Educational Experience

Students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of research projects linking electrical, mechanical and civil engineers. Students participate in regular professional activities sponsored by Northeastern's Engineering Research Centers and professional conferences. Students who are interested may pursue internships during their first year of graduate study through Northeastern's Cooperative Education program. Actual coursework schedules may vary but an example schedule is available.

Core Intelligent Diagnostic (ID) Courses are those courses that provide necessary fundamental theory and computational tools for advanced study in Intelligent Diagnostics.

Fall Semester Core ID Courses

Mathematical Tools: Linear Systems Analysis (4SH, offered each Fall). Students should take in first term of IGERT and register for ECE G200.
Covers fundamental algebraic concepts and algebraic structures. Topics include linear operators and their representations; matrices, algebraic equations, equivalence, and similarity transformations; introduction to the state-variable theory of continuous and discrete linear systems; standard canonical representations, the concept of state, and the representation of interconnected systems, linear spaces, the state equations, and their solution; stability; and introduction to the general control problem in terms of controllability and observibility.
Infrastructure Policy: Case Studies in Policy Analysis (3SH, offered each Fall). Students should take in first term of IGERT and register for POL G328. Focuses on detailed analyses of selected issues and episodes in public policy development. Requires students to complete oral and written analyses of cases, applying a variety of relevant techniques.
Intelligent Diagnostics Round Table (seminar offered each semester). Students will acquire 1SH through POL G328 above. Offered weekly for all IGERT Fellows, Associates, and facutly each Fall at both campuses through web streaming. The Round Table serves as a means to engage students in the style of questions posed to them in qualifying exam and to introduce students to different research projects. Students will develop awareness of the economic impact of engineering decisions. Industry and government participants will present unsolvable diagnostic problems. Activities also include research presentations, professional development reflection activities, and coaching activities toward research proposal development. Technical papers will be distributed for review by the students and discussed critically by all participants.

Spring Semester Core ID Courses

System Identification (4SH, offered alternate Spring). Students should register for CIV G342. Methods for identifying the fundamental characteristics of structures. Includes topics in linear algebra (singular value and QR decomposition, pseudo inversion, and so on); input-output relationships for linear time-invariant systems; frequency response functions; signal processing fundamentals; realization theory; the eigensystem realization algorithm; use of observers in identification; and introduction to out-only system identification.
ID Urban Studio : Capstone Course (3SH, offered each Spring). Students should register for TBA. (each Spring)
Intelligent Diagnostics Round Table. Students continue activities initiated with the Fall Intelligent Diagnostics Round Table. Offered weekly for all IGERT Fellows, Associates, and facutly each Fall at both campuses through web streaming. The Round Table serves as a means to engage students in the style of questions posed to them in qualifying exam and to introduce students to different research projects. Students will develop awareness of the economic impact of engineering decisions. Industry and government participants will present unsolvable diagnostic problems. Activities also include research presentations, professional development reflection activities, and coaching activities toward research proposal development. Technical papers will be distributed for review by the students and discussed critically by all participants.
Experimental Diagnostics (Alternate Fall; expected first offering Fall 2009)

Additional Core ID Short Courses

Social Inquiry (Independent Research). Students should register for TBA. Following the Infrastructure Policy course and the Urban Studio students will team with a social science graduate students to perform social inquiry on a technical diagnostics problem. Course taken as an independent student after first academic year.
Waves for Diagnostics (Series of Short Courses).

Intelligent Diagnostics Research Requirements

The Doctor of Philosophy is a research degree and all students will be required to complete original and independent research documented in a dissertation. Students will be advised by two co-advisors from two different departments on a jointly defined research projects. As part of research training, students will have the opportunity to participate in a research rotation to be exposed to all aspects of diagnostics. The formation of the qualifying exam committee and the dissertation committee will follow the College of Engineering Interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy guidelines, repeated here for completeness. The doctoral dissertation is expected to be a document that describes interdisciplinary contributions.

College of Engineering Interdisciplinary Degree Requirements

The Graduate School of Engineering offers the opportunity for an interdisciplinary doctoral program involving substantial work in two or more departments. A written proposal describing the areas of proposed study and research should be submitted with the student's application. Interdisciplinary study requires favorable recommendation by the sponsoring doctoral degree-granting department and approval by authorized representatives of the graduate study committees of the departments appropriate to the disciplines covered by the student's proposal. The sponsoring department is the registration base of the student.

Formation of Interdisciplinary Committee: A student who has been accepted for interdisciplinary study must obtain the consent of an adviser who will direct his or her doctoral thesis. This adviser, who may or may not be a member of the registration department, will be chairman of the interdisciplinary committee for this student. A second member will be appointed from the registration department by its chairman. These two members will obtain one or more additional members or request the director of the graduate school to do so. At least two departments must be represented on the committee, and a majority of the committee must come from doctoral degree-granting departments. The chairman of the registration department will notify the Director of the Graduate School of the membership of the committee as soon as arrangements are complete.

Duties of Interdisciplinary Committee: A member of the interdisciplinary committee who is also a member of the registration department will serve as the registration officer to approve the course registration for the student. A copy of the approved course registration must also be filed with the other committee members and with the graduate study committee of the registration department. IGERT Fellows will be expected to include a chapter on Broader Impacts in their doctoral dissertations and to address issues related to the diagnostics of infrastructure.

The interdisciplinary committee will be responsible for the administration of the qualifying examination, language examination, approval of the dissertation, and comprehensive examination. This committee must also certify to the registration department the completion of the requirements for the award of the doctoral degree.

The interdisciplinary committee must assure that the program of the student represents standards comparable to those of the registration department and that the program is not so broad that it has inadequate depth in any area.

The student's program may be reviewed at any time by the Director of the Graduate School to determine whether objectives of the program are being met.