Academic Year 2004-2005

The requirements outlined in this document do not supersede those of the Graduate Division or the College of Engineering.

In addition to the general requirements of the College of Engineering, transportation students must meet certain requirements specific to the Transportation program in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Exceptions to these rules can be made in special cases, but they must be approved by the Transportation faculty.

1. Prerequisites

Students must be fluent with quantitative concepts equivalent to one year of college level calculus, one year of college level physical science, including a physics course on mechanics and waves such as Physics 7A, and one semester of engineering level probability and statistics. Students should also be familiar with elementary linear algebra concepts such as matrices and determinants, should be able to use microcomputers for word processing and spreadsheets, and know some programming language. Deficiencies in preparation must be remedied by extra (not necessarily course) work that may not count toward the degree. An exception to this rule is English proficiency; international students with TOEFL scores between 570 and 600 are required by the College of Engineering to take either IDS-140 or E-190. Students should discuss their preparation with their advisors.

Statistics/linear algebra diagnostic

All incoming students, including those who transfer into the program from within UC Berkeley, must take a diagnostic test at the beginning of their first semester in the program to see if their linear algebra, probability and statistics preparation is adequate, i.e. on a level similar to Stat 25. Consisting of four or five problems, the diagnostic test does not emphasize memorization. Rather, it checks whether the student is capable of applying linear algebra and statistical concepts to solve simple transportation problems. If the student does not solve most of the problems easily, or does not take the test, he/she MUST enroll in CE-262 (Analysis of Transportation Data) during their FIRST semester (students can't "put it off").

Before filing for a degree, students should ensure that a note has been placed in their file, indicating how the probability and statistics requirement was satisfied.

Lack of linear algebra knowledge may be remedied by working through a suitable book, such as the Schaum's Outline Series.

2. Course requirements for all degrees

The following groups of courses are used for defining the degree requirements:

1. CORE: 250 (3), 251 (3), 252 (3)

2. TECH Electives: 153 (3), 253 (3), 255 (3), 259 (2), 260 (3), 263 (3)

3. Other Electives: CRP218/CE290X (4), 254 (3), 256 (3), 258 (3), 261 (3), 262 (3), 290V (3) (All the graduate courses in this group require 251 and 252 as prerequisites, although they may be taken concurrently).

Requirements:

1. All students must take all 3 CORE courses.

2. Pass the statistics diagnostic or take CE 262.

3. Students with a non-Engineering undergraduate degree must take at least two Tech Elective courses.

4. Students with an undergraduate Engineering degree must take at least one Tech Elective course.

CE course 153 is strongly recommended for students whose undergraduate degrees were not in engineering. The requirements specific to each degree are described below. Students should plan their course work at least one semester in advance, and should discuss this plan with their advisor.

A student may change degree goals with the approval of his/her advisor. The exception here is admission into the Ph.D. program, which requires a preliminary examination (see Ph.D. degree).

3. Master of Science Degree: Plan I

See College requirements. In particular, note that a thesis is required and that 8 units of the required 20 must be in graduate credit in your major (transportation). Of these 8, at most 2 units can be in individual study, CE 299. The remaining 12 units (made up of graduate and advanced undergraduate courses) can include at most 2 units of CE 299.

Preferably before the end of the first semester, the student should identify the professor who will be his/her thesis supervisor.

Normal time for this degree is 2 semesters of full time study.

4. Master of Science Degree: Plan II

See College requirements. In particular note that a comprehensive examination is required, and that 12 units of the required 24 must be in graduate credit in your major (transportation). Of these 12, at most 2 units can be in individual study, CE 299. The remaining 12 units (made up of graduate and advanced undergraduate courses) can include at most 2 units of CE 299.

The comprehensive examination is a one-hour examination by a committee of the faculty. It should be scheduled for the end of the semester in which the class requirements for the MS degree in Transportation Engineering are completed. (Any exceptions must be arranged with the student's graduate advisor and approved by the TE Faculty.)

Normal time for this degree is 2 semesters of full time study.

5. Master of Engineering Degree

See College requirements. Of the 40 units of approved upper division or graduate courses required, a minimum of 20 must be in graduate courses, and 12 of these in transportation. CE 299's cannot be counted toward these 12 units.

Between 4 and 8 units of CE 299 must be taken under the direct supervision of a faculty member and this work is to culminate in a report. As part of the 40 units, two 8-unit minors must be completed: a technical minor unrelated to the major (e.g. materials, industrial engineering, etc.), and a non-engineering minor (e.g. business, urban planning, public health, humanities, etc.). Many minors are not considered acceptable for this degree; the student must work closely with his/her advisor to design a sensible program.

Normal time for this degree is 4 semesters.

6. Concurrent M.S./M.C.P. Degree

Students should work with an advisor in city planning to make sure that the city planning requirements toward this degree are satisfied. The Transportation requirements are the same as for the Master of Science Degree (Plan II).

Normal time for this degree is 5 semesters.

7. Ph.D. Degree

Students in this program are expected to have taken a broad variety of courses in transportation (policy, operations, systems and design) in addition to the basic core. There should be a special emphasis in an area of interest. Students are also expected to be proficient in probability/statistics at the level of Stat 134 and Stat 135 or CE 262. The standard of scholarship is 3.5 GPA in this major field. Two minors must also be completed.

The plan of study should be chosen in consultation with either a graduate advisor, a guidance committee or the thesis advisor. A blue form is available from the AAO office to help in developing a tentative plan of study; it must be properly endorsed and filed, during the first semester in the program.

Once the course work has been completed, the student must file with AAO a white form describing the final study program. At this point, the student is ready for the oral qualifying examination.

Examinations and other requirements

Three examinations are required to earn this degree. After passing the third and final exam, the student is to meet regularly with faculty on his/her thesis committee. Doctoral work culminates in an informal thesis defense.

Preliminary examination: This is an oral examination similar to the Master's Plan II comprehensive examination, but with certain distinctions. While a one-hour exam is required for the Master's degree, the Ph.D. preliminary exam is 90 minutes in duration and is aimed at an early assessment of the student's potential for independent creative work.

Berkeley students wishing to continue for a Ph.D. after earning a Master's degree in transportation must take the preliminary examination before the new degree goal is approved. (The preliminary exam can also satisfy the requirement for a comprehensive exam in the M.S. Plan II.)

Students with a master's degree from elsewhere, admitted directly into the Ph.D. program must take the preliminary examination either at the end of the second semester in residence or at the beginning of the third semester.

It is the student's responsibility to request from the head graduate advisor that the preliminary examination be scheduled.

Written examination: At or near the completion of his/her coursework the student must take the written qualifying examination. The examination is administered by a committee or four instructors chosen by the faculty. The committee will include the student's research advisor. The examination will consist of four sets of questions, one set from each member of the student's committee. Two of the sets of questions will pertain to the student's main area of interest. The other two will cover other areas within transportation. The purpose of the latter is to assess the breadth of the student's knowledge of the transportation field.

This examination is given three times during each academic year, usually during the third week of each semester and at the end of the spring semester. Students wishing to take the exam must notify the head advisor by the end of the semester prior to the exam date. The exact date of each exam will be determined by the head advisor in consultation with participating students and faculty. The exact date and committee assignments will be announced at least four weeks prior to the beginning of the exam.

It is recommended that students meet with the members of their committees prior to the exam date in order to obtain a general idea of the nature of the questions that will be asked and the evaluation criteria that will be applied.

All four exam questions will be available from the committee chair at 9:00 am on the Monday of the exam week. The student has until 3:00 pm on the Friday of the exam week to submit completed responses to the committee chair.

The committee will complete an evaluation of the student's performance of the exam within one week of the end of the exam week. The exam committee chair will then notify the student of the result. A student will pass the exam if at least three members of the committee approve. The student may also be given a conditional pass, contingent on completion of additional work to be determined by the committee. Students who do not pass on the first try may be required either to redo questions on the original exam, or take a second written exam with questions from all or some of the members of the original exam committee. Students will normally not be allowed to take the exam more than twice.

This examination is considered by the Transportation Group as a necessary step toward eligibility for the University qualifying examination, described below.

Oral qualifying examination: Within six months of the written examination, the student must take the oral qualifying examination. The 5-member examination committee is approved by the Graduate Division on the recommendation of the head graduate advisor. Usually, the committee consists of three professors from the transportation group and one representative from each of the minors. If the student fails to pass the oral examination on a first attempt, a second examination may be scheduled no later than six months after the original attempt and no sooner than 3.

Transportation students are expected to have prepared a prospectus for thesis research before the examination. The exam is open ended, however, and need not focus on the thesis prospectus.

Upon passing the oral qualifying examination, the student requests the formation of a 3-person committee to guide him/her in the thesis research. These individuals must approve the thesis document before it can be filed. Thesis work should be completed within 3 years of the written qualifying examination. Students exceeding this limit are subject to termination.

Workshop(s) with thesis committee: Upon passing the oral qualifying exam, the student will meet with his/her 3-person thesis committee at least once every 12 months until completing the dissertation. These meetings are to take a workshop-like format whereby the student may provide formal presentation of research progress, solicit committee guidance, receive feedback, etc. The actual agenda for each workshop can be formulated by the student, in consultation with his/her primary thesis advisor. Others outside of the 3-person committee can also be invited to a workshop, as determined by the student and the primary advisor.

It is the student's responsibility to schedule the first workshop within 12 months of having passed the oral qualifying exam and any subsequent workshops at intervals not to exceed 12 months.

Thesis seminar: The doctoral candidate is required to present his/her thesis work, before completion, in the Transportation Science seminar series.