Written qualifying examination should be taken by the end of the second semester. They are usually offered in the middle of the semester. The objective of the exam is to ensure that Ph.D. students are knowledgeable with undergraduate level mechanical engineering curriculum. Students are required to pass two sections of the exams to demonstrate a level of mastery in:
- Major area
- Math
Major area is to be chosen from the following areas of mechanical engineering:
- Dynamics and control system
- Fluid mechanics
- Material Science
- Solid Mechanics and Mechanical Design
- Material and mechanical design
- Thermal sciences
- Nuclear Engineering
The exam is prepared and supervised by the graduate program committee. Students are expected to pass all two sections to be eligible for Ph.D. candidates in the program. Qualifying exam can be repeated one time only.
Exam Format and References
The students are taking closed book exams on 2 different topics within a 3 hour period, and the following is material covered in each topic:
Math (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. Culbreth)
- MATH 431 – (Differential Equations)
- ME 402 – Computational Methods for Engineers
Dynamics and Control (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. Yim)
- ME 242 Dynamics
- ME 330 Analysis of Dynamic Systems
- ME 421 Automatic Controls
Fluid Mechanics (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. Chen, Dr. Pepper)
- ME 380 Fluid Dynamics
Material Science (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. Bansal)
- ME 301 Structure and Properties of Solids
Solid Mechanics and Mechanical Design (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. O'Toole)
- ME 302 Materials Mechanics
- ME 440 Machine Design
Thermal Sciences (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. Boehm)
- ME 311 Engineering Thermodynamics 1
- ME 314 Introduction to Heat Transfer
Nuclear Engineering (Lead Faculty Member: Dr. Barzilov, Dr. Culbreth)
- ME 455 Fundamentals of Nuclear Engineering