PhD Course Requirements
Students entering the PhD Program must complete the requirements below:
- Two 300-level ME courses* (6 credits)
- One 200/300 level course from the AMCS or STAT program (3 credits)
- One Elective Course- a 200/300 level from any program at KAUST (3 credits)
- Graduate seminar (non-credit)
- Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)
The Academic Advisor may request the completion of additional courses. Courses taken while pursuing the KAUST MS degree cannot be counted towards the PhD course requirements. Courses must be technical courses and cannot be substituted with Research, Internship, or Broadening Courses to fulfill degree requirements.
* The following alternative courses may be used to fulfill the ME 300-level requirement; AMCS 329, AMCS 370, ECE 245, ECE 372, ErSE 304, MSE 318, ECE 376
Graduate Seminars (non-credit)
Students must register for five semesters to ME 398 and receive a Satisfactory grade in each semester. They must attend a minimum of 8 Graduate Seminars per semester to earn a Satisfactory (S) grade. The seminars can be chosen from any Graduate Seminar series offered by the PSE division.
Additional Workshop (non-credit)
In preparation for assignments and courses it is strongly recommended that PhD students take a relevant skills workshop in the area, such as Scientific Presentation skills, Scientific Research Writing or Writing a Research Proposal. For further details, support or any questions, please contact the English Language and Communication team in the Student Center (Building 18) or at
elcp@kaust.edu.sa.
Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)
All students must complete the Winter Enrichment Program (WE 100) for credit at least once during their studies at KAUST. Students who have previously completed WEP will be exempt from this requirement in their future studies.
PhD Candidacy
In addition to the coursework requirements, students must successfully complete the required PhD candidacy milestones to progress toward PhD candidate status. These milestones are as follows:
- A subject-based qualifier
- PhD Proposal Defense
Once students have advanced to candidacy, students are designated as PhD or Doctoral Candidates.
Qualifying Exam
The qualifying exam (QE) aims to:
- Test the students’ depth of knowledge in core skills of mechanical engineering;
- Evaluate the students’ maturity and creativity in synthesizing and applying concepts that have been learned, in isolation, in classes;
- Gage the students’ ability to think-on-their-feet during an evaluation.
PhD students must pass an oral comprehensive subject examination. The QE will be given twice a year during a single time window. This window is approximately a week in length: the first week of Spring and Fall semesters (exact times will be announced by the program). PhD students must pass the QE before the third semester (two Semesters + one Summer Session). Students should, therefore, plan to make their first attempt after their first Semester.
Subjects
The QE will comprise of one oral examination in mathematics and two oral examinations in any of the following areas: (a) fluid mechanics, (b) solid mechanics, (c) dynamics and control and (d) thermodynamics. The exam in each area will include common questions for all students who have selected that area. In addition, the examination will extend beyond the common questions to test students’ ability to answer questions on their feet. Students may petition the ME program to replace one of the specified areas (other than mathematics) with an area that is not on the list and is not a subspecialty of one of the listed areas. Examples of "other areas" that might be appropriate are biomechanics and scientific computation, to mention only two.
Multiple Attempts
At the first attempt, students must take the exams in all three subjects simultaneously. In the event a student fails the qualifying examination in one or more subjects, then at most one additional attempt (in the failed subject) will be allowed at the discretion of the ME Program.
Format
All examinations will be closed book and closed notes. The exams are forty-five minutes in length, preceded by a thirty-minute period during which students will be allowed to review the written questions for that exam. The thirty-minute period is for students to collect their thoughts. Students may write notes during this time to bring them to the exam. The examiners will probe more deeply into the issues raised in the questions. At least one month prior to the QE, students must notify the GPSA in writing of their choice of the two subject areas (other than mathematics) for the exam.
Subject Contents
Subject area descriptions which detail the topics from which exam questions may be drawn are available on the PSE website. In general, the expected preparation is the relevant undergraduate material and begging graduate knowledge.
Dissertation
For more details on the Qualifying Exam results, Dissertation Proposal Defense and committee formation, Proposal Defense results, Petition to Defend the Dissertation and committee formation, Dissertation Defense results, Dissertation document, and Dissertation archiving, please refer to the Policy page.