The investment in artificial intelligence, automation, Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems as well as manufacturing plants will continue to propel market growth in transforming the traditional engineering fields. The Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineering will offer graduate courses on the recent advances and emerging research in mechanical engineering, such as automation, robotics, thermal and fluid systems, energy systems, mechanics, design and manufacturing, and nanoengineering, with the aim to prepare students for successful careers in industry, academia, and government.

Admissions

Ph.D. requirements

Program of Study

The minimum requirement for completion is 72 credit hours, consisting of a minimum of 28 credit hours of coursework (of which a minimum of 16 hours must be at the 8000-level) and a minimum of 44 credit hours of research and dissertation. A thesis master’s degree from an accredited university may be accepted for up to 12 credit hours, in which case a minimum of 60 credit hours of approved coursework, research, and dissertation beyond the M.S. degree would be required.

Required Advanced Engineering Core Courses (7 credit hours)

• ENGR 8130, Statistical Learning and Data Mining in Engineering (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 8910, Foundations for Engineering Research (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 8950, Graduate Seminar (1 semester, 1 credit hour) *

* Only up to 3 hours of Graduate Seminar may apply to the program of study and be included in the 72-credit hour requirement. Students are strongly encouraged to continue regular attendance at speaker series presentations even if not formally registered in the seminar.

Electives (21 credit hours)

Students must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours selected from the list of approved electives and an additional 12 credit hours of any courses. For electives, at least 9 credit hours must be 8000-level or above. Students will work with their graduate advisor to select the most appropriate coursework to ensure breadth of understanding as well as mastery of knowledge in a specific subject area. Students may work with their graduate advisor to develop an interdisciplinary plan of coursework drawing from the extensive graduate course offerings available outside the College of Engineering at UGA.

The University requires that students who are accepted to the Ph.D. program directly from a B.S. degree or who switch to a Ph.D. program before earning an M.S. degree must complete an additional 12 semester hours of University of Georgia courses open only to graduate students. Students entering Mechanical Engineering (Ph.D.) without a master’s degree must have completed an undergraduate engineering degree.

Research and Dissertation (44 credit hours)

• A minimum of 41 hours of ENGR 9000, Doctoral Research, or ENGR 9010, Project-Focused Doctoral Research. Typically, students complete more than 42 credit hours with the approval of the Graduate Advisory Committee.
• 3 hours of ENGR 9300, Doctoral Dissertation, are required in the program of study.

Approved Electives

• BIOE 6740, Biomaterials (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 6760, Biomechanics (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 8210, Multiscale Biomechanics (3 credit hours)
• BIOE 8490, Advanced Biomaterials (3 credit hours)
• CVLE(MCHE)(LAND) 6660, Sustainable Building Design (3 credit hours)
• CVLE(MCHE) 8160, Advanced Fluid Mechanics (3 credit hours)
• CVLE(MCHE) 8350, Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (3 credit hours)
• CVLE(MCHE) 8640, Advanced Strength of Materials (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 6210, Linear Systems (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 6220, Feedback Control Systems (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 6230, Sensors and Transducers (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 6235, Industrial Control Systems (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 6260, Introduction to Nanoelectronics (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 8220, Nonlinear Control Systems (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 8250, Autonomous Mobile Robots and Manipulation (3 credit hours)
• ELEE 8310, MEMS Design (3 credit hours)
• ENED 8030, Educational Research and Evaluation Methods in Engineering (3 credit hours)
• ENED 8040, Theories of Learning and Human Development in Contemporary Engineering Education Research (3 credit hours)
• ENED 8050, Systematic Literature Reviews and Meta-Analyses (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 6350, Introduction to Finite Element Analysis (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 6670, Quality Engineering (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 6920, Theory of Design (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 8103, Computational Engineering: Fundamentals, Elliptic, and Parabolic Differential Equations (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 8180, Advanced Mass Transfer (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 8220, Microfluidic Transport Phenomena (3 credit hours)
• ENGR 8270, Computational Nanomechanics (3 credit hours)
• ENVE 6230, Energy in Nature, Civilization, and Engineering (3 credit hours)
• ENVE 6250, Energy Systems and the Environment (3 credit hours)
• ENVE 6530, Energy and Environmental Policy Analysis (3 credit hours)
• ENVE 6550, Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (3 credit hours)
• ENVE 8450, Design for Rapid Change: Food, Energy, and Water (3 credit hours)
• INFO 6150, Engineering Informatics (3 credit hours)
• INFO 8750, Advance Programming for Data Mining (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6360, Robotic Manipulators (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6380, Solid Mechanics (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6390, Advanced Mechanical Vibration (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6400, Air Pollution Engineering (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6430, Introduction to Tribology (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6500, Advanced Thermal Fluid Systems (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6530, Combustion and Flames (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6580, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6590, Fluid Mechanics II (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6650, HVAC Systems for Buildings and Industry (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 6850, Advanced Manufacturing Processes (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8170, Advanced Heat Transfer (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8250, Combustion Science (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8380, Continuum Mechanics (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8500, Technical Foundations of Energy for Policy Practitioners (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8650, Aerosol Science and Engineering (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8710 Engineering Properties of Animal and Plant Materials: Form and Function (3 credit hours)
• MCHE 8850, Gas Dynamics (3 credit hours)
• MIST 6550, Energy Informatics (3 credit hours)
• PHYS 8601, Computer Simulation Methods in Physics (3 credit hours)
• PHYS 8602, Computer Simulation of Materials (3 credit hours)
• STAT 6230, Applied Regression Analysis (3 credit hours)
• STAT 6250, Applied Multivariate Analysis and Statistical Learning (3 credit hours)