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Ph.D. Requirements

In addition to the general WPI requirements for the doctoral degree (including requirements for total credits, residency, Ph.D. candidacy, completion and successful defense of a dissertation and presentation of a final colloquium), the fire protection engineering program requires:

a. Comprehensive Examination

Successful completion of the Fire Protection Engineering Qualifying Examination (FPEQE). A description of this exam is below.

b. Research Proposal

Successful completion and oral defense of the Ph.D. Research Proposal before the student's Dissertation Committee. A description of the Ph.D. Research Proposal and the Dissertation Committee are below.

c. FPE Courses

Successful completion of at least 15 semester hours of fire protection engineering course credits within the 90 semester hours of graduate work required beyond the Baccalaureate degree.

Fire Protection Engineering Qualifying Examination (FPEQE)

Purpose of the FPEQE

The purpose of this exam is to determine if the student's breadth and depth of understanding of the fundamental areas of fire protection engineering are adequate to conduct independent research and successfully complete a Ph.D. dissertation.

FPEQE Committee

A member of the fire protection engineering faculty will be appointed to be the Chairperson of the FPEQE Committee. This person should not be the student's Ph.D. dissertation advisor. The student's Ph.D. dissertation advisor may be a member of the FPEQE Committee. At the present time the FPEQE Committee will consist of all members of the fire protection engineering faculty with the rank of Assistant Professor or higher. Faculty from other departments at WPI or other colleges/universities may be asked to participate in this examination if the fire protection engineering faculty feels that it is necessary.

The committee will exercise its discretion in handling any extenuating circumstances or problems.

Schedule of the FPEQE

The FPEQE will be offered at least once each year. Students must apply to the Director of the Center for Firesafety Studies or the fire protection engineering Graduate Coordinator. Two FPEQE options are available: written and oral exams; white paper and oral exam.

1. Written and Oral Exam

Full-time students should schedule this FPEQE within one year of beginning doctoral work; part-time students within two years. The written exam must be successfully completed before the oral exam can be taken. The oral exam will be given within two weeks of the completion of the written exam.

Written Exam
The written exam will be open book. The written exam will be given over two days.

The following two areas will be covered in the written examination:

• Fire Dynamics and Combustion
• Fire Protection Systems

Questions of both a theoretical/scientific and a practical/engineering nature will be included in this written exam.

In each of the two topical areas, a choice of questions will be given, one each day. The writer of the question will grade that question with a grade between 0 and 100.

The student must pass each section of the exam. The FPEQE Committee will determine if the student passes the written exam by a simple majority vote. Deficiencies found in the written exam may be further questioned in the oral exam.

Oral Exam
The oral exam will be closed book. The oral exam will be two hours in duration. At the FPEQE Committee's discretion, the exam may be adjourned after two hours and continued for up to two hours more on the next day.

The FPEQE committee will determine if a student passes the oral exam by a simple majority vote. This oral exam will be structured so that the student's working knowledge of Fire Dynamics and Fire Protection Systems will be explored. Each member of the FPEQE Committee will have time to question the student.

2. White Paper and Oral Exam

Under this option, the student will write a white paper on a relatively focused topic agreed to with the advisor and approved by the FPEQE Committee. An oral exam will subsequently be scheduled as above for the written exam.

The white paper and oral exam will be scheduled when agreed between the advisor and the student as approved by the FPEQE Committee.

Possible Results of the FPEQE

1. The student passes and continues to work towards the Ph.D.
2. The student fails but is permitted to take the FPEQE for a second time after a semester of directed independent study. The FPEQE Committee will identify the areas of deficiency for the student. This result may be determined after just the written component of the examination, or after both the written and oral components, have been taken.
3. The student fails the exam and is not permitted to continue in the fire protection engineering Ph.D. program at WPI. This result may be determined after just the written component of the examination, or after both the written and oral components have been taken.

Admission to Candidacy

To be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. in fire protection engineering, a student must:

1. Pass the FPEQE
2. Submit and receive approval for Admission to Candidacy summarizing the student's course of study. This application must be approved by the fire protection engineering Graduate Committee.

It is recommended that the student develop a plan of study early in the Ph.D. program in cooperation with the dissertation advisor and the Dissertation Committee. The plan of study may be submitted to and approved by the fire protection engineering program prior to taking the FPEQE. The Admission to Candidacy with the plan of study should be submitted to the CGSR after the FPEQE is passed.

Ph.D. Research Proposal

At least one year prior to completion of the Ph.D. dissertation, the student must present a formal seminar to the public describing the proposed dissertation research project. This Ph.D. research proposal will be presented after admission to candidacy. The presentation should be thirty to forty-five minutes in duration. A formal written research proposal must be given to the student's Ph.D. Dissertation Committee at least one week prior to the presentation. The general audience will be allowed to question the student for at least fifteen minutes. After the general audience (i.e. students, FPE faculty, people from industry, etc.) is dismissed, the student's Ph.D. Dissertation Committee will question the student in private on any or all aspects of the proposed dissertation work, including the experimental procedure, experimental analysis, theoretical aspects and prior work in the area. This is the time for open and frank discussions and the presentation of disagreements with regard to the technical details of the proposed dissertation.

There is no grade for the research proposal. This formal written and oral Ph.D. research proposal provides the opportunity to inform the Dissertation Committee and the entire fire protection engineering community of the proposed research project and to obtain input from all interested parties.

The student's Ph.D. dissertation advisor is the chairperson of this committee. The same Ph.D. Dissertation Committee will judge the student's dissertation.

Ph.D. Dissertation Presentation and Defense

Upon completion of the Ph.D. dissertation, the student must successfully defend the dissertation. The same format as the research proposal will be used.

The student's Ph.D. Dissertation Committee, with the dissertation advisor acting as chairperson, will determine if the student passes, by a simple majority vote. The possible results of the dissertation defense are:

• Pass.
• Pass with corrections/amplifications/additions to the dissertation that must be finally approved by the dissertation advisor and/or the entire committee.
• Not pass, correct deficiencies and present the dissertation again to only the committee.
• Fail, and be terminated from the program.

Ph.D. Dissertation Committee

The student's dissertation advisor is the chairperson of this committee. With the advice of the dissertation advisor, the student will select a Dissertation Committee. This committee must have at least three members. The committee should be made up from members of the fire protection engineering faculty and at least one WPI faculty member from another department or one person from outside WPI (i.e. from industry or another college/university) who is a recognized expert in the area of the student's dissertation.

This committee will participate in the "Ph.D. Research Proposal" and the "Ph.D. Dissertation Defense". The student should call on the members of this committee for advice with regard to course selection and research projects during the entire Ph.D. program. It is recommended that this committee be selected early in the student's Ph.D. program and prior to taking the Comprehensive Examination.

The committee will exercise its discretion in handling any extenuating circumstances or problems.

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Last modified: September 12, 2006 11:59:47