Mar 28, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Computer Engineering, M.S.


Within five years of admission, the student must earn a minimum of 30 credit hours for the thesis option (6 of which are MS thesis research credits CMPE 799) or 33 credit hours (3 of which is the graduate project research CMPE 698) for the non-thesis (w/project) option. All M.S. students must choose either the thesis or non-thesis (w/project) option: there is no course-only option.

At least six of these courses (18 credits) (for both Masters options) must be graduate ENEE or CMPE courses, i.e., ENEE/CMPE courses at the 600 or 700 level. The remaining four courses (12 credits for MS w/project) and two courses (six credits for MS thesis) can be MATH, STAT, CMSC, or from any other related discipline. A maximum of two 400 level courses (six credits) are allowed in MATH/STAT only, and a maximum of three credits of Independent Study (ENEE/CMPE 699) are allowed.

Requests for approval of non-CMPE/ENEE course credits must be submitted before registering for the course. There is a form available for this request and must be signed by the student’s research advisor.

Course Requirements


Students must take at least five courses from the courses listed under Groups A and B, and at least two of these courses must be from Group A.

Transfer Credits


No more than six (6) credits may be transferred from another university or from UMBC as a non-degree student. Credit transfer must be approved by the Graduate Program Director.

Grade Requirements


Students must receive a grade of B or better in two of the Group A courses and achieve an average grade of ‘B’ or better (equivalently, a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better) across all courses. Grades with  “+” and “-”  are possible for graduate courses.

M.S. Thesis Option (30 credits)


A student may undertake the M.S. thesis option that requires a minimum of eight (8) graduate-level courses and six (6) credit hours of thesis research (CMPE 799 ). The thesis is supervised by a faculty member as the research advisor (or co-advisor), and  must show a tangible research component. Upon completion of the thesis research, the thesis must be defended with an oral public exam/presentation and accepted with the approval of the student’s thesis committee. The committee must consist of at least three (3) graduate faculty members within the department. Copies of the approved thesis must be submitted both to the CSEE Department and the Graduate School.

M.S. Non-Thesis Option (33 credits)


A student may undertake the M.S. non-thesis option, which would be supervised by a faculty member as the research advisor (or co-advisor). The non-thesis (project) option in the students field requires a minimum of ten (10) graduate-level courses (30 credits),  and three (3) credit hours of graduate project research (CMPE 698 ) resulting in a scholarly paper, which must be approved by the advisor and an additional approved reader. A copy of the approved scholarly paper must be submitted to the department.