University of the District of Columbia

What you'll study

Students complete research and dissertation credits and take colloquia alongside advanced specialist courses in one of several specializations. Research/dissertation is offered as CCEN 701 (1–8 credits) and colloquia as CCEN 702 (1 credit). After passing the qualifying examination, students must be registered each semester for at least 3 credits of research/dissertation. To satisfy completion requirements, students must accumulate a minimum of 24 research/dissertation credit hours and at least 3 colloquium credits.

• Biomedical Engineering specialization: BMEG 681 Machine Learning for Medical Detection and Diagnoses; BMEG 682 Biomedical Imaging Systems and Signal Processing; BMEG 683 Biomedical Engineering Seminar; BMEG 684 Physiological Systems Analysis; BMEG 689 Special Topics in computer enabled biomedical engineering topics.
• Civil Engineering specialization: CVEN 651 Computational Engineering and Scientific Modeling; CVEN 652 Systems Engineering Approach; CVEN 653 Engineering Systems: Modeling & Simulation; CVEN 654 Water Resources System Analysis; CVEN 655 Water Resources System Modeling; CVEN 669 Special Topics in Computational Science.
• Computer Science specialization: CSCI 601 Advanced Algorithm Analysis; CSCI 602 Theory of Computational Complexity; CSCI 603 Pattern Recognition; CSCI 671 Autonomous Mobile Robots; CSCI 672 Visual Analytics; CSCI 673 Virtual Reality; CSCI 674 Advanced Topics in Networking; CSCI 675 Spatio-Temporal Databases; CSCI 676 Big Data Science; CSCI 689 Special Topics in Computer Science.
• Electrical and Computer Engineering specialization: ELEC 631 Advanced Computational Intelligence; ELEC 632 Advanced Computer Architecture; ELEC 633 Advanced Embedded System Design; ELEC 634 Detection and Estimation; ELEC 635 VLSI Architecture; ELEC 636 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices; ELEC 637 Advanced Communication Systems; ELEC 649 Special Topics in Computer Engineering; ELEC 689 Special Topics in Electrical Engineering.
• Mechanical Engineering specialization: MECH 671 Science and Technology of Fuel Cells and Batteries; MECH 672 Nanomaterial for Next Generation Computers; MECH 673 Computational Materials Science; MECH 674 Advanced Science and Technology of Solar Cells; MECH 679 Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering.

Entry requirements

Applicants must apply to UDC as a graduate degree applicant and hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited post-secondary institution. The programme page directs prospective applicants to the university's Application Center for detailed instructions and resources.

Career prospects

Graduates are prepared for research-oriented roles that bridge computing and engineering: academic research and teaching, government and national-lab research aligned with NSF/DOD/NIST/DOE/NIH priorities, and senior R&D or technical leadership positions in industry sectors such as robotics, biomedical devices, smart infrastructure, cyber security and data science.

Scholarships & funding angle

The programme description does not list specific scholarships; prospective students should contact the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and review university graduate funding pages for information on assistantships, fellowships and external grants that commonly support doctoral research.