The Department of Computer Science and Engineering Technology, jointly with the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences, proposes to establish an Interdisciplinary program of Ph.D. in Applied Computing and Engineering (PHACE) within the School of Business and Technology (SBT) at UMES. The PHACE aims to offer prospective students a graduate program with strong foundations in theory and practice to meet the needs of technical professionals including but not limited to those in the Eastern Shore of Maryland with more advanced learning in a specialized discipline of cybersecurity, electrical, and mechatronics engineering and applied computer science. The program, if established, will help students develop new technologies in the emerging fields such as cybersecurity, data, and computational sciences, software engineering, robotics and automation, drone design, unmanned systems and control, mechatronics, computer networks, wireless communications, and Internet of Things (IoT) for a wide range of applications including business, finance, agriculture, health care, automobile, aerospace, and clean energy systems, etc. It will also prepare them, especially those with disadvantaged backgrounds, with the knowledge and tools necessary to take on computing and engineering leadership roles to shape the future of technology advancement.
The proposed PHACE program will have the following concentration:
The concentration aligns with the expertise and research focus of existing faculty in both departments and emerging research areas in related fields. The PHACE requires a minimum of sixty (60) credit hours of graduate-level coursework.
Bachelor degree holders who are directly admitted into the proposed doctoral program will have the option to obtain a Master’s degree once he/she passes the qualifying exam and completes the coursework equivalent to the curriculum in the Master’s Degree under the following situations.
Prospective bachelor holders who are admitted directly into the proposed doctoral program and choose the Cybersecurity area of concentration will have the option to obtain a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Engineering Technology.