CHEME-PHD - Chemical Engineering (PhD)
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Program Overview
Current research and teaching activities cover several advanced topics in chemical engineering, including applied statistical mechanics, biocatalysis, biochemical engineering, bioengineering, biophysics, computational materials science, colloid science, dynamics of complex fluids, energy conversion, functional genomics, hydrodynamic stability, kinetics and catalysis, microrheology, molecular assemblies, nanoscience and technology, Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, polymer physics, protein biotechnology, renewable fuels, semiconductor processing, soft materials science, solar utilization, surface and interface science, and transport mechanics.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Degree Requirements
Graduate Degrees specifies the university’s general requirements for the Ph.D.
The PhD degree is awarded after completing a minimum of 135 units of graduate work and satisfactory completion of any additional university requirements and the following departmental requirements. Completing an MS degree is not a prerequisite for beginning, pursuing, or completing doctoral work.
Minimum Grade Requirement
Any course that satisfies the PhD degree requirements must be taken for a letter grade, if offered. A GPA of 3.0 or above is required by the end of the first year to continue in the PhD program. An overall grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 must be maintained.
A minimum of 135 completed units is required, including a component of a minimum of 39 units in coursework, consisting of:
Fifteen units of CHEMENG core courses listed below
Six units of CHEMENG 400-level courses
Three units of CHEMENG 699
Nine additional units of graduate-level science & engineering lecture elective courses
Six units of flexible elective courses consisting of any course that the student and their advisor feel will further their research; may be additional units of CHEMENG 699
course should be taken all years each quarter of the academic year; all these units count toward the required 135 units
Students working with a research advisor should enroll each quarter in the 500 series, 600, and 699 as appropriate and as study list unit limits permit; all these seminar and research units are included within the required minimum of 135 units for the degree
Students with questions or issues should contact departmental graduate student services.
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CHEMENG 699 should be taken a minimum of three times for a total of three units.
Plus any two courses at the CHEMENG 400 course level.
These courses are to be taken at Stanford, and the department chair must approve any petition to substitute another graduate-level course for any of these core courses. The remaining graduate-level science and engineering lecture courses may be chosen from any department. A student may petition the department chair for approval to include an upper-division undergraduate science or engineering lecture course. All proposals for PhD required coursework must be approved by the student’s advisor and the department chair or the chair of the department’s Graduate Curriculum Committee. Students with questions, concerns, or issues should contact student services staff in the department office in Shriram Center, room 129.
PhD students may petition to add an MS degree program to their university record; submit a Graduate Authorization petition in Axess. Once the online petition is approved, the MS candidate must complete a Program Proposal for a Master’s Degree form and submit it to departmental student services.
PhD students with an MS program apply in Axess for MS degree conferral. (See program for information on the Master of Science in Chemical Engineering program.) The MS degree must be awarded within the university’s candidacy period to complete a master’s degree.
Students must spend autumn and winter of their first year in research rotations. Research rotations are meant to allow students to engage in research within labs, explore research areas, and meet other potential advisors. Students join a primary lab by spring quarter of their first year.
Degree milestones indicate progress toward a degree. They are listed on unofficial transcripts and document satisfactory and timely completion of various events, such as securing research advisors, candidacy examinations, submission of completed degree progress forms, dates of reading committee meetings, and assisting with the teaching CHEMENG courses. Report and submit forms as appropriate to departmental student services. Students with questions or issues should talk with student services staff; students approaching a milestone should be aware of intradepartmental communications and support, and students with concerns should discuss them with student services staff.
Experience in analyzing and presenting one’s research to diverse audiences also is an essential component of predoctoral training, and faculty strongly encourage candidates to do so several times each year, starting in the second year. All candidates in their third year must prepare and present a research poster during the annual Mason Lectures week in spring quarter.
Reading committee meetings are intended to be discussion sessions in which all reading committee members participate and help focus and refine the dissertation project; they are not examinations.
By the end of the second year, all PhD candidates must assemble reading committees and submit Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee forms signed by research advisors to student services.
By the end of the third year’s first quarter, candidates must have an initial meeting with the complete reading committee. It is the candidate’s responsibility to schedule committee meetings and the faculty’s to respond promptly to scheduling requests. The composition of the reading committee may be amended; submit the appropriate form to student services. Candidates are responsible for reporting meeting dates to departmental student services.
The faculty strongly encourage doctoral candidates to take advantage of the benefits of annual committee meetings to enable candidates to benefit from this type of open discussion, support, and recommendations from faculty.
Teaching experience is considered an essential component of pre-doctoral training because it assists in further developing and refining candidates’ skills in conveying what they know, think, and conclude based on articulated assumptions and knowledge. All PhD candidates are required to assist in teaching a minimum of two chemical engineering courses. Students should enroll as assigned in CHEMENG 601 (Chemical Engineering Teaching Experience). These units will count towards the required 135 units.
To be advanced to PhD candidacy, the student must secure a research dissertation advisor (and any required co-adviser), maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA, successfully complete a PhD candidacy examination, and submit a completed Application for Candidacy for Doctoral Degree form.
First, the research advisor and any required co-adviser must be established by the end of the second quarter of the PhD program. Failure to do so leads to the termination of a student’s study toward a PhD in Chemical Engineering; however, the student may continue to work toward an MS degree (See the program for information on the Master of Science in Chemical Engineering program.) Departmental PhD financial support does not continue.
Second, the PhD candidacy examination before a faculty committee by the end of the fifth quarter. It consists of (a) a student’s written research perspective and oral presentation of their thinking about their research proposal and current progress and (b) an examination by faculty members of the proposal specifics as well as the student’s understanding of the fundamental chemical, physical, and biological concepts that govern the molecular behavior of the system being studied. Upon completing this examination, candidates must submit an Application for Candidacy for Doctoral Degree form, approved by their research advisor(s), to departmental graduate student services within two months.
A student may schedule an oral examination no sooner than three weeks after this distribution. This examination is a dissertation defense based on the candidate’s dissertation research. It is a public seminar followed by a private examination by the faculty members on the student’s oral examination committee. Satisfactory performance in the oral examination and acceptance of an approved dissertation by Graduate Degree Progress, Office of the University Registrar, leads to PhD degree conferral.
A dissertation based on a successful investigation of a fundamental problem in chemical engineering is required. A student is expected to have fulfilled all the requirements for this degree, including completing a dissertation approved by their research advisor(s) and reading committee members within approximately five years after enrolling in the PhD program. Upon advisor approval (s), copies of the final draft of the dissertation must be distributed to each reading committee member. A student may schedule an oral examination no sooner than three weeks after this distribution. This examination is a dissertation defense based on the candidate’s dissertation research. It is a public seminar followed by a private examination by the faculty members on the student’s oral examination committee. Satisfactory performance in the oral examination and acceptance of an approved dissertation by Graduate Degree Progress, Office of the University Registrar, leads to PhD degree conferral.