PhD Program

Overview

Our Ph.D. program combines coursework and original research to prepare for a career in academia or industry. The focus is on learning to critically review existing knowledge in archive journals on the way to performing original research.

Program Highlights

  • The program balances classroom study in primary and related subject areas with a thorough investigation on an original topic.
  • Students work alongside Purdue ECE’s exceptional faculty, who are leaders in their disciplines.
  • Few colleges can match the depth and breadth of Purdue Engineering’s research capabilities and talent. We are focused on 21st century impact — leading the way in reshaping the research universe through discovery and innovation.
  • Earn our graduate concentration in Microelectronics and Advanced Semiconductors as you earn the PhD.
  • We offer two options for incoming students:
    • Students with an MS can apply to our PhD program.
    • Students without an MS can apply to our direct PhD program.

Application Deadlines

For Fall Start:

  • Priority consideration for financial support, December 1
  • Final, April 1

For Spring Start: September 1

Students will have the flexibility to focus on a specific area of interest by selecting one of the following areas:

  • Automatic Control
  • Communications, Networking, Signal & Image Processing
  • Computer Engineering
  • Fields and Optics
  • Microelectronics and Nanotechnology
  • Schweitzer Power and Energy Systems
  • VLSI and Circuit Design

    • We also offer coursework in emerging areas, including quantum computing, data mining, IoT, and big data.

    student working in lab