Questions about Global Engineering Program (Mortensen Center)

[u/monkeymalek]

Hey y'all, I'm a grad student currently on leave from another university; I recently visited CU Boulder this past week for an IEEE conference on global/humanitarian engineering, and honestly I really liked the campus and the people I met. I am currently exploring potentially resuming my studies in CU Boulder's global engineering program (with the Mortensen Center), but I'm just wondering if it would be a good fit for me and generally what programs are available. I already completed my MS in MechE so I would probably be looking at either a PhD or some short-term program/certificate, but regardless, money is also tight for me right now so I'm wondering what kind of scholarship opportunities are out there for this kind of work or if that is also tight for the university right now.

Also, for CU Boulder's PhD programs (MechE / interdisciplinary, etc.), I was curious what the quals process is like, if anyone could shed light on that? I have a real gripe / bad mental health history with timed exams and esp. timed oral exams, so frankly I am trying to avoid that as much as possible as I move forward with my career plans and such. Any advice or insights folks can provide would be greatly appreciated!