Admission Requirements
In order to qualify for regular admission to the doctoral program, a student must have satisfied the following minimum requirements common to all three universities:
- A bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) from an accredited college or university in engineering or one of the physical sciences
- "B"-level scholarship, either overall or for the last 60 semester hours of undergraduate and graduate credit
- A minimum score of 1000 on the Graduate Record Examination general test
- A TOEFL score greater than 550 (or the equivalent on other acceptable language examinations), for international students
- Letters of reference
An applicant whose scholastic record reveals a deficiency in one of the first three categories above may, upon recommendation of the Campus Materials Science Program Committee chairperson (on the campus to which the student has applied) and with approval of the respective graduate dean, be admitted on a provisional basis, as provided in graduate school regulations at each campus. However, that student must follow the appropriate graduate school's policies in achieving regularly admitted status prior to taking Program Examination I (the examination on core material).
Additional information is in the Admission Criteria section of this catalog.
See the Admission Criteria section of this catalog for more information.
Advisement
Prior to a student's admission to the program, the student will usually discuss (perhaps via email) possible research areas with one or more faculty members. If the student is admitted to the program, the letter of admission will designate a faculty member as the tentative dissertation advisor. The advisor and/or research area can be changed during the course of study if it appears beneficial to the student, with the approval of the Campus Materials Science Program Committee.
The advisor will assist the student in program planning and other academic matters. The letter of admission will also designate one of the participating departments as the tentative home department (normally the department of the tentative advisor), and state whether the student will be financially supported by a Materials Science Program assistantship (some students have support from outside the program instead.)
A graduate supervisory committee will be appointed for the PhD student as soon as he or she passes Program Examination I and a research project is selected. The student and the advisor are responsible for recommending supervisory committee members, which must then be approved by the Campus Coordinator. Members of the committee will normally be selected from participating faculty in the Materials Science Program from the three campuses involved. Exceptions must be approved by the Campus Coordinator. The graduate committee normally includes the research advisor (as chairperson) and at least four other members. The graduate committee members are selected based on the student's academic interests and area of research. At least one of the committee members is from the student's research area at one of the other UA campuses, and another is from a department other than the home department on the home campus. The graduate committee is charged with supervision and approval of the student's research and course of study toward the completion of all requirements leading to the degree.
Campus Materials Science Program Committee
This committee administers the program on each campus. Coordination encompasses some functions that are usually handled by a single-discipline department. The Campus Materials Science Program Committee is chaired by the campus program coordinator, who acts as director or chairperson for the program.