2016 Chemical Engineering Milestones [pdf] - previous Milestone requirements

2023 Chemical Engineering Milestones - current Milestone requirements



There are two requirements for PhD candidacy in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering:

  1. GPA of 3.0 or higher in the 9 hours of required Chemical Engineering technical coursework (CHE 387K - Advanced Thermodynamics, CHE 391J - Reaction Kinetics, and CHE 381N - Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer - also known as Graduate Transport)
  2. Passing a  Candidacy Examination by the 4th long semester


There are further requirements to complete the PhD degree

  1. Completing 18 hours of required coursework (including technical coursework required for candidacy)
  2. Completing at least two semesters in the department of TA service
  3. Completing 15 hours of TA service (Prior to Fall 2023) OR Completing 20 hours of TA service (Program Start Date: Fall 2023 and later)
  4. Participating in the 1st year seminars - fall & spring semester
  5. Completing annual committee update meetings after advancing to candidacy
  6. Completing a dissertation and passing a Final Oral Examination


This is a visualization of the timeline for the doctoral program, including milestones:




After orientation, students must confirm that they have reviewed the milestones online by following these steps:

1.             Go to your Graduate Degree Planner and click on “See Your Program of Work At-a-Glance”


 2.            Click on the “Program of Work At-a-Glance” link associated with your ChemE PhD degree plan. You will get a display of the requirements associated with that degree plan.

 3.            At the bottom of the page is the Milestones section.  Click the “I have reviewed the Milestones for my degree” button.

Complete instructions and an explanation of why this is required by the University of Texas at Austin.


Archive - 2015 Chemical Engineering PhD Milestones [pdf]