PhD in Applied Sciences

Master’s degree from accredited university, excellent GPA, English proficiency test (TOEFL/IELTS), three recommendation letters, research statement, personal interview

I. Core Courses
Core courses are selected from an area outside of the specialization of the student.

Admission Case 1A and 1B: at least 3 credit hours.
Admission Case 2A and 2B: at least 6 credit hours.

BIOT 501/5201 – Biochemistry (3 cr.)
BIOT 521/5206 – Fundamentals of Bioinformatics (3 cr.)
CHEM 502/5202 – Organometallics (3 cr.)
CHEM 503/5203 – Advanced Organic Chemistry (3 cr.)
CHEM 504/5204 – Methods of Structure Determination (3 cr.)
CSCE 565/5261 – Advanced Artificial Intelligence (3 cr.)
CSCE 527/5262 – Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms (3 cr.)
CSCE 561/5263 – Knowledge Engineering (3 cr.)
CSCE 664/6261 – Advanced Data Mining (3 cr.)
ECNG 510/5210 – Advanced Solid-State Devices (3 cr.)
ECNG 520/5231 – Advanced Digital Communications (3 cr.)
ENGR 000/5101 – Cross Talk: Implementation Science and Engineering (3 cr.)
ENGR 511/5202 – Computational Methods in Engineering (3 cr.)
ENGR 518/5204 – Engineering Statistics (3 cr.)
ENGR 512/5210 – Experimental Methods in Engineering (3 cr.)
ENVE 562/5251 – Unit Operations in Environmental Engineering (3 cr.)
NANO 502/5202 – Simulation and Modeling for Nanoscale Materials and Systems (3 cr.)
NANO 503/5203 – Advanced Testing and Characterization Techniques (3 cr.)
NANO 504/5204 – Fabrication of Nanomaterials For Films And Devices (3 cr.)
MACT 604/6111 – Advanced Numerical Methods (3 cr.)
MACT 605/6121 – Advanced Probability with Engineering Applications (3 cr.)
MENG 543/5243 – Systems Modeling and Optimization (3 cr.)
MENG 681/6241 – Stochastic Simulation (3 cr.)
PHYS 502/5023 – Classical Electrodynamics I (3 cr.)
RCSS 504/5204 – Applied Estimation (3 cr.)
RCSS 541/5241 – Smart Systems and Computational Intelligence (3 cr.)
BIOT 621/6207 – Systems and Computational Biology (3 cr.)
PHDS/PHDE 612/6216 – Design and analysis of Experiments (3 cr.)

II- Specialization Courses
Dependent on the admission status, the student will take the following number of credit hours in their relevant area of specialization:

Admission case 1:

Case 1A: at least 6 credit hours.

Case 1B: at least 12 credit hours.

Admission case 2:

Case 2A: at least 9 credit hours.

Case 2B: at least 12 credit hours.

5000-level masters courses offered by the graduate programs of Biotechnology (BIOT), Chemistry (CHEM), Computer Science (CSCE), Nanotechnology (NANO) and Physics (PHYS) are considered specialization courses. At least one of the courses taken in the specialization must be a 6000-level course relevant to the student’s specialization from the following list:

BIOT 601/6930 – Current Topics in Biotechnology (3 cr.)
BIOT 602/6931 – Reading and Conference Course (3 cr.)
BIOT 604/6204 – Model Systems in Cancer Research (2 cr. + 1 cr. lab)
BIOT 620/6206 – Computational Genomics and Transcriptomics (3 cr.)
CHEM 603/6103 – Bioseparation Processes for Food and Pharmaceutical Industries (3 cr.)
CHEM 615/6105 – Principles and Applications of Mass Spectrometry (3 cr.)
CHEM 000/6107 – Chemistry of Natural and Synthetic Polymers (3 cr.)
CHEM 000/6910 – Independent Study in Chemistry (3 cr. max.)
CHEM 000/6930 – Advanced Selected Topics in Chemistry (3 cr.)
CSCE 642/6231 – Mobile and Pervasive Computing (3 cr.)
CSCE 692/6930 – Advanced Selected Topics in Computer Science (3 cr.)
ECNG 661/6211 – Nanoscale CMOS (3 cr.)
NANO 621/6121 – Nanophotonics (3 cr.)
NANO 630/6230 – Biomaterials (3 cr.)
NANO 642/6242 – Nanocatalysis (3 cr.)
NANO 505/5205 – Nanochemistry (3 cr.)
NANO 640/6240 – Nanoporous Materials (3 cr.)
PHYS 602/6025 – Classical Electrodynamics II (3 cr.)
PHYS 641/6225 – Integrated Photonics (3 cr.)
PHYS 642/6243 – Computational Electromagnetics (3 cr.)
PHYS 662/6930 – Advanced Selected Topics in Physics (3 cr.)
NANO 000/6910 – Independent Studies (1-3 cr.)

III – Dissertation and Seminars (Minimum of 36 credit hours)
Dissertation work includes completion of:

Graduate Thesis Seminar 3cr.

Research Dissertation Guidance, a minimum of 33 cr. (BIOT 6980, CHEM 6980, CSCE 6980, or NANO 6980)

A student may register for up to 12 research dissertation guidance credits while conducting research at an entity outside AUC. Conducting research outside AUC is subject to recommendation from the research advisory committee of the student, and an approval of the PhD program director,as per the latest PhD guidlines. The dissertation supervisor must be fully involved in any such research. Additionally, evidence of demonstrable collaboration between the dissertation supervisor and the entity outside AUC where this research is to be conducted, as well as the contribution of this external entity to this research, must be provided by the dissertation supervisor to the PhD program director prior to the proposal defense.

After completing 33 credit hours of dissertation, the course may be taken for one credit hour each semester until completion of the program requirements.

A PhD guidelines manual will detail advising, the qualifying examination, the proposal defense, and the dissertation defense.