Ph.D. in Robotics Engineering

Students will be eligible for admission to the program if they have earned an undergraduate or graduate degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics Engineering, or a related field from an accredited university. Applicants must supply a Statement of Purpose, three Letters of Recommendation, and Graduate Record Examination scores. The GRE requirement may be waived for WPI students and alumni, or at the discretion of the Robotics Engineering Graduate Students will be eligible for admission to the program if they have earned an undergraduate or graduate degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics Engineering, or a related field from an accredited university. Applicants must supply a Statement of Purpose, three Letters of Recommendation, and Graduate Record Examination scores. The GRE requirement may be waived for WPI students and alumni, or at the discretion of the Robotics Engineering Graduate

The Ph.D. program in Robotics Engineering requires 60 credit hours of work beyond the M.S. degree or 90 credit hours beyond the B.S degree. Coursework must include 3 credit hours of Management or Systems Engineering courses at the 500 level or above. This requirement may be satisfied as part of the M.S. in Robotics Engineering or other M.S. program. All entering students must submit a plan of study identifying the courses to be taken and a prospective research area before completing more than 9 graduate credits. The plan of study must be approved by the student’s academic advisor and submitted to the RBE Graduate Program Committee, and must include the following minimum requirements:

The Doctoral Qualifiers evaluate each student’s level of academic preparation. The Doctoral Qualifiers consist of four topic qualifiers: Technical, Writing, Speaking, and Research. The requirements for each qualifier are described in the Graduate Regulations on the RBE website.

Doctoral students must successfully complete the Doctoral Qualifiers before completing 30 credits towards the Ph.D. for students entering with M.S., or 60 credits towards the Ph.D. for students entering with B.S., and before completing 18 credits of directed research.

Advancement of the student into Ph.D. candidacy is contingent upon successful completion of the Doctoral Qualifiers. Upon successful completion of the Doctoral Qualifiers, the doctoral student advances to Ph.D. candidacy. Upon failing any topic qualifier, the student may retake the failed topic qualifier one additional time.

Failing any topic qualifier twice results in the dismissal from the Robotics Engineering doctoral program. However, students can petition the RBE Graduate Program Committee to review their case. After reviewing the case, the committee may decide to let the student take the qualifier one additional time.

Dissertation Committee
Within one semester after the successful completion of the Doctoral Qualifiers, the student, in consultation with the Research Advisor, assembles a Dissertation Committee. The committee consists of the Research Advisor and three additional members, at least one of whom must be from outside the WPI RBE Program. The Dissertation Committee is responsible for approving the Dissertation Proposal and the Dissertation.

Dissertation Proposal
The Dissertation Proposal describes the student’s proposed research. The Dissertation Proposal should be sufficiently detailed to convince the Dissertation Committee of the student’s understanding of the problem domain along with the significance of the proposed work.

The Dissertation Proposal must be defended in a public presentation, immediately followed by private questioning from the Dissertation Committee. The Dissertation Committee then determines the outcome of the Proposal Defense. It may accept the proposal, reject the proposal and recommend pursuit of a different topic, or require the student do additional work before reconsidering the proposal. The time frame for the student to do additional work on the Dissertation Proposal is determined by the Dissertation Committee.

Dissertation
All Ph.D. students must complete and orally defend a Dissertation prepared under the supervision of the Research Advisor. The research described in the Dissertation must be original and constitute a contribution to knowledge in the major field of the candidate. The Dissertation must be defended in a public presentation, immediately followed by private questioning from the Dissertation Committee. The Dissertation Committee then determines the outcome of the Dissertation Defense, certifying the quality and originality of the research, and the satisfactory execution of the Dissertation. It may accept the Dissertation with or without revisions, reject the Dissertation, or require the student do additional work before reconsidering the Dissertation. The time frame for the student to complete additional work is determined by the Dissertation Committee.