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Admission Requirements: Engineering, Ph.D.

Applicants must submit an application, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, three letters of recommendation, transcripts leading to the applicant's previous degree(s), a statement of purpose, and for applicants whose native language is not English and who have been educated outside the U.S., an acceptable score of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is required.

The Graduate Admission Committee of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences will review all applications and decide whether to grant admission. The general requirement for admission into this Ph.D. program is as follows:

  • For students with B.S., a minimum GPA of 3.2/4.0 from a regionally accredited university
  • For students with M.S., a minimum GPA of 3.5/4.0 from a regionally accredited university
  • A minimum GRE score of 300 is required
  • For international students, NYIT's requirement on acceptable TOEFL IBT score is 79, or 6.5 on IELTS.

These requisites are for advisory purposes only. We will review the applications for positive indications of potential success in the program.

Transfer Credits

  • Students who have an M.S. degree in a relevant field can transfer maximum 18 credits (with at least B+) with the approval of their advisor, and the Program Director (PD).
  • Pass grades earned during the spring 2020 semester meet this GPA threshold and are transferable to NYIT.

Application Materials

  • Completed Online Application
  • $50 nonrefundable application fee
  • A Statement of purpose
  • A Resume or CV
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Copies of transcripts for all schools attended. All final, official transcripts must be received prior to the start of your first semester.
  • Copy of college diploma or proof of degree
  • Official GRE scores, if required (NYIT GRE Code: 2561)
  • International student requirements: English proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS/PTE/Duolingo), I-20, and transcript evaluation

Progression in the Program

Students will be required to maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 in Ph.D. courses and a Ph.D. course grade below a B- will result in the student repeating the course.

Qualifying Exam

All students must satisfactorily complete a qualifying exam no later than at the end of year two, in order to remain in the Ph.D. program. This examination will cover all relevant coursework taken by the student. Elements of engineering, physical and biological sciences, mathematics, computer science, and statistics may be included in this examination. The examination will be both written and oral. A committee of five faculty members (excluding student's research advisor) will give the student a major open-ended problem in the student's general area of research interest. The student will have limited time (72 hours) to address the solution in writing, in the form of a research proposal, and submit to the chair of the committee. Then student would orally defend and critique this solution in front of the committee. During this oral session, the committee members will ask questions of the student to evaluate their depth of knowledge in the field. The committee will then make a decision to either pass or fail the student. In the case that a student fails the exam, they can retake the exam within six months. A second failure will result in disqualifying the student from continuing in the Ph.D. program.

Preliminary Dissertation Proposal

Within 8–12 months of a satisfactory completion of the qualifying examination, working with their dissertation advisor, each student will develop a preliminary dissertation proposal in a chosen area, together with the selection of an acceptable topic for the dissertation. This document will describe in detail the proposed research project with timeline and possible research strategies, and alternatives should problems be encountered.

A dissertation committee will be formed by the student in concert with their advisor and be submitted to the program director for approval. The dissertation committee will be comprised of a minimum of four (4) members, with at least three core faculty members. The fourth member will be from outside the department, preferably outside the university, but in an area associated with the proposed dissertation field of study.

Preferably by the end of year two, but not later than the end of year three, the student will present a written proposal and oral presentation to the dissertation committee for approval. Once approved by the dissertation committee, the dissertation proposal will be forwarded to the program director for final approval.

Advancement to Candidacy

After a student has passed the dissertation proposal defense, they must submit the Ph.D. candidate approval form to the program director to advance to candidacy.

Dissertation Defense

In order to reach the dissertation defense, students must have satisfied the following requirements:

  1. Completed all required coursework, with a minimum overall GPA of 3.0
  2. Passed the qualifying examination
  3. Selected a dissertation committee and convene a committee meeting; written reports from each meeting were submitted to the program director
  4. Submitted the dissertation proposal and received approval for the proposal from the dissertation committee
  5. Advanced to candidacy
  6. Completed a written dissertation

Committee members may be consulted in preparing the dissertation. The committee may request that the written portion be revised and schedule an additional meeting to review and approve the changes. Before final approval of the written document, the dissertation committee will schedule an oral examination at which the student must successfully defend the dissertation. The oral examination by the dissertation committee members will follow immediately after a public seminar by the student describing the complete body of work contained in the submitted thesis. Based on the outcome of the oral examination, the dissertation committee may require changes to the written dissertation document and schedule another meeting with the student. The student must submit the written document to the committee members at least two weeks before the oral defense. Following successful oral defense and approval of the written document, all committee members must sign the Ph.D. dissertation approval form, which is forwarded to the program director for final approval.