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PhD in Architecture

  • About Architecture
  • Building Science, Technology, and Sustainability

History, Theory, and Society

The PhD in architecture is a research degree appropriate for those seeking careers in teaching and scholarship in architecture and its related areas, or in roles in government or professional consultation that require depth in specialization and experience in research.

About the Program

Berkeley’s PhD program in architecture is interdisciplinary in outlook, reaching into the various disciplines related to architecture and incorporating substantial knowledge from outside fields. Students admitted to this program carry out a program of advanced study and research, both on the basis of formal class work and of individual investigation. Work centers on three related fields of study, the major field (the basis for the dissertation), and one-to-two minor fields, at least one of which must be from a discipline outside architecture.

student in black sweater pinning paper to wall

Fields of Study

The PhD in Architecture emphasizes coursework and supervised independent research in one of the following:

  • Building Science, Technology and Sustainability (BSTS)
  • History, Theory and Society (HTS)

Major fields outside these fields or combinations thereof may also be proposed at the time of admission. Coursework is individually developed through consultation with an academic adviser. Outside fields of study may take advantage of the University’s varied resources. Recent graduates have completed outside fields in anthropology, art history, business administration, city and regional planning, computer science, various engineering fields, psychology, women’s studies, geography and sociology.

The following are members of the PhD faculty, broken into one of two offered areas of study. Please also review the current list of all faculty in the Architecture Department for other faculty and specialities. A sampling of faculty research is described on the faculty research projects page.

Building Science, Technology and Sustainability

Gail Brager

Requirements

The Ph.D. program in architecture is governed by the regulations of the University Graduate Division and administered by the departmental Ph.D. committee. Specific degree requirements include:

  • A minimum of two years in residence.
  • Completion of a one-semester course in research methods.
  • Satisfaction of a foreign language requirement for those in the History, Theory and Society.
  • Completion of one-to-two outside fields of study.
  • A written qualifying examination, followed by an oral qualifying examination.
  • A dissertation.

Course requirements for the degree include:

RequirementNumber of Units
Course Requirements for All Ph.D. Students
Research Methods, Specialty Area3-4 units
Inside Field (Specialty Area)9 (Minimum) units
Outside Field(s)12 (Minimum) units
Architecture Breadth Courses (for students who do not have a previous degree in Architecture)6 units

Designated Emphases

Global Studies The concurrent MA program in Global Studies is designed to complement the graduate degree programs in architecture. It is intended to produce graduate students who combine advanced professional training with a detailed knowledge of contemporary international issues or particular world areas or countries. The content of each MA program will be shaped in consultation with the departmental adviser to meet the specific needs and interests of the individual student.

New Media The designated emphasis (DE) in new media comprises a set of courses with content in the history, theory, and practice of computationally based representation, and communication and interpretation of information.

BSTS Master of Science and PhD Handbook for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025

For previous years' handbooks, please contact graduate advising .

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Ph.D. in Architecture

  • dissertations

phd in architecture eligibility

The PHD in Architecture addresses the development of modern architectural form and ideas as they have been affected by social, economic, and technological change. In broad terms, it encompasses the relations between the profession, practice, civil institutions, and the society at large.

As a doctoral program, it is oriented toward the training of scholars in the field of architectural history and theory. Its structure reflects a dual understanding of the scholar’s role in the discipline at large: as a teacher and as a researcher making an original contribution to the field, with an emphasis on expanding and reinterpreting disciplinary knowledge in a broad intellectual arena. Course requirements are therefore designed to give entering students a solid foundation in historical knowledge and theoretical discourse, with sufficient flexibility to spark and support individual research agendas. The program’s focus is on the history and theory of modern and contemporary architecture and urbanism in an international and cross-cultural context, from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. Within this, a wide range of research is supported through the varied expertise of the faculty and through strong relationships with other departments throughout the university and beyond.

The Ph.D. in Architecture is a program within the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) while the actual degree is granted by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).

Admission for 2024

  • The application deadline for 2024 admissions was January 4, 2024 and is now closed.
  • For additional information on the application process and requirements, please see the GSAS website.

Lucia Allais Barry Bergdoll (Art History) Ateya Khorakiwala Reinhold Martin Mary McLeod Felicity Scott Mark Wigley Mabel Wilson

Affiliated Faculty

Zeynep Celik Alexander Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi

All students entering the PhD program in Architecture receive two Residence Units of Advanced Standing, having entered with a master’s degree in architecture, architectural history, or a related field. As such, students must complete the M.Phil. degree within three years from initial registration and the Ph.D. within eight years from initial registration.

Year 1: Students begin required coursework, including language proficiencies Year 2: Students complete required coursework and language proficiencies; begin required teaching apprenticeship Year 3: Students complete required teaching apprenticeship; complete M.Phil. Examination (by mid-February); and defend the Dissertation Prospectus (by early May) Year 4+: Students research, write, and defend the doctoral dissertation

At least once each semester, students should meet individually with the director of the program or with their program or dissertation adviser. Students are assigned a program advisor in the first year, the duties of which are assumed by their dissertation advisor in the third year. Students must have acquired a dissertation advisor by the seventh week of their sixth semester. Students are allowed to change both their program and dissertation advisers during the course of their studies.

All students are expected to meet the requirements of Satisfactory Academic Progress as stipulated by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Renewal of student funding packages each year is dependent upon their maintaining good academic and administrative standing .

Students are required to spend four semesters in residence during which time they are expected to take thirteen courses (39 credit points), of which at least eight must be taken for a letter grade. The remaining five courses can be taken for R credit. The required academic course work breaks down into the four sections described below. In addition to the doctoral colloquia and doctoral seminars, five further classes should be seminars (not lecture courses). At least six of the thirteen courses should be taken with faculty from the Ph.D. in Architecture committee. It is assumed that these thirteen courses will be spread out approximately evenly over the first four semesters of study, although students can complete a larger number of courses in the first year to accommodate teaching requirements in the second year.

For any course in which a student receives an incomplete, the student must complete all outstanding coursework before the beginning of the next academic year. To remain in good standing with the program, students cannot hold more than one incomplete at any time. Students must complete all incomplete coursework prior to taking their M.Phil. examination.

Section 1: Doctoral Colloquia All students are required to take two doctoral colloquia in the fall semester and at least two doctoral seminars in the spring semester over the four-semester sequence. Three of these must be taken for a letter grade.

Section 2: Architectural History/Theory To complete distribution requirements, students will be required to take graduate-level courses from the following areas of study:

  • One pre-1750 (Western or non-Western)
  • Two courses either in Eighteenth-Century Architecture and Theory or Nineteenth-Century Architecture and Theory

At least half of the syllabus must address these time frames for a course to satisfy the requirement. At the discretion of the program director, these requirements may be modified for students who have had previous, relevant graduate-level courses.

Section 3: Social and Critical Studies Students should take at least one course outside of Architecture and Art History. Representative departments in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences with an emphasis on comparative historical and critical studies include: African American and African Diaspora Studies, Anthropology, East Asian Languages and Cultures, English and Comparative Literature, Germanic Language and Literature, History, Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Philosophy, and Political Science, or within relevant University Centers and Institutes. The specific topic and the choice of faculty will be decided in consultation with the student’s program adviser or the director of the program.

Section 4: Electives Remaining coursework is completed through elective courses in students’ areas of interest, the selection of which should be decided in consultation with the student’s program adviser or the director of the program.

The four-semester program has been designed to give doctoral candidates sufficient training for the M.Phil. examination, with a special emphasis on the ability to teach classes in modern architectural and urban development and its relationship to parallel developments in material history and contemporary thought. Students must complete their M.Phil. (generals) examination no later than their sixth semester in the program.

The M.Phil. qualifying examination is divided into three interrelated sections:

Three revised coursework papers, chosen to reflect the student’s research interests and abilities

Two essays written in response to specific questions formulated by the examining committee, one essay pertaining to the major field and one to the minor field. Students will receive two questions pertaining to the major field but only answer one of them.

The oral examination

The qualifying exam will be divided into major and minor fields. These fields are to be determined in consultation with the program faculty supervising the exam. The major field should be fairly broad and involve cross-cultural comparisons and/or cover at least a century in time. The minor field should focus on another topic, historical or theoretical in character, distinct from the major field. Students must consult the relevant supervising faculty in deciding on their major and minor fields.

The examining committee will be comprised of three members, two covering the major field and one covering the minor field. At least two members of the examining committee should be drawn from the Ph.D. committee or from the program’s associated faculty. Each student prepares the two bibliographies in consultation with these faculty and distributes final versions of the bibliographies one month prior to the oral examination. Each member of the committee will be responsible for one question, which the student receives a week after submitting the bibliographies. The papers are to be completed in a two-week period and submitted at least one week prior to the oral examination. The oral exam consists of discussion of the submitted essays, the coursework papers, and the bibliographies.

To receive the degree of M.Phil. students must complete the required coursework, the M.Phil. exam, the required four semesters of teacher training, and must have demonstrated proficiency in two languages other than English.

After successfully completing the qualifying examination, each student defends his or her dissertation proposal before a faculty committee, composed of the student’s dissertation adviser, who must be on the list of approved Architecture Doctoral Dissertation Advisors , and two other readers, at least one of whom should be from the list of Architecture dissertation advisors or associated faculty. Defense of the dissertation prospectus must take place before the end of the sixth semester.

The student will then be free to pursue the research topic independently, in ongoing consultation with the dissertation adviser. It is expected that the dissertation be completed approximately two to three years after approval of the topic. Since all students come into the program with Advanced Standing, students must complete the dissertation within eight years of entering the program, approved Leaves of Absence notwithstanding.

The dissertation must be submitted four weeks before the dissertation defense. A copy is to be provided for each member of the examining committee. This committee consists of five people, at least three of whom are approved as a dissertation advisor in Architecture or the associated faculty. At least one member of the committee must be from outside GSAPP. The student is granted the Ph.D. upon defending the dissertation successfully and depositing the final copy in accordance with University regulations.

For more information on the Ph.D. dissertation, refer to the GSAS Dissertation Toolkit .

  • For information on Ph.D. student employee compensation and benefits, click here .
  • For information on available resources for parents, click here .
  • For more information on the GSAPP PhD Travel, Conference, and Exhibition Participation Support program, click here .

Fall 2024 Courses

Course Semester Title Student Work Instructor Syllabus Requirements & Sequence Location & Time Session & Points Call No.
A8904‑1 Fall 2024 10592
A4469‑1 Fall 2024 10556
ARCHA6966‑1 Fall 2024 18002
ARCHA6967‑1 Fall 2024 18102

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Student Work

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Introduction

Past dissertations, forms and resources.

The doctoral program in Architecture currently offers two tracks of study: History and Theory of Architecture, and Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences. Both tracks aim to educate teachers capable of effectively instructing future architects in their own field and its manifold connections with the culture at large. The program forges a unique combination of professional knowledge with a historical and analytical grasp of architecture, deepening awareness of the field’s current state and the critical issues it faces.

The History and Theory track provides sound training in historical study and historiography, and cultivates understanding of intellectual trends that inform the reception and role of architecture in the world at large. It prepares candidates for careers in university teaching, cultural advocacy and administration, museum curatorship, and publishing, among others. Students draw on a wide range of disciplines including, but not limited to, the history of science and technology, social and political history, media theory, as well as the fine arts, literature, and popular culture.

The Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences track provides preparation in interdisciplinary scientific inquiry, qualifying students to incorporate scientific methods into experimental design frameworks in order to research and develop novel material and informational ecosystems. Students in this track engage in research related to the behaviors of living ecosystems, emphasizing their interconnection with the built environment.

Joan Ockman, Director of Doctoral Studies

Current Candidates and Students

Ateya khorakiwala granularities: concrete and the “gray architecture” of grain storage in 1960s and 70s india, albena yaneva the craft of architectural archiving, eeva-liisa pelkonen in conversation with nicola suthor untimely moderns: how 20th century architecture reimagined the past, publications by current and graduated phd students.

Echo's Chambers book cover

Echo’s Chambers: Architecture and the Idea of Acoustic Space

University of pittsburgh press.

Avant Garde as Method book cover

Avant-Garde as Method: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920-1930

Cover of Babel's Present by Kyle Dugdale

Babel’s Present

Standpunkte dokumente.

Cover of Perspecta 46: Error

Perspecta 46

Author Date Title Publisher
Aaron Tobey 2019 “Architect as User: Software and the Value of Work”

Aaron Tobey and Jia Weng win 2023 Carter Manny Awards for writing and research

Cea phd student phoebe mankiewicz wins lafargeholcim award for indoor plant module, tim altenhof (ph.d. ‘18) wins theron rockwell field prize for his dissertation “breathing space: the architecture of pneumatic beings”, david turturo.

Caryatid: Architecture and the Framing of Bodies (2022). View dissertation.

Theodossios Issaias

Architectures of the Humanitarian Front, 1915-1930: The American Red Cross and the Refugee Settlement Commission of the League of Nations (2021). View dissertation.

A Theory of Common Form in Aesthetic Perception (2019). Abstract.

Skender Luarasi

Where Do You Stop? A Critical Inquiry into Style, Geometry, and Parametricism in History (2018). Abstract.

Tim Altenhof

Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings (2018). Abstract.

Teaching Architecture to the Masses: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920-1930 (2017). Abstract

Surry Schlabs

Waiting for Architecture: John Dewey and the Limits of Modern Art (2017). Abstract.

Kyle Dugdale

Architecture After the Death of God: Uriel Birnbaum’s Der Kaiser und derArchitekt (2015). Abstract.

Joseph Clarke

The Architectural Discourse of Reverberation, 1750-1900 (2014). Abstract.

  • Request to Take Course at Architecture School ((Non-YSoA Grad & Professional Students))
  • Graduate School Forms

Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Fellow Experience

Master’s degree, required courses, history and theory track.

551a, Ph.D. Seminar I 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, fall term.) This seminar centers on a thorough examination of fundamental ideas of historiography, centering on Rome and exploring aspects of geology, culture, mapping, site development, the establishment of institutions, and the construction of buildings across several millennia, as well as a study of literature on the urbs and its worldwide impact. Faculty

552b, Ph.D. Seminar II 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, spring term.) This seminar centers on concepts of history and their application to architecture from Jacob Burckhardt to the present and a close reading of historiographic theories, including ethnography, modernity, and the emergence of the profession of architecture in the light of present-day critique. Faculty

553a, Ph.D. Seminar III 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, fall term.) Seminar content to be announced. Faculty

554b, Ph.D. Dissertation Preparation 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, spring term.) Ph.D. tutoring in preparation for oral examinations and formulation of a thesis topic. Faculty

Required Courses, Ecosystems in Architectural Sciences Track

558a, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture I 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, fall term.)

559b, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture II 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. first year, spring term.)

568a, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture III 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, fall term.)

569b, Ph.D. Seminar: Ecosystems in Architecture IV 1 credit. (Required in, and limited to, Ph.D. second year, spring term.)

Design and Visualization 1

Technology and practice 2, history and theory 5, urbanism and landscape 4.

School of Architecture

College of design.

Concave's Divergence In Architectural Research PhD Symposium participants.

Ph.D. in Architecture

Doctoral studies in architecture train students for careers conducting research in academic settings, in scientific laboratories, and now increasingly in private firms as well. The aim of research is to create new knowledge that can help us build well and create responsible and responsive physical environments. Such a knowledge necessarily engages with the full complexity and messiness of human life. It includes understanding of social, physical, historical and cultural impact of design decisions and practices, as well as the development of technical methods and computational tools to improve decision-making in design.

Specializing in architectural research, therefore, requires mastering aspects of at least one cognate discipline—history, cultural studies, psychology, sociology, cognitive sciences, engineering, computation—and quite often of more than one of these. Not surprisingly, the study needed to do this is demanding. But those students who bring with them a deeply held curiosity about the built world, an ability to work independently, and an openness to learning new skills and ideas will find the work deeply satisfying and tremendously rewarding.  

Our Program

Established in 1982, the Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture Program at Georgia Tech is one of the largest and most expansive programs of its kind in the United States, with approximately thirty students in residence pursuing their Ph.D. coursework or completing their dissertation research. A diverse faculty of scholars and researchers advise students in one of the following four areas of specialization.

Bird's eye view of cul desacs, supergrids, and curvilinear grids for Atlanta, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington D.C.

Architecture, Culture, and Behavior

Ph.D. student and Tarek Rakha fly a drone in the Hinman Courtyard

Building Design Technology

CULC Installation in the Clough Undergraduate Student Learning Commons

Design Computation

Heather Hyde Minor speaking at the Historic Academy of Medicine

History, Theory, Criticism

Rendering of an active mixed-use waterfront development in the evening

Our Ph.D. Process

Students devote most of their time in close individual work with a faculty advisor in one of these areas of specialization. The course of studies allows students considerable room to define their own course work, which can be taken both within the school as well as in other departments. Once the course work is completed, studies become practice oriented—most of the student time is spent in actual research, either on their own topic, or contributing to faculty-led research projects. The students’ progress towards the degree is charted through a series of qualifying milestones.

After identifying a topic of research within their area of specialization, students develop a preliminary research paper to demonstrate the ability to frame and describe a scholarly topic, pass a comprehensive exam that tests their mastery of both depth and breadth of knowledge in their field of study, and, finally, produce and orally defend a dissertation that makes a demonstrable original contribution to their area of study. Along the way, they are expected to produce scholarly publications and make presentations of their work to fellow researchers and scholars. A distinctive feature of our program is the availability of opportunities to teach, both as preceptors and assistants, but also as independent instructors.

Your Prospects

Ph.D. studies are a natural springboard for academic positions. The majority of the graduates from our programs have gone on to academic careers both in the US and internationally, often making quick promotion to leadership positions. The training to do independent work, to think abstractly, and to handle technical literature has also provided a strong general foundation for some graduates to find work in areas beyond architecture. Career pathways of our graduates are shaped to some extent on their areas of concentration. About 90% of graduates who specialized in History, Theory, and Criticism and Architecture, Culture, and Behavior areas of concentration in the last five years have teaching and research positions in institutes of higher education both in the Unites States and abroad; others have found positions as research leaders in industry, in firms involved with architecture and construction, product manufacturing, and cultural resource management. Students who specialized in Design Computing and Building Technology streams were split more evenly between academia and industry, with about 40% of the graduates in these areas in the last five years finding jobs in industry and in leading national research laboratories.

It is in the nature of research in any field to be at the cutting-edge of disciplinary development. The graduates of a research program should, therefore, expect come away not just with competence in a subject matter and ability to solve problems, but also the knowledge and ability to think of ways to advance ideas, techniques, and methods in their discipline. This is a remarkably fortuitous time to those who seeks to do just this in architecture. Recent developments in computational technology, in our ability to collect vast amount of behavioral and user data, in techniques of machine learning and data analysis, and in our ability to design and build highly complex forms using automated algorithmic processes, are not only creating an unprecedented appetite for research within architecture, but they are also erasing traditional sub-disciplinary boundaries between different areas of work. Beyond career opportunities, therefore, ambitious graduates of the program will also find themselves well positioned to make foundational contributions to a discipline that is in an excitingly formative stage.

Student Support

Our program is able to offer a limited number of research and teaching assistantships to students as a way to support their studies. Graduate teaching assistantships (GRAs) offer a stipend and cover the tuition for the semesters for which they are awarded; the stipend is given at either 1/3 time (15 hrs per week) or at ½ time (20 hrs per week) depending upon the requirements of the course to which they are assigned. Determination of the positions and selection is made every Spring by the school administration with recommendations from the faculty teaching the courses for which assistantships are available and from the students’ advisors. The selection criteria include academic performance, possession of knowledge and skills required to fulfill the tutoring, mentoring, or grading duties required for the assistantship, and evidence that the student can handle their duties responsibly.

Opportunities for Graduate Research Assistantships arise from sponsored research projects undertaken by the faculty. They may be also offered at either 1/3 time (15 hrs per week) or at ½ time (20 hrs per week) according to the needs of the faculty member offering the award. The selection for GRA positions is made by the individual faculty members according to their requirements. There is no formal common procedure to apply for these positions.

Each year the program offers the Presidents’ Fellowship to one selected student who has been offered a GRA or a GTA. The fellowship includes a stipend given over and above the tuition and stipend that come with the assistantship. There is no application for this award; selection is made on merit by the school administration on the recommendation of the PhD advising faculty. The fellowship is restricted to US citizens or permanent residents.

Each year the School of Architecture hosts approximately 60 Design and Planning firms at a joint career fair with the School of City and Regional Planning. This fair is open to all students from freshmen level undergraduate students, Masters students and PhD students. Many students receive summer internships, full year internships as well as permanent positions as a result of their participating in the fair. This provides the students with a direct line for employment opportunities all around the US, with participating firms.

About 70 % of the current students have GTA support, and the remaining are self-funded or received support for external sources.

Additional information about Graduate Assistantships, fellowships, loans, and off-campus employment options is available on the Office of Graduate Studies site . For more information on demographics, admissions, and time-to-degree for doctoral students in our program, go to Doctoral Student Statistics . Enter ‘Architecture’ as a term in the search criteria box.”

Meet our Ph.D. Students

Doctoral students in the School of Architecture develop knowledge and technologies that enhance design imagination and the design process. Learn more about our current Ph.D. students here.

MA & PhD in Architecture

Ucla architecture and urban design offers two academic graduate degrees: the master of arts in architecture (ma) and doctor of philosophy in architecture (phd)..

The programs produce students whose scholarship aims to provoke and operate within architecture’s public, professional, and scholarly constituencies. Both programs are supported by the Standing Committee, made up of five faculty members: Michael Osman (MA/PhD program director), Cristóbal Amunátegui , Dana Cuff , Samaa Elimam , and Ayala Levin . A number of visiting faculty teach courses to expand the range of offerings.

Applications for the MA/PhD program (Fall 2024 matriculation) are completed via the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission , and are due January 6, 2024. Candidates will be notified of decisions in March 2024; admitted candidates who wish to accept the offer of matriculation must submit their Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) by April 15, 2024.

phd in architecture eligibility

All MA and PhD students are required to enroll in a two-year colloquium focused on methods for writing, teaching, and researching in the field of architecture. The six courses that constitute the colloquium train students in the apparatus of academic scholarship. Over the two-year sequence, students produce original research projects and develop skills in long-format writing.

Research Opportunities

The intellectual life of the students in the MA and PhD programs are reinforced by the increasing number of opportunities afforded to students through specialized faculty-led research projects. These include cityLAB-UCLA and the Urban Humanities Institute .

MA in Architecture

This program prepares students to work in a variety of intellectual and programmatic milieus including historical research, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary studies with particular emphasis on connections with geography, design, art history, history of science and literary studies, as well as studio and design based research.

Beyond the core colloquium, MA students take a series of approved courses both at UCLA AUD and across campus. The MA program is a two-year degree, culminating in a thesis. The thesis is developed from a paper written by the student in their coursework and developed in consultation with the primary advisor and the standing committee. In addition to courses and individual research, students often participate in collective, project-based activities, including publications, symposia and exhibitions.

The program is distinguished by its engagement with contemporary design and historical techniques as well by the unusual balance it offers: fostering great independence and freedom in the students’ courses of study while providing fundamental training in architectural scholarship.

Recent MA Theses

  • Jacqueline Meyer, “Crafting Utopia: Paolo Soleri and the Building of Arcosanti.”
  • Joseph Maguid, “The Architecture of the Videogame: Architecture as the Link Between Representational and Participatory Immersion.”
  • Meltem Al, “The Agency of Words and Images in the Transformation of Istanbul: The Case of Ayazma.”
  • Courtney Coffman, “Addressing Architecture and Fashion: On Simulacrum, Time and Poché.”
  • Joseph Ebert, “Prolegomena to a Poiesis of Architectural Phenomenology.”
  • Jamie Aron, “Women Images: From the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop to the Knoll Textile Division.”
  • Gustave Heully, “Moldy Assumptions.”
  • Brigid McManama, “Interventions on Pacoima Wash: Repurposing Linear Infrastructure into Park Spaces.”

MA Typical Study Program

FALL
290 Colloquium (-)
000 Elective in Critical Studies (-)
000 General Elective (-)
WINTER
290 Colloquium (-)
000 Elective in Critical Studies (-)
000 General Elective (-)
SPRING
290 Colloquium (-)
000 Elective in Critical Studies (-)
000 General Elective (-)

PhD in Architecture

This program prepares students to enter the academic professions, either in architectural history, architectural design, or other allied fields. PhD students are trained to teach courses in the history and theory of architecture while also engaging in studio pedagogy and curatorial work. In addition to the colloquium, PhD students take a series of approved courses both at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design and across campus. They select these courses in relation to their own research interests and in consultation with their primary advisor. The priorities for selection are breadth of knowledge and interdisciplinary experience that retains a focused area of expertise. To this end, the students identify Major and Minor Fields of study. The Minor Field is generally fulfilled by satisfactorily completing three courses given by another department and the Major Field by five courses offered by UCLA Architecture and Urban Design.

Once coursework is completed, PhD students move to the Comprehensive Exam, Qualifying Exam, and the writing of a dissertation, and final defense, if deemed appropriate by the doctoral committee. In the transition from coursework to exams, PhD students work on one paper beyond its original submission as coursework. The paper begins in the context of a departmental seminar, but often continues either in the context of an independent study, summer mentorship, or a second seminar with faculty consent. Upon the research paper’s acceptance, students begin preparing for their comprehensive exam. Before their third year, students must also satisfactorily complete three quarters of language study or its equivalent according to University standards. The particular language will be determined in consultation with the Standing Committee. The Comprehensive Exam is administered by at least two members of the Standing Committee and at most one faculty member from another Department at UCLA, also a member of the Academic Senate.

The Comprehensive Exam tests two fields: the first covers a breadth of historical knowledge—300 years at minimum—and the second focuses on in-depth knowledge of a specialization that is historically and thematically circumscribed. Students submit an abstract on each of these fields, provide a substantial bibliography, and prepare additional documentation requested by their primary advisor. These materials are submitted to the committee no less than two weeks before the exam, which occurs as early as the end of the second year. Students are encouraged to complete the Comprehensive Exam no later than the end of their third year of study.

The Comprehensive Exam itself consists of two parts: an oral component that takes place first, and then a written component. The oral component is comprised of questions posed by the committee based on the student’s submitted materials. The goal of the exam is for students to demonstrate their comprehensive knowledge of their chosen field. The written component of the exam (which may or may not be waived by the committee) consists of a written response to a choice of questions posed by the committee. The goal of this portion of the exam is for students to demonstrate their research skills, their ability to develop and substantiate an argument, and to show promise of original contribution to the field. Students have two weeks to write the exam. After the committee has read the exam, the advisor notifies the student of the committee’s decision. Upon the student’s successful completion of the Comprehensive Exam, they continue to the Qualifying Exam.

Students are expected to take the Qualifying Exam before the beginning of the fourth year. The exam focuses on a dissertation prospectus that a student develops with their primary advisor and in consultation with their PhD committee. Each student’s PhD committee consists of at least two members of the Standing Committee and one outside member from another department at the University (and a member of the Faculty Senate). Committees can also include faculty from another institution. All committees are comprised of at least three members of UCLA Academic Senate. The prospectus includes an argument with broad implications, demonstrates that the dissertation will make a contribution of knowledge and ideas to the field, demonstrates mastery of existing literature and discourses, and includes a plan and schedule for completion.

The PhD dissertation is written after the student passes the qualifying exam, at which point the student has entered PhD candidacy. The dissertation is defended around the sixth year of study. Students graduating from the program have taken posts in a wide range of universities, both in the United States and internationally.

Recent PhD Dissertations

  • Marko Icev, "Building Solidarity: Architecture After Disaster and The Skopje 1963 Post-Earthquake Reconstruction." ( Read )
  • Anas Alomaim, "Nation Building in Kuwait, 1961-1991."
  • Tulay Atak, “Byzantine Modern: Displacements of Modernism in Istanbul.”
  • Ewan Branda, “Virtual Machines: Culture, telematique, and the architecture of information at Centre Beaubourg, 1968–1977.”
  • Aaron Cayer, "Design and Profit: Architectural Practice in the Age of Accumulation"
  • Per-Johan Dahl, “Code Manipulation, Architecture In-Between Universal and Specific Urban Spaces.”
  • Penelope Dean, “Delivery without Discipline: Architecture in the Age of Design.”
  • Miriam Engler, “Gordon Cullen and the ‘Cut-and-Paste’ Urban Landscape.”
  • Dora Epstein-Jones, “Architecture on the Move: Modernism and Mobility in the Postwar.”
  • Sergio Figueiredo, “The Nai Effect: Museological Institutions and the Construction of Architectural Discourse.”
  • Jose Gamez, “Contested Terrains: Space, Place, and Identity in Postcolonial Los Angeles.”
  • Todd Gannon, “Dissipations, Accumulations, and Intermediations: Architecture, Media and the Archigrams, 1961–1974.”
  • Whitney Moon, "The Architectural Happening: Diller and Scofidio, 1979-89"
  • Eran Neuman, “Oblique Discourses: Claude Parent and Paul Virilio’s Oblique Function Theory and Postwar Architectural Modernity.”
  • Alexander Ortenberg, “Drawing Practices: The Art and Craft of Architectural Representation.”
  • Brian Sahotsky, "The Roman Construction Process: Building the Basilica of Maxentius"
  • Marie Saldana, “A Procedural Reconstruction of the Urban Topography of Magnesia on The Maeander.”
  • David Salomon, “One Thing or Another: The World Trade Center and the Implosion of Modernism.”
  • Ari Seligmann, “Architectural Publicity in the Age of Globalization.”
  • Zheng Tan, “Conditions of The Hong Kong Section: Spatial History and Regulatory Environment of Vertically Integrated Developments.”
  • Jon Yoder, “Sight Design: The Immersive Visuality of John Lautner.”

A Sampling of PhD Alumni and Their Pedagogy

Iman Ansari , Assistant Professor of Architecture, the Knowlton School, Ohio State University

Tulay Atak , Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt School of Architecture

Shannon Starkey , Associate Professor of Architecture, University of San Diego

Ece Okay , Affiliate Research, Université De Pau Et Des Pays De L'adour

Zheng Tan , Department of Architecture, Tongji University

Pelin Yoncaci , Assistant Professor, Department Of Architecture, Middle East Technical University

José L.S. Gámez , Interim Dean, College of Arts + Architecture, UNC Charlotte

Eran Neuman , Professor, School of Architecture, Tel Aviv University

Marie Saldana , Assistant Professor, School of Interior Architecture, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Sergio M. Figueiredo , Assistant Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology

Rebecca Choi , Assistant Professor of Architecture History, School of Architecture, Tulane University

Will Davis , Lecturer in History, Theory and Criticism, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore

Maura Lucking , Faculty, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Kyle Stover , Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Montana State University

Alex Maymind , Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Architecture, University of Minnesota

Gary Riichirō Fox , visiting faculty member at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and lecturer at USC School of Architecture

Randy Nakamura , Adjunct Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco

Aaron Cayer , Assistant Professor of Architecture History, School of Architecture + Planning, University of New Mexico

Whitney Moon , Associate Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Todd Gannon , Professor of Architecture, the Knowlton School, Ohio State University

Dora Epstein Jones , Professor of Practice, School of Architecture, the University of Texas at Austin

Sarah Hearne , Assistant Professor, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado Denver

PhD Typical Study Program

FALL
290 Colloquium (-)
000 Elective in Critical Studies (-)
000 General Elective/Language* (-)
WINTER
290 Colloquium (-)
000 Elective in Critical Studies (-)
000 General Elective/Language* (-)
SPRING
290 Colloquium (-)
000 Elective in Critical Studies (-)
000 Thesis/Language* (-)

*The choice of language to fulfill this requirement must be discussed with the Ph.D. Standing Committee

FALL
597 Preparation for Comprehensive Exam (-)
WINTER
597 Preparation for Comprehensive Exam (-)
SPRING
597 Preparation for Comprehensive Exam (-)

Our Current PhD Cohort

AUD's cohort of PhD candidates are leaders in their fields of study, deepening their scholarship at AUD and at UCLA while sharing their knowledge with the community.

phd in architecture eligibility

Adam Boggs is a sixth year Ph.D candidate and interdisciplinary artist, scholar, educator and Urban Humanist. His research and teaching interests include the tension between creativity and automation, craft-based epistemologies, and the social and material history of architecture at the U.S.-Mexico border. He holds a BFA in Sculpture Cum Laude from the Ohio State University, and an MFA in Visual Art from the State University of New York at Purchase College. Prior to joining the doctoral program at UCLA he participated in courses in Architecture (studio and history) at Princeton University and Cornell University. His dissertation analyzes the history of indigenous labor during the Mexican baroque period to form a comparative analysis with the 20th century Spanish revival architecture movement in Southern California and how the implementation of the style along the U.S.-Mexico border might function as a Lefebvrian “thirdspace” that disrupts binary thinking. In Spring 2024 he will teach an undergraduate seminar course at AUD on the history of architecture at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the CUTF program.

phd in architecture eligibility

Hanyu Chen is a second-year doctoral student at UCLA AUD. Her research focuses on the intersection between (sub)urban studies, heritage conservation, and the genders of the space. Specifically, it concerns the dynamics of genders in (sub)urban areas and how these dynamics are conserved as heritage. Born and raised in China for her first 18 years, Hanyu chose the conservation of comfort stations in China as her master's thesis at the University of Southern California, where she earned her master’s degree in Heritage Conservation and officially started her journey in architecture. Her thesis discusses the fluidity and genders of comfort stations and how they survive in contemporary China’s heritage conservation policies.

Hanyu also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in AMS (Applied Mathematics and Statistics) and Art History from Stony Brook University.

Yixuan Chen

phd in architecture eligibility

Yixuan Chen is an architectural designer and a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA. Driven by an impulse to demystify both the grand promises and trivial familiarities of architecture, her research embarks on the notion of everydayness to elucidate the power dynamics it reveals. She investigates the conflicts between these two ends and focuses on modernization across different times and places.

Prior to joining UCLA AUD, she was trained as an architect and graduated from the University of Nottingham's China Campus with a first-class honors degree. Her graduation project “Local Culture Preservation Centre,” which questioned the validity of monumental architecture in the climate crisis, was nominated for the RIBA President's Medal in 2016.

She also holds a Master of Arts degree with distinction in Architectural History from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. Her dissertation, “Shijing, on the Debris of Shijing,” explores the vanishing shijing places, or urban villages, where rural migrant workers negotiate their urban identity in Chinese cities, revealing shifting power relations. Additionally, she authored an article in Prospectives Journal titled "Architectural Authorship in ‘the Last Mile,’" advocating for a change to relational architectural authorship in response to the digital revolution in architecture.

phd in architecture eligibility

Pritam Dey is an urban designer and second-year doctoral student at UCLA AUD. His research interest lies at the intersection of colonial urbanism, sensorial history, and somatic inquiries. His architecture thesis investigated the crematorium and temple as sensorial infrastructure, and was presented at World Architecture Congress at Seoul in 2017. Previously Dey worked in the domain of urban design, specifically informal markets, as a shaper of urbanism in Indian cities. Prior to joining the AUD doctoral program, his past research focused on investigating the role of informal and wholesale markets in shaping up urbanity in the Indian city cores and co-mentored workshops on Urbanity of Chitpur Road, Kolkata with ENSAPLV, Paris which was both exhibited at Kolkata and Paris. He also co-mentored the documentation of the retrospective landscape of Hampi with the support of ENSAPLV and French Embassy. His investigations on the slums of Dharavi title ‘The tabooed city’ was published in the McGill University GLSA Research series 2021 under the theme: the city an object or subject of law?

An urban designer and architect, Pritam Dey pursued his post graduation from School of planning and Architecture, Delhi. During his academic tenure at SPA, he was the recipient of 2018 Design Innovation Center Fellowship for Habitat design allowing him to work on the social infrastructure for less catered communities in the Sub Himalayan Villages. In 2022 He mentored a series of exhibitions on the theme of Water, Mountains and Bodies at Ahmadabad.

He was the 2022-23 Urban Humanities Initiatives Fellow at UCLA and recipient of 2023 UCLA Center for India and South Asia fellowship for his summer research.

Carrie Gammell

phd in architecture eligibility

Carrie Gammell is a doctoral candidate working at the intersection of architectural history, property law, and political economy. Her research focuses on claims, investments, and intermediary organizations in the United States, from the Homestead Act of 1862 to the Housing Act of 1934.

Carrie is also a Senior Research Associate at cityLAB UCLA, where she studies state appropriations for California community college student housing. In the past, she contributed to Education Workforce Housing in California: Developing the 21st Century Campus, a report and companion handbook that provides a comprehensive overview of the potential for land owned by school districts to be designed and developed for teachers and other employees.

Prior to joining AUD, Carrie worked as an architectural designer in Colombia and the United States, where she built a portfolio of affordable housing, multi-family residential, and single-family residential projects as well as civic and cultural renovations and additions. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University and a Master in Design Studies (Critical Conservation) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Anirudh Gurumoorthy

phd in architecture eligibility

Anirudh Gurumoorthy is a PhD candidate at UCLA AUD. His dissertation, tentatively titled (Un)Certain Tropics and the Architecture of Certain Commodities, 1803-1926, focuses on the spatial and environmental histories of natural history/sciences in the long-nineteenth century as it related to the political economy of empire within South Asia. He is interested in the ways the materiality of commodity extraction and production contends with how, where, and why certain ‘tropical’ animals, vegetables, and minerals are attributed with a metropolitan sense of ‘value’. Moving from the United States to Britain (and back) through various parts of the Indian Ocean world as markets for singular forms of ice, rubber, and cattle form, peak, and collapse, the dissertation ultimately aims to reveal interconnected spatial settings of knowledge, control, regulation, display, and labor where knowledge systems, technical limits, human and nonhuman action/inaction, differentiated senses of environments and value continually contend with each other to uphold the fetishes of the world market. Gurumoorthy holds a B.Arch. from R.V. College of Architecture, Bangalore, and an M.Des in the History and Philosophy of Design and Media from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Chi-Chia Hou

phd in architecture eligibility

Chi-Chia Hou is a doctoral candidate in his sixth year at UCLA AUD. His working dissertation, “New Frontier: Architecture and Service 1893-1960,” explores his interest in architecture and wealth, changing ideas of profit and management, and social scientific discourses for measuring work and worker, self and others, and values of landed property.

His research locates moments of theorizing methodologies to manage income-generating properties in schools of agriculture, home economics, and hotel studies. The schools taught their students theories, while instilling the imminence of faithful direction of oneself, of self-as-property. The pedagogies, existing beyond the purview of Architecture, were of immense architectural consideration.

Chi-Chia Hou took a break from school in the previous academic year to learn from his daughter and has now returned to school to learn from his brilliant cohorts.

Adam Lubitz

phd in architecture eligibility

Adam Lubitz is an urban planner, heritage conservationist, and doctoral student. His research engages the intersection of critical heritage studies and migration studies, with an emphasis on how archival information can inform reparations. His community-based research has been most recently supported by the Columbia GSAPP Incubator Prize as well as the Ziman Center for Real Estate and Leve Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA.

Prior to joining AUD, Adam worked at World Monuments Fund within their Jewish Heritage Program, and taught GIS coursework at Barnard College. His master's thesis applied field research with experimental mapping techniques in the old town of a municipality in Palestine. Adam holds MS degrees in Historic Preservation and Urban Planning from Columbia University and a BA in Urban Studies from New College of Florida.

phd in architecture eligibility

José Monge is a PhD candidate in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design. His dissertation, titled Maritime Labor, Candles, and the Architecture of the Enlightenment (1750-1872) , focuses on the role that whale-originated illuminants, specifically spermaceti candles and oil, played in the American Enlightenment as an intellectual project and the U.S. as a country. By unravelling the tension between binaries such as intellectual and manual labor–the consumers that bought these commodities and the producers that were not able to afford them–the project understands architecture as a history of activities that moved from sea to land and land to sea, challenging assumptions about the static “nature” of architecture.

Kurt Pelzer

phd in architecture eligibility

Kurt Pelzer is a fourth-year PhD candidate at UCLA AUD. Their research explores the relational histories, material flows, and politics of land in and beyond California in the long nineteenth century during the United States parks, public lands, and conservation movements.

Their current scholarship traces the settler possession and exhibitionary display of a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the 1850s; an act that contested the ways Miwok peoples ancestral to California's Sierra Nevada knew and related to life and land. Their broader interests include histories of colonialism and capitalism in the Americas, environmental history, and Blackness and Indigeneity as a methodological analytic for political solidarities and possibilities.

Prior to arriving at UCLA, Pelzer worked at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the Architecture and Design Curatorial Department participating in exhibitions, programming, and collections work. Pelzer completed a Master of Advanced Architectural Design in the History, Theory, and Experiments program from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and earned their Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture from the College of Design at Iowa State University.

Shota Vashakmadze

phd in architecture eligibility

Email Shota Vashakmadze

Shota Vashakmadze is a sixth-year PhD candidate at UCLA AUD. His dissertation traces the conjoined histories of architectural computing, environmental design, and professional practice in the late 20th century, adopting critical approaches to architecture’s technical substrates—the algorithms, softwares, and user protocols of computation—to examine their social and political dispositions. In his scholarship and pedagogy, he aims to situate forms of architectural labor within the profession’s ongoing acculturation to environmental crisis. Most recently, he has been leading the development of the interdisciplinary “Building Climates” cluster, a year-long course sequence at UCLA, and co-organizing an initiative dedicated to fostering discourse on climate change and architecture, including a two-day conference entitled “Architecture After a Green New Deal.”

His research has been supported by the Canadian Centre for Architecture and appeared in journals including Architectural Theory Review , The Avery Review, and Pidgin Magazine. He is currently completing a contribution to a collection on landscape representation and a chapter for an edited volume on architecture, labor, and political economy.

Shota holds an MArch from Princeton University and has a professional background in architecture, landscape, and software development. Before coming to UCLA, he researched methods for designing with point cloud data and wrote Bison, a software plugin for landscape modeling.

Alexa Vaughn

phd in architecture eligibility

Alexa Vaughn (ASLA, FAAR) is a first year PhD student in Architecture + Urban Design and a Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow , from Long Beach, California. She is a Deaf landscape designer, accessibility specialist, consultant, and recent Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (2022-23). She is a visionary speaker, thought leader, prolific writer and researcher, and the author of “ DeafScape : Applying DeafSpace to Landscape,” which has been featured in numerous publications.

Her professional work is centered upon designing public landscapes with and for the Deaf and disabled communities, applying legal standards and Universal Design principles alongside lived experience and direct participation in the design process. She is an expert in designing landscapes for the Deaf community (DeafScape) and in facilitation of disabled community engagement. Prior to joining the A+UD program, Alexa worked for several landscape architecture firms over the course of six years, including OLIN and MIG, Inc.

Through a disability justice lens, her dissertation will seek to formally explore the historical exclusionary and inaccessible design of American urban landscapes and public spaces, as well as the response (activism, policy, and design) to this history through the present and speculative future. She will also actively take part in activist- and practice-based research with cityLAB and the Urban Humanities Institute .

Alexa holds both a BA in Landscape Architecture (with a minor in Conservation and Resource Studies) and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture (MLA) from the University of California, Berkeley, with specialization in accessible and inclusive design. Much of her work can be found at www.designwithdisabledpeoplenow.com and on Instagram: @DeafScape.

Yashada Wagle

phd in architecture eligibility

Yashada Wagle is a third year PhD student in Critical Studies at UCLA AUD, and a recipient of the department's Moss Scholarship. Her research focuses on imperial environmental-legislative regimes in British colonial India in the late nineteenth century. She is interested in exploring questions around the histories of spaces of extraction and production as they network between the metropole and the colony, and their relationship with the conceptions of laboring bodies therein. Her master's thesis focused on the Indian Forest Act of 1865, and elucidated the conceptualization of the space of the ‘forest’ through the lenses of its literary, legislative, and biopolitical trajectories, highlighting how these have informed its contemporary lived materiality.

Wagle holds a Bachelor in Architecture (BArch) from the Savitribai Phule Pune University in India, and a Master in Design Studies (History and Philosophy of Design and Media) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA) in Mumbai, India.

In her spare time, Wagle enjoys illustrating and writing poetry, some of which can be found here .

Dexter Walcott

phd in architecture eligibility

Dexter Walcott is a registered architect currently in his fifth year with the Critical Studies of Architecture program at UCLA. His research focuses on the Latrobe family and early nineteenth century builders in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. He is interested in the role of the built environment in histories of labor, capitalism, steam-power, and industry.

phd in architecture eligibility

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Joy is a fifth-year PhD student in architecture history. Her research explores geology as antiquity from early 19th – 20th century British colonial Hong Kong and China. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature with a focus in German from Middlebury College in 2017, and is a graduate of The New Normal program at Strelka Institute, Moscow in 2018. Previously, she has taught in the Department of Architecture at University of Hong Kong, as well as the Department of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

After working as a curatorial assistant at Tai Kwun Contemporary in 2019, she has continued the practice of art writing and translation, collaborating with many local Hong Kong artists as well as international curators such as Raimundas Malašauskas. In her spare time, she practices long-distance open water swimming. In 2022, she completed a 30km course at the South of Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

The MA and PhD programs welcome and accept applications from students with a diverse range of backgrounds. These programs are designed to help those interested in academic work in architecture develop those skills, so we strongly encourage that you become familiar with fundamental, celebrated works in the history and theory of architecture before entering the program.

Applicants to the academic graduate programs must hold a Bachelor’s degree, or the foreign equivalent. All new students must enter in the fall quarter. The program is full-time and does not accept part-time students.

Applications for the MA and PhD programs (Fall 2024 matriculation) will be available in Fall 2023, with application deadline of January 6, 2024; please revisit this page for updates. Accepted candidates who wish to enroll must file an online Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) by April 15, 2024.

How to Apply

Applying to the MA and PhD programs is an online process via the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission (AGA).

Completing the requirements will take some time, so we strongly recommend logging in to the AGA in advance to familiarize yourself with the site and downloading the documents and forms you will need to complete your application.

You can also download this checklist to make sure you have prepared and submitted all the relevant documents to complete your application.

Your Statement of Purpose is a critical part of your application to the MA and PhD programs. It is your opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us about your specific academic background, interests, achievements, and goals. Our selection committee use it to evaluate your aptitude for study, as well as consideration for merit-based financial support.

Your statement can be up to 1500 words in length. Below are some questions you might want to consider. You don’t need to answer every question; just focus on the elements that are most relevant to you.

  • What is your purpose in applying to the MA or PhD program? Describe your area(s) of research interest, including any areas of concentration and specialization.
  • What experiences have prepared you for this program? What relevant skills have you gained from these experiences? Have your experiences led to specific or tangible outcomes that would support your potential to contribute to this field (e.g. performances, publications, presentations, awards or recognitions)?
  • What other information about your past experience might help the selection committee in evaluating your suitability for this program? E.g. research, employment, teaching, service, artistic or international experiences through which you have developed skills in leadership, communication, project management, teamwork, or other areas.
  • Why is UCLA Architecture and Urban Design the best place for you to pursue your academic goals?
  • What are your plans for your career after earning this degree?

Your Personal Statement is your opportunity to provide additional information to help the selection committee evaluate your aptitude for study. It will also be used to consider candidates for UCLA Graduate Division fellowships related to diversity. You can read more about the University of California Diversity Statement here .

Your statement can be up to 500 words in length. Below are some questions you might want to consider. You don’t need to answer every question; just focus on the elements that are most relevant to you.

  • Are there educational, personal, cultural, economic, or social experiences, not described in your Statement of Purpose, that have shaped your academic journey? If so, how? Have any of these experiences provided unique perspective(s) that you would contribute to your program, field or profession?
  • Describe challenge(s) or barriers that you have faced in your pursuit of higher education. What motivated you to persist, and how did you overcome them? What is the evidence of your persistence, progress or success?
  • How have your life experiences and educational background informed your understanding of the barriers facing groups that are underrepresented in higher education?
  • How have you been actively engaged (e.g., through participation, employment, service, teaching or other activities) in programs or activities focused on increasing participation by groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education?
  • How do you intend to engage in scholarly discourse, research, teaching, creative efforts, and/or community engagement during your graduate program that have the potential to advance diversity and equal opportunity in higher education?
  • How do you see yourself contributing to diversity in your profession after you complete your academic degree at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design?

A Curriculum Vitae (résumé of your academic and professional experience) is recommended but not required.

Applicants must upload a scanned copy of the official transcripts from each college or university you have attended both in the U.S. and abroad. If you are accepted into the program you will be required to submit hard copies. These can either be sent directly from each institution or hand-delivered as long as they remain in the official, signed, sealed envelopes from your college or university. As a general rule, UCLA Graduate Division sets a minimum required overall grade-point average of 3.0 (B), or the foreign equivalent.

As of this Fall 2023 cycle, the GRE is NOT required as part of your application to UCLA AUD. No preference will be given to those who choose to submit GRE scores as part of their application.

However, if you do take the GRE exam and wish to include it as part of your application: More information on this standardized exam can be found at www.ets.org/gre . In addition to uploading your GRE scores, please direct ETS to send us your official score sheets. Our ETS codes for the GRE are below:

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Institution Code: 4837 Department Code: 4401

We recommend you take the exam at least three weeks before the application deadline as it usually takes 2-3 weeks for ETS to send us the test scores.

If you have received a Bachelor’s degree in a country where the official language of instruction and primary spoken language of daily life is not English, you must submit either a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Exempt countries include Australia, Barbados, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This is a requirement that is regardless of your visa or citizenship status in the United States.

To be considered for admission to the M.Arch. program, international students must score at least a 92 on the TOEFL or a 7 on the IELTS exam. Because processing, sending, and receiving TOEFL and IELTS scores can take several weeks, international students must schedule their exam no later than October 31 in order to meet UCLA deadlines. TOEFL scores must be sent to us directly and uploaded as part of the online submission. Our ETS codes for the TOEFL are below:

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Institution Code: 4837 Department Code: 12

If your score is less than 100 on the TOEFL or 7.5 on the IELTS, you are also required to take the English as a Second Language Placement Examination (ESLPE) on arrival at UCLA. The results of this test will determine any English as a Second Language (ESL) courses you need to take in your first term of residence. These courses cannot be applied towards your minimum course requirements. As such, you should expect to have a higher course load than students not required to take ESL courses.

If you have earned a degree or completed two years of full-time college-level coursework in the following countries, your TOEFL / IELTS and ESLPE requirements will be waived: U.S., U.K., Canada (other than Quebec), Australia, and New Zealand. Please provide official transcripts to demonstrate course completion. Unfortunately, we cannot accept any other documentation to demonstrate language proficiency.

Three (3) letters of recommendation are required. These letters should be from individuals who are familiar with your academic and professional experiences and can evaluate your capacity to successfully undertake graduate studies at UCLA. If you do not have an architecture background please note that we are looking for letters that evaluate your potential as a graduate student, not necessarily your architecture experience.

Letters of recommendation must be sent electronically directly to UCLA by the recommender. When logged in, you can enter the name and email address of each of your recommenders. They will be contacted by email with a request to submit a letter on your behalf. You can track which letters have and have not been received. You can also send reminders to your recommenders to send their letters.

Writing samples should illustrate an applicant’s capacities for research, analytical writing and scholarly citation. Texts may include seminar papers, theses, and/or professional writing.

Please complete and submit the Department Supplement Form to confirm your intention to apply to the MA or PhD program.

Close-up of bricks

Ph.D. in Architecture

The PhD in Architecture (PhD-Arch) program at Carnegie Mellon advances interpretive, critical and contextual perspectives on the built environment and spatial design. The program offers students an interdisciplinary platform to investigate built environment cultures, practices and politics across a range of historical and geographical contexts.

Nida Rehman

Assistant Professor & PhD-Arch Track Chair

Nida Rehman

Program Overview

The PhD in Architecture (PhD-Arch) program at Carnegie Mellon advances interpretive, critical and contextual perspectives on the built environment and spatial design. Bringing together methods in history of architecture, urban studies, critical spatial practices, environmental humanities, digital humanities, environmental justice and community-oriented research, the program offers students an interdisciplinary platform to investigate built environment cultures, practices and politics across a range of historical and geographical contexts.

The intellectual foundation of the program is informed by Carnegie Mellon Architecture’s commitments to racial and spatial justice in architectural epistemology, pedagogy and practice. The program builds on and extends the foundational work in the school in the area of community-oriented urban design and research and is supported by the wide-ranging expertise and resources in the school and across the university, particularly in the arts and humanities.

Admission Information

Learn more about the PhD-Arch curriculum below.

PhD-Arch Curriculum

Program Faculty

For more information about the PhD-Arch program, please contact track chair Nida Rehman .

William J. Bates

William J. Bates

Adjunct Faculty

Erica Cochran Hameen

Erica Cochran Hameen

Associate Professor, DEI Director & DDes Track Chair

Stefan Gruber

Stefan Gruber

Associate Professor, MUD Track Chair & RCI Director

Kai Gutschow

Kai Gutschow

Associate Professor & Associate Head for Design Ethics

Kristen Kurland

Kristen Kurland

Teaching Professor

Francesca Torello

Francesca Torello

Special Faculty

Admissions Resources

Are you a current student looking for resources? Handbooks, procedures and other information can be found on the Student Resources page .

Architecture

Why study architecture.

University of Cincinnati’s Ph.D. Program in Architecture is a post-professional degree program of advanced theoretical studies in architecture with a focus on the acquisition of critical skills related to architectural production, both built and theoretical. It is intended primarily for students already in possession of a graduate degree in architecture or a related field such as interior design, planning, or landscape architecture. The Ph.D. program is an outgrowth of the university’s longstanding MS Program in Architecture, whose focus has traditionally been on architectural history, theories, and criticism as they relate to architectural practice. The program exposes students to a range of concepts in the field and fosters the ability to question and assess the built environment and the documents that relate to it.

In addition to a common core consisting of coursework in architectural theories and research methods, students complete courses in a minor field, demonstrate mastery of a major with the qualifying exam, and successfully defend a dissertation proposal in the third year, qualifying for candidacy and achieving ABD (“all but dissertation”) status. Students research, write and defend the dissertation in the final years of the program. With faculty members with technical expertise in human and environmental factors, computation, parametric design, and robotics in addition to the program’s traditional strengths in history, theory, and criticism,  the program can accommodate a range of student interests. The major exam is a multi-day written examination based on a reading list agreed upon among the committee members.

To fulfill the minor requirement, students may propose an individual course of study, supervised by a professor other than the dissertation chair, or they may choose from among a number of approved graduate certificates offered by the university. Popular options include Historic Preservation; Urban Design; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Data Analytics. 

Admission Requirements

Students applying to the Ph.D. Program in Architecture should have completed a Master's degree in architecture or a related field prior to matriculation. Students with an undergraduate degree or with an unrelated graduate degree must instead apply for the MS Program in Architecture. Some students enter the Ph.D. program directly from the MS program. These students retain their credits from their MS studies and enter the Ph.D. program at an advanced phase commensurate with their completed studies.

Unofficial transcript(s) from all colleges/universities attended are required. Official transcripts are not required during the admissions process, and only unofficial transcripts are required for the application. Applicants should not send official transcripts until they are offered admission and confirm enrollment to the university. For complete transcript requirements, please view the Transcript Submission Policy webpage.

A portfolio of design, art, or other graphic work is optional. The portfolio is an opportunity to demonstrate your design abilities, artistic talents, or other information you deem pertinent to your application. The content does not have to be architectural if your background is in another discipline. Written project statements to accompany visual work are helpful. Portfolios are submitted online.  We do not accept hard copies of portfolios.

Three letters of recommendation from persons who are in a position to evaluate your abilities and your potential for success as a graduate student are required. There is no standard form to fill out; instead, based on the information you provide in your application, recommenders will be emailed instructions on the process for submitting letters of recommendation. 

A summary of your academic and professional experiences is required.

A two-page statement of your interest in graduate study in architecture is required. This should be a concise, articulate presentation of your academic and career goals, and any specific interests you have in architectural topics for graduate research and design. It should reflect your prior intellectual and professional engagement with these issues, and may also provide some additional perspective on the work illustrated in the portfolio.

Students applying to the Ph.D. program must submit one or two writing samples demonstrating the ability to conduct scholarly research and examine theoretical concepts. The essays can expand on the areas of research interest or on any topic.

Applicants to the Ph.D. Program in Architecture must demonstrate a commitment to the critical study of architecture and related design fields, including interior design, urban design, and landscape architecture. Prior education or working experience in architecture or a related field is desirable. Excellent writing skills and an interest in theoretical research are essential. Students whose English writing or speaking skills are not adequate for the demands of the curriculum must enroll in advanced, graduate-level English as a Second Language coursework prior to, and sometimes in tandem, with program coursework.

The Ph.D. Program in Architecture prepares researchers, educators, and practitioners for advanced scholarly, pedagogic, and professional work in architecture and related fields. Most graduates of the program become full-time professors or practitioners of architecture. Other career opportunities include historic preservation, public policy, curating, journalism, and institutional administration.

Because UC’s Ph.D. Program in Architecture has a small number of students, we are able to facilitate one-on-one student and faculty advising and collaboration. Students work with their faculty to develop their research and writing skills and they publish and present their work in national and international venues. While the program does not have separate tracks for students pursuing technical research, program faculty members assist students in identifying coursework and campus resources to develop the necessary competencies. All entering students have the opportunity to consult with multiple members of the Ph.D. Program faculty and with the program coordinator to determine appropriate elective coursework and dissertation committee composition.

  • The city of Cincinnati, once called the "Queen City of the West" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, provides an excellent array of cultural resources for students who intend to pursue a degree in the visual arts. It offers the energy and assets of a larger city, along with quiet neighborhoods steeped in rich traditions. Cincinnati offers live music venues that range from top-notch symphony and opera companies to a growing pop and rock community. Home to the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Taft Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center, the city also enjoys the presence of numerous art galleries and a strong support system among practicing artists. Cincinnati is situated within driving distance of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and New York City, allowing DAAP students to take advantage of the rich cultural resources of these cities as well.
  • UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) is one of the most comprehensive colleges of its type in the country. A collection of nationally respected design and art programs is housed in a unique and educationally stimulating architectural setting. Architecture students have opportunities to enroll in courses in a range of related disciplines and to participate in interdisciplinary studios or special projects.
  • UC’s emphasis on interdisciplinary studies facilitates interaction with counterparts in other schools of the College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning as well as other colleges such as the Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Medicine, and the College Conservatory of Music. Such interdisciplinary studies should be planned in consultation with PhD Program faculty members and approved by the Ph.D. Program coordinator.
  • Eligible students accepted to the Ph.D. Program in Architecture may compete for a limited number of scholarships and assistantships. All students are required to participate in a teaching practicum as part of the program, and many are chosen for paid teaching assistantships in the latter years of the program. Students are also eligible to work in campus jobs for up to 20 hours per week when classes are in session and 40 hours during vacations.
  • The DAAP college library has an outstanding collection of books, periodicals and visual resources supporting architecture, planning, design, art history and related subjects. Access to library holdings is provided by an automated online catalog, UCLID, which provides access to the University of Cincinnati Library information database, and through OhioLINK, the holdings of other academic libraries throughout Ohio.
  • The Computer Graphics Center is a state-of-the-art university facility with hardware that includes PCs, Macs, and peripherals such as scanners, plotters and digital video-editing suites. Students have access to sophisticated graphics equipment and receive hands-on instruction to augment the use of laptops in the classroom.
  • The college supports a Rapid Prototyping Center, which is the home of state-of-the-art equipment that allows students to create communication aids for their work. Using CAD (computer-aided design) models, students are able to create physical models using three basic methods: 3-D printing, large format laser-cutting and CNC (computer numeric control) devices.

For applicants whose native language is not English, a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of at least 100 iBT (600 paper) or an IELTS score of at least 7.0 is common and is typically our minimum. The university requires minimum scores of 80 on the TOEFL and 6.5 on the IELTS. Applicants with scores below the campus minimums will not reach the Ph.D. in Architecture admissions committee for review. Students whose scores are above the campus minimum but below the Ph.D. in Architecture Program standards, or students whose English writing or speaking ability does not meet program expectations, will be considered on a case-by-case basis, however, they must agree to take graduate-level ELS coursework and possibly other courses as a condition of acceptance.

  • Guide: Ph.D 2019
  • Guide: Ph.D 2018
  • Guide: Ph.D 2017

Application Deadlines

Early Admission

General Admission

ALL applicants must apply by January 10th . 

The application process begins with an online UC Graduate Application . Supplemental materials are to be submitted online through the application process.

New students are admitted for the fall semester. We will notify successful candidates by April 15. An offer of admission may be withdrawn if a candidate does not accept within six weeks of our offer.

In general, the program offers neither deferrals nor admission in semesters other than fall, however individual requests for admission deferrals and for spring semester admission may be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific nature of the request and the ability of the program administration to accommodate it.

The architecture program of the University of Cincinnati has been accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) continuously since 1948, and its courses satisfy requirements maintained by various state architectural registration boards.

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The NAAB, which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the bachelor of architecture, the master of architecture, and the doctor of architecture. A program may be granted a 8-year, 3-year, or 2-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. University of Cincinnati’s Ph.D. program in Architecture is not an accredited professional degree.

Contact Information

Find related programs in the following interest areas:.

  • Architecture, Construction and Building Trade

Program Code: 23DOC-ARCH-PHD

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Ph.D. Program Admission

phd in architecture eligibility

Admission to the School of Architecture is granted through Princeton University's Graduate School. A bachelor's degree from a college or university of recognized standing is normally required. Admission information can be found online at http://gradschool.princeton.edu/admission/ . The deadline for applications for the Ph.D. program is January 3rd. 

Applicants to the Ph.D. program should be aware that a professional degree in architecture is highly desirable, but applications are also accepted from those with academic degrees in appropriate disciplines in the humanities, applied sciences, and social sciences. If a candidate does not have prior professional training, they may be required to take a special program of study in the processes and working methods of the profession.

Although a personal interview is not required, candidates for the Ph.D. program are encouraged to learn more about the School by visiting and talking to students and faculty members. The best opportunity is the Fall Open House , which is held each November.  This year, 2023, it will be November 6 . We will post details and an online RSVP in October . Students who are unable to attend the Open House may contact the School to determine if an individual visit can be arranged.  Please allow at least two weeks when scheduling individual visits.

APPLICATION

Princeton University's Graduate School Announcement is the official and complete source of information about Princeton's graduate programs and their requirements. The electronic application is available September through December for admission the following fall. The electronic application and specific information regarding application requirements are available at: http://gradschool.princton.edu/admission .

Address all inquiries to:

Office of Graduate Admission Princeton University One Clio Hall Princeton, New Jersey 08544-0270

Applicants should submit substantial evidence of their academic qualifications and scholarly interests, including examples of written work, unpublished or published. Candidates should submit a quantity of written material sufficient to demonstrate a broad familiarity with the field of architecture, well developed writing and research skills, and the candidate's command of potential research or study areas. In the statement of intent, each candidate must write a short essay, carefully describing their previous professional and academic experience, and its relevance to future plans for research and teaching. While it is understood that fields of concentration may change during the first two years of pre-generals study, the candidate should attempt to outline a potential area of research in the context of Princeton's program.

Ph.D. writing samples should be uploaded directly to the online application . You will be able to check the status of any materials online. The checklist is only viewable after an application has been submitted: www.princeton.edu/gradschool/admission/applicants/status/

We do not notify applicants individually of materials received.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

January 3rd - $75 Application Fee

Deadline applies to all applicants for the receipt of application and all supporting material. Earlier applications are encouraged.

Each candidate's application and academic record is reviewed by the faculty committee to determine the candidate's accomplishments and academic achievements and assess other qualifications for graduate study in architecture. Serious consideration is given to letters of recommendation from persons who are in a position to evaluate a candidate's abilities and estimate the applicant's promise. Admission to the Graduate School is highly selective. All applicants are considered on a comparative basis, and admission is determined after analyzing the relative merits of all of the candidates applying in the same field. For the Graduate School to operate according to its objectives and methods, enrollment must be limited. Every effort is made to select the most outstanding candidates from among those submitting applications.

Consideration is given to all complete applications received on or before the regular Graduate School application deadline date. Applications are examined in one group during February; applicants are notified of the results in March. All fellowships and scholarship awards to entering students are made from applicants in this group. Only under unusual circumstances may students enter the Graduate School at any time other than the beginning of the academic year.

Application for financial aid does not affect an applicant's chances for admission. Generous financial assistance is made available to all accepted students on the basis of income and need.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMS

PhD Track in the History and Theory of Architecture

PhD Technology Track

Admissions inquiries can be sent to [email protected] .

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Ph.D. in Architecture Application Instructions

Ph.d. in architecture application instructions.

Admission decisions are made by the doctoral subcommittee of the Architecture Graduate Studies Committee.

PREREQUISITES

Students who enter the doctoral degree program must hold a master's degree or the equivalent in a discipline relevant to their area of concentration and must demonstrate the ability to excel in doctoral work. 

APPLICATION INFORMATION

[  ] Follow the  application instructions  for all UTSOA graduate programs. [  ] See below for Ph.D. application requirements.

GRADUATE SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS

[  ] Follow the  Graduate School instructions  to submit the  application , application fee, transcripts and test scores.

The GRE is **WAIVED** for Fall 2025 applications. It may take 72 hours to be removed from your MyStatus after you submit your application. There is no reason to reach out in the interim.  

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

[  ] Upload your statement through  MyStatus .

+The Ph.D. Program in Architecture promotes research in three broad areas of specialization: history/theory, historic preservation, and sustainability. Write a 1,000-word essay that outlines the research questions or academic topics you will explore if you are accepted to the Ph.D. program. Outline any relevant academic or professional experience that prepares you to undertake this line of research and indicate which faculty members or research efforts at the UTSOA are best poised to assist you in exploring these areas of interest.  + You may submit your  online application   before  finishing your statement of purpose. You can later upload your statement through  MyStatus .

THREE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

[  ] Manage and track your letters through  MyStatus . [  ] Provide recommenders' emails as part of the  online application .

+ Recommenders may include former instructors and professional employers. + Letters should include comments on the applicant’s intellectual, communicative, and leadership abilities as well as their capacity for creativity and relevant personal characteristics. + After you submit your application and pay your application fee, notification emails will be sent to your recommenders. Any delay in submitting your application or application fee will delay the notifications to your recommenders.

RESUME OR CURRICULUM VITAE

[  ] Upload through  MyStatus . 

WRITING SAMPLE

[  ] Upload through  MyStatus .

+ This document should demonstrate your analytical writing and reasoning skills. + Ph.D. applicants are expected to submit more substantial writing samples, such as theses or dissertations, which demonstrate research abilities and scholarship.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:   December 15

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS DUE:   January 3

THE GRE IS WAIVED FOR FALL 2025 APPLICATIONS.

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Architecture, PhD

The Ph.D. Program in Architecture, created in 1964, is the oldest in the country and is widely regarded as preeminent in the fields of theory, technology and representation. Its goal is to produce a body of graduates who will act as a reflective leaven to the architectural profession, providing an historical and/or theoretical context for current practice.

The Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture is for the person who wishes to make a significant scholarly contribution to the discipline of architecture. Requirements for the degree include twenty approved courses, the passing of two language exams, a qualifying examination, a preliminary examination, teaching experience, a dissertation and a final defense. Course work from previous Master's degrees is taken into consideration when deciding the number of courses required for the Ph.D. degree. Students with a Master's degree from Penn may be granted up to 12 course units transfer credit, those with a Master's degree from another institution may be granted up to 8 towards their Ph.D. requirement.

For more information: https://www.design.upenn.edu/architecture/graduate/info

View the University’s Academic Rules for PhD Programs .

A total of 20 course units are required.

Course List
Code Title Course Units
Year 1
Fall
Theories of Architecture: Environments, Techniques, and Expressive Means1
Select three electives3
Spring
Methods In Architectural Research1
Qualifying Research1
Select two electives2
Year 2
Fall
Field Bibliography1
Dissertation Proposal1
Select two electives2
Spring
Select four electives4
Year 3
Fall
Select four electives4
Year 4
Fall
Dissertation0
Total Course Units20

 Program Milestones

  • 2 language exams
  • 2 semesters as a teaching assistant
  • Qualifying Examination
  • Preliminary Examination
  • Dissertation and Final Defense

The degree and major requirements displayed are intended as a guide for students entering in the Fall of 2024 and later. Students should consult with their academic program regarding final certifications and requirements for graduation.

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    University of Southern California
   
  Sep 04, 2024  
USC Catalogue 2020-2021    
USC Catalogue 2020-2021 [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

|

The School of Architecture offers the PhD in Architecture, designed to prepare individuals for university level teaching and professional research and for leadership positions in industry and professional architectural practice. Doctoral students must consult the Graduate School section for regulations and requirements pertaining to its degrees. Students should also consult the Academic Policies section for additional information.

Completion of degree requirements is assumed to take a minimum of three years of approved graduate study and research beyond the bachelor’s degree in a related field or a bachelor’s degree and related practical experience. For the PhD student without Advanced Standing, a minimum of 48 graduate units completed in residence on the University Park Campus in Los Angeles is required. Full-time study is represented by enrollment in six units during the semester. Usually, the school and the student’s qualifying exam committee insist on a clear and mutually understood commitment of time and energy by the student to ensure significant involvement in the doctoral learning experience.

Application and Admission

Admission to the PhD is granted by the Dean of the School of Architecture. However, only a letter from the Office of Graduate Admission constitutes an official offer of admission; correspondence with department chairs or individual faculty members does not constitute admission.

Priority consideration for PhD student funding will be given to those applicants who submit all application materials by December 1. The university will continue to accept and consider applications submitted after December 1. Those who wish to submit applications after the deadline should check with the School of Architecture. Applications for admission to the PhD program are made once each year for fall semester admission.

The admission decision is made using criteria which include verification that the applicant has a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, has maintained a high grade point average in the last 60 units of undergraduate work and has earned a competitive score on the verbal and quantitative portions of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). Other elements of the applicant’s educational and experiential background are also evaluated, including performance in other advanced degrees.

Each applicant should submit the following: (1) one copy of official transcripts of all previous college and university work (be sure that these official transcripts show an awarded degree where appropriate); (2) one copy of GRE scores; (3) copy of TOEFL or IELTS scores for international students whose first language is not English; (4) a 1000-word essay discussing the applicant’s background; reasons for wanting to pursue a doctoral degree; and identifying his or her personal, educational and professional goals; (5) an up-to-date resume, including academic and professional accomplishments; (6) three letters of recommendation, at least two from previous instructors, others from instructors or from professional supervisors or colleagues (the letters should indicate the applicant’s academic and professional accomplishments and potential); (7) a completed USC Graduate Admission Application, along with the nonrefundable application fee; and (8) samples of work such as a portfolio, publications, software programs, etc. The program is intended for people with considerable intellectual interests. Additional requirements for international students are listed under Admission of International Students.

Upon admission to the program, each student will be assigned a faculty adviser who will oversee his or her program.

Doctoral Admission with Advanced Standing

Students entering with a Master of Architecture degree or Master of Building Science degree (or their equivalent) from USC or another university may be admitted with Advanced Standing. A minimum of 36 units of course work beyond the first graduate degree, exclusive of 794 Doctoral Dissertation preparation, is required for doctoral degree students with a USC Master of Building Science degree admitted with Advanced Standing. For those students entering with a Master of Architecture degree or Master of Building Science degree (or their equivalent) from another university and admitted with Advanced Standing, a minimum of 40 units of course work beyond the first graduate degree is required. Additional course work may be required if deemed necessary by the student’s faculty. See Doctoral Admission with Advanced Standing in the The Graduate School    section.

Transfer Credits

The application of any available transfer credits toward a graduate degree at USC will be determined by the School of Architecture, based on the semester units available for transfer as shown in the Transfer Credit Statement. Work experience in architecture or closely related activities should be of benefit to the students involved, but will not be considered equivalent to academic education. A maximum of 6 units of transfer credit may be applied toward a doctoral degree for those admitted with Advanced Standing. Admission with Advanced Standing is based upon a completed master’s degree. The only course work available for transfer credit is course work taken after completion of that degree. No exceptions are allowed.

Students entering the doctoral program with a master’s degree or graduate course work in a field other than architecture work may receive up to 12 units of transfer credit toward the PhD

Deferral of Enrollment

Admission to the university is granted for a specified semester, and it is expected that students will begin their programs during that semester. The school will normally allow students to defer their enrollment up to one year from the admission semester. Students who wish to defer enrollment should notify the school in writing no more than 60 days before the beginning of the semester of admission or they may be required to reapply for admission. Please note that more stringent regulations apply to international students. See the Graduate Admission    section for further information.

Admission to Candidacy

Acceptance to graduate standing does not in itself imply that the student is admitted or will be admitted to candidacy for an advanced degree. Application for admission as a candidate for an advanced degree is a separate and subsequent step. See the The Graduate School    section for further information.

General Requirements for the PhD Degree

Screening procedures.

PhD students are required to pass a screening procedure before the student has taken more than 24 units (including research courses). Passing this procedure is prerequisite to continuation in the doctoral program. This is designed to ensure that only those students who have demonstrated intellectual and scholarly potential continue in the program. Students who fail the screening procedure will be advised that they have not been recommended to continue in the PhD program and that any additional work may not be counted toward the degree.

Prior to screening, each student prepares a résumé and a preliminary statement describing the fields of specialization. After passing the written screening examination, the student meets with the committee to discuss the proposal for course work, fields of specialization and research interests. The committee chair serves as the student’s principal adviser in preparing for the qualifying examination.

Qualifying Exam Committee

Each student selects a qualifying exam committee, which officially oversees the student’s academic program through the qualifying examination. The qualifying exam committee should be established at least one semester prior to taking the qualifying examination. This should be accomplished by the beginning of the second year, following successful screening. An appointment of committee form, which can be obtained from the Graduate School Website , should be used to establish the qualifying exam committee. Students initiate the paperwork and submit the signed form to the dean’s office.

Five committee members are designated to provide guidance in the field developed by the student. A minimum of three members, including at least one tenured member, must be from among the faculty participating in the PhD in Architecture degree program, and at least one member must be from outside the School of Architecture. This committee bears responsibility for recommending the student for admission to candidacy. After approval of the student’s program and time schedule, the program is submitted in writing to the doctoral director. Students will formalize their relationship with their committees through the development of a study plan which specifies all courses completed, date of screening decision, the area of concentration, and which courses will be taken and when, in order to prepare for the qualifying examination. This study plan will be signed by the student, the members of the qualifying exam committee and the faculty doctoral director. It will be filed in the doctoral office.

Qualifying Examination

Students must complete at least 24 units of course work in the doctoral program with a GPA of at least 3.0 before attempting the qualifying exam.

The qualifying exam committee prepares a comprehensive written examination covering the field of study. The exact format for the written portion is determined by each committee in advance. Answers to the questions in the written portion are graded by all committee members. Following completion of the written portion, the entire committee conducts an oral examination of the student, focusing on material both complementary and supplementary to the written examination but relevant to the field and overall program selected by the student. Upon passing both portions of the qualifying examination, the student becomes a candidate for the PhD degree.

The objective of the qualifying examination is to evaluate the student’s knowledge and to serve as an instrument to demonstrate competence in the student’s chosen field of concentration in preparation for candidacy. Qualifying examinations are scheduled once each year during August. The oral phase of the examination must be completed within 60 days following the written segment. Both parts of the examination must be passed in order to qualify. Failure on one of the two parts of the examination does not require retaking both parts. Only the part failed must be redone.

The examination will be collaboratively designed by the instructors of the core courses and oriented toward testing students’ ability to integrate material from these courses. A portion of this examination will focus on methodological issues. The written portion of the examination will be administered during a full-day session.

The process of grading examinations will be accomplished in two ways. For the written examination, the grading will be done by a committee comprising the core course instructors and the doctoral director. For the oral examination, grading will stay with the qualifying exam committee. Upon passing both the core and oral portions of the examination, the student will be expected to reduce the qualifying exam committee to a dissertation committee. See General Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree   .

Dissertation Committee

Once students pass the qualifying examination, the qualifying exam committee recommends the student for candidacy and a dissertation topic is approved, a dissertation committee must be formed as soon as possible. The size may range from three to five members, one member of which must be from outside the school.

Dissertation Proposal

After the successful completion of the qualifying examination, the doctoral student will be required to present a complete research proposal for the dissertation. The proposal will be circulated for review and evaluation by the dissertation committee. This proposal should include the methodology, research design, literature review and instrumentation (if applicable). After this step has been completed, further work leading to the completion of the dissertation is authorized.

Defense of the Dissertation

Oral defense of the dissertation before the dissertation committee is usually made on a preliminary draft. After the dissertation committee has approved the dissertation in substance, the candidate must defend it before the committee and other interested doctoral program faculty and colleagues. Successful completion of the oral defense marks the ultimate step for the candidate within the School of Architecture. The candidate must be certain that the dissertation also meets specific university requirements before acceptance by the Graduate School. See the The Graduate School    section for further information.

All theses and dissertations submitted in fulfillment of requirements for graduate degrees must conform to university regulations with regard to format and method of preparation.

Unit Requirement and Time Limit

The PhD degree in Architecture requires a minimum of 72 units (including a minimum of 4 units of ARCH 794a   , ARCH 794b   , or ARCH 794z   ) of graduate level course work, and has a minimum residency requirement of three years. Students must maintain a 3.0 average GPA and complete all required course work within five years. The maximum time for the completion of all requirements for the doctoral degree is eight years.

A leave of absence can be granted upon approval of the guidance or dissertation committees. There is no automatic readmission if the student fails to maintain continuous registration or fails to meet academic standards.

Core Curriculum

Year 1: Basic and professional studies

Acquire at a minimum the knowledge that is characteristic of the master’s degree students or equivalent and define the research program.

Year 2: Advanced studies

Year 3: Research and dissertation

While a Master of Architecture or related degree is not a prerequisite for admission, those students entering the doctoral program without a master’s degree in architecture or related field will be required to complete a core curriculum.

Required Courses

  • ARCH 419 Architectural Sustainability Tools and Methods Units: 3
  • ARCH 513L Seminar: Advanced Structures Units: 4
  • ARCH 515L Seminar: Advanced Environmental Systems Units: 4
  • ARCH 519 Sustainability in the Environment: Infrastructures, Urban Landscapes, and Buildings Units: 3
  • ARCH 611 Advanced Building Systems Integration Units: 4
  • ARCH 613L Seminar: Structures Research Units: 4
  • ARCH 615L Seminar: Environmental Systems Research Units: 4
  • ARCH 790 Doctoral Research Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
  • ARCH 791 Proposal for Doctoral Dissertation Units: 1

A minimum of 4 units of:

  • ARCH 794a Doctoral Dissertation Units: 2
  • ARCH 794b Doctoral Dissertation Units: 2
  • ARCH 794z Doctoral Dissertation Units: 0
  • GRSC 850a The Professoriate: Preparing for the Future Units: 2
  • GRSC 850b The Professoriate: Preparing for the Future Units: 2
  • Electives Units: 17

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Phd / ms in architecture.

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The research community is harnessing the symbiotic properties of plants and fungi roots (left). Their living architectural system involves a 3D-printed brick (center) that encases mycorrhizal fungi and alfalfa to promote plant growth while also sequestering carbon and potential soil and air toxins, generating a flexible and beneficial building materials (right).

Welcome to the PENN Ph.D. and MS Programs in Architecture. Our graduate group faculty, candidates, students, and alumni welcome you to our website, eager to share with you their commitment to advanced research in architecture. Each in their own way seeks to cultivate knowledge, awareness, and invention in one of the oldest academic disciplines. Dedicated to thinking and making, as well as to critical questions and inventive solutions, the PENN Ph.D. and MS Architecture community invites you to join us. 

Read a letter from the Chair and program description

Degree Programs

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PhD new students 2024

Meet the People of PhD Architecture

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Dissertations

Dissertations in preparation.

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Dissertations Defended

Sanctuary of Zeus at Ancient Nemea, view capturing the impression of the Temple of Zeus and sacred grove relation in ancient time. At the foreground is the restored temple’s east facade with ramp access and the remains of the long altar, at the background vegetation that includes cypress trees. The position of the trees that are seen today is not exactly that of antiquity, photo by Antonios Thodis. «The copyright of the depicted monuments belongs to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (ν.3028/2002)»

Publications by PhD in Architecture Alums

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Ph.D. Program

The ph.d. program in architecture and landscape architecture is a unique, jointly administered program in which students may choose to focus in either architecture or landscape, or to work collaboratively in both areas..

PhD students in Erlanger House

Ph.D. students and faculty participating in Erlanger Evenings, an events series for sharing ongoing research.

The Illinois School of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture are two of the oldest and most distinguished professional degree programs in North America. Both benefit from internationally distinguished faculties and from one of the largest academic libraries in the world, with more than ten million volumes and state of the art electronic access to archival and database information.

The Doctor of Philosophy degree is conferred upon qualified candidates in recognition of the fulfillment of the program requirements, command of specific areas of specialization, and an original contribution to the discipline. The dissertation, the culminating requirement of the Ph.D. degree program, establishes the candidate’s mastery of the research methods of his/her specialized field and his/her ability to address a major intellectual problem and arrive at a successful conclusion.

This degree is appropriate for those seeking careers in research and teaching or in roles in government or professional consultation, all of which require depth in specialization and experience in research.

Admission requirements include the submission of academic transcripts, three letters of recommendation from individuals with whom the applicant has studied, GRE exam results, and English language proficiency tests, when required by the Graduate College. For more information, see Ph.D. Program Handbook below.

Specializations

History and theory.

History and Theory are critical components of both Architecture and Landscape Architecture, informing practice and education in both fields. They also, however, stand-alone as independent disciplines that contribute to our understanding of human history. At the University of Illinois, histories and theories of the built environment are regarded as essential contributions to scholarship in the humanities. As such, our students and faculty engage in dialogue with a wide range of historians and theoreticians across the campus, contributing spatial and visual modes of inquiry. The concerns of this option encompass the evolution of the entire cultural landscape, including the work of architects, landscape architects, and planners, but also with builders, craftspeople, and the ordinary men and women who create the human environment. The study of architectural and landscape history continually incorporates new research and methods derived from its essential links to other humanistic, social scientific, and technical disciplines. Some students in the History and Theory concentration elect to pursue the Graduate Minor in Heritage Studies.

Health and Wellbeing

Students focused on Health and Wellbeing investigate the relationship between the built environment and human mental and physical health across a range of environment types from housing to education to healthcare to public space. Students work at a range of scales from the micro to the macro. Recent research includes health equity and neighborhoods; housing and health; health and aging; experience, perception and identity; Daylighting, circadian rhythm, and sleep disorders, and supportive environments for vulnerable populations. Students employ quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches in their research.

Technology and Environment

The option of Technology explores and studies the tools, methods, and theories to improve our surroundings and building environments. This option presents a fertile field of research, which has a direct impact on design, management and construction, human comfort, economics, materials, and structural systems. Technology encompasses several areas of study:

  • Building Science and Environmental Technology  deals with the science and theory of thermal, luminous, acoustical environments as they relate to building design and human comfort, and environmental control systems;
  • Ecological Design  focuses on research related to the design of human-constructed environments as they relate to ecosystem health, human health and comfort, and restoration, remediation, and preservation of earth’s natural resources;
  • Structures, Materials, and Construction deals with the strength and properties of materials, structures, construction methods, and business practice and management;
  • Information and Digital Technology  deals with the development of new methodologies of communication and design management, integration and execution of design, methods of visualization, representation, and experience of designed environments.

Urbanism students focus on the city and its complex spatial productions at the intersection of social, political, cultural, technological, and economic realms. Investigations may encompass the historical or contemporary city in the global north and/or global south and employ a mixed qualitative and quantitative methods approach.

The following instructors currently serve as PhD Advisors. Learn more about their areas of research on their faculty pages:

  • Abbas Aminmansour, PhD.
  • Benjamin Bross, PhD.
  • Didem Ekici, PhD.
  • Niloufar Emami, PhD.
  • Kathryn E. Holliday, PhD.
  • Sudarshan Krishnan, PhD.
  • John C. Stallmeyer, PhD.
  • Rick Strand, PhD.
  • Yun Kyu Yi, PhD.

Current Students  

Meet our current cohort.

Completed Dissertations  

Selected dissertations from previous years.

Additional Information

Doctoral Programs

exhibit showcasing various sized books titled Writing Practice

Doctoral programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Design are non-studio degree programs that allow in-depth studies of topical areas that span the traditional design disciplines.

To apply to the PhD program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, please visit the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) admissions page .

Doctoral Programs Harvard University Graduate School of Design 40 Kirkland Street, Room 1-A Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 495-2337

Margaret Moore de Chicojay Program Administrator [email protected]

Liz Thorstenson Program Coordinator [email protected]

Melissa Hulett Executive Coordinator [email protected]

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PhD in Architecture & Design Research

College of Architecture & the Built Environment

Doctor of Philosophy

Hybrid (Online and On Campus)

4 - 7 Years

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The architectural discipline is in constant flux, requiring the ongoing development of new modes of design research. The PhD in Architecture & Design Research is focused on anticipating and shaping the future of practice. Our mission is to create new avenues of investigation, expand knowledge bases, solve time-sensitive, contemporary issues across architectural disciplines and yield new insights into the past, present and future of the field. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research are important elements of this program, which builds on the wide-ranging expertise of faculty within the College of Architecture & the Built Environment and across Jefferson, a National Doctorial Research University.

In this program you will choose a focus area and conduct original research on timely, discipline-specific topics. You’ll shape a research question and pursue transdisciplinary inquiry, drawing upon the broad array of professional expertise available throughout the University. The final dissertation phase is an individualized, self-driven process, through which you will make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge in a specific focus area.

Choose your focus area from a wide array of topics supported by the diverse expertise and research agenda of faculty who study areas including sustainable architecture, high performance buildings, urban design, smart cities, geospatial technologies, historic preservation, public interest design and design for health, sustainable development, real estate development and innovative construction. Through your research you will reach beyond the primary field, collaborating with other disciplines relevant to your topic, including engineering, business and health sciences, in consultation with an academic advisor.

This program is offered through three different online/hybrid tracks:

  • Architecture & Design Research, PhD – in person/hybrid
  • Architecture & Design Research, Practice-Based PhD – online/hybrid
  • Offers a concentration in Inclusive Design & Creative Technology Innovation with SMARTlab

National and International Partnerships

Faculty have formed partnerships with several international institutions, including: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China; TU Delft; Politecnico di Milano; Anhalt University and Hochschule Ostwestfalen Lippe – School of Architecture, Germany. We foster student and faculty exchange and research with a growing list of top-tier domestic and international partner institutions. In addition, you will benefit from CABE’s network with leading architectural firms around the world, such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Gensler, Stantec, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) and AECOM via joint design studio, funded research, workshops and other activities.

Collaborative, Transdisciplinary Research

Increasingly complex challenges are impacting the environment and conditions of human lives at unprecedented scales, from urban to ecological systems. These challenges require novel, transdisciplinary approaches and solutions that intersect the fields of academia with practice. The PhD in Architecture & Design Research benefits from the transdisciplinary nature of Jefferson that fosters the intersection of architecture and design with business, engineering and the health sciences. The program builds upon Jefferson’s institutional strengths to educate the next generation of innovators who understand how to think critically and creatively and collaborate effectively. 

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The PhD in Architecture & Design Research is a  STEM  designated program . (04.0902 Architecture and Building Science/Technology)

Student Profiles

monique chabot jefferson

Meet our Student: Monique Chabot

Monique is in the PhD in Architecture & Design Research program within the College of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Program Highlights

  • Customize your education and connect with professional opportunities.
  • Generate original and meaningful research that expands scholarship and practical knowledge in architecture and related disciplines.
  • Prepare for a career in specialized practice, consulting, university teaching and architectural research.  
  • Benefit from synergies among the wide-ranging portfolio of graduate programs within CABE as well as other disciplines throughout the University.   

IIT Architecture PHD Program

  • Architecture (Ph.D.)

Illinois Institute of Technology offers the only Ph.D. program in architecture in Chicago, a metropolis characterized by a dynamic architectural culture, supportive research institutions, and renowned firms.

  • Academic Programs

Founded in 1996 as a laboratory for applied research and scholarship, the Ph.D. program attracts graduate students from around the world who converge on our landmark Mies-designed campus.

Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program explore the historic and contemporary intersections among architecture, culture, and technology through two areas of specialization: Technologies of the Built Environment and History, Theory, and Criticism . Research topics are based on the expertise of our faculty and student interests. Possibilities include: building and urban energy use, environmental impacts of built environments, high-performance building skins, tall building design and performance, advanced structural systems, urban water systems, and histories and theories of architectural technology.

Direct admission into the Ph.D. program is preferred, but admission via the M.S. program is also an option. Funding opportunities are available in the form of teaching assistantships, and students can benefit from our relationships with large architecture and engineering firms based in Chicago.

Program Overview

Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program explore the historic and contemporary intersections among architecture, culture, and technology through two areas of specialized research: History, Theory, and Criticism , and Technologies of the Built Environment .

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the Ph.D. program in architecture typically pursue academic careers in universities, obtain positions in research institutions, or return to professional practice.

This 84-credit hour degree program consists of lecture and seminar courses, special problems, and research credits to help students complete their doctoral research projects. Each student has a committee with a chair that supervises this process.

View Details

Admission Requirements

The applicant should meet all entrance requirements of Illinois Institute of Technology's Graduate College, plus a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, a minimum revised GRE score of 144 in quantitative reasoning, 153 in verbal reasoning, and analytical writing of 4.0, and a TOEFL score of 577/90 (paper-based/internet-based test), or a minimum IELTS score of 6.

Program Specializations

History, Theory, and Criticism

Technologies of the Built Environment

Learn more...

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Ph.D. in Architecture

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phd in architecture eligibility

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) invites applicants who wish to investigate architecture and the built environment in focused projects that unfold over a span of years. Students embarking on a doctorate conduct original research that yields new insights into past, current, and future developments of architecture and building practices.

Doctoral studies promote independent critical thinkers and research specialists across a range of fields within the increasingly broad fields of architecture and the built environment.

phd in architecture eligibility

The University of Michigan’s Ph.D. in Architecture was one of only four such programs in the United States when it was established in 1969. Since that date, the program has continued to evolve in response to changes in the discipline and the profession. Studies currently underway at Michigan testify to rapidly shifting disciplinary boundaries and increasingly global outlooks in the field overall but particularly in areas in which our faculty are strong, such as global modernism, media practices in architecture, space syntax, structural modeling, envelope design, and urban history.

Michigan’s remarkable research facilities allow our students to develop interdisciplinary research projects with partners across campus. The Horace H. Rackham Graduate School awards the Ph.D., generally after five or six years of study.

Expectations

We require a relatively high number of course credits (40 in total), and a significant time commitment to completion of degree. Four years are normally spent in residence and are fully funded with tuition, stipend, and benefits. Two additional years of tuition benefit allow students to complete the degree with fellowship support from other university units or external sources, support that is typically raised in their fourth and fifth years.

The first two years of the degree are devoted to intensive coursework intended to train students in the principal methods and materials used in our subfields (organized here by faculty specialization as BT, DS, and HT). The third year is spent preparing for and passing doctoral examinations and identifying a dissertation project. Students advance to candidacy after taking their preliminary examinations, by January of the third year at the latest. HT students must satisfy the language requirement (minimally, competence in one research language) by this time as well.

At the end of the third year, students defend their dissertation proposal in a public defense with their dissertation committee. Years four and five and, if necessary, six, are spent in researching, writing, and defending the dissertation. During the initial phase of dissertation research, students may spend substantial time off campus, supported by internal and external fellowships. They often return to Ann Arbor to write up the results of research. The dissertation is defended in a formal dissertation defense. Time to degree varies among the specializations of our program, but students typically take at least five or six years to complete the degree.

Community and Connections

You will be well-supported by a large and inclusive community of students, faculty, and staff who are knowledgeable, curious, collegial, and just as excited about architecture as you are. They bring a variety of experiences and points of view. They will be your sounding board, your support network, and your friends.

Majors and Minors

Each doctoral student identifies a major and a minor area of specialization and works with faculty advisors associated with those areas. These advisors should be identified and contacted by the middle of the second year of coursework at the latest, although many students have identified a primary advisor before arriving in Ann Arbor.

The major can be defined in dialogue with the student’s advisor; several possible major areas are listed below:

  • Building Technology
  • Critical Urban Studies
  • Computational Design
  • Design Studies
  • Digital Fabrication
  • History and Theory
  • Media Studies

The minor is a distinct subject area that complements the major. The minor may lie in Architecture, in Urban and Regional Planning, or in another University of Michigan department, program, or center.

Coursework in the minor must be approved for Rackham graduate credit, deemed appropriate by the Doctoral Advisory Committee, and approved by the major advisor.

Graduates from the Ph.D. in Architecture program have completed Doctoral Dissertations on topics ranging from “Aural Architecture as Affect: Understanding the Impact of Acoustic Environments on Human Experience” to “Curating a Nation in Skopje: A Tale of One City’s Architecture and Politics.”

Taubman College Career and Professional Development offers a variety of programs, services and resources to assist students and alumni in exploring careers, securing positions and continuing skill development and management.

phd in architecture eligibility

Making decisions about the next step in your educational journey is a time full of opportunity and potential; however, it may also be accompanied by concerns about costs. Taubman College provides full funding to all students admitted to its doctoral programs, including a full tuition waiver, health insurance, and a generous stipend package.

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PhD in Architecture: Course, Eligibility, Entrance Exam, Colleges, Fees, Subjects, Jobs, Scope

PhD Architecture is a three year research degree that focuses on areas like design, architecture, art, urbanism, humanities, psychology, culture, heritage and sustainability. The duration of PhD Architecture can be extended to six years. PhD Architecture equips candidates with skills of extensive research, critical thinking, theoretical engagement and writing skills.

Latest: Top Ph.d Colleges in India

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PhD Architecture Highlights

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To be eligible for Architecture course at the doctoral level, candidates must complete a three years Master degree or four years Bachelor's degree from a recognised university in fields related to architecture and its related disciplines. The curriculum of the coursework of PhD Architecture includes Infrastructure, Traffic and Transportation Planning, Human Habitat, Digital architecture, Landscape construction techniques and Project Management .

Post-completion of PhD Architecture enables candidates to work in diverse roles as Architect, Urban Planner, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, Sustainable Design Consultant, Project Manager (Construction), Architectural Historian and Building Inspector. These profiles are hired by some top recruiters like Larsen & Toubro, Godrej Properties, Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Hafeez Contractor and Arcop Associates.

Particulars

Values

Degree Name

PhD Architecture

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Duration

3 to 6 years

Entrance Exams

UGC NET, GATE or institute specific

Eligibility Criteria

3 years Master degree or 4 years Bachelors degree from a recognised university

Admission Process

Entrance Based

Fees for the entire duration

Rs. 1.7 Lakhs

Job Profiles

Architect, Urban Planner, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, Sustainable Design Consultant, Project Manager (Construction), Architectural Historian and Building Inspector

Top Recruiters

Larsen & Toubro, Godrej Properties, Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Hafeez Contractor and Arcop Associates

There is a specific eligibility criteria set by the colleges and universities. The candidates should make sure that they fulfil the certain eligibility criteria to be eligible for admissions in PhD Architecture. Below is the eligibility criteria for PhD Architecture.

Aspiring candidates must have a masters degree or professional degree equivalent to masters degree in the disciplines like Architecture, Architectural Design, Conservation, History & Theory, or Landscape Architecture.

Candidates having Master’s degree in the areas of Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Environmental Studies, Arts, History, Civil Engineering or M.Tech are also eligible.

Candidates who have cleared the M. Phil. course work with at least 55 per cent marks in aggregate are also eligible for PhD Architecture.

Candidates are also required to qualify in one of the entrance exams like UGC NET , GATE and other college or university specific entrance exams.

The admission process of PhD Architecture is simple. There are some steps that candidates need to follow to successfully complete the application process. Some universities and colleges like Sinhgad College of Architecture, Reva University require candidates to qualify a specific entrance exam too.

Before filling the application, candidates need to ensure that they fulfil the eligibility criteria.

If eligible, candidates are required to apply for the specific entrance exams and appear for them on the specified date and time.

Candidates after qualifying the entrance exams, they can fill out the forms for desired colleges as per their ranks and scorecards.

After filling out the application form and submitting the documents, the universities and colleges roll out their merit list based on the ranks and applications received.

Some universities require the shortlisted candidates to sit for a personal interview.

After all the process is done and results are announced, colleges send acceptance emails to the selected students.

Some universities and colleges like Reva University or CEPT University require the aspiring candidates to sit for the entrance examination and qualify in it. Candidates have to appear for entrance exams like UGC NET, GATE and other institute specific entrance exams.

UGC NET : UGC NET or University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test is a national-level entrance exam conducted annually. UGC NET is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in a computer-based mode.

UGC NET Application

UGC NET Eligibility

UGC NET Syllabus

UGC NET Exam Patterns

UGC NET Preparation Tips

GATE : GATE or Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is a national-level examination conducted in a computer-based mode. GATE is conducted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on a rotational basis.

GATE Application

GATE Eligibility

GATE Syllabus

GATE Exam Patterns

GATE Preparation Tips

PhD Architecture is a very dynamic field that provides candidates with several skills like research skills, creativity and formal writing skills. PhD Architecture provides candidates with skills necessary for the physical, social and creative aspects of crafting architecture and urbanism. These skills help candidates excel in the field of Architecture. PhD Architecture equips students with the following skills:

Architectural design

Research methodologies

Building technology

Urban planning

Sustainability principles

Construction management

Architectural history

Digital modelling and rendering

The syllabus for PhD Architecture is comprehensive and helps candidates in writing their own thesis and research papers. The overall coursework for PhD Architecture provided by Savitribai Phule Pune University is given below.

Scope of Doctoral Research in Architecture, Defining the research problem, aims and objectives

Research Paradigms in Architectural Research and Research Design

Conceptual, theoretical, Analytical and Methodological framework in Research

Qualitative data Collection processing and Analysis

Quantitative data Collection processing and Analysis

Writing a research proposal

Literature survey Overview & developing a bibliography and Databases

Academic /scientific paper writing

Research and Publication ethics

Documentation and presentation tools

Candidates need to choose three subjects from the following

Theories in Architectural Research

Behavioral Research Methods

Statistics in Architectural research

Visual Research methods

Experimental research

Historical research

Simulation and Modeling research

Concepts and Research in Environmental Psychology

Phenomenological Research: Concepts and Methods

Architectural Anthropology

Architectural Conservation: Methods and Tools

Research in Landscape Architecture

Art and Architecture

Urban Design Research : Concepts and Methods

The fee structure for PhD Architecture varies from institutions to institutions. The fee structure depends on the location of the institution, the facilities available, and the faculty. The average fee for PhD Architecture is around Rs.1.7 Lakhs. PhD Architecture fees include charges of tuition fees, laboratory fees and other expenses.

PhD Architecture equips candidates with a broad scope. PhD Architecture provides candidates with knowledge on urban planning, environmental sustainability, historic preservation, and digital fabrication. PhD Architecture provides candidates with the opportunity to develop the future of architecture and urban development on local, regional, and global scales.

PhD Architecture unlocks diverse career pathways in construction, management and design for the students. Graduates get to work as Architect, Urban Planner, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, Sustainable Design Consultant, Project Manager (Construction), Architectural Historian and Building Inspector.

Architect : Architect is responsible for designing buildings and structures using their hands-on experience and practical expertise. He or She works closely with clients to understand their needs, create detailed plans, and oversee the construction process.

Urban Planner : Urban Planner is responsible for designing and managing the use of land in urban areas. He or She works with government agencies to promote economic development and improve quality of life in urban areas.

Interior Designer : Interior Designer is responsible for creating aesthetically pleasing interior designs. He or She works with the clients and creates design concepts and furnishing as per their needs.

Landscape Architect: Landscape Architect is responsible for designing outdoor spaces like parks, gardens, and public places. He or She addresses environmental concerns, and enhances the usability and beauty of outdoor spaces.

Sustainable Design Consultant: Sustainable Design Consultant creates sustainable, eco-friendly and energy-efficient buildings and structures. He or She creates plans and structures with the aim of reducing energy consumption and minimising waste.

Project Manager : Project Manager manages and oversees the construction projects from initiation to completion. He or She is responsible for planning, organising, scheduling work, managing budgets and coordinating with various stakeholders.

Building Inspector: Building Inspector is responsible for ensuring that building structures and construction complies with the regulations and codes of practice. He or She reviews building plans and issues approvals for construction projects.

Top Recruiters

Larsen & Toubro

Godrej Properties

Shapoorji Pallonji Group

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)

Hafeez Contractor

Arcop Associates

Benefits of Studying PhD Architecture

Studying PhD Architecture provides candidates with great benefits and advantages. Through PhD Architecture’s theoretical and practical exposure candidates get expertise in areas such as sustainable design, urban planning, historic preservation, or innovative construction methods. PhD Architecture equips candidates with critical thinking skills, analytical tools, and research methodologies. PhD Architecture also provides networking opportunities and collaboration with industry professionals.

After doing PhD Architecture, graduates can expect to get an average salary ranging from Rs. 4 LPA to Rs. 19 LPA. The salary of the graduates depends on the organisation they work for, the position they work at and the location of the organisation. Below is the table giving the average expected salary of career opportunities provided by PhD Architecture.

Career Options

Average Expected Salary

Architect

Rs. 10.5 LPA

Urban Planner

Rs. 6 LPA

Interior Designer

Rs. 4.4 LPA

Landscape Architect

Rs. 12.6 LPA

Sustainable Design Consultant

Rs. 7.1 LPA

Project Manager

Rs. 19 LPA

Building Inspector

Rs. 11 LPA

Source: AmbitionBox and Glassdoor

The salary figures mentioned anywhere in these articles are just for reference purposes. Please treat them as such. Actual salaries may vary depending on respective candidates, employer, job location, and numerous other factors.

In India, many renowned colleges and universities provide PhD Architecture for aspiring candidates. These colleges provide comprehensive knowledge and equip candidates with research and analytical skills. These colleges are known for their great faculty and infrastructure.

Institutions

Average Fees

-

-

Rs. 90,000

Rs. 1.5 Lakhs

Rs. 2.7 Lakhs

Rs. 2 Lakhs

-

-

-

-

India has some top private colleges which offer PhD Architecture. These colleges and universities are known for their personalised and modern facilities, their comprehensive knowledge, and their faculty.

Institutions

Average Fees

Rs. 3 Lakhs

Rs. 7.44 Lakhs

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

India also has some renowned universities and colleges that are government-owned. These colleges are known to offer esteemed faculty and fees at a subsidised amount. These colleges also provide great faculty and modern education.

Institutions

Average Fees

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

PhD Architecture is a research doctoral degree that provides candidates with practical networking opportunities and a great career financially ahead. PhD Architecture is an advanced degree than the masters which provides candidates with a financially rewarding career ahead.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)

PhD Architecture is a three years to six years research degree that offers the opportunity for independent research and thesis writing.

Candidates to be eligible for PhD Architecture need to successfully complete a master's degree or professional degree equivalent to masters degree in the disciplines like Architecture.

PhD Architecture is of three years duration and can be extended to six years for further research completion.

Candidates will learn subjects such as Infrastructure, Traffic and Transportation Planning, Human Habitat, Digital architecture, Landscape construction techniques and Project Management.

After completing PhD Architecture, candidates can work as Architect, Urban Planner, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, Sustainable Design Consultant, Project Manager (Construction), Architectural Historian and Building Inspector.

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Questions related to Ph.D

Pursuing BSc in Neuroscience Technology with a focus on neuro diagnosis can still lead to a career in research. Your undergraduate degree provides a solid foundation in neuroscience, and you can build upon that.

To transition into pure neuroscience research, consider the following:

1. Take additional courses in neuroscience, biology, chemistry, and mathematics to strengthen your foundation.

2. Gain research experience through internships, projects, or volunteer work.

3. Network with researchers and academics in the field to learn about opportunities and gain guidance.

4. Pursue an MSc in Neuroscience or a related field to specialize in research.

5. Your PhD can be in Neuroscience or a related field, focusing on research areas like neuroplasticity, neurodevelopment, or neurodegeneration.

Your BSc in Neuroscience Technology can serve as a stepping stone, and with additional education and experience, you can transition into pure neuroscience research.

Some potential research areas for you to explore:

1. Neuroimaging and neuroinformatics

2. Neurophysiology and neuroengineering

3. Neuropharmacology and neurotoxicology

4. Molecular neuroscience and genetics

5. Behavioral neuroscience and psychology

Remember, your career path is not limited by your undergraduate degree. Focus on building your skills, network, and experience, and you can achieve your goals in neuroscience research!

You have already completed your m.a and Pursuing b.ed you can do PHD program in related field means you can choose either of the subject it may be education or arts.for phd program you need to complete your masters degree or bachelor's degree in education with 55 percent marks.you can choose between different PHD

  • Phd in education
  • Phd in educational psychology
  • Phd in curriculum and instruction
  • Phd in educational leadership and management

To pursue phd you need to clear net exam meet the specific requirements may vary depending on university in which you want to take admission.

Hello there,

To pursue a PhD in Gastroenterology after completing an MSc in Life Sciences, follow these steps:

Identify Suitable Programs : Look for universities or research institutions that offer PhD programs in Gastroenterology or related fields. Ensure they accept students with a background in Life Sciences.

Meet Eligibility Criteria : Check the specific eligibility requirements for the PhD program. You may need a strong academic record, research experience, or relevant coursework in Gastroenterology.

Prepare for Entrance Exams : Some institutions may require you to clear national-level entrance exams like CSIR-UGC NET , GATE , or ICMR JRF for PhD admissions. Prepare accordingly.

Research Proposal : Develop a research proposal aligned with Gastroenterology. This will be crucial for your application, showcasing your research interests and how they fit with the program.

Application Process : Apply to the chosen institutions by submitting your academic transcripts, entrance exam scores, research proposal, and other required documents.

Interviews : Be prepared for interviews, where you may need to discuss your research interests, academic background, and how you plan to contribute to the field of Gastroenterology.

Funding and Scholarships : Look into funding opportunities like fellowships or scholarships that can support your PhD studies.

Networking : Connect with faculty members or researchers in the field of Gastroenterology to explore potential supervisors for your PhD.

These steps should help you navigate the process of getting into a PhD program in Gastroenterology.

I hope this answer helps you. If you have more queries then feel free to share your questions with us we will be happy to assist you.

Thank you and wishing you all the best for your bright future.

No,phd degree is the highest possible academic degree a student can obtain in relevant discipline only the similar subjects students can opt for the psychology course like BSC degree holders

Moreover you can do phd in your own discipline PhD in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. PhD in Periodontology. PhD in Pedodontics. Are the dominant areas of your subject where you can do research.

The admission process for a PhD program typically involves several steps, which can vary slightly depending on the country, university, and specific program. Here's a general outline of the process

- Choose a Research Area: Identify your field of interest and the specific area you want to focus on for your PhD research.

-  Research universities that offer PhD programs in your chosen area. Consider factors like faculty expertise, research facilities, funding opportunities, and location.

Check Eligibility Criteria

- Educational Qualifications: Most PhD programs require a master’s degree in a relevant field. Some programs may accept candidates with a bachelor’s degree, especially in countries like the US.

-  In many countries, you may need to pass entrance exams like the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering), or subject-specific tests.

- For programs taught in English, non-native speakers may need to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores.

Identify a Research Supervisor

-  Reach out to faculty members whose research aligns with your interests. Some programs require you to have a confirmed supervisor before applying, while others match students with supervisors after admission.

Prepare Required Documents

- Write a detailed SOP explaining your research interests, why you want to pursue a PhD, and why you chose the specific program and university.

- Include your academic and professional background, research experience, publications, and relevant skills.

Submit the Application

- Fill out the application form on the university’s website. Submit all required documents

Entrance Exams and Interviews

- Some universities require you to take a written entrance exam.

-if shortlisted, you may be called for an interview to discuss your research proposal, academic background, and suitability for the program.

Admission Decision

- Offer Letter: If accepted, you’ll receive an offer letter from the university. This may be conditional, requiring you to meet certain criteria before final admission.

- Confirm your acceptance of the offer. You may need to pay a deposit or fulfill other requirements.

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Ph.D. in Architecture Admission Requirements

In addition to the university graduate admission requirements , the Ph.D. in Architecture program requires the following.

Minimum Education

A master’s degree is required for admission to the Ph.D. in Architecture program.

Admitted applicants who are still earning the prerequisite degree are admitted contingent on the completion of that degree. Applicants who do not meet this contingency must reapply after graduation.

Résumé 

Résumés should include your employment history, educational record, publications, awards, and any community/volunteer experiences you may have. Please upload your résumé to the Texas A&M GradCas System .

Statement of Purpose

Your statement of purpose should clearly demonstrate your interest in the program. Statements of purpose are used to gauge whether an applicant will be a good fit in the program based on research interests and prior experiences. We encourage you to identify faculty whose interests coincide with yours in your statement of purpose.

You should provide three letters of recommendation from individuals who are familiar with your academic achievement and potential. If you have been out of school for a number of years and are unable to contact former professors, you may submit non-academic references (e.g., employers).

Applicants can access the electronic letter of recommendation system available via the Texas A&M GradCas System.

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PhD in Architecture: Course Details, Eligibility, Admission, Fees

Kripal Thapa

PhD in Architecture is a three year doctorate program that deals with the research degree and collection, interpretation, and presentation of bibliographic resources and other databases, and specific computer skills. This PhD in Architecture course graduate can get many job roles such as Architectural Engineer, Architecture Designer, Architecture Draftsman Architectural Historian, Art Director, Building Contractor & Researcher, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, etc.

Table of Contents

About phd in architecture, who should pursue a phd in architecture course, when to do a phd in architecture course, how to get admission for phd in architecture, types of phd in architecture courses, popular entrance exams for phd in architecture, top phd in architecture colleges in india, study phd in architecture in abroad, fee structure for phd in architecture, syllabus and subjects for phd in architecture, why choose phd in architecture course, phd in architecture course comparison, preparation tips for phd in architecture course, salary of a phd in architecture graduates, career options after phd in architecture, skills that make you the best phd in architecture graduates, phd in architecture course details.

Degree Doctorate
Full Form Doctorate of Philosophy in Architecture
Duration 3 Years
Age No age limit
Subjects Required Masters in Architecture and previous research work on the field of Architecture
Minimum Percentage 50%
Average Fees ₹55K - 1 LPA
Average Salary INR 3 to 12 LPA
Employment Roles Architectural Engineer, Architecture Designer, Architecture Draftsman Architectural Historian, Art Director, Building Contractor & Researcher, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, etc.

PhD in Architecture is a three years doctorate degree which is created in such a way that the learners get to know a deep understanding of their chosen topics. Over the past few years, the scope of pursuing PhD courses in India has increased manifolds. 

Many universities are in front of admission in this course. This program is a research degree offering the opportunity for independent research under the supervision of a departmental member of staff. Unless the student becomes a member of a research group, the research is undertaken entirely by the candidate on their own, with regular supervision of progress with their supervisor. 

Eligibility Criteria for PhD in Architecture

As all the students know how useful a PhD in Architecture course is, that’s why it’s quite difficult to get admitted into their respective interested universities. Those students who want to take enrollment in this doctorate program have to qualify for the eligibility criteria i.e one should have a minimum mark of 55% in both B.Arch and M.Arch examinations. 

There are few PhD Agricultural entrance exams that have cutoffs to qualify. There is no age limit for the students for taking admission to this course.

A PhD in Architecture is a three years doctorate program that makes a student’s career in the public, private, academic, and non-profit sectors. When it comes to your career graph. A PhD in Architecture degree gives a variety of job opportunities to the graduates.

One of the most sought-after jobs for a PhD in Architecture degree holder is of a lecturer or a professor in a university or a researcher in most fields. 

Along with this, a PhD in Architecture degree holder can get a job in Landscape architecture, Park planning/capital planning, Specifications/contract administration, Site inspection, Field survey crew, Administration etc. 

Candidates will have in-depth knowledge and develop mastery over the subjects they have chosen for specialization, which will be extremely useful for them in their careers. Those learners who are interested in these specializations should pursue this course.

Aspirants are eligible to pursue a PhD in Architecture course only if they have completed their master's degree in a similar course/ field/ stream in which they want to pursue a PhD in Architecture. Some colleges also specify that candidates need to have completed an MPhil to pursue a PhD in Architecture course offered by them.

Admission to the PhD in Architecture course is not impossible if the students ensure that they research the details well. The universities follow the process of entrance-based admissions. The admission process with respect to admission through exams varies from college to college. 

Online and offline both facilities are available to the students for enrollment. The students are guided to check the college website to get detailed information.

How to Apply?

There are two ways to apply for admission in the PhD in Architecture course. Either online by visiting the college website and following the steps given there or offline by visiting the university's office. There are certain colleges that take interviews for checking the knowledge and communication skills of the candidates.

Selection Process

The selection process of the candidates for getting admission in the respective PhD in Architecture course ends an interview. The students who have cracked the entrance exams with good marks can give interviews for the further joining process. The last step of the admission procedure decides whether the student is eligible to take admission or not.

A PhD in Architecture is a research-based doctorate program and that's the reason this course can be done in any of three modes i.e full-time, part-time, and distance learning mode. Aspirants can pursue the PhD in Architecture course at many top universities. 

Full-Time PhD in Architecture

A full-time PhD in Architecture program duration is three years that is provided by many top respected colleges or universities. This full-time course is all about classroom-based studying, research projects, and assignments. There are no limitations on the age for taking admissions.

Part-Time PhD in Architecture

A part-time PhD Agricultural program is for 5 years. This course is basically created for students who are working somewhere or are professionals. A part-time mode is all about having limited classes. 

Part-time PhD is mainly focused on research for the development of the company rather than individual research work.

Distance PhD in Architecture

A distance PhD in Architecture in India program is quite easy for getting knowledge at any time from anywhere. Many people believe in pursuing this course because of no issue of being physically present at the universities. 

The objective behind the creation of this distance learning program is to provide the degree along with the knowledge while working.

Various institutes and testing agencies conduct PhD in Architecture entrance exams for admissions in PhD in Architecture and Technology. The following are some of these entrance examinations:

A Quick Glance at the PhD in Architecture Entrance Exams

Students can access the PhD in Architecture course details by going to the college's official website to which they are interested in applying. The specialization plays a vital role in the college's approach to the entrance exam. Below listed are some of the general guidelines of the PhD in Architecture entrance examinations: 

  • The exam pattern includes common topics from 10+2, graduation and postgraduation level i.e. technology, life sciences, mathematics, sciences, and general aptitude.
  • The papers are objective and MCQ-based.
  • The syllabus, mode of examination, and question pattern may change according to a university/conducting body.

India is home to some of the PhD in Architecture colleges in the world. Aspirants have many options to choose from in terms of the best PhD in Architecture course as per their preferences. Depending on the type of PhD in Architecture programs offered, candidates will have to make the appropriate choice.

Below is the list of the top best PhD in Architecture colleges in the country:

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in India
SL. NO. NAME OF THE COLLEGES
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in New Delhi

Delhi, the educational hub of India, stands in the fourth position in producing PhD in Architecture candidates. Here are the top 5 PhD in Architecture Colleges in New Delhi:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in New Delhi
SL. NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Mumbai

Below is the list of colleges which are the top PhD in Architecture colleges in Mumbai:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Mumbai
SL.NO. Institutions
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Pune

Below are the list of colleges which are the top colleges of PhD in Architecture in Pune:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Pune
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5 NIMS University

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Chennai

Top 5 PhD in Architecture Colleges in Chennai are given below:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Chennai
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Bangalore

Banglore city has some of the best colleges for PhD in Architecture courses in India. Here is the list of top colleges for PhD in Architecture in Bangalore:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Bangalore
SL. NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Kolkata

Check the Table below for the top colleges in Kolkata:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Kolkata
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5 LBS

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Hyderabad

The Telangana state capital has some premier institutions in the country for PhD in Architecture courses in India. Check the table below for the top PhD in Architecture colleges in Hyderabad:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Hyderabad
SL.NO. Institutions
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Government Colleges

There are several top Government Colleges offering quality PhD in Architecture programmes across the country. Check the table below for the top PhD in Architecture government colleges in India:

PhD in Architecture Government Colleges
Sl.No Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Private Colleges

India has seen significant growth in the number of quality PhD in Architecture private colleges that offer some of the best programmes in the country. Check the table below for the top PhD in Architecture private colleges in India:

PhD in Architecture Private Colleges
SL.NO. Institutions
1
2
3
4
5

Students can opt to study a PhD in Architecture course abroad if they can afford it. The PhD in Architecture course abroad is up to 5-8 years, depending on the type of course, college and country. 

The benefits of studying a PhD in Architecture course abroad are access to some of the best resources, facilities, and faculties, apart from worldwide exposure in terms of subject matter and other cultures. 

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges Abroad

The table below contains the list of some of the best colleges abroad for PhD in Architecture:

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges Abroad
Institution Fees 
USD 17,787
USD 34,747
USD 64,347
AUD 16,779
USD 45,700
USD 66,096

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in USA

The USA is home to some of the best universities and colleges offering top-notch PhD in Architecture programmes in the world. The US is the best country for PhD in Architecture studies and settling abroad.

It's a PhD in Architecture-level that the USA really shines through. The table below contains the list of top colleges of PhD in Architecture in the USA:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in USA
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in the UK

A PhD in Architecture is a research degree and is the highest award available at universities in the UK. The study is based on a substantial research project on an area of academic interest, typically up to 100,000 words in length, written as a thesis which then must be defended in an oral examination in front of a panel of experts.

The table below contains the list of top colleges of PhD in Architecture in the Uk:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in the UK
SL.NO. Institutions
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Canada

An increasingly attractive and multicultural study destination, Canada is a great option to consider for your PhD in Architecture studies, offering a wealth of research opportunities to help you expand your expertise. Here are the top universities for PhD in Architecture in Canada:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Canada
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Australia

A PhD in Architecture in Australia means that you will develop your knowledge and skills, which ultimately increases your chances for employment within Australia and in any country. According to the UN's Education Index, Australia's education system ranks first. The table below shows the top universities for PhD in Architecture in Australia:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Australia
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4
5

Top PhD in Architecture Colleges in Germany

It is much easier to get a PhD in Architecture in at a European university, which takes about 3-4 years in a good university in Europe. The PhD in Architecture from Germany in engineering enjoys an outstanding reputation. Germany's research institutions, universities and companies welcome international researchers and offer excellent opportunities for doctoral students.

The table below shows the top universities in Germany colleges of PhD in Architecture:

PhD in Architecture Colleges in Germany
SL.NO. Institution
1
2
3
4

The fee structure for PhD in Architecture varies for different Universities. Also, the fee structure varies following the course and University. Students can download the admission brochure as well as the course curriculum to get the details of PhD in Architecture admission and fee structure. 

The average PhD in Architecture fee in India is INR 55,000 - 2 LPA. Now, read below to know about the fee structure of different universities.

Fee Structure for PhD in Architecture
Name of the college Fees (INR)
BHU, Varanasi 25,104 PA
University Of Hyderabad 15,200 PA
AMU, Aligarh 27,855 PA
Amity University, Patna 3.2 LPA
Banasthali Vidyapeeth, Jaipur 3.7 LPA

PhD in Architecture is a doctorate course in Agriculture. The course may have a duration of 2 years and it is a full-time course. It is a research-based course. In the PhD in Architecture duration, the candidates get to learn the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data. 

This course mainly covers areas like Math and Statistics, etc. The students come to know about the fundamentals of agriculture and crop production. Though the actual course offerings might differ from one university to another, here is a list of major subjects which are commonly studied under a PhD in Architecture:

  • Research Methodology in Architecture.
  • Environment and Architecture
  • Sustainable Architecture
  • Waste Management Methodologies
  • Basics of Project Management
  • Building Code of Architecture
  • Project Thesis
  • Research/Dissertation

Read More: PhD in Architecture Subjects and syllabus

When students decide to pursue the PhD in Architecture qualification, they should research PhD in Architecture course details to ensure that they know the course they are enrolled in. Some of the common queries that students encounter are, "What is PhD in Architecture" and "Why PhD in Architecture?". To understand the answer to these questions, we can make it simpler by breaking it down into the following three short questions:

What is PhD in Architecture All About?

A PhD in Architecture or Doctor of Philosophy is a doctoral research degree and is normally the highest level of academic qualification one can achieve. A PhD in Architecture degree holder can get a job an Architectural Engineer, Architecture Designer, Architecture Draftsman Architectural Historian, Art Director, Building Contractor & Researcher, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, and many more. The course has a specialization that deals with architectural research. The Students need to check the PhD in Architecture course outline perfectly.

Why PhD in Architecture Graduates Do?

Students can select the subjects of their choice depending on their interest in job prospects available in the specific field. Since graduates with a PhD in Architecture degree possess skills in various subjects, there are career opportunities available in multiple fields for them. 

In addition, there are many responsibilities that graduates of this role have to undertake, which makes the role very dynamic and diverse.

Design Architect: One of the popular roles undertaken by graduates of the PhD in Architecture course is Design Architect. They perform jobs like talking to the customers, making and altering drafts structures and observing ventures' progress.

Reasons Why PhD in Architecture Can Fetch You a Rewarding Career?

PhD in Architecture courses are a very reflective and exciting stream of education. Students can gauge the intrinsic worth of a PhD in Architecture course because it offers more avenues of employment opportunities than any other stream. Thus, the PhD in Architecture job scope is forever widening and appealing.

Diversity in Job roles: There is a diverse range of job roles available for the graduates of this course. Since the specializations available to the students are very flexible, it enables the students to pursue a wide range of roles in their careers.

Read More: PhD in Architecture Jobs and Scope

PhD in Architecture stands for Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics and is typically catered to students interested in and inclined towards research-based degrees and professional architecture. Here is a course comparison of PhD in Architecture with another course:

PhD in Architecture vs PhD Agronomy

PhD in Architecture PhD Agronomy
Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics Doctor of Philosophy in Agronomy 
Statistics and Mathematics Agronomy
2 Years 3-6 Years
M.Arch course with a minimum of 55% marks Masters in Agronomy or relevant course with a minimum of 50% marks
GATE AP EAPCET, GATE, IPU CET. JIPMER GCET. AIIMS  CSIR UGC NET, UGC NET, AAU VET, OUAT
Amity University, Annamalai University, Christ University, Aligarh University Bihar Agricultural University, Bhagalpur, College of Postgraduate Studies, Shillong, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur.
INR 50,000- 2 LPA INR 1- 6 LPA

There are many tips that students must note when deciding to pursue a PhD in Architecture degree. Some important preparation tips are listed below to ensure that the students crack the course and pass the exams without any hurdles. 

Improve Vocabulary: Improving vocabulary is very necessary as the PhD in Architecture course deals with many writing and reading activities. So having excellent communication and writing skills are a plus for the student studying the PhD in Architecture course.

Read and Practice More: Being up to date with the syllabus every day is very important. Practising and reading more will help the student be thorough with the syllabus and do well in the exams.

Have Intrinsic Knowledge and Interest in Subjects: Having intrinsic knowledge about the subject and having the same interest will keep the student motivated to learn more than what's in the syllabus.

Revise Methodically: Revising from time to time can be a key to scoring well in the final exam. Keep revising regularly and understand the subject properly. Revision is the key to scoring good marks.

The salary depends on the kind of job you get/you choose to do, what your PhD in Architecture research area is and where you are employed.No prior experience is required to be a PhD in Architecture Student. The average Salary of a PhD in Architecture graduate starts from INR 0.3 - INR 12 LPA (Source: Payscale), depending on the stream you belong from.

Read More: PhD in Architecture Salary

A PhD in Architecture degree is pursued by a majority of students because it offers better career options, for example, in the field of academics and research. PhD in Architecture in itself is a broad term, it has many specializations that have different career options and jobs. PhD in Architecture Jobs include:

  • Architectural Engineer
  • Architecture Designer
  • Architecture Draftsman Architectural Historian
  • Art Director
  • Building Contractor & Researcher
  • Interior Designer
  • Landscape Architect

For studying a course like PhD in Architecture, there are so many skills that a student needs to have. The skills help the students to get well-maintained dignity, respect, and so much attention. So, that’s why the students need to put their efforts to come out of their comfort zones and earn respect as much as possible. Some of these skills include:

  • Design Skills
  • Abstraction
  • Construction Administration
  • Construction Documents
  • Critical Thinking
  • Restoration
  • Residential Construction
  • Building Contracts
  • Database Management

phd in architecture eligibility

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Bachelor of Arts in Architecture

About the degree.

The School of Architecture in the College of Design, a STEM-designated program at the University of Kentucky, offers a four-year undergraduate program leading to a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, as well as a two- or three-year graduate program leading to a Master of Architecture . The undergraduate degree combines a broad liberal arts education with a foundation in the theory and practice of architecture. Studios provide a social and curricular framework for the architecture student. Representational skills such as drawing, model making and computer modeling are practiced rigorously as essential skills for design. In addition to the design studio, students study building technology; materials and structural systems; digital fabrication techniques; the history, theory and criticism of architecture; and the ethical and professional principles of a successful architecture practice.

The undergraduate architecture degree consists of a series of architecture studios, supplemented by courses in history, theory, building technology, and professional practice.

Explore Curriculum

Career Paths

From architects and designers to construction managers and urban planners, a degree in architecture provides a wide variety of career opportunities.

Explore Careers

The design studio is where you bring knowledge to propose innovative design solutions to a wide range of spatial challenges. In studio, you are the key component in a culture of critical thinking and creativity that challenges your preconceptions, and encourages you to formulate new ideas that stimulate your imagination. It aims to spark your curiosity, and to propel you to foster your own vision for the future of the built environment.

In this creative, collaborative, hands-on environment, you will explore, research, discuss and analyze architectural challenges with your studio instructor and classmates. You’ll get your hands dirty as you test your intellectual ideas and propose creative solutions through drawings, models, scale mockups and digitally fabricated prototypes. For many, working closely together in the studio environment – critiquing projects, exchanging techniques, and sharing ideas throughout all stages of the design process – is one of the highlights of a design education.

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Student Work

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Gray Design Building 349 Scott Street Lexington, KY 40506 859-323-2747

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Applying for a Doctoral Program

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Start Your Application

Manage Your Application

A Doctorate is the highest academic degree awarded by universities in most fields of study. It involves several years of rigorous research, culminating in a dissertation that contributes new knowledge to the field. Doctoral candidates work closely with a faculty advisor to explore and answer complex questions, often pushing the boundaries of what is known.

Applying to a doctoral program is like applying for a job. This process requires more diligence and patience than applying for a Master’s degree. To stand out from a competitive pool of candidates, you must prepare a strong application that includes your academic achievements, any related research experience, and a clear statement of your research interests and goals. Be sure to demonstrate your passion, fit for the program, and your interest in RIT.

Explore our doctoral programs

How to Apply for a Doctoral Program

For details on the exact application requirements for your program, visit the Application Details section on your degree page and thoroughly review the graduate application instructions page .

  • Most doctoral programs have an application deadline of January 15 and admit to Fall terms only, but be sure to verify the application deadline for your program and start terms before applying. Many programs will accept applications on a rolling basis after the priority deadline has passed until all spots are filled. For tips on completing your application, view our Ph.D. Application 101 recording . 
  • Early applicants may see a “Hold for Program Deadline/Review Date” on the checklist in their portal. This an administrative hold that prevents applications from going for review until after December 15th. You will be notified when your file is sent to the review committee by email.
  • Choose the Right Doctoral Program:  Review individual doctoral program pages carefully to learn the curriculum, research focus areas, facility profiles, and facilities to determine if the program is a good fit for you and to ensure that your interests and background align with the degree. The application will allow you to enter up to three choices in order of preference.
  • Research Your Faculty Interests: Identify faculty members whose research aligns with your interests. Matching your research area with potential advisors strengthens your application and helps ensure a good fit. It is not necessary to secure a faculty advisor in order to submit your application. Learn more about researching faculty and areas of interest
  • Craft Your Statement of Purpose for Research: This requirement should clearly convey your research interests, indicate what faculty member(s) you would like to work with, your experience, and why you want to pursue a doctorate at RIT. Each program may have specific guidelines, so be sure to address them. There is no minimum or maximum length. If you listed more than one program choice in your application it is suggested that you prepare separate statements for each program (doctoral and/or master’s). You may upload all three at the time you submit your application, or wait for a decision on your first choice program.  View program-specific criteria
  • Choose Strong References: Make sure you choose the right people to submit letters of recommendation and give them plenty of time so they can prepare their support letter in advance. References should speak to your ability and promise to become a successful independent researcher. Professors, research supervisors, or professional mentors make ideal choices.
  • Update Your CV/Resume: Ensure your CV or resume is current and highlights relevant academic achievements, research experience, publications, and professional skills.
  • Verify Admission Requirements: Double-check all admission requirements and application details for your chosen program. Ensure you have all necessary materials, including transcripts, test scores, and any additional documents. You do not need to submit financial documents as part of your doctoral application. Focus on preparing a strong academic and research-focused application to showcase your qualifications and readiness for doctoral study.
  • Understand Decision Timing: The review process typically starts in late January and may take several weeks to a few months. Be patient as the committee evaluates your application and aligns faculty advisors with candidates in matching research areas where funding is available. You may be invited to interview if faculty would like to know more about you. Interviews are not required. Admission decisions are first communicated in mid-March and continue until the class is full. If you are not admitted to your first choice program, allow additional time for review for second and third choices. RIT does not simultaneously review for multiple programs. 
  • Replying to an Offer of Admission: Accepted candidates must respond to their doctoral degree offers by April 15 or the date indicated on your admit letter and in their portal. If you decide to accept your offer, you are expected to honor your commitment to enroll at RIT as a doctoral student. This ensures a smooth transition into your program and reflects your professionalism and reliability. 

Researching Faculty Advisors and/or Research Interest Areas

Identifying a potential faculty research advisor(s) and research interest areas in your Statement of Purpose for Research is important. It is not necessary to secure a faculty advisor(s) in order to submit your application.

Here are avenues for your research:

Align Research Interests

Ensure your research interests align with those of potential advisors. This alignment is crucial for a productive and supportive mentoring relationship. Review faculty members' recent publications and current projects to understand their focus areas. Visit the program page to learn about the current research for your program.

Use RIT’s “Find an Expert” Tool

Utilize RIT’s Find an Expert tool to identify faculty members with specific expertise. This resource can help you narrow down potential advisors based on your research interests. You may also want to use Google Scholar and search for RIT faculty.

Explore RIT’s Faculty Directory

Start by exploring the RIT Faculty Directory to find faculty members whose research aligns with your interests. This directory provides detailed profiles, including research areas, publications, and contact information.

Explore our Research Centers and Institutes:

RIT is home to a diverse array of research centers and institutes that drive innovation across various fields. These centers provide state-of-the-art facilities and collaborative environments to support groundbreaking research. Explore our extensive list of research centers and institutes

Reach Out to Potential Advisors

Once you’ve identified potential advisors, you may choose to reach out to them with a well-crafted email. This is not required but encouraged. Introduce yourself, briefly explain your research interests, and express why you’re interested in their work. Attach your CV and any relevant documents. Be respectful of their time and follow up if you don’t hear back within a couple of weeks. Do pay attention if it is documented that a faculty advisor is not taking on new students.

Funding Sources for Doctoral Students

Doctoral students typically receive full tuition and an RIT Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) or Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) that will pay a stipend for the academic year. There is not a separate application process for scholarship and assistantship consideration

Assistantships and Stipends

Research and teaching assistantships provide valuable experience and come with stipends that help cover living expenses during the school year, such as room and board. 

Summer Support Some programs are able to offer stipend support during the summer. Eligibility for summer funding will be determined by the graduate advisor and/or program director. 

Funding Throughout Program Funding throughout your doctoral program will depend on your satisfactory academic and research performance. Students are expected to fulfill their assistantship duties responsibly and make satisfactory progress towards their degree. It is expected that starting your second year, funding will be provided from your college either through a Teaching Assistantship or by your graduate advisor from external funds.

Student Fees Full-time students are responsible for both Student Activity and Student Health Services fees. In addition, RIT expects that all students will have health care insurance. Learn more about student fees

Timing and Distribution of Stipends

Graduate Research Assistants and Graduate Teaching Assistants receive a semi-monthly stipend payment starting a few weeks after the initial enrollment term. For U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents, no taxes are withheld at the time the payment is made. However, students are encouraged to file estimated tax payments quarterly. Detailed information about the timing and distribution of stipends will be provided by your academic department. 

Financial Document Submission

Doctoral applicants are not required to submit financial documents as part of the application process. Focus on showcasing your academic and research potential without the added stress of financial documentation. If you are admitted, you will receive funding notification with your admission offer and international students who require a student visa will be assisted through the I-20 process.

Student Support and Community

two students sit at a table doing work together

Doctoral Student Association

The Doctoral Student Association provides an inviting environment that brings students together to encourage collaborative work. Doctorate students collaborate to produce high-quality journal publications and conference presentations in a friendly and encouraging environment. The group also provides information about professional and social activities to help produce well-rounded graduate students.

Learn more about the Doctoral Student Association

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RIT Graduate School

The RIT Graduate School acts as a central hub, enhancing the academic journey for graduate students by cultivating a diverse scholarly community and offering robust professional development programs. This supportive environment, backed by dedicated faculty and staff, empowers students to excel in their research, scholarship, and creative endeavors.

Learn more about the RIT Graduate School

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a doctorate and a master’s degree?

Understanding the differences between a doctorate (Ph.D.) and a master's (M.S.) degree program is crucial in making an informed decision. While a master's program typically focuses on advancing your knowledge and skills in a specific area, a doctorate emphasizes original research and developing new theories or applications.

Can I go from a Bachelor’s degree to a Doctorate? Do I need a Master’s degree first?

Yes, you can go directly from a Bachelor's degree (BS) to a Doctorate program. You are not required to get a master’s degree before pursuing a Doctorate. This pathway can be a strategic choice depending on your career goals and readiness for advanced research. 

May I have an application fee waiver?

The $65 application fee covers the management and processing of your record and admission materials. If you are unable to pay our application fee due to financial hardship, we encourage you to carefully consider the expenses associated with graduate study before applying.

Is there a set GPA requirement for being considered for a doctoral program at RIT?

Admitted doctoral students typically have a GPA of 3.0 or above. If it is lower, you will not necessarily be eliminated from consideration. You are welcome to apply. The Admissions Committee will consider your complete application when making a decision.

Do I need to provide GRE or GMAT scores ?

Requirements vary by program. Refer to your doctoral program page or the  deadlines and requirements  table for details. For programs that require test scores, we do not state minimum GRE or GMAT scores. Official scores should be sent to RIT directly from the testing agency using Institute code 2760.

What are the English language test score requirements? As an international student do I need to submit scores?

An official score report for the TOEFL, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic exam, or  RIT English Language Proficiency Test  is required of all international applicants who are not eligible for a waiver. We do not accept letters from your college or university indicating "English proficiency" or letters indicating courses were taught in English in place of official English language test scores. We do not accept Duolingo scores. See the “English Language Test Requirements” section in the  Application Materials  section of the  Application Instructions  for full details.

Do I need to have authored research papers to apply for admission to a doctoral degree?

No, you do not need published research papers to apply for a doctoral degree. A majority of admitted students do not have prior experience authoring research papers. However, admission to a doctoral degree is very competitive, and having published research papers helps strengthen your application.

How many students apply for doctoral study, and how many are admitted?

Admission to an RIT doctoral program is highly competitive. The number of applications received and the number of fully funded opportunities are limited and vary from year to year and by program.

Will the stipend fully cover living costs in the US?

The stipend should cover modest living expenses (housing and food), fees (student activity fee and health services fee), and costs for books, supplies, and some personal expenses. However, each student differs in their preferred living styles and their relative expenses. Doctoral students are permitted to take on other part-time employment so long as it does not interfere with their doctoral work (international students are only able to work on campus, for a total of 20 hours per week including their research positions). On-campus opportunities can be found through Career Connect .

Do doctoral students need to have personal finances available upon arriving at RIT?

Though our Ph.D. is fully funded, students do need to have their own funds available for travel and arrival in the US and to get settled in Rochester immediately upon entering the program. Please be sure to keep this in mind as you consider applying and your finances. If admitted, your first payment/stipend would not be until a few weeks into the program, so you will need to have a foundation of funds available for housing and other living expenses before that.

Is funding throughout the program guaranteed?

Your full tuition and assistantship stipend responsibilities will be determined by your graduate advisor and/or program director. It is our expectation that you will fulfill your duties responsibly and make satisfactory progress towards your degree. Funding in future years will depend on your satisfactory academic and research performance. It is expected that starting your second year, funding will be provided from your college either through a Teaching Assistantship or by your graduate advisor from external funds.

Our team is here to help you as you apply to RIT's doctoral programs. Do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions or need assistance.

Contact Your Admissions Counselor

Email  [email protected] to be connected with your admissions counselor

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Request an Appointment or Schedule a Campus Visit

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Minerva

Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Health Sciences

Study the Effects of Harmful Contaminants on People, Plants, and Animals

Investigate and monitor the impact of toxicological hazards on public health by conducting original research alongside prominent faculty practitioners.

The PhD program in environmental health sciences enables you to analyze and solve real environmental health problems using advanced research methods and lab techniques in the biological, physical, and medical sciences.

By collaborating with experts in the New York State Department of Health to address real environmental public health issues, you get to strengthen your scientific research skills while you develop your professional network.

Program of Study

  • Research Opportunities
  • Career Paths
  • Admission Requirements
  • College of Integrated Health Sciences Home

This 68-credit graduate program usually requires four to five years of full-time study and research.

Core Courses and Seminar (21 credits)

  • Principles of Environmental Chemistry
  • Principles of Toxicology
  • Introduction to Environmental Health
  • Responsible Conduct of Scientific Research
  • Research Rotations in Environmental Health and Toxicology
  • Current Literature in Environmental Health and Toxicology
  • Principles of Public Health
  • Principles in Statistical Inference
  • Seminar in Environmental Health Sciences

Supporting Electives (12 credits)

Sample courses: Occupational Epidemiology; Water Quality and Public Health; Geographic Information Systems; Pollution Ecology of Freshwater Invertebrates; Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology; Risk Assessment; Atmospheric Environment and Human Welfare; Metabolism and Disposition of Xenobiotics; Immunotoxicology.

Research Tool

Demonstrate competency in a relevant research methodology by taking a technique workshop or course relevant to your research.

Doctoral Research (35 credits)

Qualifying Exams

  • Preliminary oral exam: Before the end of the second semester
  • Part I: Written and oral exam after course requirements are complete
  • Part II: Oral defense of your written dissertation research proposal

Dissertation

Submit a significant and original contribution in your area of specialization.

Additional Information

See the Graduate Bulletin for details .

For more information contact Rebecca McCarthy at [email protected] .

Learn first-hand from faculty who actively address public health issues facing New York State (NYS). More than 75% of faculty in the School of Public Health hold appointments with the NYS Department of Health.

This provides many research opportunities in Wadsworth Center environmental health testing facilities, which include the primary labs of New York’s drinking water protection program.

You may also work with biotechnology firms located on UAlbany’s Health Sciences Campus and with faculty in the University’s Cancer Research Center, Prevention Research Center, Public Health Preparedness Center, and Center for Health Workforce Studies.

Environmental health sciences students study local environmental justice solutions and research short and long-term effects of air, water, and food quality problems and physical and psychological stresses on public health.

Frequent topics of study include: radiation science and radiological emergency response methods; sustainability and green design; environmental contamination and assessment of health risks due to chemical and microbial exposure; climate change; and toxicological studies of developmental, reproductive, and physiological processes.

Career Paths  

As a graduate of this environmental health sciences program, you’ll be prepared for academic, technical, professional, and supervisory careers in higher education institutions, public health organizations, NGOs, government research agencies, medical centers and hospitals, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Sample job titles: environmental toxicologist; senior human health risk assessor; environmental health and safety analyst; industrial hygienist; ecological statistician; water quality specialist; environmental epidemiologist.

Female scientist looking into a microscope in a lab

"If you’re passionate about environmental health and want to learn from faculty who are deeply involved in the fight to make the world a better and healthier place, then UAlbany’s PhD program is for you.”

- Austin Roberts

International Students

This degree is designated as a STEM program. International students maintaining F-1 status are allowed to apply for up to 12 months of post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT) following completion/graduation from their degree program. Currently, this degree program is also designated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as an eligible degree for the F-1 STEM OPT work authorization extension; students who secure qualifying employment may be eligible to apply for the STEM OPT extension for a cumulative total of up to 36 months of F-1 OPT work authorization.

Admission Requirements

Priority: January 5

Applicants who wish to be considered for a doctoral graduate assistantship or scholarship must submit their application by the priority deadline. Some scholarships require that applications be received earlier than the published priority deadline. Students who wish to be considered for one of the early submission scholarships should consult our  Financing Your Degree  page and must submit the degree application and any additional required documents by the stated date for that scholarship.

Fee waivers are available for the first program you apply to in SOPHAS to cover the initial $140 application fee. There are three types of fee waivers: financial-based, service-based, and international-based. You may only apply for one type of fee waiver, and the waiver request must be submitted  before  you submit your SOPHAS application. Fee waivers are granted on a first come, first served basis, so applicants are strongly encouraged to apply before the priority deadline when requesting a waiver.  For more information, visit  SOPHAS Fees and Fee Waivers .

Applications may be accepted on a space available basis after the priority deadline.  Contact the department directly at  [email protected]  with questions about submitting your application after the priority deadline.

The application and all supporting materials for the PhD in Environmental Health Sciences must be submitted through  SOPHAS .

Visit the SOPHAS Applicant Help Center for help with starting your SOPHAS application.

Application Requirements

  • Must hold a  bachelor’s degree  from a college or university of recognized standing
  • Grade point average of  3.00  or better
  • A combined total of  at least 42 credits  in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics
  • Prior research experience , either through an undergraduate experience, enhanced summer research, or post-baccalaureate degree
  • Applicants are reviewed in the context of academic preparation and performance, potential for success, fit for the graduate program, as well as potential match with mentor

For application specific questions, contact us at  [email protected] or 518-402-0361.

International Requirements

  • International students must submit a minimum TOEFL score of 98, IELTS score of 7.0, Duolingo score of 125. We will only accept official scores sent by the testing institution.
  • UAlbany SOPHAS TOEFL code is 5688. We do not use department codes. 
  • Official Duolingo scores must be sent to the University at Albany (SOPHAS does not accept Duolingo scores). Students may include unofficial scores in their SOPHAS application, but official scores must be received by the University at Albany.
  • The TOEFL or IELTS is not required for international students who have completed at least four semesters of full-time study within a four-year time frame from time of application, and maintained at least a B average at a college or university in the United States or a country from an approved list.  For questions regarding English Language Proficiency waivers, please email Soha Acosta at [email protected] .
  • International students must request a transcript evaluation from World Education Services (WES). The WES evaluation must be sent directly to SOPHAS, NOT the University at Albany or the School of Public Health.

Required Application Materials

Official transcripts  

  • Official transcripts from  EVERY  post-secondary academic institution attended,  including  college coursework completed during high school, must be sent directly from the institution to SOPHAS. You must report all colleges and universities attended and submit official transcripts, even if your transfer credits are listed on your primary transcript. See  Sending Official Transcripts  for more guidelines.
  • Applicants who use the transcript entry service provided by SOPHAS should note that the entry process adds TWO FULL WEEKS to the time it takes for an application to be verified and considered complete by the admissions committee.

Three letters of recommendation

  • A minimum of two letters must be from academic faculty 
  • At least one letter must be from a university faculty member in the major field of study
  • Applicants who have been out of school for five or more years may submit professional references
  • Letters must be signed and on institutional/organizational letterhead

Personal Statement

  • Why do you wish to pursue a career in public health and why are you interested in your chosen area of study?
  • 2-page limit
  • The personal statement must have well-defined research interests

Application Submission

Applicants should submit their application as soon as the items you have control over are complete (personal statement, resume/CV, institutions attended, coursework entry, and all other required sections of the online application). Transcripts and letters of recommendation will be added as they are received, after which SOPHAS will begin verifying your application.

Applications will not be reviewed until all required items, including official transcripts, official test scores, and required letters of recommendation, have been received and your application has been verified.  Please note that once SOPHAS has received all of your application materials, it may take up to  4 full weeks  to be verified by SOPHAS.  Be sure to request all transcripts and recommendations in advance so that your application can be completed and verified by the specified application deadline.

Learning objectives that UAlbany students are expected to attain through their course of study within their academic program.

  • Acquire basic and advanced knowledge in selected research areas.
  • Gain advanced technical experience in the use of sophisticated and state-of-the-art instrumentation in the chosen field.
  • Read, critically evaluate, and present scientific literature, including justifying the choice of methods applied to problems and the interpretation of results obtained.
  • Prepare a written thesis and describe the principles and procedures for techniques involved, quality assurance for data acquisition, and statistical analysis.
  • Present and orally defend knowledge gained in a public seminar.
  • Describe issues related to the proper conduct of scientific research, including policies of federal and state agencies, and the university regarding scientific misconduct.
  • Acquire advanced knowledge in the chosen field.
  • Acquire analytical, field, and laboratory skills through rotations and specialty courses that provide training in the use and interpretation of results from sophisticated instrumentation.
  • Demonstrate a command of the fundamentals and current state of the discipline sufficient to prepare a written proposal.
  • Develop problem solving skills through application of knowledge to a research problem.
  • Acquire broad knowledge of the field of toxicology including the basic principles, target organ toxicity, and the toxicity of a select group of compounds.   Know the basic building blocks of toxicology, and be able to build a more detailed knowledge of those particular aspects of toxicology that interest them.
  • Understand the molecular foundations of biological processes, including major current concepts in biochemistry and molecular biology, and have familiarity with the research literature in the molecular biosciences and techniques and applications of modern molecular toxicology.
  • Perform basic statistical analysis of data generated from lab experiments or field studies.
  • Acquire broad knowledge of the field of Environmental Chemistry including development of methods for ultra-trace analysis of pollutants in air, water, soil and biological matrices; understanding of sources, chemodynamics and fate of environmental pollutants in ecosystems.
  • Understand the methods used to assess human and environmental exposure pathways of environmental pollutants and quantitative analysis of exposure levels; environmental processes that affect the dynamics and fate pollutants; multimedia monitoring and modeling, biomonitoring and bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals.
  • Be familiar with the research literature, analytical techniques, and applications of those techniques in Environmental Chemistry.  Interpret and critically analyze the data on environmental chemical analysis; conduct research independently and be able to perform basic statistical analysis of data generated from laboratory or field studies.
  • Have a broad knowledge of the field of environmental health including an understanding of the interaction of principles contained in fundamental environmental chemistry, biology, toxicology, epidemiology and general environmental health.  Using this fundamental knowledge the students will then develop a refined knowledge related to their particular field of study within environmental or occupational health.
  • Have the skills, obtained during their course of instruction, to apply technical knowledge to both field and laboratory investigations.   This will include recognizing the elements needed for a successful investigations, acquisition and integration of the information to meet study objectives and investigation resolution.
  • Assess risks from either environmental or occupational exposures and identify measures to mitigate the risks.
  • Manage data acquired during field and laboratory investigations.  This includes the basic knowledge of statistics including hypothesis development, hypothesis testing and fundamental concepts involving data manipulation using parametric and non-parametric analyses.

Supplemental Degree Programs

Graduate students can typically request a supplemental degree in one or more subordinate degrees without needing to go through the full admissions process again.

Visit the Supplemental Degree Programs page to learn how to apply for these programs.

Supplemental programs available with this degree:

Supplemental Program Africana Studies CGS Community College Leadership CGS Demography CGS Environmental Health Sciences MS Geospatial Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics CGS Global Health Studies CGS Health Disparities CGS HIV Studies CGS International Education Management CGS Maternal and Child Health CGS Public Health Surveillance and Preparedness CGS

Take the next step!

phd in architecture eligibility

Apply now for the 2025 CGEPS PhD program

Partner with us on your PhD

phd in architecture eligibility

This is a unique opportunity to undertake a PhD in partnership with government.

Students can apply in the fields of:

  • social science

The PhD program aims to build the evidence base for intersectional workplace gender equality.

“Targeted research is crucial to deepen our knowledge and drive action,” said Commissioner Dr Niki Vincent.

“This will support Victoria’s work towards gender equality in workplaces, communities, policymaking and beyond.

“I look forward to working with our PhD researchers as they investigate how we can best drive gender equality for all.“

Successful applicants will work closely with the Commission and gain exposure to the public sector.

Applications close on 15 November 2024.

Find out more and apply:

CGEPS PhD Program

Updated 3 September 2024

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Congratulations to the 2024 EPP/MSI Graduate Fellowship Program recipients

The NOAA Office of Education selected two recipients, Keneshia Hibbert and Nigel Lascelles, for the José E. Serrano Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Graduate Fellowship Program, class of 2024.

Two people in business formal clothing pose for a photo outside in front of a large statue of a hand.

The EPP/MSI Graduate Fellowship Program announced two recipients in 2024, Keneshia Hibbert (left) and Nigel Lascelles (right). Keneshia is a Ph.D. student supported by the NOAA Center for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing Technology II. Nigel is a Ph.D. student supported by the NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems II. (Image credit: Elvis Efamba/NOAA Office of Education)

The EPP/MSI Graduate Fellowship Program is a one-year research and professional development experience at a NOAA facility. Applicants must be current full time students attending one of NOAA’s EPP/MSI Cooperative Science Centers and pursuing graduate degrees in disciplines aligned with the NOAA mission. 

Keneshia and Nigel will each conduct their research at a NOAA facility under the guidance of a NOAA mentor and their graduate advisors. Through this fellowship experience, they will become familiar with NOAA’s mission of science, service, and stewardship and build their professional networks at NOAA.

"I am delighted to welcome Keneshia and Nigel! They bring so much great expertise. We look forward to seeing their valuable contributions to NOAA’s research and professional community," said Louisa Koch, Director of Education.

2024 Graduate Fellowship Program awardees

A headshot of Keneshia outside in business formal clothing.

Keneshia Hibbert

Keneshia Hibbert is an atmospheric and ocean sciences Ph.D. student at the City University of New York and a NOAA Center for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing Technology II fellow. Keneshia will conduct her fellowship research in NOAA NESDIS STAR under the mentorship of Thomas Smith, Ph.D., and her academic advisor, Jorge González-Cruz, Ph.D.

I look forward to mentorship from experienced NOAA scientists and subject matter experts who can offer guidance, professional development, and insights into career pathways within NOAA. Keneshia Hibbert , 2024 EPP/MSI Graduate Fellow

What do you expect to accomplish during your tenure as an EPP/MSI graduate fellow?

My goal is to expand and build on my research experience and skills, and to build my understanding of how my research aligns not only to the NOAA mission, but also to my personal professional goals. I expect publication and presentation opportunities, personal growth, and insight on development of policy and operational decision-making within NOAA. I look forward to mentorship from experienced NOAA scientists and subject matter experts who can offer guidance, professional development, and insights into career pathways within NOAA.

Can you briefly describe your fellowship research and how it aligns with NOAA’s mission?

My fellowship research will examine sea surface temperature warming trends and extremes, and their implications, in the Wider Caribbean Region. It will focus on the association between rising sea surface temperatures and marine heatwaves in the North Atlantic and Wider Caribbean. My findings have implications for coral reef restoration, marine ecosystem health, and vulnerable species populations. The project is associated with the NOAA Caribbean Climate Adaptation Network initiative, a NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships program to bridge the gap between scientific research, results, and stakeholder use within local communities. 

This work aligns with NOAA’s mission to understand and predict environmental changes while conserving and managing our coastal and marine resources to support the nation’s economic, social, and environmental needs.

A headshot of Nigel outside in business formal clothing.

Nigel Lascelles

Nigel Lascelles is a coastal and marine system sciences Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi and a NOAA Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems II fellow. Nigel will conduct his fellowship research at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Service Hollings Marine Laboratory under the mentorship of Marie DeLorenzo, Emily Pisarski, and Ed Wirth, and his academic advisors, Hussain Abdulla and Paul Montagna.

I aim to refine my analytical chemistry skills while deepening my understanding of ecotoxicology, ensuring that my work contributes to meaningful, big-picture research to help advance NOAA’s mission of protecting coastal ecosystems. Nigel Lascelles , 2024 EPP/MSI Graduate Fellow

I anticipate significant growth as a scientist by conducting cutting-edge research alongside NOAA experts. My goal is to refine my analytical chemistry skills while deepening my understanding of ecotoxicology, ensuring that my work contributes to research to help advance NOAA’s mission of protecting coastal ecosystems. I want this experience to provide a pathway to a career in the future with NOAA, where I can continue making meaningful contributions to environmental science and conservation through the lens of environmental chemistry.

During my fellowship, my research will focus on the leachate from tire wear particles and its potential impact on aquatic species as a source of organic contaminants. This work continues to build on my dissertation research, which previously found that tire wear particle leachate contains a complex mixture of contaminants. It will help close research gaps regarding how these complex contaminant mixtures affect marine ecosystems. Specifically, I will research tire wear particle leachate’s direct toxicity to amphipods, a marine invertebrate, and their potential for bioaccumulation of organic contaminants.

This research aligns with NOAA’s mission to protect coastal ecosystems and supports efforts to mitigate pollution.

Related Features //

A child's hand extends to the skull of a sea turtle in a classroom environment while another child writes in a notebook.

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