DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN ENGINEERING
Villanova’s College of Engineering offers a distinctive PhD program leading to a Doctorate of Philosophy. It is designed to prepare scholars, teachers and leaders for academia and industry in contemporary and emerging engineering fields.
Congruent with the mission of Villanova University, the doctoral program emphasizes excellence, innovation and integrity in research, scholarship and education. Its primary component is independent, original, directed research leading towards a dissertation.
The program is designed to encourage intellectual depth within an area or discipline of study, while also providing enough flexibility to allow for breadth across disciplinary lines when useful for multidisciplinary research topics.
Our PhD program is one of the few in the country that will allow the degree to be pursued on a part-time basis by working professionals, with many of the relevant courses available through our state-of-the-art on-line distance education program.
Professional Development
The College is unique in its professional development program for doctoral students, which reflects Villanova’s commitment to high quality teaching and close attention to the student, as well as development of the whole person. Based on your area of professional interest, two tracks are available: Academic Scholars and Industry Scholars. Each offers the option to pursue a corresponding certificate.
In addition, Villanova’s Career Center recognizes and supports the unique career needs of graduate students as you pursue new academic and career goals. Tailored advising and guidance are available as well as online resources that use the latest technology to network, polish your resume, job search, prepare for an interview and more.
EXPLORE RESEARCH
IN THE NEWS
INTERN Supplement Supports PhD Student’s Opportunity with Nokia Bell Labs
An NSF INTERN supplement to an existing Phase II I/UCRC grant for the Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems will fund an opportunity at Nokia Bell Labs for Villanova PhD student Li Chen. Li will be working with Dr. Rafaelle Luca Amalfi on electronics cooling projects, which will complement his PhD research on the environmental sustainability of data centers. Li’s advisor is Dr. Aaron Wemhoff
Cutting-Edge Study Reveals Engineering Properties of Enhanced Bentonites
Canadian Geotechnical Journal has published a new paper by PhD candidate Shan Tong and Assistant Professor Dr. Kristin Sample-Lord on the engineering properties of enhanced bentonites. The paper presents the results of Tong’s cutting-edge multi-year experimental study to better understand how polymer addition impacts the rate at which contaminants can move through bentonite barriers and into the environment over time. More.
Doctoral Student Recognized by ASME Fluids Engineering Division
Villanova PhD student Menglong Lei has been selected as an ASME Graduate Student Scholar for the Computational Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee by the ASME Fluids Engineering Division. The award is based on his submitted paper "Effects of Wing Kinematics on Modulating Odor Plume Structures in the Odor Tracking Flight of Fruit Flies.” Lei’s advisor is Dr. Chengyu Li, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering.