Nov 29, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Biosystems Engineering Major, PhD


Admission

Students applying for admission into the doctoral program must submit evidence of ability to perform and report independent research to the satisfaction of the faculty of the department. An approved master’s thesis will usually be acceptable for this purpose.

Requirements

To earn a degree, each doctoral student must complete at least 75 credit hours of approved graduate credit (beyond the baccalaureate degree) in biosystems engineering and supporting areas (engineering, computational methods, agricultural and biological sciences, and other related areas). Of the 75 credit hours, 48 must be in courses numbered greater than 500 (including 24 credit hours of course BSE 600 ) and 6 credit hours of courses at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, numbered greater than 600. Other specific requirements for the minimum 75 credit hours are listed below.

  Credit Hours
BSE 519 , BSE 619  and other major subject courses 18
1Course work in computational methods 9
Program electives 21
2ESS 603  Seminar (1) 3
BSE 600 - Doctoral Research and Dissertation  24
  Total 75
   
1 Mathematics, computer science, statistics, or any course containing appropriate computational components that may be approved by the department.
2 Must be taken three times during the course of the program, the last of which must be in the student’s final semester before graduation.

In addition to completing the minimum 75 graduate credit hours required for a degree, each doctoral student must also pass a comprehensive examination as required by the Graduate Council.

Energy Science and Engineering Concentration

This concentration is offered in collaboration with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education (CIRE). The CIRE is a joint effort between the College of Engineering, other UTK colleges, the UT Institute of Agriculture, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The students who wish to pursue this concentration will normally have completed 6 credit hours of Core and 3 credit hours of Knowledge Breadth coursework specified under Energy Science and Engineering Ph.D. program section of this catalog.