PhD Program Structure and Requirements
The overall program structure for the College of Technology’s PhD is detailed in the PhD Program Template. It requires a minimum of 90 graduate semester credit hours (beyond the bachelor’s degree but counting up to a maximum of 30 for an appropriate master’s degree). Additional details are in individual sections following the template. Student performance on all courses (other than research credits) on the POS must be at the B or higher level.
PhD Planning Template
| Degree Component | Existing Courses taken as part of MS |
Courses to be Taken (including a maximum of 9 school transfer) |
Technology Major (21 hrs min) •Core (to be confirmed)
•Focus Courses (TECH or any CoT department prefixed course, others only with committee approval) |
(a minimum of 15 credits of new CoT courses is to be taken) | |
| Cognate (12 hrs min) | ||
Discovery Foundations (12 hrs min)
|
||
| Dissertation Research (15 - 30 hrs) | ||
|
Total |
Maximum 30 |
Minimum 90 |
| Other Coursework |
Suggestions for Use:
- Have the student’s reflective self-assessment, and their description of the contributions that they wish their PhD program to make to their development, available
- Student enters each of their master’s degree courses in the appropriate row of the Existing Courses column
- Student enters each of their already completed courses beyond the master’s degree from Purdue or another university in the appropriate row of the Existing Courses column. A maximum of 9 hours is permitted.
- In interaction with the student’s advisor, enter the most appropriate courses that will build the desired competencies in the appropriate rows of the Courses to be Taken column. No 300 level courses may be included in this column and 400 level courses may only be used if required as a prerequisite for 500 and 600 level courses included in the plan of study. These will not count toward the PhD.
- Adjust the coursework until all the hour minimums are met or exceeded.
- Confirm that the Technology Major and Cognate degree components include a minimum of 12 semester credit hours of 600 level courses.
- Double check that the plan of study requires at least 15 hours of new Ph.D. program coursework to be taken in the Technology Major.
- Research (TECH 699) credits are not part of courses listed in POS but count towards total hour requirement.
Major (Technology)
This central component of the Ph.D. program is intended to be used to provide flexibility; add depth and breadth as appropriate to the student’s career/professional goals; and simultaneously be consistent with the program’s mission. The College of Technology’s Ph.D. program Technology Major seeks to develop 21st Century cognitive skills by means of a nine-hour set of core courses and an additional set of courses to create a technology focus. The core courses are:
- TECH 646 Analysis of Research in Industry and Technology
TECH 621 Seminar in Technology (repeatable)
MET 527 Technology from a Global Perspective
In addition to the 9-hour core, students may take any appropriate number of other College of Technology graduate courses to create a focus.
Technology Major component courses beyond the master’s degree must be 500 & 600 level.
A minimum of 21 TECH or College of Technology Department prefixed courses (other than TECH 699) must be a part of the program.
Cognate
The cognate consists of any coherent set of courses from outside the College of Technology or discipline that creates competence in a field related to the candidate’s career objective.
Some possibilities for cognate areas include, but are not limited to, the following.
- STS Science/Technology Society
- Business/Management
- Engineering
- Human Resource Development
- Safety/Human Factors
- Quality
- Instructional Technology
- Higher Education/College Teaching
- A language. Meeting (by testing or coursework) a foreign language department’s requirements for reading proficiency in a language other than the student’s native language or English will be considered the equivalent of a cognate. Students must meet overall program credit hour requirements.
- International Studies
Discovery Foundations
All PhD graduates from the College of Technology’s PhD program are expected to be able to:
- Critically evaluate and utilize research
- Design, conduct, and report appropriate research in the technology disciplines
The intent of the Discovery Foundations component in the College of Technology’s PhD program is to develop a mastery of a solid set of research, knowledge/capability development, and discovery skills sufficient to enable the candidate’s dissertation research project and the critical evaluation of other’s research. Both qualitative and quantitative skills are to be developed by coursework in this component utilizing statistical methodologies that include at least multivariate techniques. Students will take a minimum of:
- One course in multivariate statistics
- One course in experimental design
- One course that builds understanding of and capability with qualitative research
Dissertation
The PhD dissertation must demonstrate the candidate’s ability to conduct substantial and significant research in the technology disciplines and/or related disciplines. Candidates are expected to demonstrate mastery of the key literature in the field and use this to situate the specific project they propose.
Students enroll in TECH 699 PhD Dissertation Research for a minimum of 15 semester credit hours to receive credit for their dissertation research. This enrollment is to be distributed commensurately with the amount of work performed in the semester. Continuous enrollment in TECH 699 is required until the degree is earned.