博士学位要求包括获得学士学位的研究生课程的学生72学分，或获得硕士学位的学生的课程48个学分。除了居住和学位论文学分要求之外，如果获得学士学位，则学生必须成功完成36个学分；如果获得硕士学位，则必须成功完成12个学分。研究生的博士学位 顾问将指导学生进行学术和研究计划的各个方面。该顾问通常是MANE系的教职人员，但有时也可能来自其他系。核工程计划侧重于反应堆物理学和设计，热工液压，健康物理学和反应堆材料，提供了一系列课程，可满足几乎所有课程的要求。此外，该计划还包括一个颇具竞争力的高级设计计划，拥有两个世
Rensselaer's Nuclear Engineering program is home to over 130 undergraduate and graduate students. With focuses on reactor physics and design, thermal-hydraulics, health physics, and reactor materials, the Nuclear Engineering program offers a diverse set of courses to fit almost any curriculum. Additionally, the program includes a competitive Senior Design Program, maintains two world-class research facilities, and is home to a highly active student section of the American Nuclear Society. The NE Department was officially formed in 1960 and is one of the oldest such programs in the U.S. The construction of the accelerator facility was completed in 1961 and the facility would soon be named after Professor Gaerttner who was instrumental in establishing NE at Rensselaer and who served as NE's first departmental head. Within a few years, the NE Department at Rensselaer awarded its first PhD degrees and then B.S. degrees.<br><br>At Rensselaer, concentrations are available in fission reactor physics, reactor engineering, health physics, thermal-hydraulics, reliability and safety, and reactor materials. Boasting unique and state-of-the-art research facilities, Rensselaer students have access to a critical reactor, a large electron accelerator, and modern computer interfacing technology. With today's need for inexpensive sources of energy, Rensselaer nuclear engineering graduates are in great demand for positions in industry or graduate study. Additionally, there are exciting possibilities in space power propulsion, fusion reactor engineering, medicine, and national defense.<br><br>The doctoral degree requirements include 72 credits for students entering the graduate program with a bachelor's degree or 48 credits for students entering with a master's degree. In addition to residence and dissertation credits requirements, students must successfully complete 36 course credits if entering with a bachelor's degree or 12 course credits if entering with a master's degree. The graduate students's Ph.D. adviser will guide the student in all aspects of his/her academic and research programs. This adviser is usually a faculty member from the MANE department but can occasionally be from a different department. If a student chooses to do a thesis with an adviser from another department, then a doctoral committee co-chair from within the MANE department is required. Major milestones for the Ph.D. program in MANE include passing a doctoral qualifying exam, a doctoral candidacy exam, and successfully defending the dissertation in an open presentation to his or her committee. The Ph.D. degree is awarded for research making an original contribution to fundamental knowledge in a particular field or in an interdisciplinary field or for research into the relation of a discipline to educational problems and objecties within the field. The Ph.D. dissertation must be scholarly, creative, original, and publishable.