Plan A (thesis):
This option requires a minimum of 30 credits such that
- 12 credits must be in 600-level courses in the major track (6 credits must be in Category I courses and 3 credits must be in Category II courses)
- 6 credits must be in 400 or higher-level ECE courses outside the major track
- 3 credits must be in 400 or higher-level elective courses
- 9 credits must be in ECE 700 - Thesis Research (1 credit of ECE 700 during the semester of graduation); students can petition to convert their ECE 699 credits to ECE 700 credits
- at most 6 credits can be in 400-level courses.
The graduate seminar requirement in electrical and computer engineering or a related field must also be fulfilled (see the seminar policy). In addition, MS program Plan A students must produce a thesis and pass the final examination. The stages of the MS program Plan A option are as follows.
MS program Plan A students should find faculty advisors in research areas of mutual interest as early as possible. After the initial advising with the faculty advisor, Master’s Plan A Form I (Pre-Candidacy Progress) is processed by the graduate chair. Under the advisor’s guidance, the student takes courses necessary for background knowledge, and develops a thesis proposal which involves a literature survey and preliminary research on the thesis topic. Subsequently, the student forms the thesis committee, which approves the thesis proposal. The thesis committee must satisfy Graduate Division requirements and be pre-approved by the graduate chair. The graduate chair reports the approval of the thesis proposal to Graduate Division by using Master’s Plan A Form II (Advance to Candidacy).
The candidate then carries out the thesis research and writes a thesis satisfying Graduate Division requirements. In particular, the thesis is expected to be a scholarly presentation of an original contribution to electrical engineering resulting from independent research. The candidate must keep the thesis committee informed of the scope, plan, and progress of the thesis research and manuscript. During this stage, the candidate completes the credit requirements. After completing the thesis research and writing a thesis, the candidate takes the final examination.
The final examination is administered by the thesis committee. The candidate submits the thesis to the committee and the ECE office at least two weeks prior to the final examination. The examination starts with a presentation by the candidate on the thesis research, including the problems chosen, the approaches employed, and the results obtained. Throughout the examination, the candidate defends his or her thesis in response to the committee’s questions on the correctness and the significance of the approaches and results.
A majority of the committee must approve of the content of the thesis and the candidate’s ability to defend it in order for the candidate to pass. The committee members indicate their decisions on the final examination by signing Master’s Plan A Form III (Thesis Evaluation). A candidate who passes may still be asked to make various corrections and revisions to the thesis. The candidate must make the requested changes and submit the revised thesis to the entire committee. Master’s Plan A Form IV (Thesis Submission) is to be signed by the chair and a majority of the committee, including any committee members who may have been physically absent at the final examination. All those who sign must have read and approved the manuscript in its entirety. By signing this form, the committee members indicate approval of the content and the form of the finalized manuscript. A candidate who fails the final examination may repeat it only once with approval from both the graduate faculty concerned and Graduate Division. A candidate who fails the final examination twice is dismissed from the program. The graduate chair approves and reports the results of the final examination to Graduate Division by using Master’s Plan A Form IV.
Plan B (non-thesis):
This option requires a minimum of 30 credits such that
- 12 credits must be in 600-level courses in the major track (6 credits must be in Category I courses and 3 credits must be in Category II courses), and
- 6 credits must be in 400 or higher-level ECE courses outside the major track.
- 6 credits must be in 400 or higher-level elective courses
- 6 credits of ECE 699 (these 6 credits can be substituted by 6 credits in 600-level courses in ECE.)
- at most 6 credits can be 400-level courses
The graduate seminar requirement in electrical and computer engineering or a related field must also be fulfilled (see the seminar policy). In addition, MS program Plan B students must complete a final project that demonstrates the knowledge and skills acquired in the program. MS program Plan B students should find supervising faculty advisors in areas of mutual interest as early as possible. The final project does not need to include original research results. Acceptable forms of final projects include a literature survey, critique of research papers, software implementation of an algorithm, or hardware testing or development, subject to the prior approval of the supervising faculty. The student must write a conference-style report to document the final project activities, and submit this report to the supervising faculty and the ECE office at least one week prior to the final examination. The final examination is the evaluation of the final project by the supervising faculty. This evaluation includes an oral presentation by the student to an audience including the supervising faculty. The supervising faculty reports his or her approval of the final project by sending a signed copy of the ECE MS program Plan B Final Examination Form to the ECE office along with the final project report.
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