Please also check Graduate School requirements for Master’s degrees in the Graduate Catalog at http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/catalog

The Department offers two options for the M.S. degree:  Thesis and Non-Thesis.  Students must select one of these options before the end of their first semester but may subsequently change options.

Under the M.S. with Thesis option, the student must:

1. satisfy a course requirement (24 credits of course work plus six credits of thesis research)
2. write a Master’s thesis, and pass the oral Master’s Thesis Examination

Under the Non-Thesis option, the student must:

1. satisfy a course requirement (30 credits of course work)
2. write and submit an approved Scholarly Paper

In addition, for both options, once enrolled, all students must register for courses and pay associated tuition and fees each semester, not including summer and winter sessions, until the degree is awarded.

To satisfy the course requirement for the M.S. degree, the student must successfully complete at least 30 credits (grade of C or better in all courses).  An overall minimum GPA of 3.0 must also be maintained.

All M.S. students must complete and gain approval for a proposed Plan of Study within the first semester of enrollment.  The Plan of Study is completed online through MEGS (https://apra.umd.edu).  The main conditions for approval are:

1. in the opinion of the student’s Advisor and of the Graduate Director, the program must be coherent;
2. the program must satisfy the Thesis or Non-Thesis option’s rules listed below;
3. non-ENEE courses that are not pre-approved (see Course Information section) must receive special approval by the student’s Advisor and the Graduate Director in the context of the proposed Plan of Study; such approval must be requested  at least one semester in advance of taking the course.

Modifications to the Plan of Study can be filed subsequently, again subject to approval by the student’s Advisor and the Graduate Director.

Transfer of credit

A maximum of six credits can be transferred.  In addition to the criteria set forth by the Graduate School (see below), the following conditions must be met:

Only credit earned at U.S. institutions can be transferred. Any course to be transferred must be equivalent to a graduate-level (numbered 600 or above) lecture course offered at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Also, if a course is transferred, the equivalent UM course cannot be included in the Plan of Study.

Credit transfer is approved only in the context of a specific proposed Plan of Study. When applying for credit transfer, the student must produce an official transcript, as well as evidence that the course is indeed equivalent to a course offered at UMCP. Specifically, documented evidence should include a course description, as well as a syllabus showing what material was covered in the specific offering the student took and what text was used.  Additional required forms are available in the Graduate Studies Office.

Graduate School Regulations for Transfer of Credit for the M.S. Degree

Please see the Graduate Catalog http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/catalog for additional rules applying to transfer credit.  Currently, these include:

•  The courses must be graduate level and have been taken for graduate credit at the original institution.
•  The student must have earned a grade of "B" or better in the course.
•  The credit must not have been used to satisfy the requirements for any other degree.
•  The student must furnish an official transcript to the Graduate School.
•  Transfer work satisfies only the 400-level requirements for the Master's degree and does not apply to the upper-level requirements.
•  The transfer course work must have been taken within seven years of the award of a University of Maryland master's degree for which the student is currently enrolled. (All other course work must be taken within five years of the award of Master's degree.)

M.S. with Thesis option

Under the Thesis option, a valid Plan of Study must include a total of 24 credits of approved course work, all at the 400-level, 600-level, and above, not counting ENEE799 (Master’s Thesis Research).  Students must declare a major in one of the department’s technical areas.  Moreover, the Plan of Study must satisfy the following rules:

1. No more than nine credits at the 400-level may be included.  ENEE499 may not be included.
2. Three core courses must be included.  At least two must be in the student’s major.
3. Prerequisites must be fulfilled before taking courses that require them.
4. No more than one credit of ENEE698 (Graduate Seminar) may be included.
5. Combined total number of credits of ENEE698 and ENEE699 may not exceed three.
6. No more than 12 credits earned while holding the Advanced Special Student status may be included.
7. At least six credits of ENEE799 (Master’s Thesis Research) must be included.

A minimum overall GPA of 3.0 must be maintained.  In addition, a minimum GPA of 3.0 must be earned over the three core courses (item 2).  For the purposes of meeting the Plan of Study requirement, all transferred courses will count as B (3.0 grade point value).  However, grades obtained on transfer courses do not affect the GPA as recorded on the official UM transcript.

If two or more attempts are taken at a course, only the grade obtained at the latest attempt will count towards the GPA.

Directions for the preparation and submission of theses can be found in the Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide, on-line at: http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/publications.  Contact the Graduate School, gradschool@umd.edu, (301) 405-0376 for additional information.
Membership on thesis examining committees must adhere to Graduate School policy. 

From the Graduate Catalog on the Thesis Examining Committee (http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/catalog):

Thesis Examining Committee Membership. The Committee will include a minimum of three members of the Graduate Faculty, at least two of whom will be Full Members. The Chair of the Committee normally will be the student's advisor, who will be a Full or Adjunct Member of the Graduate Faculty, or who has been granted an exception to the policy by the Dean of the Graduate School.

Membership on a Thesis Examining Committee requires nomination by the student's advisor and Graduate Director in the student's graduate program, and approval by the Dean of the Graduate School. The nomination of a Thesis Examining Committee should be provided to the Graduate School at least six weeks before the date of the expected thesis examination. The thesis examination cannot be held until the Graduate School approves the composition of the Thesis Examining Committee. Furthermore, if the Graduate Faculty status of any member of an approved Thesis Examining Committee changes, the approval of the Thesis Examining Committee may be voided, and a new Committee nomination form will be required for approval by the Graduate School.

Chair. The Thesis Examining Committee will have as chair the student's advisor, who must be a Full or Adjunct Member of the Graduate Faculty or, by special permission, has been otherwise appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School. Thesis Examining Committees may have co-chairs upon the written recommendation of the Graduate Director and with the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School.

The student is responsible for scheduling the defense with the committee and reserving a conference room for the thesis defense.  The student must also provide copies of his/her thesis to all committee members at least seven working days in advance of the thesis defense.

The student must provide the Graduate Studies Office with the date, time, location, and abstract at least two weeks in advance of the defense so that it may be announced to the department.  Information about the proper announcement format can be obtained from the Graduate Studies Office.

Under the Non-Thesis option, a valid Plan of Study must include a total of 30 credits of approved course work, all at the 400-level, 600-level, and above.  The Plan may not include ENEE799 (Master’s Thesis Research).  Students must declare major and minor areas from the department’s technical areas.  Moreover, the Plan of Study must satisfy the following rules:

1. No more than nine credits at the 400-level may be included. ENEE499 may not be included.
2. Three core courses in the student’s major area and one core course in the student’s minor area must be included.
3. Prerequisites must be fulfilled before taking courses that require them.
4. No more than one credit of ENEE698 (Graduate Seminar) may be included.
5. Combined total number of credits of ENEE698 and ENEE699 included in the Plan of Study may not exceed three.
6. No more than 12 credits earned while holding the Advanced Special Student status may be included.

A minimum overall GPA of 3.0 must be maintained.  In addition, a minimum GPA of 3.0 must be earned over the four core courses (item 2).  For the purposes of meeting the Plan of Study requirement, all transferred courses will count as B (3.0 grade point value).  However, grades obtained on transfer courses do not affect the GPA as recorded on the official UM transcript.

If two or more attempts are taken at a course, only the grade obtained at the latest attempt counts towards the GPA.

For the M.S. Non-Thesis, a Scholarly Paper is to be prepared by the student in consultation with his/her academic advisor, who serves as the first reader.  (If the student wishes to change the advisor, he/she should submit such request before the start of the semester during which he/she plans to graduate.)  The second reader may be any full member of the Graduate Faculty.  A completed M.S. SCHOLARLY PAPER READER SELECTION form, with a tentative title and signed by the student’s Advisor and the second reader, must be submitted to the Graduate Studies Office by the posted deadline (which is generally the same date as the APPROVED PROGRAM FORM deadline).

The Scholarly Paper should consist of a concise summary of a few research papers published in the open literature.  Its length should be approximately 10 to 15 pages, not counting possible appendices.  The Scholarly Paper must be submitted to both readers at least two weeks prior to the filing deadline published by the Graduate Studies Office.

Each reader rates the paper as either “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” The Scholarly Paper requirement is satisfied once both ratings are “satisfactory.”

Ph.D. students who do not already hold an M.S. degree from this department may earn an M.S. Non-Thesis “along the way” upon admission to doctoral candidacy.  Ph.D. students who choose to earn the M.S. Non-Thesis “along the way” must satisfy the M.S. Non-Thesis course requirement and may substitute the Ph.D. Research Proposal for the Scholarly Paper.  Barring exceptional circumstances, Ph.D. students shall not have the opportunity to obtain an M.S. Non-Thesis before admission to candidacy.  The M.S. degree cannot be conferred in the same semester as the Ph.D. 

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