Sample Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Questions

Areas of study include communications; computer networks engineering; photonics engineering, including optical communications, nonlinear optics, remote sensing and lidar for atmospheric and environmental studies; atmospheric solid state lasers; optical engineering; parallel processing; VLSI design; control and control system engineering; image and signal processing; multidimensional filter design.

The Doctor of Philosophy Degree
The degree is offered under the authority of The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York. For admission forms and further information, consult with or write to the

Executive Officer
Ph.D. Program in Engineering
GraduateOffice, School of Engineering T-152
The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031
Tel: (212) 650-8030
Fax: (212) 650-8030

Requirements for Admission to the Ph.D. Programs
Additional Requirements for the Ph.D.
Residence Requirements
Approval of Research
University Requirements
Department Facilities
Other Research Facilities

Information about Ph.D. programs is located at CUNY Graduate Center. These programs are taught at City College. Please visit The City University of New York Graduate Center for more information about PhD admissions.

Requirements for Admission to the Ph.D. Programs

A bachelor’s degree from a college or university of accredited standing in a branch of engineering, or a closely related area, appropriate to the applicant’s intended field of study.

An academic record demonstrating promise of superior performance in advanced study and research.

Adequate preparation in specific courses as may be required by the individual departments.


Additional Requirements for the Ph.D.
Guidance and Program Planning

Soon after being notified of admission, and preferably before registration, the student should arrange for an appointment with a departmental advisor. This can be done through the Graduate Engineering Office. This advisor will help the student plan an approved sequence of courses.

Soon after completing 30 credits, or soon after admission with this level of work, a student must obtain the consent of a faculty member to act as his or her research mentor and must then request the Dean to assign a guidance committee. The student’s planned program of courses and research program must be submitted to the guidance committee for approval.


Residence Requirements

The student is required to be in residence for the equivalent of six full-time semesters. The possession of a master’s degree from an accredited institution, or the completion of graduate work equivalent to the master’s degree may, by approval of the Executive Officer, reduce the residence requirement to the equivalent of four semesters. At least two consecutive semesters must be in full-time residence.


Approval of Research

Prior to undertaking a research program the student must request approval from his or her guidance committee.

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University Requirements

The student will be required to comply with the University “Requirements for Admission and for Graduate Degrees” as printed in the bulletin of The Graduate School of The City University of New York. It is also helpful to consult the Graduate School Student Handbook. These requirements include the following:

A student may continue in a doctoral program in The City University after he or she has completed 45 credits only if he or she has passed a First Examination in the area of specialization with a grade of excellence or high pass.

Satisfactory completion of 60 credits of approved graduate work, of which at least 30 must be taken at The City University.

Completion of the course requirements in the field of specialization.

Satisfactory completion of a Second Examination of at least two hours’ duration usually taken after the completion of course requirements. The student may be admitted to the second examination only upon the recommendation of a mentor.

The student shall demonstrate proficiency in those research tools considered appropriate by the faculty in the field of specialization.

Satisfactory completion, not later than eight years after matriculation, of a dissertation which embodies original research. For a student who is matriculated after the completion of at least 30 credits of acceptable work, this time will be reduced to seven years.

The dissertation will be defended at an oral final examination.

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Department Facilities: Current EE Research Laboratories include:

Sponsored Centers:
Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology (CREST) Center sponsored by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a consortium of five universities led by CCNY.
University Research Center for Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI) sponsored by NASA.
Communication and Networks Alliance sponsored by Army Research Lab; this consortium of industrial and academic institutions is headed by Telecordia.
New York State Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) in Ultrafast Photonics.

CCNY Centers:
Center for Information Networking and Telecommunciations (CINT)
Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL)
International Center for Environmental Resources and Development (ICERD)
Photonics Engineering Center

Research Laboratories:
Telecommunications Networking, Local Area Network, Optical Networking, Optical Communication, Optical Materials, Photonics Application, Photonics Simulations Lab, Nonlinear Optics Laboratory, Optical Remote Sensing Laboratory, Remote Sensing/Geographical Information Systems Computer, Microelectronics, and Robotics.

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Other Research Facilities:
Research equipment includes: Multiwavelength Laser Radar (LIDAR) observatory. Mobile Remote Sensing Facility, Modelocked pico and femtosecond Ti: Sapphire lasers and Ti: Sapphire regenerative amplifier systems; Picosecond Qswitched, modelocked Nd: YAG and synchronously pumped tunable dye laser system. Picosecond Q-switched, modelocked Nd: YAG and dye laser/amplifier systems. Femtosecond CPM dye laser/copper vapor laser pumped dye amplifier systems; Fosterite lasers. Nanosecond Q-switched Nd: YAG and tunable optical parametric oscillator systems; large and small frame Argon ion lasers and cw tunable dye laser; semiconductors diode lasers; streak cameras; spectrophotometers and multichannel optical analyzers; high dynamic range cooled CCD detectors, intensified reticon diode arrays, vidicon detectors, spatial light modulator, and thermal infrared imaging camera; vacuum deposition facilities for metals and polymers; cryogenic refrigerators and cryostats refrigerators and cryostats, high resolution microscopes, wedge bouncer, IC probe stations, and darkroom and mask fabrication facilities; spectrum analyzers, digital pattern generator and error detector, network analyzer; multi gigasample/second digitizing oscilloscopes, 60 GHz communication signal analyzer, 1 GHz and 400 MHz analog oscilloscopes; multimedia communication facilities and ATM switches; Wireless Communications Facilities. Major computational facilities in the department include a network of 150 Sun workstations. In addition, a network of PC computers is used by graduate students and faculty researchers in the telecommunications and remote sensing areas. These networks are connected to other research facilities located on campus
and to the CUNY Computational Center, as well as the National Computational Facilities through the Internet.

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