Ph.D. degree requirements, WE

The doctoral degree program provides students the opportunity to achieve a high level of scholarly competence and develop the capacity to contribute to the knowledge of their field.

Degree requirements effective AU19

For graduate students who entered the graduate program in or after AU19 and for those admitted prior to AU19 choosing to follow this curriculum.

WELDENG Ph.D. Requirement Worksheet (PDF)

Program of Study—Within the first term of enrollment the student is to submit to his/her advisor a plan of study mapping out the proposed course work to meet the requirements above. This plan of study is to be submitted to the WE Graduate Studies Committee Chair for review.

I Minimum of 80 total graduate credit hours are required

A Of these 80 credits, at least 30 credits must come from graded graduate level courses, as follows:

  1. WELDENG Core
    The student is to take at least four (4) courses from the WELDENG Core Courses. Two (2) courses must come from two (2) different categories found within the Primary list of core classes.
    • Primary Core Categories:
      Processes: 7001 or 7002 1
      Design: 7201
      Materials: 7101
    • Secondary Core Categories:
      Modeling: 7115
      NDE: 7301
      Polymers: 7406

      Upon completion of the four Core Courses, and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater in the Core, the student may apply for the Candidacy Exam. Former WE undergrads, who completed the Core courses in their 4000 version, must complete 15 graded graduate credits before applying for Candidacy.
       
  2. At least 9 credits, beyond those taken in the Core, are to come from 7000-level or greater, graded graduate WELDENG courses.
     
  3. Up to 9 credit hours beyond those above may come from engineering and/or hard-science graded graduate credit that is 5000-level or greater in or outside of WELDENG. 2

B Additional credit hours may come from other courses, besides those listed above, to bring the total graduate credit hours to 80 or greater. These credit hours will include:


WE 7895 (Graduate Seminar and Colloquium)

  • Full-time students are to enroll in WE 7895 every Autumn and Spring term.
  • Part-time students are expected to enroll in WE 7895 at least once per year.
  • Students are not required to enroll during the semester of graduation.

WE 6999 and 8999 (Research in Welding Engineering) The student is to register for research credits under his/her advisor.

Instructional Assistant service The student will serve as an Instructional Assistant aiding the faculty with the instruction of undergraduate students.

  • The student will register for two credit hours of WELDENG 7193.01 Individual Study during the term of IA service.
  • Two terms of assistance are required of Ph.D. students.
  • Students will attend a university training workshop in support of this curricular requirement.

II Successful completion of the Candidacy Examination

Candidacy Examination instructions
This examination is a comprehensive test of the student’s knowledge of welding engineering and allied fields. To qualify to take the Candidacy Examination the student must complete the Core Course requirements above earning a cumulative GPA in the Core Courses of 3.0 or greater.

A Requesting to take the Candidacy Exam—The student should contact the MSE Graduate Studies Coordinator at least one week before the start of the term in which s/he wishes to take the exam. The exam is offered in Autumn and Spring semesters only.

B Candidacy Exam Committee—The committee is comprised of at least four (4) OSU Graduate Faculty, each holding Category P status, selected by the student and advisor, as follows:

  1. The student’s WE advisor 3
  2. At least one member of the WE faculty
  3. At least one member who is a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (i.e., can be MSE or WE faculty)
  4. One committee member may be a Graduate Faculty member at OSU, as defined by the Graduate School Handbook, from any program

Deviations from the above requirements must be approved by the WE GSC (petition form).

The list of committee member names are to be submitted to the WE GSC for review and approval, with corrections to membership if necessary.

C Candidacy Examination—The examination is composed of two parts, a written portion and an oral portion. Note: A student may make no more than two attempts at passing the Candidacy Exam while a student at The Ohio State University.

  • The written portion of the Candidacy Exam shall be a twenty (20) page Research Proposal. This will be submitted via Carmen no less than two weeks before the oral exam date. A plagiarism review will be performed on the document. The Research Proposal must be solely the work of the student; the student's advisor should not see the document before any of the other committee members, nor should the advisor provide input regarding the content. The document should not be reviewed by other faculty, staff, post-docs, or students prior to submission.
     
  • The oral portion of the exam will be two hours in length before a committee of four OSU graduate faculty, as detailed above. Prior to the start of the oral examination, the student is to give a 30 minute presentation of the research proposal. Examination questions are intended to explore the student's understanding of the scientific and engineering principles related to the field and one's capacity for clear thinking; the student's academic understanding, knowledge of relevant literature, and ability to carry out research may be pursued. Answers to individual questions shall be limited to about 10 minutes in length.
     
  • Publication requirement status--During the Candidacy Exam the student will be asked to outline plans for meeting the publication requirement described at IV below. This will be a verbal assessment to be sure the student is looking ahead to completion of this requirement.

III Dissertation Overview

Dissertation Overview instructions
Public presentation of the student's research progress to his/her Dissertation Committee. The student and advisor should form a Dissertation Committee early in the student’s graduate career.

  • The Dissertation Overview Committee is comprised of at least three (3) OSU Graduate Faculty, each holding Category P status:
    • The student’s WE advisor3
    • At least one WE faculty member
    • One additional OSU Graduate Faculty member, in or out of WE
       
  • The Overview is to take place at least six (6) months before dissertation defense.
     
  • This is designed so that the Dissertation Committee will be able to give the student advice throughout the completion of the dissertation.
     
  • Public presentation--The Dissertation Overview must be announced to the public at least one week before the Overview takes place. The form to create this public announcement is found on the Dissertation Overview page.
     
  • Publication requirement status--During the Dissertation Overview the student will be asked to outline plans for meeting the publication requirement described at IV below. This will be a verbal assessment to confirm the student is progressing toward completion of this requirement. The student should be ready to share with the committee draft article titles, co-authors, publishers, timelines for submission, and any other pertinent details.

Deviations from these requirements must be approved by the WE GSC (petition form).
 

IV Publication requirement

View requirement
Dissemination of research results is important for all doctoral students. To earn the degree, students will be required show evidence of having met this requirement by means of the Welding Engineering Publication Form, as detailed at the link above.

 

V Presentation and defense of an acceptable dissertation

The dissertation is a scholarly contribution to knowledge in the student’s area of specialization. Through it, the student is to demonstrate a high level of knowledge and the capacity to function as an independent scholar.

The Final Oral Exam tests originality, independence of thought, the ability to synthesize and interpret, and the quality of research presented.

Dissertation Committee membership
The Dissertation Committee is comprised of at least three (3) OSU Graduate Faculty, each holding Category P status:

  • The student’s WE advisor3
  • At least one WE faculty member
  • One additional OSU Graduate Faculty member, in or out of WE

Public announcement of the Ph.D. defense--At least one week before the Ph.D. defense date the student is to announce the title, abstract, and location/video conference link for the defense. The student is asked to complete this form which will then be formatted and forwarded to the WE graduate students and faculty: Speaker Presentation form

Deviations from these requirements must be approved by the WE GSC (petition form).
 

Notes:

  1. Only one of the 7001 or 7002 courses can be counted as a core course, not both of them.
  2. The student’s advisor should verify that any non-WELDENG classes are from the “hard sciences” such as Math, Chemistry, Physics, and/or Engineering. Any question about the applicability of a given course in relation to degree requirements should begin with the student consulting with his/her advisor. Non-engineering/hard science courses must be petitioned, and receive approval from, the WELDENG GSC prior to enrolling in the petitioned course. Petitions must include a syllabus for the course. At time of graduation the WELDENG GSC will verify that all classes have complied with this requirement.
  3. If the student is co-advised, the co-advisor is allowed in addition to the aforementioned examination committee. For example, the candidacy exam committee would comprise advisor, co-advisor and three other faculty members.

Graduates of the WELDENG undergraduate program:

Students who have taken the 4000-level version of a WELDENG course are not permitted to take the 7000-level version of that course as a graduate student. For example, a student who completed WE 4001 as an undergraduate may not enroll in WE 7001 as a graduate student.

Addressing the WELDENG Core requirement
If a graduate student has taken the 4000-level version of a WELDENG Core course as a WE undergraduate, s/he has met the Core requirement for that course. The student must still meet the graded graduate credit requirement in I B above.

For example if the student has taken WE 4001, 4201, 4101, and 4301 as an undergraduate, the student will have met the WELDENG Core requirement and no further Core courses are required. S/he must still complete 30 graded graduate credits, 9 credits of which are to be from WELDENG courses. Former undergraduates of the WELDENG program may petition the WE GSC to use course work from outside of WE to meet the graded graduate credit requirements (ex., MSE, ISE, Physics, etc.).

 

 

 


Semester-based degree requirements

For graduate students who entered the graduate program in or after Summer term 2012 through Summer term 2019.

Program of Study—Working with the faculty advisor, the student will plan a Program of Study having: (1) an emphasis in one of the five areas of welding engineering (welding processes, materials, design, nondestructive evaluation, or plastics joining), (2) significant graduate level content from a second principal area of welding engineering, and (3) a minor field of study in a closely allied field. The program of study will include estimated dates for completing qualifying and candidacy exams. During the student’s first semester of enrollment the Program of Study is to be submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee for approval.  [Semester-based requirements below.]

I 80 total graduate credit hours are required

A Of these 80 hours, at least 30 must be graded graduate level courses.
Note: Courses selected for the WE Major and Minor concentrations are to come from the five welding engineering areas (processes, materials, design, non-destructive evaluation, or plastics joining).* The External Minor courses are to come from a relevant field outside of WE.

  1. Of these 30 hours at least 16 credit hours are to come from 7000-level course work in WE.
  2. The 30 credit hours are to consist of:
  • Major area of WE concentration. At least 9 credit hours are to come from one of the five WE areas of concentration.
  • Minor area of WE concentration. At least 6 credit hours are to come from one of the remaining areas of concentration.
  • External minor. At least 6 credit hours are to come from a coherent sequence of courses from a degree program outside of WE that supports the student’s area of emphasis. These courses should relate to the student’s field of study unless prior approval has been given by the Graduate Studies Committee.
  • Up to 9 credit hours beyond those above may come from any graded graduate credit that is 5000-level or greater in or outside of WE (these courses should relate to the student’s field of study unless prior approval has been given by the Graduate Studies Committee).

B At least 50 graduate credit hours may come from other courses, besides those listed in A1 & 2, to bring the total graduate credit hours to at least 80.

  1. Of these 50 credit hours, all full-time students are to register for WE 7895 (Graduate Seminar and Colloquium) every AU & SP terms, except in the semester of graduation.
  2. Of these 50 credit hours, at least 20 credits of WE 6/8999 (Research in Welding Engineering) is required. All thesis / dissertation work (WE 6/8999) and research plans are to be approved by the student's advisor.

II Plan of study

Within the first term of enrollment the student is to submit to his/her advisor a plan of study mapping out the proposed course work to meet the requirements above. This plan of study is to be submitted to the WE Graduate Studies Committee Chair for review.

III Qualifying Examination

WE Qualifying Examination procedures
By the end of the second term after entry into the PhD-track, the student is required to pass a Qualifying Examination. The QE will have both a written and oral portion defended before an examining committee.

IV Successful completion of the Candidacy Examination

WE Candidacy Examination procedures
This examination is a comprehensive test of the student’s knowledge of welding engineering and allied fields. The CE is to be taken no sooner than the term in which 30 graded graduate credit hours are completed (i.e., sec. A above). The CE consists of two written portions—drawn from the major and minor WE course work—and one oral portion. The exam is given twice each academic year, in November and May. - A student who passes the exam may petition the Graduate Studies Committee for an MS without Thesis degree after satisfying the MS without Thesis requirements.

V Dissertation Committee Meetings

At least once per year following successful completion of the Candidacy Examination the student is to meet with his/her Dissertation Committee. The first meeting of this committee is to include a dissertation proposal presentation.

VI Presentation and defense of an acceptable dissertation

The dissertation is a scholarly contribution to knowledge in the student’s area of specialization. Through it, the student is to demonstrate a high level of knowledge and the capacity to function as an independent scholar.

The Final Oral Exam tests originality, independence of thought, the ability to synthesize and interpret, and the quality of research presented.

Courses that apply toward the degree:

  • WE courses at the 5000 level or above that may be taken for graduate credit.
  • Non-WE courses at the 5000 level or greater in the hard-sciences, math, and engineering that may be taken for graduate credit.

*Course key for WE concentration areas:

  • Process: #0## (i.e., WE courses with a zero in the hundreds place)
  • Materials: #1## and 7023
  • Design: #2## and 7115
  • Non-destructive Evaluation: #3## and 5038
  • Plastics and Composites: #4##, 5038, and 7201

Rev SU12


Quarter-based degree requirements

For graduate students who entered the graduate program prior to Summer term 2012.

I 120 total graduate credit hours are required

A Of these 120 hours, at least 45 must be graded graduate level courses.

  1. Of these 45 hours, at least 24 must be taken at the 700-level or above in WE.

    a. Of these 24 hours, 15 are to come from one of the WE major program areas (welding processes, materials, design, nondestructive evaluation, or plastics joining). These serve as the student’s WE major area of emphasis.

    b. Of these 24 hours, 9 are to come from a second of the five WE areas and serve as a WE minor area of emphasis.
  2. Of these 45 hours, 9 are to come from a coherent sequence of courses from a degree program outside of WE that supports the student’s area of emphasis (these courses should relate to the student’s field of study unless prior approval has been given by the Graduate Studies Committee).
  3. Of these 45 hours, 12 hours beyond those in A1 & A2 may come from any graded graduate credit that is 600-level or greater in WE or 500-level or greater outside WE (these courses should relate to the student’s field of study unless prior approval has been given by the Graduate Studies Committee).

B At least 75 graduate credit hours may come from other courses, besides those listed in A1, 2, & 3, to bring the total graduate credit hours to 120.

  1. Of these 75 hours, all full-time students are to register for WE 795 (Graduate Seminar and Colloquium) every AU, WI, & SP quarters, except in the quarter of graduation. Part-time students may petition to be exempted from this requirement.
  2. Of these 75 hours, the balance is to come from WE 999 (Research in Welding Engineering). All thesis / dissertation work (WE 999) and research plans are to be approved by the student's advisor.

II Qualifying Examination

WE Qualifying Examination procedures
Within the first year of entry into the PhD-track, the student is required to pass a Qualifying Examination. The QE will have both a written and oral portion defended before an examining committee.

III Successful completion of the Candidacy Examination

WE Candidacy Examination procedures
This examination is a comprehensive test of the student’s knowledge of welding engineering and allied fields. The CE is to be taken no sooner than the quarter in which 45 graded graduate credit hours are completed (i.e., sec. A above). The CE consists of two written portions—drawn from the major and minor WE course work—and one oral portion. The exam is given twice each academic year, in November and May. - A student who passes the exam may petition the Graduate Studies Committee for an MS without Thesis degree after satisfying the MS without Thesis requirements.

IV Dissertation Committee Meetings

Within the first quarter following successful completion of the Candidacy Examination the student is to form a Dissertation Committee. The first meeting of this committee is to include a dissertation proposal presentation.

V Presentation and defense of an acceptable dissertation

The dissertation is a scholarly contribution to knowledge in the student’s area of specialization. Through it, the student is to demonstrate a high level of knowledge and the capacity to function as an independent scholar.

The Final Oral Exam tests originality, independence of thought, the ability to synthesize and interpret, and the quality of research presented.

Courses that apply toward the degree:

  • WE courses at the 600 level or above that may be taken for graduate credit.
  • Non-WE courses at the 500 level or greater in the hard-sciences, math, and engineering that may be taken for graduate credit.