Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Systems

Program Description

The 36-credit PhD program in Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Systems targets highly motivated students who have already obtained a master’s in Transportation related fields and desire to pursue career paths in transportation and infrastructure related education, consulting, research, or administration. Master of Science in other fields may be required to take additional courses.

Program Objectives

Upon completion of the program, students will have gained a broad technical and interdisciplinary background that will have enhanced their skills in identifying and tackling critical transportation and urban infrastructure problems. Specifically, upon completing the doctoral program, students will be expected to:

1. Examine and explain the historical and political contexts of landmark transportation policy-decisions, and contemporary local and global transportation and urban infrastructure issues and priorities; 
2. Apply mathematics, systems theory, principles of engineering, planning, and/or management in solving complex problems;  
3. Design independently and execute high-level research; and 
4. Communicate effectively and function on a multi-disciplinary team, particularly in scholarly settings.

The students’ learning outcomes are as follows. 

1. Ability to identify, formulate, and solve broadly defined technical or scientific problems by applying knowledge of mathematics and  science, and/or technical topics to areas relevant to the discipline;
2. An ability to formulate or design a system, process, procedure or program to meet desired needs;
3. An ability to develop and conduct experiments or test hypotheses, analyze and interpret data and use scientific judgment to draw conclusions;
4. An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences;
5. An ability to understand ethical and professional responsibilities and the impact of technical and/or scientific solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts;

6. An ability to function effectively on teams that establish goals, plan tasks, meet deadlines, and analyze risk and uncertainty.

General Requirements

1. Candidates for the Ph.D. degree must complete a minimum of [thirty-six] (36) academic credit hours (including 9 hours of dissertation-related research and seminars) of study beyond the master’s degree
2. Form a doctoral advisory committee comprising at least four tenured or tenure-track faculty members, no later than the second year of enrollment, that will approve the student’s program of study and guide the student’s research activities;
3. Fulfill the minimum residency requirement by taking at least 9 credits of coursework in two consecutive semesters or 6 credits of coursework in three consecutive semesters at Morgan State University;
4. Pass the doctoral candidacy examinations, administered by the dissertation committee, on the core subjects, declared concentration, and two minor areas pertinent to transportation and urban infrastructure; 
5. Develop and defend a dissertation proposal; and 
6. Complete and successfully defend a dissertation based on timely and original research in a relevant area of transportation and/or urban infrastructure.

In order to maintain a good academic standing and remain in the program, the student may not have grades lower than B on any of the required core courses or more than 20 percent of the required minimum coursework.

Admission

To be eligible for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy Program in Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Systems, an applicant must: 

• Have earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, preferably in (transportation) related area. 
• Have earned a master’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, preferably in transportation related area; with a G.P.A. of 3.0 or better. 
• Possess an undergraduate cumulative grade point average (G.P.A.) of 3.0 or better to be considered for regular admission. Students who possess a cumulative undergraduate G.P.A. of between a 2.5 and < 3.0 may be considered for conditional admission.  Post-bachelor’s undergraduate credits will not be used to enhance G.P.A. requirements for admission to graduate study. 
• Submit an application for admission to the School of Graduate Studies.  All required documents must be submitted as directed by the School of Graduate Studies prior to program review and admission decision.  
• Provide test scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. Test scores may not be more than 5 years old prior to the date of application.  These scores must be delivered by ETS to the Morgan State University School of Graduate Studies.  
• Use the application system to arrange for three letters of recommendation to be placed with the application.  These letters must be from officials or faculty members of institutions previously attended who are acquainted with the applicant’s ability for graduate study or from employment supervisors where applicable. 
• Submit a typed exposition regarding the candidate’s personal, academic, and professional plans and the reasons for selecting Morgan State University. 
• Submit a resume or curriculum vita documenting current and previous professional activities, and planned career goals

Meeting the minimum eligibility requirements and submitting all the required documents does not guarantee that an offer of admission will be made to the applicant.  The decision of the Program Admissions Committee involves a review and analysis of all the elements of the application as well as the availability of positions in the program.  The committee then recommends to the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies that an offer of admission should be made based on that review.

Candidacy

Students achieve candidacy by successfully passing the qualifying examination.  Prior to achieving Candidacy, the student must enroll in TRSP 993 : Pre-Doctoral Candidacy. 

Thesis/Dissertation Completion

The students must form a PhD advisory committee comprising at least four tenured or tenure-track faculty members, no later than the second year of enrollment that will approve the student’s program of study and guide the student’s research activities. They must pass the doctoral candidacy examinations administered by the dissertation committee on the core subjects, declared concentration, and two minor areas pertinent to transportation and urban infrastructure. Then they must develop and defend a dissertation proposal as well as complete and successfully defend a dissertation based on timely and original research in a relevant area of transportation and/or urban infrastructure.

Additional Requirements

Up to four eligible courses (not exceeding 12 credits) taken from other accredited institutions may be accepted for transfer toward the Ph.D. program, provided the courses have not been used to satisfy the requirements for another program.

Academic dishonesty is a very serious offense in the School of Engineering. Under no circumstance(s) shall a student use the original words or ideas of others without appropriately citing the source. Any student found culpable of academic dishonesty will be asked to withdraw from the Program, and referred to the appropriate School of Engineering and University authorities for additional disciplinary actions which may result in expulsion from the University. The student has the right to appeal the action taken by submitting in writing to the School of Engineering Judicial Committee to request for a hearing on the academic fraud allegation(s) within the same semester by emailing soesss@morgan.edu.

Program Course Requirements

PhD Transportation & Urban Infrastructure Systems 36 credits

Core Courses (15 credits)

• TRSP 615 - Traffic and Highway Systems Design & Analysis 3 Credits
• TRSP 625 - Transportation Policy 3 Credits
•  
• TRSP 701 - General Systems Theory 3 Credits *

• OR

• IEGR 501 - Introduction to Advanced Systems Engineering 3 Credits * (can be used as a subsitute course)
•  
• TRSP 725 - Advanced Policy Analysis 3 Credits
• TRSP 889 - Contemporary Global Issues in Transportation and Urban Infrastructure 3 Credits

Area of Interest Courses and/or pre-approved electives (12 credits)*

• TRSP 604 - Operations Research Applications in Transportation 3 Credits
• TRSP 605 - Land Use and Transportation Planning 3 Credits
• TRSP 606 - Urban Public Transportation Systems 3 Credits
• TRSP 607 - Freight Transportation Systems and Logistics 3 Credits
• TRSP 608 - Advanced Logistics and Supply Chain Management 3 Credits
• TRSP 609 - Transportation in Developing Countries 3 Credits
• TRSP 610 - Management of Transportation Systems 3 Credits
• TRSP 611 - Labor Relations in Transportation 3 Credits
• TRSP 612 - Special Problems in Transportation 3 Credits **
• TRSP 613 - Air Quality Modeling and Noise Analysis 3 Credits
• TRSP 614 - Air and Sea Port Management 3 Credits
• TRSP 616 - Microcomputer Applications in Transportation 3 Credits
• TRSP 617 - Intelligent Transportation Systems 3 Credits
• TRSP 618 - Advanced Urban Transportation Planning 3 Credits
• TRSP 619 - Geographic Information Systems 3 Credits
• TRSP 623 - Urban Infrastructure Planning and Management 3 Credits
• TRSP 625 - Transportation Policy 3 Credits
• TRSP 790 - Independent Study in Transportation 3 Credits

Note

*  : Other Pre-Approved Electives may be selected from all other Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Studies courses, plus courses from other departments such as City and Regional Planning, Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management. The Department encourages students to take courses from other departments that complement the degree program. However, for any course taken outside of the Department, it is necessary to gain approval from the student’s advisor to use a course for credit toward the degree.

**: Repeatable for only 6 credits toward degree

Dissertation Courses (9 credits)

• TRSP 997/TRSP 998 Dissertation Guidance / Dissertation Defense 3/9* Credits

Note

Upon achieving Doctoral Candidacy, the student will continuously register in Fall and Spring terms for TRSP 997  (Dissertation Guidance) until the Dissertation is completed and submitted to the School of Graduate Studies for review.  The course is used only when the curriculum has been completed, candidacy has been achieved, and the student is completing the research and writing of the Dissertation. The TRSP 997  course registration maintains the student status as a matriculated, full-time student (student is registered for 3 credit hours and the system reports a full-time 9 credit hour load).  

After the Intent to Defend the Dissertation form has been received by the School of Graduate Studies, this course registration will be changed to TRSP 998  (Dissertation Defense) for the given semester and count for 3 credit hours of curricular coursework (TRSP 998  will also count as 9 credits of load).  TRSP 997  will not count toward curricular credits. Other courses cannot be substituted for TRSP 997  (Dissertation Guidance). The only eligible grade for TRSP 997  (Dissertation Guidance) is the grade of “S” and the only acceptable grade for TRSP 998  (Dissertation Defense) is “P/F” (Pass/Fail).