2008–2009 - Florida Institute of Technology

counted from admission into the doctoral program. The written
portion of the examination consists of individual examinations
given by each member of the advisory committee. These written
examinations are intended to cover each of the student’s areas of
specialization. The written portion of the comprehensive examination
is followed by an oral component administered by the
student’s advisory committee. The oral examination provides the
advisory committee an opportunity to complete the examinations
in each of the student’s specialty areas. Subsequent to completion
of both written and oral components of the examination, a
dissertation proposal must be submitted to the student’s advisory
committee for evaluation. Upon determining that the proposed
research is of doctoral quality and that completion is feasible, the
student is advanced to candidacy for the doctoral degree.
Course Work and Dissertation Summary
Doctoral course work minimum beyond master’s degree .........................18
Doctoral research and dissertation ...........................................................24
TOTAL MINIMUM BEYOND THE MASTER’S DEGREE .................42
General degree requirements are presented in the Academic
Overview section of this catalog.
Curriculum
The student’s master’s and doctoral course work combined
should include a minimum of 24 credit hours in mechanical
engineering and 12 credit hours in mathematics. The doctoral
program of study must be approved by the student’s adviser and
the department head. The distribution of these courses should
include courses in each of the three optional areas of specialization
(excluding biomedical engineering, which can be used as a
related area of specialization), and as a minimum should have the
credit distribution given below:
Major Area of Specialization (including master’s courses) .......................18
Related Areas of Specialization (including master’s courses) ..........9 (each)
Mathematics (including master’s courses) ...............................................12
reSeArch
Mechanical and aerospace engineering facilities include laboratories
for energy research, fluid mechanics and aerodynamics,
combustion and propulsion, metallurgy and solid mechanics,
system dynamics and control, instrumentation and applied laser
research, computer-aided design and computational research.
Other laboratories around the campus can also be used by
mechanical engineering graduate students performing advanced
research.
Funded research activities of mechanical and aerospace engineering
faculty have recently included studies of efficient heat
transfer/insulation mechanisms in building environments,
advanced HVAC and fuel cell systems, integration of renewable
energy sources into residential and utility applications, computation
of radiative transport, computational mechanics with
emphasis on nano-devices and damage mechanisms in laminated
composite structures, development of experimental techniques
for mechanical behavior of advanced materials systems, biomechanics,
laser applications in bioengineering, turbulent boundary-layer
structure, condition monitoring and fault diagnosis in
rotating machinery and turbulent transport of moisture contained
in air streams. Other studies have involved combustion in porous
media, novel spatial and spherical mechanisms for part-orienting
tasks, design and control of mobile robots, response of occupants
in automobile collisions, smart composite structures with
embedded sensors and optimization of composites. Research
projects have been variously supported through grants from
NASA, National Science Foundation, Defense Nuclear Agency,
Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Edith Bush Charitable
Foundation, Florida Solar Energy Center, Florida Space Grant
Consortium, Department of Energy and a number of industrial
affiliations.
Laboratories include the Robotics and Spatial Systems Laboratory
(RSSL); Laser, Optics and Instrumentation Laboratory (LOIL);
Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and the Aerospace Structures
Laboratory. RSSL is equipped with several industrial robots as
well as a state-of-the-art autonomous mobile robot. In LOIL, the
current technologies in continuous wave and short-pulse lasers
and optics are used to develop new techniques for measuring and
characterizing material properties for biomedical and material
processing applications. The Fluid Dynamics Laboratory features
a low-speed, low-turbulence wind tunnel of open-return type,
with a square test section 0.535 m on a side and 1.6 m long. The
speed range is from zero to 42 m/s. The mean turbulence level
is a few hundredths of one percent at the lowest tunnel speeds.
The Aerospace Structures Laboratory features a drop-tower for
impact testing of structures and materials. This laboratory also
has a shaker table for the vibration testing of structures. There
are also ovens, vacuum pumps and other paraphernalia needed
for the custom preparation of material specimens from advanced
composite materials.
See the Institution Overview section of this catalog for further
information regarding the Dynamic Systems and Controls
Laboratory; the Laser, Optics and Instrumentation Laboratory;
and the Robotics and Spatial Systems Laboratory.
Degree Programs—College of Engineering 97