Computer Engineering, M.S.

Within five (5) years of admission the student must earn a minimum of 30 credit hours with the thesis option or 33 credit hours with the non-thesis (project) option. All students MUST choose either the thesis or non-thesis (with project) option: there is no course-only option. Students must satisfy the grade and course requirements for their field of specialty and option. The course and grade requirements are as follows.

Course Requirements

Three core courses required for all students:

Electives

Two focused electives, selected from any graduate course with a CMPE designation, or

ENEE 610 Digital Signal Processing

Three or five additional electives, depending on thesis or project option, selected from any graduate course with CMPE designation, or most graduate courses with CMSC (Computer Science), ENEE (Electrical Engineering) with approval from the graduate program director. Courses in related science and mathematics areas may also be taken for credit with approval from the graduate committee.

Grade Requirements

Students must receive a “B” or higher in each of the three core courses, and achieve a 3.0 or better grade point average across the fve core plus focused elective courses.

M.S. Thesis Option

Any student may undertake a master’s thesis, supervised by a faculty member. Master’s degree candidates undertake a thesis for six credits, which shows a tangible research component. Upon completion of the thesis research, the thesis must be defended in a public presentation.

Transfer Credits

No more than six 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 ‘B’ or higher in each of the three (3) core courses, and achieve an average grade of ‘B’ or better (equivalently, a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better) across the three (3) core plus two (2) focused elective courses. Grades with + and - are possible for graduate courses. A minimum grade of ‘B’ (3.0 GPA) is required for courses taken for the degree.

Graduate Seminar

M.S. students are encouraged to attend graduate seminar presentations within the CMSC 608 and/or ENEE 608 courses during their first year. Check the CMPE Graduate Program website for any requirement changes.

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 masters 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 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 CSEE Department.