San Diego State University (SDSU) and University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Joint Doctoral Program (JDP)

The San Diego State University (SDSU) and University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) is a collaborative doctoral training partnership between two major public research universities in San Diego, California. Rather than a standalone institution, it is a framework under which multiple discipline-specific Ph.D. and professional doctoral programs operate, with students formally enrolled at SDSU while benefiting from faculty, coursework, research facilities, and mentorship at both SDSU and UCSD. Programs under the JDP umbrella include areas such as audiology, bioengineering, clinical psychology, geophysics, language and communicative disorders, mathematics and science education, and public health (including epidemiology). Students typically complete coursework and qualifying requirements across both campuses, conduct dissertation research with advisors from both institutions, and earn a doctoral degree awarded by SDSU with UCSD participation noted on the diploma and transcript. The JDP is designed to combine SDSU's applied, student-focused graduate education with UCSD's R1 research strengths, giving doctoral candidates access to laboratories, hospitals, clinical settings, and interdisciplinary research centers throughout the San Diego region. Graduates often pursue careers in academia, industry, healthcare, government, and public service.