Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Engineering - Electrical and Computer Engineering

About

The Ph.D. in engineering program at Saint Louis University's School of Science and Engineering focuses on a specific research topic. SLU students conduct original academic research culminating in a dissertation and peer-reviewed publications. Additional coursework related to the chosen research area is also required. Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering students prepare a program of study that must be approved by the faculty advisor, department chair and the director of graduate programs. This program of study is developed and then reviewed within the context of students’ backgrounds and career goals, allowing students to customize their program to suit their professional goals. Graduate students in engineering at Saint Louis University will demonstrate: Enhanced professional and analytical skills through the development of an in-depth understanding of theoretical and practical concepts; Excellent communication skills through written and oral presentations; Creative thinking skills through mastery of topics required to solve complex engineering problems; and Depth of knowledge required to pursue advanced work in a modern, ever-changing world through entrepreneurial experiences woven into their program. These attributes will be assessed during the required examination milestones. For a Ph.D., the required milestones include a qualifying exam, a written dissertation proposal and corresponding oral defense, and a written dissertation and corresponding oral defense presentation. The Ph.D. in engineering requires a total of 60 credits of coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree, with 12 credits of dissertation. A limited number of courses may be at the 4000 level; all others must be at the 5000 or higher level. Students who earn an M.S. may include a maximum of 24 master’s degree course credits with departmental approval, but not the thesis or project credits in the 60 credits for the Ph.D. degree. There are three concentrations in the engineering doctorate: Aerospace and mechanical engineering, Civil engineering, and Electrical and computer engineering. 

Career Path  

Graduate career path includes Chief Technology Officer (Engineering Focus), Senior Reliability Engineer, Director of Engineering Innovation, Engineering Program Director (Large-Scale Projects), Senior Machine Learning Scientist, Senior Artificial Intelligence Researcher, Deep Learning Researcher, Natural Language Processing Scientist, Computer Vision Scientist, Robotics Researcher, Cybersecurity Research Scientist, High-Performance Computing Scientist, Quantum Computing Researcher, Autonomous Systems Scientist, Cryptography Specialist, Distributed Systems Researcher, Cloud Computing Researcher,Human-Computer Interaction Scientist, AR/VR Systems Researcher, Blockchain Research Scientist, Data Science Research Director, Computational Biology/Health Informatics Scientist, Software Architecture Researcher,Computer Science Policy Analyst.