Nuclear Engineering Major, PhD

Concentrations (Optional)

Energy Science and Engineering

Nuclear Safety

Nuclear Space Science and Engineering

Radiological Engineering

Campus Code

Knoxville Campus

Admissions Standards/Procedures

• Students in the field of nuclear engineering desiring to study for the Doctor of Philosophy degree must have a Bachelor of Science or Master of Science from an accredited university with a major in engineering, physics, chemistry, or mathematics.
• All entering students must have, as a minimum, competency in mathematics through ordinary differential equations.
• Students are encouraged to take the GRE, but not required.
• Interested applicants must submit an online application to the Office of Graduate Admissions.
• Admitted applicants will be advised of any prerequisite undergraduate courses that may be required for their graduate studies.
• All candidates will be required to demonstrate general competence in a comprehensive examination in the areas of engineering science, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and nuclear engineering.

Credit Hours Required

• Students holding only a BS degree, as well as students who receive a concurrent MS degree in Nuclear Engineering while enrolled as a PhD student, must take a minimum of 72 total graduate credit hours, including a minimum of 39 graduate course credit hours.
• Students holding a non-concurrent MS degree in Nuclear Engineering from UT will be required to take a minimum of 48 total graduate credit hours, including at least 15 credit hours of graduate coursework beyond those applied to their MS degree.
• Students with MS degrees from other fields or universities will be required to take a minimum of 48 total graduate credit hours, including at least 24 credit hours of graduate coursework.
• Coursework requirements may not be fulfilled by research or dissertation credit.
• The student’s major professor, with the concurrence of the dissertation committee, will prepare a curriculum plan outlining precisely what courses will be taken.

Required Courses

• NE 600 (minimum of 24 credit hours)
• A minimum of 39 credit hours of graduate coursework.
  • A minimum of 24 credit hours of graduate courses in nuclear engineering at or above the 500-level.
    • For PhD students with an MS external to UTNE, a maximum of 3 credit hours of NE 501 may be applied to the major. For PhD students directly from BS, a minimum of 3 credit hours and a maximum of 6 credit hours may be applied to the major. For PhD students with a UTNE MS, the sum of all NE 501 credits cannot exceed 6 credit hours.   
    • Excludes thesis, practice project, or dissertation credit.
  • A minimum of 12 additional coursework credit hours is required, subject to approval by the student’s faculty committee.
  • At least 6 credit hours of the above coursework must be at the 600-level, with at least 3 of these credit hours in nuclear engineering.
  • At the discretion of the student’s dissertation committee and depending on the student’s background, more than 39 credit hours of courses may be required.
  • A maximum of 24 credit hours from a master’s degree may be used to satisfy the coursework requirements for the PhD.
  • A minimum of 39 credit hours of graduate coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree and 24-33 credit hours of dissertation (NE 600).

Additional Course Requirements

• Students without a BS in nuclear engineering, or the equivalent, must take NE 433 and NE 470 both of which may be taken for graduate credit.

Non-Course Requirements

• Pass written and/or oral examinations. A student who fails any part of the examinations must retake and pass that examination the next time it is offered to remain in the PhD program. Full candidacy is achieved when the student completes the successful oral defense of a written dissertation proposal.
• A candidate must successfully defend, in an oral examination, all work presented for the degree (all coursework and the dissertation).

Energy Science and Engineering Concentration

The Energy Science and Engineering concentration is offered in collaboration with the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education. The Bredesen Center is a joint effort between the Tickle College of Engineering, other UT colleges, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Nuclear Safety Concentration

Nuclear Space Science and Engineering Concentration

Radiological Engineering Concentration