PhD Engineering – Fluid & Thermal Systems Emphasis

Many of the key challenges for society involve systems that include fluid transport or thermal processes. The challenges include areas such as energy production or in the consumption of energy to the heat transfer or fluid processes in complex systems. This program provides the opportunity to investigate several topics that provide a fundamental background to address these challenges.

Admission to the Emphasis

Program of Study

Requirements for the Ph.D. in Engineering with Emphasis in Fluid and Thermal Systems further expand on those of the Ph.D. in Engineering. These include a minimum of 72 credit hours in the student’s program of study beyond the B.S. degree. A thesis master’s degree from an approved university may be accepted for up to 30 credits hours, in which case a minimum of 42 credit hours of approved course work, research and dissertation beyond the M.S. degree would be required as follows:

  • A minimum of 16 semester hours of coursework, which must include
    • At least 15 hours of 8000- and 9000-level courses in addition to research, dissertation writing, and directed study of which 9 hours must be selected from the Fluid and Thermal Systems Course List (below).
    • 1 hour of Graduate Seminar ENGR 8950*
  • A minimum of 23 Doctoral Research hours (Doctoral research (9000) or Doctoral project-focused research (9010)) for students with an M.S. **
  • The Program of Study must include 3 hours of ENGR 9300 Doctoral Dissertation.

* Only 3 hours of Graduate Seminar may apply on the Ph.D. Program of Study. Students are strongly encouraged to continue regular attendance of speaker series presentations even if not formally registered in the seminar.

** A typical student’s total research hours will exceed these minimums.

Fluid and Thermal Systems Emphasis Course List

As a requirement of the Ph.D. Engineering with an Emphasis in Fluid and Thermal Systems, students must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours selected from the list below. Students work with their graduate advisor to select the most appropriate coursework to ensure breadth of understanding as well as mastery of knowledge in a specific subject area. In addition to completing 9 credit hours selected from the list below, students may work with their graduate advisor to develop an interdisciplinary plan of coursework drawing from the extensive graduate course offerings available at UGA.

  • CVLE(MCHE) 8160, Advanced Fluid Mechanics (3 credit hours)
  • CVLE(MCHE) 8350, Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (3 credit hours)
  • CVLE(MCHE) 8640, Advanced Strength of Materials (3 credit hours)
  • ELEE 8220, Nonlinear Control Systems (3 credit hours)
  • ENGR 8130, Statistical Learning and Data Mining in Engineering (3 credit hours)
  • ENGR 8180, Advanced Mass Transfer (3 credit hours)
  • ENGR 8220, Microfluidic Transport Phenomena (3 credit hours)
  • ENGR 8910, Foundations for Engineering Research (3 credit hours)
  • INFO 8750, Advance Programming for Data Mining (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8170, Advanced Heat Transfer (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8250, Combustion Science (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8380, Continuum Mechanics (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8500, Technical Foundations of Energy for Policy Practitioners (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8650, Aerosol Science and Engineering (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8710, Engineering Properties of Animal and Plant Materials: Form and Function (3 credit hours)
  • MCHE 8850, Gas Dynamics (3 credit hours)
  • PHYS 8301 Statistical Mechanics I (3 credit hours)


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