on the Graduate Education web page. Additional details regarding scheduling and other requirements are presented in the CENE Ph.D. Program Handbook.

The dissertation defense may not be scheduled during the period of university final examinations. The student will be required to give an oral presentation, open to the public, on the major findings of his/her research. CENE doctoral candidates are expected to present their dissertation defenses during the CENE graduate seminar series. An oral examination will follow the presentation, led by the student’s major professor with only the student’s advisory committee in attendance. The student’ advisory committee will question the student to test the quality and completeness of the research. Additional details about the dissertation defense procedure may be found on the Graduate Education web page and in the CENE Ph.D. Program Handbook.

Curriculum


The CENE Ph.D. program consists of 90 total credits for qualified students entering the program with a B.S. degree.  Nine credit hours of required coursework to ensure competency in research methods and communication skills.  The student’s graduate advisory committee will assess the student’s academic transcripts and approve a combination of coursework (between 15 and 27 credits) and dissertation (between 24 and 36 credits) that meets all degree requirements.

Requirements


Total: 90


Curriculum Notes


1 Course taken for credit 3 times for a total of 3 credits. CENE Ph.D. students are expected to attend and participate in the CENE seminar series whether they are taking it for credit or not.

2 Elective courses may be selected from the focus area lists or from other graduate courses as a part of a student’s Program of Study, subject to approval of his/her major professor and advisory committee.

3 Students entering with a M.S. degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering or a closely related discipline may apply a maximum of twenty-four (24) course credit hours toward the required and elective course requirements, subject to approval of the CENE graduate committee.

4 Students entering with a M.S. degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering or a closely related discipline may apply a maximum of six (6) course credit hours toward the research credit requirements, subject to approval of the CENE graduate committee.

Recommended Electives- Civil Engineering Materials Focus Area


Additional Information


For program supervision purposes, the CENE Ph.D. program coordinator is the graduate advisor until the major professor is appointed. The major professor is responsible for providing academic advising and supervising the student’s dissertation research. The graduate office representative on the student’s dissertation committee must be selected from outside of the department. Detailed information about the program is included in the CENE Ph.D. Program Handbook.

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