Degree Requirements

Graduate School Degree Requirements

EEFE degree requirements are set by the Graduate School and by the EEFE program. The requirements and policies of the Graduate School apply to all Penn State graduate degrees. Graduate School requirements are given in the Graduate Degree Programs Bulletin - the White Book. Students should be familiar with this publication, with the Penn State academic calendar, and with deadlines periodically announced by the Graduate School. The complete listing of Graduate School policies and resources for students is available online.

Note: There are two 16-week semesters in an academic year, Fall and Spring, and a 12-week summer semester. The Summer semester is divided into two 6-week sessions. For purposes of this handbook the term "semester" includes the Fall, Spring, and summer semesters.

EEFE Degree Requirements

Master of Science

Requirements listed here are in addition to requirements stated in the Degree Requirements section of the Graduate Bulletin.

A minimum of 30 graduate course credits at the 500 and 600 level is required for the EEFE M.S. degree, including 6 credits of research (EEFE 600 or 610). Courses taken to remove deficiencies in preparation may extend the minimum number of credits required. A minor is not required. EEFE M.S. students are required to write a thesis and to pass a final oral examination as part of the requirements for the degree. The thesis must be accepted by the advisers and/or committee members, the EEFE Program Chair, and the Graduate School.

M.S. Course Work Requirements Core Course Requirements: 15 credits consisting of microeconomic theory (3 credits), applied welfare economics (3 credits), econometrics (6 credits), and quantitative methods (3 credits). The required courses for the core curriculum are:

  • EEFE 510 Econometrics I (3 credits)
  • EEFE 511 Econometrics II (3 credits)
  • EEFE 512 Applied Microeconomic Theory I (3 credits)
  • EME 501 Design Under Uncertainty in Energy and Mineral Systems (3 credits)
  • EEFE 532 Applied Computational Economics (3 credits)

Additional M.S. Course Requirements: 9 credits of field electives taught at the 500 level. These courses will be chosen in consultation with the student’s academic adviser and cannot include readings or independent study courses (596s).

Thesis Research: 6 credits of thesis research (EEFE 600).

EEFE 590/SARI Requirements: Penn State requires graduate students to complete a Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) program as a requirement for graduation. The complete EEFE SARI requirements are described in detail below. Among these requirements, M.S. Students are expected to register for EEFE 590 in the Fall Semester of their second year. This course will assist their Graduate School required SARI training utilizing their thesis research experience to develop and explore essential concepts and principles.

Doctoral Program

Requirements listed here are in addition to requirements stated in the Degree Requirements (link) section of the Graduate Bulletin.

Students in the EEFE Ph.D. program will be required to complete 36 credits of course work at the 500-level; pass a first-year candidacy (qualifying) examination; write and successfully defend a second-year paper; write and successfully defend a comprehensive examination; and write and successfully defend a final Ph.D. dissertation. The dissertation must be accepted by the doctoral committee, the head of the graduate program, and the Graduate School.

Course work requirements include 18 credits of core course work, at least 12 credits of field courses, and 6 credits of elective courses selected from a list of approved electives.

Ph.D. Course Work Requirements Core Requirements: 18 credits consisting of microeconomic theory (6 credits), econometrics (6 credits), quantitative and computational economics (6 credits). The required courses for the core curriculum are:

  • EEFE 510 Econometrics I (3 credits)
  • EEFE 511 Econometrics II (3 credits)
  • EEFE 512 Applied Microeconomic Theory I (3 credits)
  • BA 513 Advanced Microeconomic Analysis for Business (3 credits)
  • EME 501 Design Under Uncertainty in Energy and Mineral Systems (3 credits)
  • EEFE 532 Applied Computational Economics (3 credits)

*Students selecting the Energy Systems Field may petition to substitute EME 500 Energy and Mineral Project Investment Evaluation (3) for EEFE 512

Field Requirements: Two fields consisting of a minimum of 6 credits each from designated field courses.

Energy Economics, Policy, and Systems

  • ENNEC 560: Empirical Energy and Environmental Economics (3 credits)
  • EME 524: Machine Learning for Energy and Mineral Engineering Problem (3 credits)
  • EME 597: The Geopolitics of Energy (3 credits)

Environment and Natural Resource Economics

  • EEFE 519 Resource and Environmental Economics I (3 credits)
  • EEFE 541 Resource and Environmental Economics II (3 credits)

Food Industrial Organization

  • EEFE 535 Empirical Analysis in Food Marketing (3 credits)
  • EEFE 536 Economics of Food Behavior and Health (3 credits)

Electives: A minimum of 6 credits at the 500-level selected from the following list:

  • EEFE 531 Applied Microeconometrics I (3 credits)
  • EEFE 530 Applied Microeconometrics II (3 credits)

EEFE 590/SARI Requirements: Penn State requires graduate students to complete a Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) program as a requirement for graduation. The complete EEFE SARI requirements are described in detail below. Among these requirements, Ph.D. Students are expected to register for RISE 500L in the Spring Semester of their first or second year. RISE is a one-credit graduate course that uses Team-Based Learning™ (TBL) to teach foundational research integrity concepts using in-depth analysis of case studies.

Qualifying Examination: All Ph.D. students are required to pass a two-section EEFE qualifying (candidacy) exam at the end of the first year of the Ph.D. program. Students who have passed the microeconomic and econometric PhD qualifying exam in the Department of Economics at Penn State or comparable program will be automatically considered to have passed the EEFE qualifying exam with approval from the Qualifying Exam Committee. All students need to have 18 credits of course in EEFE before they can pass the qualifying exam. Any student not taking the exam at the end of the first year must receive written approval from the EEFE exam committee. All students must sit for and pass both sections of the qualifying exam within 18 months of entering the program. Successful completion of this exam admits the student to candidacy and continuation in the Ph.D. program.

The qualifying exam consists of two sections, one covering microeconomic theory and the other covering econometrics and quantitative methods. Each section is four hours long, consists of four questions, and is graded as Pass, Marginal Pass, Marginal Fail, or Fail. The entire exam is administered by the EEFE exam committee. To pass each section of the exam a student must receive a Pass or Marginal Pass from two-thirds of the exam committee. Each section is graded and passed independently. Each student is given two chances to pass each section. Both exams must be taken at the end of the first year of the Ph.D. (unless a student has special exemptions).

If a student fails to pass the exam by the end of the process, he or she will be dropped from the EEFE Ph.D. program.

The initial offering of the qualifying exam will be held in mid-May of the first year of the Ph.D. program. The microeconomics section will take place on the second Friday after the last day of exams of the Spring semester and the econometrics and quantitative methods section will take place on the following Wednesday, three business days after the microeconomics section. The retake of the exam (if needed) will be held in mid-August. The microeconomics section will take place on the third Friday of August and the econometrics and quantitative methods section will take place on the following Wednesday, three business days after the microeconomics section. Results from the exam are reported to the Graduate Staff Assistant and he/she will file the paperwork and send it to the Graduate School. Students will be notified of their scores no later than two weeks after completion of the second section of the exam.

The qualifying exam is designed to test a student's knowledge and application of the materials and topics covered during the first year of the Ph.D. program. Its primary purpose is to provide each student both the opportunity and the responsibility to review and synthesize the material in microeconomic theory, welfare economics, econometrics, and quantitative methods considered essential to successful performance in subsequent course work, dissertation research, and as a graduate of an economics Ph.D. program. It is NOT intended to be a "super final" with wellposed questions and solutions.

The Penn State Graduate School's policies overseeing all programs' qualifying exam can be found online.

English Competency: Competency in the English language in all forms of expression is essential for progress in graduate study and is required by Graduate Council. The EEFE Graduate Committee assesses each entering student's English language competency as part of both the admissions process and the qualifying exam process. The Graduate Committee may require an entering Ph.D. student to take an exam to better determine his/her English language competency. If a student fails the exam, the Exam Committee will present a remediation plan to the student and the EEFE Graduate Committee. This remediation plan may require the student to take appropriate courses or instruction. Upon completion of the recommended remediation plan, the student will be required to retake the English competency exam. If the student fails the retake exam, she or he will be dropped from the Ph.D. program.

Ph.D. Committee Formation: Within one year of successfully passing the first-year qualifying exams, a student must form a Ph.D. Committee to guide their research training. A student's Ph.D. Committee shall consist of a minimum of four members of the Graduate Faculty. A majority of the members shall be from the EEFE graduate program. Each Committee shall have a Ph.D. Committee Chair, Major Program Member, Outside Field Member, Outside Unit Member, and include the student’s Dissertation Adviser.

  • The Ph.D. Committee Chair and Dissertation Adviser may and most likely are one and the same.
  • The Major program member should be from EEFE and within the student's field of study.
  • The Outside Field Member must have a disciplinary expertise different from the student's primary field of study and is responsible for broadening the disciplinary perspective available to the student and the Ph.D. Committee.
  • The Outside Unit Member is responsible for bringing to the attention of the student and the Ph.D. Committee [non-academic] issues (including, for example, conflicts of interest) that may impact a student's progress. Outside Unit Members must have their primary academic appointment in an administrative unit different than the Ph.D. Committee Chair(s) and Dissertation Adviser(s). The Outside Unit Member may also be the Outside Field Member.

The EEFE Graduate Program Head shall review annually each student's Ph.D. Committee to ensure that all Ph.D. Committee members continue to qualify for service in their designated roles.

Comprehensive Examination: A comprehensive examination with an oral component is required. Students can take the comprehensive exam only after successfully passing the qualifying exam, forming their doctoral committee, and completing all of their substantial coursework. The exam is administered and graded by the student's doctoral committee. The timing of this examination is at the convenience of the student and the doctoral committee that administers it, but it is highly recommended that the student completes their comprehensive exam before the start of their third year in the program or as soon as they have completed their coursework. Note that students who take their comprehensive exam over the summer must be enrolled in one (1) credit of EEFE 600 and apply for Summer Tuition Assistance Program (STAP). AESE will not cover tuition over the summer. Students must be finished with coursework before taking the comprehensive exam. After completing the comprehensive exam, students must enroll in EEFE 601 and may audit up to 3 credits for no additional fee. If they wish to take up to 3 credits for credit then there is an additional fee that they may pay to do so.

The comprehensive exam is intended to develop and demonstrate student's ability to identify research questions, conduct appropriate theoretical and/or empirical analyses to address these questions, and effectively present research findings, along with serving as a field exam for the student's major field of specialization.

Students must prepare an academic presentation based on research conducted by the candidate. The presentation must address a question of scholarly significance in economics with clearly identified research question(s), contributions to the broader literature, appropriate theory, methods, and data (as applicable), results, and conclusions. Students must schedule their oral comprehensive exam at least three (3) weeks prior to the exam. To schedule their exam, they must have submitted their Ph.D. committee form and email the Graduate Coordinator with the details of when and how the exam will be administered (in-person, hybrid, virtual).

Students will submit their slides to their committee two (2) weeks prior to the oral defense. The oral comprehensive exam will consist of a presentation by the student and then questions from the committee members. All committee members must participate in the comprehensive exam. A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the Professional Doctoral committee is required for passing the Comprehensive Examination. See GCAC-706. A student may pass, fail with the option to retake, or fail without the option to retake. If the student fails with the option to retake, they have three (3) months to make revisions and schedule another oral comprehensive exam. A student only has one opportunity to retake the comprehensive exam. If a student fails the comprehensive exam, then they will be discontinued from the EEFE PhD program with the option to change degree.

Dissertation Proposal: Ph.D. candidates are required to submit a dissertation proposal that clearly states a research problem, its significance, proposed procedures, tentative time schedule, and other relevant matters. Students are expected to seek the advice and counsel of all members of the committee in preparing the proposal in completing the dissertation. It is recommended that Ph.D. candidates submit their dissertation proposal to their committee within one (1) year of completion of the comprehensive exam. The candidate and the committee will meet to discuss the proposal and provide feedback. This is necessary to be in good standing and making progress towards the degree.

Final Oral Examination: Upon completion of the student's doctoral dissertation, a final oral examination is scheduled. The examination consists of an oral presentation of the dissertation by the candidate and a period of questions and responses. These will relate in large part to the dissertation but may cover the candidate's entire program of study. The exam is administered by the student's doctoral committee and open to the public. The dissertation must be accepted by the doctoral committee, the EEFE Graduate Program Chair, and the Graduate School, and the student must pass a final oral examination.

Format for the Oral Portion of the Comprehensive Examination and Final Ph.D. Defense: Historically, the format for the oral portion of the comprehensive examination and the final Ph.D. defense has been in person. Following COVID, however, the trend has been to allow a more flexible format where some or all persons on the committee, including the student, may take part remotely. While the default for these exams within the EEFE program will remain in-person exam, the program allows the advisor and the committee latitude in deciding what is best for a particular student and exam. The main requirement is that the entire committee, including the DGS of the EEFE program and the student, agree on the final format – when the exam will take place and who will be in person and who will be remote.

Recommended Plan: The recommended course schedule for a student starting the Ph.D. program in the Fall semester without any coursework deficiencies is shown in the table below. Such a student would take the qualifying (candidacy) examination in May following their first Spring Semester. The timing of the comprehensive exam varies from one student to another, but it is usually taken after a student has completed most of his or her course work. Students making normal progress could be expected to complete and defend their dissertation in the fourth year after starting the program.

Schedule

First Year

Fall Semester

  • EEFE 512 Applied Microeconomic Theory I
  • EEFE 510 Econometrics I
  • EME 501 Design Under Uncertainty in Energy and Mineral Systems

Spring Semester

  • BA 513 Advanced Microeconomic Analysis for Business
  • EEFE 511 Econometrics II
  • EEFE 532 Applied Computational Economics

Summer Semester

  • Qualifying Exam

Second Year

Fall Semester

  • Field Course
  • Field Course
  • EEFE 531 Applied Microeconometrics I

Spring Semester

  • Field Course
  • Field Course
  • EEFE 530 Applied Microeconometrics II, or EEFE 529 Foundations of Economics Welfare Analysis
  • RISE 500L

Third Year

Fall Semester

  • Research Hours

Spring Semester

  • Research Hours

Summer Semester

  • Dissertation Proposal