The candidacy examination explores the depth of understanding of the student in his/her specialty area. The student is expected to be familiar with, and be able to use, the contemporary tools and techniques of the field and to demonstrate familiarity with the principle results and key findings.

Requests to take the test will be submitted to the ECE Assistant Department Head for Graduate Studies. Students who have earned the equivalent of 30 quarterly credits of graduate work (at Drexel University or elsewhere) with a GPA of 3.4 or better, will be deemed to have satisfactory background and be approved. A student whose request to take the test was not approved by the ECE Assistant Department Head, may appeal to the Graduate Committee.

A Candidacy test Committee must consist of at least five members for a PhD student, at least three of whom must be currently tenured or tenure track Drexel faculty members. At least two of the committee members must be from outside your primary specialization area. At least one of the committee members must be from outside the student’s department, preferably from outside the university. Members from outside the university must be approved by the Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Studies. The student's advisor can be a member of the committee but not the Chair.

The student, in consultation with his/her advisor, will declare a principal technical area. The student will propose to the committee:

1. Four (4) to six (6) papers from the archival literature in the student’s technical area for self study
2. Student's preference as to which three of these four to six papers will be used for the self study

Papers authored by the student while studying at Drexel University may be included. The committee will select three (3) of the submitted papers for the student's self study, or request additional paper suggestions based on its review of the student-proposed papers and the declared principal technical area.

In most cases, the self study will be a principal reference for the student's PhD dissertation; however, this is not a requirement.

Within 60 days of the selection of the self-study papers (90 days for part-time students with advisor approval), the student will submit to the committee a written report (15 pages or less) on the papers, describing their objectives, key questions and hypotheses, methodology, main results and conclusions. It is expected that the student's report will integrate the ideas of the three papers and not be a mere catalog of content. Moreover, the student must show in an appendix independent work s/he has done on at least one of the papers – such as providing a full derivation of a result, or showing meaningful examples, simulations or applications. There are no length limitations on the appendix.

The student must attest that s/he has worked on this report and the appendix individually with no material assistance from other individuals.

No later than three weeks after submitting the report, the candidate will meet with the committee for the oral Candidacy test which takes the following format:

• A short description of the student’s principal area of interest (5 minutes, by student).
• A review of the self-study papers and report appendix (25-30 minutes, by students).
• Questions and answers on the report, the appendix and directly-related background (40-100 minutes, student and committee).

The committee will prepare a report (using Drexel University forms D4 and form D4a). The Graduate Committee will receive an electronic copy of the reports and have 24 hours to make comments or request clarifications. The Chair of the committee will respond to Graduate Committee queries and submit the forms to the Office of Graduate Studies via the Graduate Program Coordinator by the deadline (48 hours after the exam).

1. If the students are supported by the department, their TA support will be discontinued after two years if they have not taken the candidacy examination. Support will be reinstated upon passing the candidacy examination.
2. If the student has not taken the candidacy examination within the first three year period, the student will be asked to withdraw from the doctoral program, regardless of whether the student receives support or not.
3. Students will be allowed to petition the graduate committee regarding item (2).

As a licensed Professional Engineer, or PE, you can expect many more benefits when compared to other engineers; most employers offer higher salaries and greater opportunities for advancement to PE's. Only PE's can consult in private practice, and seal company documents to be sent to the government. PEs also have more credibility as expert witnesses in court than most engineers.

Steps in obtaining a PE license:

• Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam.
• Graduate with a bachelor's degree from an ABET accredited engineering curriculum (all Engineering curricula at Michigan Tech except Robotics Engineering).
• Gain four years of engineering experience under the supervision of a registered professional engineer.
• Pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Exam.

During your senior year you should take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, which is required prior to sitting for the Professional Engineers (PE) Exam. Some requirements vary by state.

Examiner: Dr. Xiaoshan Zhu, xzhu@unr.edu

Sample texts

The test subjects are covered in most texts for a first course in circuit analysis with active devices. Examples of suitable texts are:

• Electronic Circuit Analysis and Design, 4th Edition, D.A. Neamen, McGraw-Hill, 2009.
• R. Jaeger and N. Blalock, Microelectronic Circuit Design, 2ndEdition, McGraw-Hill, 2004

Exam rules

1. The duration of the test is three hours.
2. The test is closed book (a calculator can be used), and one page of equations is allowed.
3. The student will be asked to solve 5~7 questions.

Exam topics

The test questions will cover the following topics:

1. Thevenin/Norton, KVL, KCL
2. Semiconductor properties
3. Diodes and diode circuits
4. BJT and BJT circuits with emphasis on analog behavior (e.g., CE, CB, CC and their small signal circuits)
5. MOSFET and MOSFET circuits with coverage of both amplifier design and analysis and CMOS digital circuit design and analysis (e.g. CS, CG, CD and their small signal circuits)
6. Differential amplifiers, current sources and mirrors, and output stages
7. Frequency response of active devices
8. Feedback theory
9. Operational amplifier and its applications (e.g. non-ideal parameters of Op-amp, bode plot of non-inverting or inverting operational amplifier, schmitt trigger, active filter, comparator)
10. Fundamental of digital electronics (e.g. logic gates using BJT and CMOS)

Sample Exam

View a demo Electronics Exam

What is chemical engineering?

Chemical engineering involves the production and manufacturing of products through chemical processes. This includes designing equipment, systems, and processes for refining raw materials and for mixing, compounding, and processing chemicals.

Chemical engineers translate processes developed in the lab into practical applications for the commercial production of products, and then work to maintain and Strengthen those processes. They rely on the main foundations of engineering: math, physics, and chemistry. Biology also plays an increasingly important role.

What do chemical engineers do?

Broadly, chemical engineers conceive and design processes involved in chemical manufacturing. The main role of chemical engineers is to design and troubleshoot processes for the production of chemicals, fuels, foods, pharmaceuticals, and biologicals, to name just a few. They are most often employed by large-scale manufacturing plants to maximize productivity and product quality while minimizing costs.

Chemical engineers affect the production of almost every article manufactured on an industrial scale. Some typical tasks include:

• Ensuring compliance with health, safety, and environmental regulations
• Conducting research into improved manufacturing processes
• Designing and planning equipment layout
• Incorporating safety procedures for working with dangerous chemicals
• Monitoring and optimizing the performance of production processes
• Estimating production costs

Chemical engineers who work in business and management offices often visit research and production facilities. Interaction with other people and team collaboration are critical to the success of projects involving chemical engineering.

Chemical engineers typically work in manufacturing plants, research laboratories, or pilot plant facilities. They work around large-scale production equipment that is housed both indoors and outdoors. Accordingly, they are often required to wear personal protective equipment (e.g., hard hats, goggles, and steel-toe shoes). 

Where is chemical engineering used?

Chemical engineering is most often found in large-scale manufacturing plants, where the goal is to maximize productivity and product quality while minimizing costs. The aerospace, automotive, biomedical, electronic, environmental, medical, and military industries use chemical engineering to develop and Strengthen their technical products, such as:

• Ultrastrong fibers, fabrics, and adhesives for vehicles
• Biocompatible materials for implants and prosthetics
• Films for optoelectronic devices

Materials science and engineering is an interdisciplinary field that forms the foundation for many engineering applications by extending the current supply of materials, improving existing materials, and developing new, superior, and sustainable materials and processes. A key characteristic of the Drexel Materials undergraduate program is experiential learning integrated into the curriculum through co-op, a six-month internship program, as well as Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) linking graduate, and undergraduate project-based learning and undergraduate research with our award-winning faculty. At the graduate level, the creation of new knowledge, the pursuit of funded research, and the expert training of future leaders in academic and industrial research are fundamental to materials science and engineering.