About the Wind Science and Engineering Doctoral Program
Director: Dr. Daan Liang, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Interim Director of the National Wind Institute
Texas Tech University offers a unique multidisciplinary Ph.D. in Wind Science and Engineering. The educational objective of the program is to provide students with the broad education necessary to pursue research and solve problems related to the detrimental effects of windstorms (e.g., hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorms) and to learn to take advantage of the beneficial effects of wind (e.g., wind energy). Each student’s core coursework and dissertation research are multidisciplinary. The doctorate requires at least 60 semester hours of graduate studies in addition to a dissertation (requirement of the Graduate School).
Additional Courses
A master’s degree is strongly recommended. Graduate courses completed during a master’s degree can be transferred if they are in an emphasis field of study (i.e., atmospheric science, engineering, economics, business administration, or a combination to have an emphasis area in wind energy, wind engineering experiments, economics/risk management, damage documentation, emergency management). The courses to be transferred have to be approved by the program advisor.
Additional courses are required by the Graduate School to fulfill requirements of 60 credit hours and are chosen by the students with the advice and consent of the graduate advisor, depending on the student’s area of research emphasis.
Additional Requirements:
Coursework for students is tailored with the advice and consent of their graduate advisor to provide background for multidisciplinary dissertation research. Course descriptions are given under each departmental listing of courses.
Students are also required to complete 6-credit hours of summer offcampus external internship at an academic institution, in a governmental or private laboratory, or with a private company. Opportunities are also available to complete this internship requirement abroad.
Students pursue multidisciplinary research under the guidance of the chair or co-chairs of their advisory committee. Graduate faculty members from at least two disciplines will be represented on each student’s advisory committee. Research must be multidisciplinary and can include a combination of engineering, atmospheric sciences, economics, physical sciences, and mathematics. Field/lab experiments, analytical research, or numerical simulations are examples of acceptable dissertation research.
Students must complete a qualifying examination to be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. The qualifying examination questions are based on a dissertation proposal, which is provided to the advisory committee by the student prior to the qualifying examination. Additionally, students shall have at least one paper based on their dissertation research published (or accepted to be published) in a peer-reviewed journal prior to graduation.
Financial support in the form of scholarships, assistantships, and fellowships is available to qualified students. See the WISE Research Center website (www.depts.ttu.edu/nwi/) for more details of the degree program and ongoing research topics.
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