Master of Science Programs
Major Professor and Graduate Committee
It is the responsibility of each graduate student to determine what area will be studied and to select a Major Professor to further guide them. For Electrical Engineering majors, the Major Professor is selected from within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The student, working with the Major Professor, is responsible for selecting two other faculty to serve as committee members.
For Computer Engineering majors, the Major Professor may be selected from either Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering or Computer Science and Engineering. The student, working with the Major Professor, is responsible for selecting two other faculty to serve as committee members. The student's Graduate Committee, however, will consist of at least one faculty from each of the departments.
All committee members should hold graduate faculty standing. Graduate faculty are listed in the back of the current Graduate Bulletin
Changes to the committee require approval, as well, with the submission of a Change of Committee form to the Graduate Program Director. Both the Program of Study and Change of Committee forms are available online in editable acrobat format through Office of Graduate Studies Publications.
Program of Study (Master of Science)
It is the responsibility of each graduate student to make out a detailed graduate program of study signed by their Major Professor during the student's first semester of their graduate study. Program of Graduate Study and Committee Request forms are to be filled out, required signatures obtained, and submitted to the Graduate Program Director for approval prior to preregistration in the first semester of enrollment. Students must also sign the Program of Study forms before submitting them to the ECE Graduate Program Director. Graduate students should realize that any course work taken before their program of study is placed on file in the ECE Department, is subject to disapproval by the committee. Extra course work to upgrade any deficiencies may be required. These requirements will be determined by the student's graduate committee and/or Graduate Program Director.
Minimum program of study requirements are 30 credit hours-thesis option (including 6 credit hours of research/thesis) and 33 credit hours-non-thesis (may or may not include a 3-credit hour project) past the BS for a Master of Science. One-half of all course work must be 8xxx level courses and no more than six hours of 7000, Directed Individual Study, may be taken toward a degree program. Note that Directed Individual Study courses will be counted as 8xxx level courses.
Electrical Engineering programs may include up to 9 credit hours outside the ECE Department. In addition, students in Electrical Engineering may designate an area outside the Department as a minor on their program of study. A minor in a Master's program requires at least 9 credit hours of graduate course work in which 3 or more credit hours are at the 8xxx level, and any additional requirements as specified by the minor area.
Computer Engineering programs must contain 9 credit hours of ECE, 9 credit hours of CSE (thesis option) and 12 credit hours of ECE, 12 credit hours of CSE (non-thesis option), with the remaining hours selected from either CSE, ECE or other complementary areas such as Mathematics, Computational Engineering, etc. Note that Computer Architecture (CS 6113) is not to be counted in the 9 hours of CSE. Students should register for thesis credit in the major professor's department (i.e., ECE 800X or CSE 800X).
Graduate Program of Study forms remain in the academic office until the semester the student applies for graduation. At the time the student applies for graduation, the updated Program of Graduate Study form is forwarded to the Office of Graduate Studies for degree audit. Program of Study forms that have not been completed accurately, not been updated at the beginning of the semester the student applies for graduation, or are not in compliance with the graduation requirements will result in an ineligibility of graduation.
In general, Electrical Engineering programs are to be signed as follows:
- Major Professor (ECE)
- Committee Members (2)
- Department Graduate Program Director (Dr. N.H. Younan)
Note: If a minor area is chosen outside the Department, a faculty member from the minor area will serve as a committee member and the program of study has to be signed by the minor area's Graduate Program Director.
Computer Engineering programs are to be signed as follows:
- Major Professor (ECE or CSE)
- Committee Members (2)
- Department Graduate Program Director (Dr. N.H. Younan)
Transfer To the Ph.D. Program
ECE M.S. Students who wish to transfer to the Ph.D. program prior to completing the requirements for the Master of Science degree must submit a new application provided that they meet the following requirements: A minimum undergraduate equivalent GPA of 3.5 on the last 60 hours of undergraduate courses (or a first class with distinction degree classification for students whose degrees are from institutions where no GPA is reported), a minimum graduate GPA of 3.8 on the first15 credit hours of graduate courses, and a GRE score of 1200 (verbal + quantitative) and 3.5 (writing) for students who do not have an undergraduate degree from an ABET accredited University.
Applying for Graduation
Students apply for graduation over the web or in the Registrar's Office. The deadline to apply for graduation is early in each semester and the deadline date is posted in the Graduate Academic Calendar in the front of the Graduate Bulletin.
MS Oral Exam (Non-Thesis Option)
For completion of the Master of Science degree, an oral exam arranged by the Major Professor will be conducted. All committee members must attend. Students are required to make a comprehensive and detailed review of all graduate course work taken toward the degree in preparation for the oral examinations. Passing a final oral exam for a Master's degree candidate will require a majority affirmative vote of the candidate's committee members present or their appointed representative. The committee signs the Report of Examination Result form indicating whether the student has passed or failed. The original form must be submitted to the Graduate Program Director. The original and one copy of the form are forwarded to the Office of Graduate Studies by the deadline posted in the Graduate Academic Calendar in the Graduate Bulletin. If a candidate fails the oral exam, they will not be allowed to repeat the exam for two (2) months, subject to the committee's approval. A second failure terminates the candidate from the program. A discussion of the specific nature of the examination with the Major Professor (and any other members of the committee the Major Professor may designate) is encouraged. To be eligible to take the oral exam, the student must have a 3.0 GPA, be enrolled, and be within 6 credit hours of completing the course work.
Thesis Option
Prior to defending their thesis, students are required to prepare their thesis presentation and defense. Additionally, students must complete the M.S. Thesis Defense form and return it to the Graduate Program Director at least one week prior to scheduling the thesis defense. Also students are required to file an Announcement of Thesis Defense form with the Office of Graduate Studies one week prior to the Defense. Students are required to post a notice of their thesis defense one week prior to their exam stating the time, date, the room, and the title of their thesis, and an abstract. This notice should be posted (1) using email directed to faculty and graduate student aliases (faculty@ece.msstate.edu and grads@ece.msstate.edu) and (2) to the departmental Web site by addressing the information to Michael Lane (Send E-mail). The thesis must be read and approved by the Major Professor and presented to the remaining committee readers one week before the scheduled oral examinations. Typically, a finished copy (not a draft) is to be provided to the readers. If there are further changes, the student must supply each committee member with an unbound duplicated copy of the finished work with all corrections along with the copy of the committee member's corrections. An unbound duplicated copy of the finished work is provided to each member of the examining committee on the day of the oral exam. The Graduate Program Director will be provided with a finished copy of the thesis at least one week before the thesis signature is required. Students submit theses to the Technical Services department for the Acquisitions Unit in Mitchell Memorial Library by the deadline posted in the Academic Calendar in the current Graduate Bulletin. Each semester, the Library conducts thesis and dissertation formatting workshops to assist students in the formatting of theses and dissertations. Guidelines for Preparing Dissertations and Theses are available in the Office of Graduate Studies and in the Library. Unless otherwise approved by advisor, thesis should conform to IEEE guidelines where not in conflict with the Office of Graduate Studies requirements. Following final revisions, an electronic copy identical to that supplied to the library must be submitted to the Graduate Program Director.
Required Signatures on Theses:
In general, Electrical Engineering Theses are to be signed as follows:
- Major Professor (ECE)
- Committee Members (2, if a minor area is chosen outside the Department, one committee member is chosen from the minor area)
- Department Graduate Program Director (Dr. N.H. Younan)
- Dean, College of Engineering (Dr. Kirk Schulz)
Computer Engineering theses are to be signed as follows:
- Major Professor (ECE or CSE)
- Committee Members (2)
- Department Graduate Program Director (Dr. N.H. Younan)
- Dean, College of Engineering (Dr. Kirk Schulz)
Thesis research hours receive no grade other than U or S. A student cannot graduate with a U grade. Thesis research hours are scheduled as __800X where X denotes the number of hours.
Transfer Credit (Master of Science)
Graduate course credit hours taken elsewhere and passed with a grade of B or higher are transferable upon request and approval by the Department to a graduate program for degree within the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Transfer credit may not constitute more than 9 semester hours of course work. Additionally, transfer credit from one master's degree program at MSU toward a second MSU master's degree is limited to a maximum of 9 credit hours.
