Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI)

PhD Program Design

(Approved in June, 2015, Revised in August, 2016 and August, 2017, Applicable to Class 2017)

1. SCOPE

This Ph.D. program is applicable for all doctoral students (including the international and those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) enrolled in Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI)in any of the following areas: Environment Science and New Energy Technology, Data Science and Information Technology, Precision Medicine and Healthcare.

2. OBJECTIVE

Cultivate doctoral students to be academic leaders and futureindustry scientists.

3. NORMATIVE TIME

Normative Time is the elapsed time, calculated to the nearest semester, which students would need to complete all requirements for the doctorate, assuming that they are engaged in full-time study and making adequate progress toward their degrees. Normative Times for doctoral programs have been recommended by TBSI faculty and approved by the Academic Advisory Committee (AAC). The typical Normative Time is 4 to 5 years for doctoral students without Master’s degrees and 3 to 4 years for those with Master’s degrees.

4. POLICY

All doctoral students will be advised by Advisor group formed by the professors from Tsinghua University, UC Berkeley, and TBSI full-time faculty members.After the completion of the program requirements andapproval from the AAC, doctoral students willbe awarded byinterdisciplinary doctoral diploma from Tsinghua University and study certificate fromUCBerkeley.

5. CURRICULUM DESIGN CREDIT REQUIREMENTS

Full-time students enrolled in the TBSI PhD Program are required to take a minimum of 29units of coursework, including a minimum of 7unitsof restricted electives(common courses), a minimum of 18units of specialty courses (a minimum of 12units of courses within the Center, a minimum of 6units of courses outside the Center), and 4 units of mandatary session

Students with a Master’s degree may be exempted from specialty coursesthat have been taken during their Master’s programs for up to 9 unitsupon the approval of their co-advisors. Students are required to take a minimum of 2 units of social science courses.

See appendices for details of curriculum design.

6. SCHEDULE

1)Work Plan

Within the first three weeks, all Ph.D. students need to complete the work plan for the curriculum advised and approved by the Advisor groupand submit to the Graduate Office. During the registration of each semester, students can modify their work plan after approval from Advisor group and submit to the Graduate Office.

2)Preliminary Requirement (Prelim)

All Ph.D. students are expected to take and pass TBSI preliminary examinationwithin 2 years after admission. The exam will be in a form of interview and an exam committee that consists of TBSI core-PIswill evaluate students’level of mastery of professional knowledge required for academic research in specific areas. The Qualifying Examination may not be taken and application for study at UC Berkeley shall not be submitted until the "pass" for the Preliminary Requirement is issued.

3)Qualifying Examination (Quals) and Progress to Date

The Qualifying Examination is an important checkpoint meant to show that students are on a promising research track toward the Ph.D. degree. The Qualifying Examination includes the presentation and defense of a thesis proposal. The Quals Exam Committee formed by four faculty members in the specific Research Center shall not only evaluate the student's thesis proposal but also his/her progress to date. The student needs to submit a write-up Quals report at the same time.

Quals Deadlines: The Qualifying Examination must be taken within 6 semesters of starting the program and two years before the final defense.

4)Dissertation and Final Defense

  • Students shall spend a minimum of two yearsof actual research on their doctoral dissertation. Doctoral dissertation shall be written in English.
  • Dissertation review: The dissertation should be reviewed by the Advisor group firstly and then peer-reviewed by at least two other faculties or industrial experts (from home and abroad respectively). Only being approved by the AAC, industrial expert(s) are eligible to serve as dissertation reviewer.
  • After dissertation review, a doctoral candidate needs to apply, schedule and give a final defense to his/her dissertation.
  • After passing the final defense, a doctoral candidate can submit his/her Ph.D. degree application to the AAC.

APPENDICES

APPENDIXI. PH.D. COURSEWORK

Full-time students enrolled in the TBSI PhD Program are required to take a minimum of 29units of coursework, including a minimum of 7units of restricted electives (common courses), a minimum of 18units of specialty courses (a minimum of 12units of courses within the Center, a minimum of 6units of courses outside the Center), and 4 units of mandatory sessions.

Students with a Master’s degree may be exempted from specialty courses that have been taken during their Master’s programs for up to 9 units upon the approval of their co-advisors. Students are required to take a minimum of 2 units of social science courses.

1)General Courses [7 units]

Public Courses [6 units]

  • Social Science [3 units]

Contemporary Philosophy in China（90680032）2 units Spring

Introduction to Dialectics of Nature（60680021）1 unit Spring

Note: For international students and those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the social science courses above can be replaced by ”General Introduction of China” or one of the following courses, the required credits could be substituted by that of the Specialized course. The courses are listed in Appendix V.

  • Professional Development [3 units]

Professional Development and Presentation（66000022）2 unit Spring

Creative Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital（66000011） 1 unit Spring

Methodology of Scientific Research1 unit

Innovative Training Camp[1 unit]

Innovative Training Camp (76000041) 1 unit Summer

Students are encouraged to form interdisciplinary teams to carry on research of open and interdisciplinary problems or industry-involved projects.

2)Specialized Courses [minimum of 18 units]

All doctoral students must fulfill the following minimum course requirements. The specialized courses approved by Advisor group can be taken from TBSI, Tsinghua University and UCBerkeley.

Courses within the Center [12 units]

  • Specialized courses from major subject area.

Courses outside the Center [6 units]

  • Specialized courses from minor subject areas.

3) Mandatory Sessions [4 units]

PreliminaryExamination [1 unit]

Qualifying Examination [1 unit]

Academic Activity [2 units]

TBSI encourages PhD students to attend academic activity. PhD students are required to attend more than 50% academic activitiesorganizedby school and centers. A brief report should be submitted after each attendance. This seminar course will be held every semester and be graded as Pass or Fail. Students could earn upmost 1 credit each year, in total 2 credits.

TBSI only requires only 2 units of social science of public courses for doctoral students with Master’s degrees.

Doctoral students with Master’s degreesare eligible to exemptat most 9 units of specialized courses approved by Advisor group.

4) MandatorySessions

Doctoral students without prerequisite background knowledge or undergraduate course(s) will be required by Advisor group to take complementary course(s) which is/are not counted as the specialized course unit to fulfill the Ph.D. coursework requirement.

APPENDIXII. COURSE LIST FOR THREE CENTERS/MAJORS AREAS

Environment Science and New Energy Technology(ENE) Research Center

Low Carbon Economics and Technologies (76000013) / 3 units, Fall
Nano-Energy Materials(86000012) / 2 units,Spring
Thermal Physics and Engineering (86000021) / 1 unit, Spring
Principles of Environmental System and Process (86000032) / 2 units, Spring
Introduction of Smart Grid (86000042) / 2 units, Spring
Supply Chain Design and Management (86000052) / 2 units, Spring
ITS and High-accuracy Positioning Technologies (86000062) / 2 units, Fall
Advanced Managerial Economics(86000072) / 2 units, Fall
Introduction to Stochastic Processes（86000082） / 2 units, Summer
Introduction to Financial Engineering(86000092) / 2 units, Fall
Energy Systems and Control(86000251） / 1 unit, Summer
Sustainable Development: Ethics, Physics and Technology（86000241） / 1 unit, Summer
Computational materials and materials genome initiative(86000373) / 3 units, Fall
Materials Chemistry(86000383) / 3 units, Fall
Materials Physics（86000433）
Traffic Modeling and Simulation（86000402） / 3 units, Spring
2 units, Spring
Analysis on Environmental Impact of Traffic（86000302） / 2 units, Spring
Principle of Environmental Behavior（86000312） / 2 units, Spring
Advanced Materials Characterization：Principles（86000423） / 3 units, Spring
Materials and Devices of Energy Storage and Conversion（86000411） / 1 units, Spring
Introduction to Advanced ITS（86000442） / 2 units, Spring
Introduction to Nonlinear Optimization（86000461） / 1 units, Summer
Optimization methods for power systems（86000451） / 1 units, Summer
Markov chains: theory and application / 1 units, Fall

Specialized courses within TBSI approved by Advisor group

Note: Students from Centre I must register or audit all the courses of Core-PI from their own labs. Subject to the written approval of academic advisor(s), students could not audit specific course(s).

Data Science and Information Technology(DIT) Research Center

Data Science and Information Technology(76000023) / 3 units, Fall
MEMS and its Application(86000103) / 3 units, Fall
MEMS Fabrication Processes(96000113) / 3 units, Spring
Micro Sensors(86000122) / 2 units, Spring
Nanoscale Fabrication and Optoelectronic Devices / 2 units, Summer
Fundamentals of Applied Information Theory / 2 units, Fall
Seminar in Data Science and Information Technology / 2 units, Fall
Mobile and Pervasive Computing（86000111） / 1 unit, Summer
Next-Generation of Internet and Web (86000143) / 3 units, Spring
Foundations for Big Data Analytics(86000152) / 2 units, Fall
Hot Topics in Computational Photography(86000192) / 2 units, Spring
Geometric and Topological Data Analysis（86000391） / 1 unit, Fall
Introduction to Probability theory（76000073） / 3 units, Spring
Hybird System Design for Smart City (86000482) / 2 units, Fall

Specialized courses within TBSI approved by Advisor group

Note: Students from Centre II must register or audit all the courses of Core-PI from their own labs. Subject to the written approval of academic advisor(s), students could not audit specific course(s).

Precision Medicine and Healthcare (PMH) Research Center

Design and Application of Detection and Imaging Platforms for Disease Monitoring and Diagnosis (76000033) / 3 units, Fall
Biophotonics for Engineers / 3 units, Fall
Translational Research (A) (86000161) / 1 unit, Fall
Translational Research (B)(86000211) / 1 unit, Spring
Translational Research (C)(86000221) / 1 unit, Spring
Translational Research (D) / 1 unit
Soft Material Module 1: Biological Soft Materials (86000261) / 1 unit, Summer
Soft Material Module 2: Synthetic and Hybrid Soft Materials(86000271) / 1 unit, Summer
Soft Material Module 3: Fabrication of Biomaterials (86000281) / 1 unit, Summer
Tissue Engineering(86000231) / 1 unit, Summer
Introduction to Advanced Medical Device Design and Fabrication / 1 unit, Fall
Vision and Imaging Science / 1 unit, Fall
Introduction to Computer-Aided Tissue Engineering(86000202) / 2 units, Spring
Angiogenesis and Its Function in Human Diseases(86000171) / 1 unit, Fall

Specialized courses within TBSI approved by Advisor group

Note: Students from Centre III must register or audit all the courses of Core-PI from their own center. Subject to the written approval of academic advisor(s), students could not audit specific course(s).

Appendix III.Mandatory Sessions

Course Name / Course No. / Units / Language / Semester
Government Operations in China / 60590042 / 2 / Chinese / Fall
Chinese Culture and Society / 60610082 / 2 / English / Fall
An introduction of Science, Technology and Society in China / 60610112 / 2 / Chinese / Fall
Introduction to Chinese Thought and Culture / 60640542 / 2 / English / Fall
Social and Economic Policies, Practices and Challenges in Contemporary China / 60680031 / 1 / English / Fall
Chinese Culture, History and Values / 60972003 / 3 / English / Fall
History of Chinese Architecture / 80000902 / 2 / English / Fall
Chinese Traditional Furniture Research / 80800362 / 2 / Chinese / Fall
The study of Chinese ink painting / 80800702 / 2 / Chinese / Fall
A Panoramic View of Chinese Culture / 60640522 / 2 / English / Spring/Fall
Human Perspectives on Environmental Issues and Solutions / 60050032 / 2 / English / Spring
Chinese Philosophy / 60610132 / 2 / English / Spring
New Horizon in Chinese Philosophy / 60640552 / 2 / English / Spring
An Introduction of Chinese History and Culture / 60690032 / 2 / English / Spring
Energy strategy for sustainable development / 80140292 / 2 / English / Spring
Intercultural communication / 80670632 / 2 / English / Spring

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