Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Major in Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization (Entering with Master's Degree)

Program Overview

The College of Science and Engineering at Texas State offers a cutting-edge interdisciplinary Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Ph.D. program. Students work with faculty in Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Engineering, Engineering Technology, and Physics on the research, development, and validation of materials to be used in the next generation of electronics, medicines, plastics, sensors, infrastructure, and renewable energy. Coupling commercialization with science and engineering, the curriculum infuses an understanding of intellectual property law, skills in business planning, competency in transforming innovations from the lab to commercial production, and the ability to organize and lead interdisciplinary research teams. Our goal is to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers who will perform interdisciplinary research and will emerge as effective entrepreneurial leaders in the advancement of high tech, 21st century global discovery and innovation.

Students are classified as either full-time (minimum of nine hours per term) or part-time. All students are required to initiate, complete, present, and publish original research.

Each student develops an appropriate degree plan to meet their career and academic goals. The degree plan will include a mix of theoretical, analytical, and elective courses that will prepare students to work independently and in multidisciplinary teams.

Educational Goal

The central educational goal of the Ph.D. major in Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization at Texas State is to prepare doctoral students with:

• technical skills necessary to conduct high-quality research,
• an orientation toward interdisciplinary research,
• a set of business tools and knowledge of business practice, and
• technical project and business management skills.

Graduates from the program will have:

• Technical skills enabling them to conduct high-quality research. The program has students plan and carry out cutting edge research in materials science and engineering that demonstrates the ability to think through complex problems and arrive at solutions. This goal is supported by rigorous and technically oriented course work that will equip students with the fundamental science and engineering knowledge necessary to conduct research. The student will also, in consultation with his research advisor and dissertation committee, formulate a research project and produce a proposal for carrying out the research. 

• The ability to conduct research across scientific and engineering disciplines. Breakthroughs occur when scientists from a variety of disciplines either individually or collaboratively work on important interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary problems. Therefore, we need a new generation of scientists with both rigorous disciplinary training and the ability to communicate and work across disciplines.
• Business skills and knowledge of business practice. Equipping our graduates with the business skills necessary to become entrepreneurs or leaders in industry is a central goal of the program. This educational goal is supported by the core courses in practical and leadership skills in commercialization and entrepreneurship and other elements dispersed throughout the program. These elements include a one-week intensive workshop to be completed in the summer prior to beginning the program. This introductory boot camp outlines fundamental aspects of business and commercialization and equips students with a common language and basic toolkit. A second one-week entrepreneur boot camp is required after the student‘s first year in the program. In addition, two of the candidacy requirements solidify business skills. The student will produce, present, and defend a full business plan for a start-up company. Students write a Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) proposal. If appropriate, students are provided the opportunity to work with a small business on the proposal and to submit the final document to a funding agency. Students are further encouraged to submit their business plan to the Texas State Business Plan Competition in an oral presentation before a panel of angel investors, venture capitalists and business owners. In addition, the weekly Commercialization Forum exposes students to successful entrepreneurs and business leaders. This Commercialization Forum is also the venue for oral defense of the student business plans. These requirements ensure that students have developed the business skills necessary to succeed.
• Technical project and business management skills. The ability to manage complex technical projects and businesses is an additional skill that is core to this program. This goal is certainly supported by the core courses. In addition, the Commercialization Forum regularly exposes the students to examples of effective project management and cases of what not to do in managing projects or businesses. The ability of the students to manage projects is assessed based on how they manage the business plan, SBIR/STTR proposal, and the implementation of the proposed research plan.

Financial Assistance

Assistantships and scholarships are available to qualified applicants. Doctoral instructional assistantships and teaching assistantships are offered on a competitive basis to full-time students enrolled in the Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization Ph.D. program. An offer of financial support typically will be made at the time that a student is accepted into the program. The Graduate College can provide further information regarding scholarships.

Advising

Each student will develop a degree plan in consultation initially with the doctoral program director and, after selection, their Ph.D. advisor and committee, who identifies the appropriate doctoral prescribed electives necessary for achieving the degree. Students must complete 37 credits prior to taking a three-part Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination. The exam will consist of the following parts: SBIR/STTR Grant Proposal, Business Plan, and Oral Examination. 

Each Ph.D. student is issued a preliminary degree audit by the Graduate College, which should be used to plan the student’s course of study. In the first term of enrollment, students should review the degree audit in consultation with their supervising professor and the program director.

With admission into the doctoral program, it is expected that students will pursue their course work and research activities in an efficient and timely manner. If it is determined that a student is not making adequate progress toward completion of the doctoral degree requirements, consultations will be undertaken with the student, their Ph.D. advisor and the program director to develop a remediation plan to revise the student’s program of study or research. Failure to successfully remedy documented deficiencies will result in termination of the student’s enrollment in the doctoral program at the discretion of the program director. Students removed from the doctoral program in this manner may appeal to the dean of The Graduate College for reinstatement in the program within one academic year.

Application Requirements

The items listed below are required for admission consideration for applicable semesters of entry during the current academic year. Submission instructions, additional details, and changes to admission requirements for semesters other than the current academic year can be found on The Graduate College's website. International students should review the International Admission Documents page for additional requirements.

•  completed online application
• $55 nonrefundable application fee

          or

• $90 nonrefundable application fee for applications with international credentials
• baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited university
• master's degree in biology, chemistry, engineering, materials science, physics, technology, or a closely related field from a regionally accredited university. Students will be required to take leveling courses if background is insufficient. Any required leveling course work must be completed with grades of B or better prior to admission.
• official transcripts from each institution where course credit was granted
• minimum 3.3 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) in all completed graduate course work.
• GRE scores are not required for applicants with a minimum 3.5 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) in all completed graduate course work.
• GRE scores (general test only) required for applicants with GPA less than 3.5 on all completed graduate course work*
• interviews (conducted via phone, internet, or face-to-face) with core doctoral faculty 
• resume/CV
• statement of purpose outlining the student’s personal history and life goals that are relevant to obtaining a doctoral degree, and, in particular, the rationale for pursuing the commercialization aspect of the MSEC program
• three letters of recommendation evaluating the student’s skill and potential to be successful in the MSEC Ph.D. program

Approved English Proficiency Exam Scores

Applicants are required to submit an approved English proficiency exam score that meets the minimum program requirements below unless they have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or the equivalent from a country on our exempt countries list.

• official TOEFL iBT scores required with a 78 overall
• official PTE scores required with a 52 overall
• official IELTS (academic) scores required with a 6.5 overall and minimum individual module scores of 6.0
• official Duolingo Scores required with a 110 overall
• official TOEFL Essentials scores required with an 8.5 overall 

This program does not offer admission if the scores above are not met.

*Additional Information

Degree and GRE Requirement
If the GPA of all completed graduate coursework is between 3.3 and 3.5, the student must submit the following:

• official GRE (general test only) with competitive scores in the verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning sections

Degree Requirements

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree with a major in Materials Science, Engineering, and Commercialization requires 51 semester credit hours for students entering with a master's degree. Students who do not have the appropriate background course work may be required to complete leveling or prerequisite courses. Any required leveling course work must be completed with grades of B or better prior to admission.

Course Requirements

Advancement to Candidacy

Application for Advancement to Candidacy

Students can download the “Application for Advancement to Candidacy” from The Graduate College website or they can obtain a copy from the doctoral program director. The student should complete and sign the upper portion of the form and return it to the doctoral program director. Students must complete all required course work with the exception of dissertation credit hours and pass the Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination prior to applying for candidacy.  The Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination can be taken in the last semester in which the student completes all required course work (with the exception of dissertation credit hours).  When all requirements for admission to candidacy have been met (completion of boot camps or equivalents, all required course work (with the exception of dissertation credit hours), prescribed electives, successful performance on the comprehensive examination, approval of dissertation advisor/committee, and submission of an approved dissertation proposal), the doctoral program director will forward the Application for Advancement to Candidacy to the dean of The Graduate College for review and approval.

The dean of The Graduate College approves advancement to candidacy once all requirements are met.

Before advancement to candidacy can be approved, students are required to complete the following:

1. Completion of all required course work (with the exception of dissertation credit hours) toward the doctoral degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale with no grade earned below “B” on any graduate course work to be applied toward the Ph.D. degree. 
2. Satisfactory performance on the comprehensive examination consisting of the following parts: SBIR/STTR Grant Proposal, Business Plan, and Oral Examination.
3. The student must select a dissertation advisor, and that advisor must be approved by the doctoral program director. The student also must select a dissertation committee comprised of three additional members of the College of Science and Engineering's doctoral faculty and at least one external member from outside the College of Science and Engineering or the university. Other committee compositions are possible but require the approval of the dissertation advisor and the doctoral program director.
4. The student must choose a topic with the approval of the student’s dissertation advisor and committee.
5. The student will submit a title and a written proposal for the dissertation to the student’s dissertation committee and successfully defend the proposal in an oral presentation with the dissertation committee. The proposal will include a statement of the problem to be studied, a discussion of the relevant literature, and the research method of the proposed dissertation topic.
6. The doctoral program director will make a recommendation to the graduate dean who makes the final decision on the student’s advancement to candidacy. The Graduate College will notify the student once the decision has been made.

Advancement to Candidacy Time Limit

Full time students are expected to advance to candidacy at the end of two years of official enrollment in the program. All full time students are required to have advanced to candidacy by the end of their third year in the program. Requests for a time extension must be submitted to the doctoral program director by the student with the concurrence of the Ph.D. research advisor and must be approved by The Graduate College. Non-traditional, part-time students may request extensions from the doctoral program director as long as they maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 and are making consistent progress toward fulfilling their degree requirements. The doctoral executive council will review part-time students’ requests for extensions on an individual, case-by-case basis.

No credit will be applied toward a student’s doctoral degree for course work completed more than five years before the date on which the student is admitted to candidacy. This time limit applies to course credit earned at Texas State, as well as course credit transferred to Texas State from other accredited institutions.

Grade-Point Requirements for Advancement to Candidacy

A minimum GPA of 3.0 on all course work undertaken as a doctoral student in the materials science, engineering, and commercialization program is required for admission to candidacy. No grade earned below “B” on any graduate course work may apply toward a Ph.D. degree at Texas State.

Incomplete grades must be cleared through the office of The Graduate College at least ten days before approval for advancement to candidacy will be granted.

Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination

The Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination can be taken as early as the last semester in which the student completes all required course work (with the exception of dissertation credit hours) and no later than the end of their third year in the program. Students will be required to pass a comprehensive examination that will assess the student‘s preparedness to carry out the proposed plan of dissertation research. To be eligible to take the comprehensive examination, students must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all the core course work, including any course work that is transferred from another institution. The Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination will consist of two written components and one oral component. Each student will be required to take the Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination, which will be conducted by their Ph.D. dissertation committee. All committee members must be in attendance for candidacy examinations. Results of the Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination will be reported on the Doctoral Comprehensive Examination Report form and submitted to The Graduate College. The Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination will consist of the following three parts: SBIR/STTR Grant Proposal, Business Plan, and Oral Examination.

Should a student fail the exam, he or she will have the option of taking a second examination, which must be passed by the end of the following term. Failure to pass this exam on two occasions will lead to the student's dismissal from the Ph.D. program.

Dissertation Proposal

A dissertation proposal prepared by the student and approved by the student’s Ph.D. advisor and a majority of the other members of the dissertation committee is a requirement for Advancement to Candidacy status. The proposal must outline the substance and scope of the dissertation research, present the methodology to be used, and survey the relevant literature. The dissertation proposal will be defended as part of the Oral segment of the Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Exam. The student’s Ph.D. advisor and other dissertation committee members must indicate approval of the dissertation proposal on the “Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal” form. This form can be downloaded from The Graduate College website or it can be obtained from the doctoral program director. A final copy of the dissertation proposal, accompanied by the signed approval form, must be turned in to the doctoral program director, who will forward it to the dean of The Graduate College for review and final approval.

Recommendation for Advancement to Candidacy

The dissertation committee recommends the applicant for Advancement to Candidacy by completing the “Advancement to Candidacy Examination Report” form which can be downloaded from The Graduate College website or obtained from the doctoral program director. The results of the Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination must be filed in the office of The Graduate College before the dean of The Graduate College gives final approval to candidacy. The doctoral program director is responsible for submitting this report to the office of The Graduate College.

Dissertation Research and Writing

All doctoral students are required to complete a dissertation. The dissertation must represent an original contribution to scholarship based on independent investigation. Preparation of the dissertation should follow the guidelines in the current edition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) or American Institute of Physics (AIP) G37 style manual or in an appropriate professional journal in the designated field, as deemed acceptable by the dissertation committee. After being admitted to candidacy, students must be continuously enrolled for dissertation hours each fall and spring term until the defense of their dissertation. If a student is utilizing university resources toward completion of the dissertation in the summer (including faculty supervision or the use of university facilities), or if the student is graduating in the summer, they must be enrolled in at least one hour of dissertation credit for that term. All candidates for graduation must be enrolled in dissertation hours during the term in which the degree is to be conferred. Students must complete a minimum of 18 semester hours of dissertation research credit.

The student must submit to The Graduate College the approved dissertation in electronic format for publication with the Alkek Library. The graduate dean must approve the dissertation.

Dissertation Enrollment Requirements

After being admitted to candidacy, students must be continuously enrolled for dissertation hours each term until the defense of their dissertation. If a student is utilizing university resources toward completion of the dissertation in the summer (including faculty supervision or the use of university facilities), or if the student is graduating in the summer, they must be enrolled in at least one hour of dissertation credit for that term. All candidates for graduation must be enrolled in dissertation hours during the term in which the degree is to be conferred. Students must complete a minimum of 18 semester hours of dissertation research and writing credit.

Dissertation Time Limit

Students are expected to complete the dissertation within two years after Advancement to Candidacy. Any exceptions to this time limit require the approval of the doctoral program director and the dean of The Graduate College. The doctoral program director will review each student annually to ascertain their progress in pursuing the degree and will consult with the student‘s Ph.D. research advisor and dissertation committee on this matter as appropriate.

Dissertation Committee

The dissertation committee will be responsible for administering the Advancement to Candidacy Comprehensive Examination and will oversee the research progress of a doctoral student and the writing of the student‘s dissertation. The committee will consist of at least five members, including the student‘s Ph.D. research advisor, three other MSEC doctoral faculty and at least one external member from outside the College of Science and Engineering or the university. Other committee compositions are possible but require the approval of the dissertation advisor and the doctoral program director. The student‘s Ph.D. research advisor will chair the committee. The student, doctoral program director, and the dean of The Graduate College will approve the composition of the dissertation committee. The Dissertation/Research Advisor form and the Dissertation Committee Request form must be completed to form the committee. These forms may be downloaded from The Graduate College‘s website.

Any changes to the dissertation committee must be submitted using the Dissertation Advisor/Committee Member Change Request form for approval to the dissertation committee chair, the doctoral program director, and the dean of The Graduate College. Changes must be submitted no later than 60 days before the dissertation defense.

The student is responsible for obtaining committee members’ signatures on the Dissertation/Research Advisor Assignment form and the Dissertation Committee Request form, which can be downloaded from The Graduate College website.

Committee Changes

Any changes to the dissertation committee must be submitted using the Dissertation Advisor/Committee Member Change Request form for approval to the dissertation committee chair, the doctoral program director, and the dean of The Graduate College. Changes must be submitted no later than 60 days before the dissertation defense.

The Research Advisor/Committee Member Change Request form may be downloaded from The Graduate College website or obtained from the doctoral program director.

Dissertation Defense

The dissertation defense will not be scheduled until all other academic and program requirements for advancement to candidacy have been fulfilled. A complete draft of the dissertation will be given to the members of the dissertation committee with sufficient time for review, typically two month before the date of commencement during the term in which the student intends to graduate. After committee members have reviewed the draft with the student and provided comments, the student, in consultation with the Ph.D. research advisor, will incorporate the recommended changes into a new draft of the dissertation. When each committee member is satisfied that the draft dissertation is defendable, the dissertation defense may be scheduled.

The dissertation defense will consist of two parts. The first part is a public presentation of the dissertation research. Notice of the defense presentation will be posted at least two weeks in advance. The second part of the defense will immediately follow the public presentation but will be restricted to the student‘s dissertation committee and entail an oral examination over the dissertation research. Approval of the dissertation requires positive votes from the student‘s Ph.D. research advisor and a majority of the remaining members of the dissertation committee. The Dissertation Defense Report form must be filed in The Graduate College before the dean of The Graduate College gives final approval to the dissertation. This form may be downloaded from The Graduate College website.

The student is expected to orally defend the dissertation in an announced public presentation within two years of the official date of being advanced to candidacy.

Approval and Submission of the Dissertation

Following approval and signing of the Thesis/Dissertation Committee Approval form by the members of the dissertation committee, the student must submit one copy of the dissertation to the office of The Graduate College for final approval. Specific guidelines for approval and submission of the dissertation can be obtained from the office of The Graduate College. Dissertations must be submitted in electronic format.

Doctoral level courses in Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization: MSEC

Courses Offered

Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization (MSEC)