MASTER OF ENGINEERING

Degree Requirements

There are two options to earning the Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE): (1) thesis option and (2) non-thesis option. Regardless of option selected, a student must complete a graduate course in advanced mathematics.
At least eighteen hours (including the thesis) must be in the major area; at least six hours must be in a supporting area and can include courses outside the department. The supporting courses may be in electrical engineering but must represent a specialty distinct from the major courses.  At least two-thirds of the credit hours applied to the degree must be taught by a department in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.  To graduate the student must earn at least a 3.0 grade point average on all course work used for the graduate degree. No more than three credit hours of independent study courses may be applied to the degree.
The program options and additional degree requirements are as follows:

Option 1--Thesis (30 SCH): Students must successfully complete at least 24 semester credit hours of graduate coursework, successfully complete at least six credit hours of graduate thesis research, successfully prepare a research thesis, and pass a final oral examination that is primarily focused on the research thesis but may also address coursework. The final examination will be administered by the student’s graduate academic committee. This program option is intended primarily for students who wish to conduct research and expand electrical engineering knowledge. (This is the only degree option for which graduate assistantships are available.)
 

Option 2-Non-Thesis (36 SCH): Students must successfully complete at least 36 semester credit hours of graduate coursework. Further, students must pass a final comprehensive written and/or oral examination that addresses the student’s undergraduate and graduate education. The final examination will be coordinated by the student’s graduate academic advisor. This degree option is intended primarily for students in practice who want to enhance their technical skills.
 

A specific degree plan must be developed and approved by the Graduate Coordinator for the student's department before the student completes 16 semester credit hours of course work to be applied to the degree.  The graduate coordinator will act as advisor of record for all MSEE students until a project committee chair is selected by the student.  Students with inadequate undergraduate preparation may be required to take additional undergraduate courses to mitigate the deficiencies.  It is recommended that students without approved degree plans consult the graduate coordinator regarding their academic background and preparation before enrolling in a specific graduate engineering course.

Thesis Guidelines

The MSEE Thesis is a faculty directed independent study of an engineering problem, subject, or research topic relevant to the student's current or anticipated career field. A professional quality Thesis is required. A student may not begin work on the thesis before completing 9 credit hours of approved course work. After starting the project, students must register for at least three credit hours of the Thesis I course each semester until the project is completed and approved. A minimum of six credit hours of Thesis is required to complete the MSEE degree

The Thesis Committee

A chairperson from the faculty of the College of Engineering and Computer Science will direct the student's thesis. The student's graduate committee will consist of two faculty members from the college in addition to the chair (a committee member from another college may be appointed if approved by the project committee chair). The student will make a professional oral presentation of the project. The student's committee, the program graduate coordinator, and the college dean must approve the final thesis.

The Thesis Document

• Although a thesis may be undertaken as part of a student's work for a company, the project must not contain any confidential material. All projects are public property.

• The MSEE thesis document shall follow The University of Texas at Tyler Thesis Guidelines (PDF file) for general formatting issues. Specific pages that must conform to the guidelines are: a) title page; b) signature page; c) abstract. Departure from the Thesis Guidelines will be allowed as dictated by the nature of the project and as approved by the project committee chair.

• Figures in the project document (diagrams, sketches, renderings, data graphs, etc.) are required in both the project write-up and presentation to show concepts. All figures in the project document are to be computer generated and must be of high quality. Some manual sketches may be included in an appendix if appropriate and approved by the committee chair.

• All equations and formulas in the project document must be computer generated. If some particular claim is being made in the report that can be substantiated by a calculation, the calculation must be in the document. Manual calculations may be included in an appendix if appropriate and approved by the committee chair.

• All references must be cited somewhere in the thesis. All references must be listed in a section called "References." Background literature that is not cited in the report must be listed in a section called "Bibliography."

• The student is responsible for the quality of the thesis including technical content, grammar, spelling and proper format.

• The committee chair will approve the thesis before copies are given to the committee for review.

The Thesis Presentation

• A formal oral presentation of the MSEE thesis is required. At a minimum, all members of the project committee must be present. In the event that a committee member cannot attend, a replacement member must be appointed before the presentation. Interested faculty and students are welcome to attend the presentation.

• The presentation shall be scheduled no later than two weeks before the end of the semester.

• The committee members shall be given a copy of the thesis no later than one week before the scheduled presentation.

• Committee members should mark suggested changes or corrections on the thesis. The student will be responsible for making all required changes before final submission of the thesis.

• Maximum time for the presentation, before questions, is 30 minutes.

• There must be no material in the final presentation that is unrelated to the project. 

• After the presentation and the question period, all students and guests shall leave the room while the committee members discuss the acceptability of the project. The committee chair will inform the candidate of the committee's decision. At this point it is expected that the decision will either be to sign the signature page that day, or to require a re-submission of the project document before signing.

• In the event of a re-submission the committee will agree on a list of deficiencies that the student must correct. The student will be provided with the list, and will have no more than one week to make all the required changes. The revised thesis must be accepted by the committee in order for the student to graduate that semester.

 Revised 02-11-2008