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M.S. Requirements

The M.S. program is usually two years. M.S. students are required to have one minor field. Your special committee is formed by at least your major advisor (likely Vivek if you're reading this) and your minor advisor, though other members may be added if their input and guidance would be valuable.

Research Requirements

Your thesis approximately corresponds to the work for one paper. This paper does not to be (and is not likely to be) completed or submitted by the time you defend.

Course Loads

Students in our group typically take 1-3 courses a semester. As an M.S. student, you are likely to take courses every semester (maybe not during your final semester, when you are writing your thesis), but the overall load is likely to decrease as you progress and work more on your research.

Course Requirements

BEE and CEE do not have explicit requirements for M.S. students, but SYSEN M.S. students must take SYSEN 6000 (Foundations of Complex Systems), SYSEN 6150 (Model-Based Systems Engineering), SYSEN 8000 (Systems Doctoral Colloquium), and SYSEN 8100 (Systems Seminar Series).

M Exam

Scheduling Exams

Exams must be scheduled with at least two weeks notice through the Graduate School. You'll need more notice than this, anyway, to get all of your committee members scheduled, so there's no reason to wait once you have a date and time.

The only exam an M.S. student has to take is the M Exam, which is the thesis defense. This is an oral exam administered by the special committee and should focus around a presentation of your thesis research. If you are doing an M.S.-to-Ph.D. program in CEE, the M Exam can double as your Q Exam.


Last update: June 26, 2023