EE Graduate Student Handbook

EE Graduate Student Handbook

Faculty Research Interests | CSIS Course Listing | Request a Graduate School Application | "Life at U.Va." Slide Show All graduate students at the Center for Semicustom Integrated Systems must apply through the Department of Electrical Engineering. Requests for applications can be made online. The following information was adapted from the 1995-1996 Electrical Engineering Graduate Students Handbook.

Department Organization
Department Policies
Academic Policies
Special Graduate Course Requirements (EE 693, 793, 695, 895)
Master's Degree Requirements
Doctor of Philosophy Degree Requirements

Department Organization

The Electrical Engineering Department is divided into four general research areas, the Communications Systems Laboratory, the Robotics and Automation Laboratory, the Center for Semicustom Integrated Systems (computer engineering), and the Applied Electrophysics Laboratories. New students should select an advisor from one of these areas of interest during their first semester of study. Affiliating with a specific research group does not preclude taking courses in other areas; in fact, all students are required to take courses in at least two areas in addition to their major area.

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Department Policies

The following policies have been established concerning the use of equipment, supplies, and materials.
KEYS
Keys to the building and to the student offices are available from Ms. Lisa Sites. A deposit of $5 for each key will be required, and will be refunded upon return of the key. A replacement fee of $5 will be charged for each lost key and is not refundable.
OFFICES

Offices will normally be assigned by the student's advisor and laboratory director. The office must be kept neat and clean as we often show visitors through the Department.

TELEPHONES
Telephones are provided in some graduate student office areas. Necessary research related long distance calls are made with a forced authorization code (FAC). The FAC number allows the cost of the call to be directly charged to the research contract. Personal long distance calls must be made "collect", or by credit card, or charged to your home telephone number.

OFFICE SUPPLIES
The Department does not supply office supplies to graduate students. Secretaries for research laboratories have office supplies for use on research projects.

COPY MACHINE
The photocopy machine can only be used with the proper copy card. Each laboratory has their own copy card.

TRANSPARENCIES
Transparencies can be made in the Department only when directly related to a research project and charged to the proper research account.

MAIL BOXES
Each student will be assigned a mail box for departmental communications and notices, etc. These are not for personal mail or technical journals.

ELECTRONIC MAIL, WORD PROCESSING & COMPUTING FACILITIES
The Information Technology Communications (ITC) provides general purpose computing resources for the University of Virginia. Electrical Engineering graduate students can get an account on the IBM RS6000 named Fulton. The RS6000s are high-powered UNIX-based computers on which you can compile programs, use statistical packages, utilize text formatters for professional documents, use email, post news, etc. To apply for an account, stop by the ITC Accounting office in the 2nd floor, Wilson Hall. Please obtain an account promptly and read your mail and news (uva.ee.general) daily, as these will be primary methods by which the department will communicate important information to you.

SUPPLIES
Instruments and electronic components are available through Mr. McIntosh (E102) in the equipment area for authorized projects. Equipment should never be taken from the teaching laboratories or research projects without proper permission.

LAB SUPPLIES
Department Supplies may be ordered through Ms. Gloria Reed or the appropriate research secretary.

TRAVEL
Your advisor or Ms. Gloria Reed can advise and assist you concerning research or Department related travel.

ADDRESS CHANGES
Please inform the graduate secretary of any changes in your address or telephone number. It is important that we have an address at which you can be reached during the holidays and summer. For those graduating, leave a forwarding home or business address.

BUILDING USE AND SECURITY
Please observe the following procedures:

Keep your office door locked when ever it is unoccupied.
Teaching Assistants must not leave until all students have left the laboratory and they must then secure all doors and windows.
If you see someone carrying equipment from the building on nights or weekends, call the University Police and notify the Department Chairman or Assistant Chairman.
Only recognized student organizations are permitted to hold private parties or other events in the building, arcade or Darden Court. All such functions must be scheduled approved in advance by Assistant Dean W. Thurneck.
Personal belongings are not covered under the University Insurance Policies. Check your home policy to see if you are covered.

AUDIO VISUAL EQUIPMENT
The department maintains overhead (view-graph) and slide projectors for course and research use. Arrangements must be made with Mr. J. McIntosh to reserve a projector. Other audio-visual equipment (VCR, TV, tape, etc.) may be borrowed from the Humanities Department for coursework and student organization use.

CONFERENCE ROOMS
Conference Rooms are available for oral and written exams, research laboratory meetings, and other course or research functions. See your lab secretary to reserve a conference room. The Department conference room (C311) can be reserved through the Chairman's secretary Ms. Susan Malone (C215).

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Academic Policies

GRADUATE COMMITTEE
The Graduate Committee is responsible for all graduate related matters in the Department. The committee is made up of faculty members and a student representative. Graduate students should meet and select student representatives to the Committee and notify Dr. Johnson of their selection.
The Graduate Committee (faculty members only) reviews all applications for admission to graduate school and degree programs of study. The Chairman of the Graduate Committee and the Assistant Department Chairman assign the graduate teaching assistants (GTA's) to the undergraduate laboratories. The full committee periodically reviews graduate courses and recommends new course offerings to the faculty.

GRADUATE COURSE DROP DEADLINE
The last date for dropping a graduate course is nine weeks after the start of the semester. After this date, students may petition the Dean's Office for a W or WP upon concurrence of their instructor and advisor.

INCOMPLETE GRADES
A 10-day period past the end of the semester (end of the examination period) is automatically allowed to remove an imcomplete. Maximum extension to the end of the following semester (following a Fall for a Spring class, and Spring for a Fall class) may be granted by special request to the Dean's Office.

PROBATION AND DISMISSAL POLICY
A graduate student will be considered to be on probation if his/her cumulative GPA for graduate work is less than 3.0 and will be notified of this by the Dean's Office. A graduate student will be subject to dismissal if the cumulative GPA is not raised to 3.0 within one semester. Undergraduate courses and courses taken on a Pass/No Credit basis may not be used to meet requirements for a graduate degree and will not be used in computing the GPA.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Financial support may be provided by the Department in the form of a fellowship, teaching assistantship (GTA) or research assistantship (GRA). The student should consider such support an honor and make every effort to meet the requirements specified for such support. Financial aid may be terminated at any time if the Department or the Principal Investigator feels the student is not performing to the professional standards expected of a graduate engineer.

A Fellowship student may be required to help a faculty member develop a new research area. The student should meet with the faculty member and report progress on a regular basis.

Graduate Teaching Assistants are assigned to specific laboratory courses and are expected to prepare adequately before each laboratory meeting. Some preliminary preparation may be required before the beginning of the semester. At the end of the semester, the GTA should check with the faculty member in charge of the laboratory to make sure that all duties have been completed. Complete instructions for GTA's will be issued by Dr. Marshall.

Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) support is for work on sponsored research contracts or grants. This work not only aids the research project but also provides a topic for the student's thesis or dissertation. This financial aid is NOT a gift to the student. The graduate student is expected to complete the work specified by the Principal Investigator (PI) in a professional engineering manner. The Principal Investigator and the student should discuss what is to be expected from the student during the employment period and the student should expect to make a progress report to the PI every week. Master's students receiving financial assistance will normally be required to be enrolled in the M.S. (thesis) program. This is particularly true for students receiving a GRA.

Financial Aid is not automatically renewable from one year to the next. It is the student's responsibility to make arrangements with the Principal Investigator of his/her research regarding the possibility of continued employment for the next academic year. Students interested in a GTA position should contact Dr. Paxton Marshall. Fellowship support, with the exception of the Dean's Fellowships, is generally not available after the first year.

THESIS AND DISSERTATION PREPARATION AND EXAMINATION ANNOUNCEMENTS
Before beginning to write a thesis the student should read form G-122, Instructions for Thesis Preparation, which outlines the approved school format and requirements. A final oral defense of the thesis or dissertation is required. The student is responsible for reserving a suitable conference room and for distributing the oral exam announcement and abstract.

COMMITTEES FOR MS AND Ph.D EXAMS
Normally the student's advisory committee is also the examining committee. The advisory committee and the examining committees for the Ph.D. exams must consist of at least one faculty member from outside of Electrical Engineering. The minimum number of committee members for each examination is as follows:

Master of Science Final Examination (3 members minimum)
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination (4 members minimum)
Ph.D. Dissertation proposal presentation (4 members minimum)
Ph.D. Final Examination (5 members minimum)

IEEE
Graduate student membership and participation in IEEE activities are strongly encouraged. The student membership fee is only $28 plus any journal subscription fees. A student member may attend the Central Virginia Section monthly dinner meetings which alternate between Charlottesville, Waynesboro and Lynchburg. There is also an active Student Chapter of IEEE, which sponsors technical talks on career choices, employment areas, plant visits and some social events.

EE COLLOQUIA
Several times a year the EE department sponsors seminars featuring eminent speakers. All graduate students are required to attend unless they have a conflict due to classes or research travel. Talks are designed to inform the non-specialist about current research on a wide variety of science and engineering topics. Announcements of seminars will be posted on bulletin boards in the C3 lobby.

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Special Graduate Course Requirements (EE 693, 793, 695, 895)

COURSE MEMORANDUMS
All SEAS courses require a beginning-of-course memo, and an end-of-course memo. They are normally written by the faculty member responsible for the course, but in certain cases of independent study (EE 693, 793) or project (EE 695, 895) courses, a student may be asked to complete the memorandum.

MASTER'S PROJECT (EE 695)
Subject to the approval of his/her advisor, M.E. students may include three to six hours of project work (EE 695) in their degree program. Projects should be selected and a project proposal submitted to the student's advisor. When the project has been completed, forward a copy of the project report to the chairman of the graduate committee for your student file. These submission requirements are in addition to the beginning- and end-of-course memorandums. The final project report should fully outline the scope of the project, indicate the methods and work accomplished including any data or measurements, and discuss and summarize the information gained. There is no required format per se, but the engineering report should be acceptable to a project sponsor. The report should be of the quality that with editorial changes it could be submitted as a letter to the editor or a short paper in a refereed journal. In writing this report the student should make certain that the issues raised in the original proposal are adequately addressed.

INDEPENDENT STUDY (EE 693, 793)
Any student planning to study graduate course material on an independent basis under the supervision of a faculty member, must submit a syllabus for EE 693 or EE 793 to the Graduate Committee. This syllabus may be in the form of a beginning-of-course memo and must be submitted no later than the beginning of the semester in which it is planned to register for the independent study. The syllabus must include textbooks and references to be used during the study as well as a detailed outline of topics to be covered. Samples of problems solved and/or copies of any reports written during the course must be provided for the student's file along with the syllabus. All independent study courses must be completed within the period of the normal semester, unless extenuating circumstances prevent the student from completing the work. No more than one Independent Study course (3 credits) may be applied towards an M.S. or M.E. degree.

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Master's Degree Requirements

Masters students should discuss the selection of either the ME or the MS degree program with their advisor. Students receiving financial support from the Department in the form of a GRA, GTA or a fellowship will generally be required to take the MS (thesis) option, unless approval to do the ME is obtained from the Graduate Committee. All other Masters students will be enrolled in the ME program unless and until they obtain the agreement of an advisor to supervise a MS thesis. Except in special cases, financial assistance is generally not available to ME students. Degree requirements set by the Engineering School are given in the Graduate Record. Only specific Electrical Engineering Department requirements will be discussed here.

All masters students are required to complete an approved course plan of study. ME degrees require 30 course hours. MS degrees require 24 course hours plus a thesis and a paper submitted to a conference or refereed journal. In addition the MS student will be required to take a final oral examination after the thesis has been submitted. This examination normally covers the research done for the thesis but may also include questions from related coursework. The completed thesis must be delivered to each member of the examining committee at least 14 days prior to the date of the final oral exam. The MS degree requires completion of at least one semester in residence at UVa as a full-time student.

1.Masters Degree Plan of Study

The plan of study (form G-101) must be completed and submitted to the EE graduate office during the first semester of school. When properly completed and approved, it represents the course curriculum for a masters degree. For a ME degree 30 credits of graduate courses are required. For a MS degree 24 credits of coursework plus 6 credits of EE 898, thesis research are required. A revised plan of study must be submitted should the course curriculum change.

For both degrees the undergraduate articulation courses may be required of those students with other than the traditional EE background.

Breadth Requirement
Degreee plans must include at least one approved course chosen from three different EE subject areas.

AREA	COURSE OFFERINGS
Circuits	EE 507, 563, 601, 602
Solid State Devices	EE 564, 663, 667, 763, 768, 862, 863
Control and Robotic Systems	EE 525, 621, 722, 724, 726, 728, 825, 827
Communications	EE 613, 614, 712, 717, 814
Digital Computer Systems	EE 631, 734, 735
Electrodynamics	EE 541, 556, 642, 655, 741, 753
Signal and Image Processing	EE 576, 682, 774, 776, 781, 884

Three hours of mathematics (APMA or MATH) at the 500 level or above are required of all MS and ME students.
A program of study may contain no more than a total of nine credits of 500 -level courses, with no more than six of those credits in EE.
ALL PROGRAMS OF STUDY MUST BE APPROVED ONE SEMESTER IN ADVANCE OF GRADUATION BY THE GRADUATE CHAIRMAN.

2. Articulation Course Requirements

Students entering the graduate EE program from a non-electrical engineering background will be required to show proof of satisfactory completion of the following basic electrical engineering undergraduate courses or their equivalent:

ENGR 203 Circuits
EE 204 Electronic Circuits
EE 323 Signals & Systems I
EE 324 Signals & Systems II
ENGR 208 Digital Logic Design
EE 335 Microcomputers
Satisfactory completion of two of the following three courses is also required.
EE 303 Solid State Devices
EE 310 Electromechanical Energy Conversion
EE 309 Electromagnetic Fields

Additional courses may also be required to correct any undergraduate course deficiencies. These requirements may be satisfied in one of the following ways:

Previous undergraduate coursework - for example, a physics course in Electromagnetic Fields would satisfy the EE 309 requirement.
Enrollment in and successful completion of the above undergraduate courses (B or better grade). Undergraduate courses may not be taken on a pass/fail basis.
Self-study and examination. The student may take the final examination in any of the above courses during the normally scheduled examination period or by special arrangement with the instructor.

3. Transfer Credit

Master of Science candidates may transfer a maximum of six credits of approved graduate courses into the program. Master of Engineering candidates may transfer twelve hours. Students in the Cooperative Graduate Engineering program may include up to fifteen hours of credit with grades of C or better from participating institutions. Fill out form G112 to request approval of transfer courses. Other students not enrolled in the Cooperative Graduate Engineering program may only transfer courses with a grade of B or better.

4. Paper - MS Candidates Only

All MS candidates must submit, prior to graduation, a paper related to their research, to at least one conference to be included in its proceedings or to a refereed journal. (Please supply Ms. Lisa Sites with a copy for your file.)

5. Time Limit

The time limit for completion of the MS is five years after admission. The time limit for the ME is seven years.

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Doctor of Philosophy Degree Requirements

The graduate committee may require a Ph.D student to take a preliminary examination before beginning the second semester of graduate study. Requirements for the examination will be specified in the student's admission letter. Ph.D candidates must spend at least two semesters in full-time residence at UVa. All requirements for the Ph.D must be completed within seven years after admission to the doctoral program.

1. Ph.D Plan of Study

During the first semester of doctoral study the student should meet with the advisory committee to determine a plan of study. Before this meeting the student should meet with his or her advisor and prepare a preliminary academic outline consisting of: previous degrees, proposed Ph.D major and minor areas of study, list of completed graduate courses, a copy of a transcript of graduate and undergraduate courses, and a list of proposed courses for the Ph.D degree. The plan of study must include at least 24 hours of EE 999 Dissertation research, at least 24 hours of coursework beyond the master's degree, at least 12 hours of coursework at the 700 level or above, and at least six hours of graduate mathematics.

Ph.D students who did their master's work elsewhere must fulfill the core course requirements and the articulation course requirements (for those whose undergraduate degree is not in EE) outlined previously in this handbook.

Each student must select a major area of concentration and two minor areas. Some selected areas of study for the major and minor area requirements and the relevant courses offered are listed below. Courses taken towards a master's degree may be counted towards the fulfillment of these requirements.

AREA	COURSE OFFERINGS	MINOR REQUIREMENTS
Circuit Theory	EE 507. 563, 601, 602	2 courses
Solid State Electronics	EE 564, 663, 667, 763, 768, 862, 863	2 courses
Control and Robotics	EE 525, 621, 722, 724,EE/ME 726/756, 728, 823, 825, 827, 828	2 courses
Communications	EE 613, 614, 712, 717, 814, 815	2 courses
Pattern Recognition and Signal Processing	EE 576, 682, 774, 776, 881, 884	2 courses
Digital Computer Systems	EE 631, 734, 735, 736	2 courses
Electrodynamics	EE 541, 556, 641, 642, 655, 741, 753	2 courses

Other possible minor areas include Applied Math, Computer Science, Materials Science, Physics, Systems, etc.

2. Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

Ph.D. students are required to pass a qualifying examination early in their graduate studies. The objective of the exam is to assess the student's potential to perform doctoral level work and to identify weaknesses which might be corrected with articulation requirements. The qualifying examination has the following structure:

The department is organized into four major research laboratories: (1) The Applied Electrophysics Laboratories, (2) The Center for Semicustom Integrated Systems (Computer Engineering), (3) The Communications Systems Laboratory. Each student must select one of the above four labs as their major laboratory. Two additional labs must also be selected as minor laboratories. The major laboratory is normally the lab affiliation of the student's doctoral advisor.
Each laboratory provides a list of courses for their major and their minor. The courses are upper-level undergraduate and entry-level graduate courses which contain fundamental material within the chosen areas. The list of courses for each lab is available from a student's advisor.
The qualifying examination consists of two components. The first part is an oral presentation by the student on a topic selected in coordination with the student's advisor. Normally, the presentation will be on some aspect of the student's research. The presentation should last approximately 30 minutes, including questions. The second part of the exam is an oral question and answer session on the technical topics within a student's major and minor areas. The total examination, including presentation and all questions, lasts approximately 1.5 hours.
The examining committee for the qualifying examination is appointed by the department. The student's advisor is a non-voting member of the committee, and each of the four laboratories has one voting member on the committee. The same committee examines all students taking the examination in a particular semester.
Students enrolled in the masters program at the University of Virginia who wish to be considered for admission into the doctoral program must pass the qualifying examination before completing their fourth academic semester of masters study. Students who have obtained a masters at another university must pass the examination before completing their third academic semester in the doctoral program at the University of Virginia.
The qualifying examination cannot be taken more than twice.
The qualifying examination will normally be offered in November and March of each year.

3. Dissertation

After the comprehensive examination has been passed the student should work with his/her advisor and define a dissertation topic. This dissertation proposal must be submitted to the student's advisory committee in advance and successfully defended in a public oral presentation at least one semester prior to receipt of the degree. Guidelines and instructions for dissertation preparation are available from the Dean's office, form G-122. A final oral defense is required by the Department after the student has submitted his/her dissertation. The completed dissertation must be delivered to each member of the examining committee at least 14 days prior to the defense. The student will be responsible for reproduction and distribution of the oral defense announcement and abstract.

4. Paper

All Ph.D candidates are required to submit an article related to their research to a refereed journal, prior to receiving their degree. If the student's advisor is not a co-author of the paper the advisor must provide the graduate committee with a note indicating his/her approval of the paper. (Please supply Ms. Lisa Sites with a copy for your file.)

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Last Modified: Jan. 13, 1997

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