Beginning this fall, the USC School of Architecture will offer a new Ph.D. program in architecture.

Graduates are expected to become leading voices in a range of areas, including professional architecture and architectural engineering firms, government institutions and university teaching and research.

Participants are expected to bring a strong academic record and a serious commitment to research and teaching.

The initial focus of the program will be on the building sciences and technology.

“If architecture is seen as a form of knowledge, the Ph.D. in architecture must lead the effort to explore new knowledge and unknown territories,” said Dean Qingyun Ma. “This becomes urgent today, because we start to realize that the way we build and the way we live have contributed so much to the crisis of where we build and live.”

Douglas Noble, associate dean and program chair, said, “The school has great strengths and a lengthy history of research in structures, environmental control systems, materials/methods, sustainability and digital processes. We are especially interested in technology integration and design intelligence, and the Ph.D. program will allow us to seek additional federal and private research grants.”

Recent funded research has included urban glare/daylight analysis, seismic performance, energy management systems and digital tool-building.

The USC School of Architecture joins an elite international group of institutions offering the Ph.D. in architecture degree, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Harvard Graduate School of Design; University of Michigan; Georgia Institute of Technology; Architectural Association, London; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich; Tsinghua University, Beijing; and the University of Melbourne.