The Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering provides both advanced instruction and independent research opportunities for students. The Ph.D. degree is the highest academic degree offered, and graduates typically are employed in research environments in government laboratories and industries, and as university faculty. The Ph.D. degree program is highly individualistic in nature, and the student is expected to make a significant contribution to the reservoir of human knowledge by investigating a significant topic within the domain of mechanical engineering.
The Ph.D. degree symbolizes the ability to undertake original research and scholarly work of the highest levels without supervision. The degree is therefore not granted simply upon completion of a stated amount of course work but rather upon demonstration by the student of a comprehensive knowledge and high attainment in scholarship in a specialized field of study.
The student must demonstrate both the attainment of scholarship and independent study in a specialized field of study by writing a dissertation reporting the results of an original investigation. The student must pass a series of comprehensive examinations in the field of specialization and related areas of knowledge and defend successfully the quality, methodology, findings, and significance of the dissertation.

The details of Ph.D. program, course description, and admission requirements can be obtained in Mechanical Engineering Graduate Handbook