Program requirements

Course hours

The doctoral degree requires a minimum of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's level, with a minimum of 36 beingcourse credits (including the core curriculum) and a minimum of 24 credit hours of doctoral dissertation research. Students must maintain an average grade of B (GPA 3.0) for all 72 credit hours. Additionally, the required courses (see next section) must be completed with no more than one grade below a B-. Up to 24 graduate credit hours may be transferred with the approval of the Program Oversight Committee (see below), in alignment with policies from the McKelvey School Graduate Studies Committee. 

In addition to fulfilling the course and research credit requirements the student must (i) complete the matching process (see Section D. below), (ii) become integrated with a research group, (iii) pass a qualifying exam; (iv) successfully defend a thesis proposal; (v) present and successfully defend a dissertation, and (vi) complete the mentored teaching experience. These requirements are described below.

Course plan and learning goals

The plan below is subject to annual revision based on the evolution of departmental offerings.

1. Required Core Courses (24 units from a selection of the following)
   1. Cohort-building Courses (Take all)
      1. (New Course), Fundamentals of Neuroengineering (3 units; First semester). This course provides students with an overview of foundational literature in neuroengineering, and will survey classical technologies and approaches, thus providing a context for current needs and opportunities. The course will be overseen by a course-master, with lectures being conducted as a series of 1-2 week-long modules, populated by program faculty.
      2. (New Course), Practicum in Neuroengineering (6 units; Year long). This course provides students with a series of real-world case studies and problems brough forward by neuroengineering program faculty. It is expected that program faculty from the medical school will provide opportunities for students to engage with clinical data and other hands-on experiences.
      3. (New Course) Neuroengineering seminar (3 credit hours for 2 semesters). This seminar surveys emerging research in neuroengineering.
   2. Professional Standards in Neuroengineering
      1. (New Course), Professional Standards in Neuroengineering (1 unit), This course will introduce students to various topics including: (i) Ethics, Legal, and Social Implications of Neurotechnology Research, (ii) Tech Transfer and Commercialization (in collaboration with Office of Technology Management/Tech Transfer), (iii) Integrity, Responsible Conduct and Regulatory Matters (students to complete Responsible Conduct of Research module and other Bioethics research center recommended training)
      Collectively, courses in category (1) and (2) will prepare students to enact the lifecycle of neuroengineering innovation, from ideation to translation. In addition to these courses, students will achieve mastery in (i) Neuroscience, (ii) Hardware and devices, and (iii) Computational modeling and data analysis methods, via the following course requirements:
   3. Neuroscience (Choose at least one)
      1. BIOL 5651 Systems Neuroscience
      2. BIOL 5571 Cellular Neurobiology
   4. Engineering: Hardware, Devised and Tool-building (Choose at least one)
      1. BME 4790 (BME 579) Biofabrication & Medical Devices
      2. ESE 562 Analog Integrated Circuits (or another neural IC design course)
      3. BME 4710 (BME 471) Bioelectric Phenomena
      4. BME 5501 Translational Neuroengineering
   5. Engineering: Computational Modeling and Data Analysis Methods (Choose at least one)
      1. CSE 5107 (CSE 517A) Machine Learning
      2. ESE 5130 Large Scale Optimization for Data Science
      3. ESE 5200 Probability & Stochastic Processes
      4. ESE 5530 Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
2. At least 12 credit hours in breadth elective coursework must be completed that span any of the following categories: 
   6. CSE 5105 (CSE 515T) Bayesian Methods in Machine Learning
   7. CSE 5403 (CSE 543T) Algorithms for Nonlinear Optimization
   8. ESE 4170 (ESE 417) Introduction to Machine Learning and Pattern Classification
   9. ESE 589 Biological Imaging Technology
   10. ESE 553 Nonlinear Dynamic Systems
   11. CSE 5509 (CSE 559A) Computer Vision
   12. BME 5440 (BME 544) Biomedical Instrumentation
   13. BME 593 Computational Methods for Inverse Problems
   14. BME 5940 (BME 594) Ultrasound Imaging
   15. MEMS 5560 Interfaces and Attachments in Natural and Engineered Structures
   16. BME 474 Open Challenges in Systems Neuroscience
   17. BIOL 5663 Neurobiology of Disease
   18. BME 5190 (BME 519) Advanced Cognitive, Computational and Systems Neuroscience
   19. BME 5642 Human-Machine Interfaces
   20. BME 5720 (BME 572) Biological Neural Computation
   21. BME 440 Biomedical Data Science
   22. ESE 546 Dynamics & Control in Neuroscience
   23. PhysTher 5610 Movement Science III: Biocontrol
   24. Any collection of three Neuroscience Nanocourses

Students may petition the Neuroengineering PhD Program Committee if a course outside of these topics is desired to be counted toward this requirement.

Typical progression of courses

A typical progression of classes is described below. A student will be able to complete all required core courses (described in Sections B.I above) during the first three semesters.

First Semester (must be fall)

• First Core Course (3 credit hours)
• Research rotation (3 credit hours, see Section III. D)
• Neuroengineering Fundamentals (3 credit hours)
• Seminar on Emerging Challenges in Neuroengineering (1 credit hour)

Second Semester

• Second Core Course (3 credit hours)
• First Elective (3 credit hours)
• Neuroengineering Practicum (3 credit hours)
• Seminar in Neuroengineering (1 credit hour)

Third Semester

• Third Core Course (3 credit hours)
• Second Elective (3 credit hours)
• Third Elective (3 credit hours)
• Professional Standards in Neuroengineering (1 credit hour)

Fourth Semester

• Fourth Core Course (3 credit hours)
• Fourth Elective (3 credit hours)