MS Electrical Engineering

Overview

Thesis and non-thesis options are available for the M.S. in Electrical Engineering. For a non-thesis degree, a minimum of 30 semester hours of coursework is required. Thesis options require 30 credit hours of which six credits of ECE699 shall be devoted to individual study with a graduate faculty member. This work must culminate in preparing a written thesis on a significant problem of common interest and an oral defense of the thesis.  Students completing a thesis must also complete one credit of Responsible Conduct of Research training.  At the advisory committee’s or Graduate Coordinator’s discretion, this credit may be substituted for one of the 6 required thesis/dissertation credits (ECE699).

To obtain a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, a student must have at least a GPA of 3.0 for all courses taken as a graduate student. In both the non-thesis and thesis options, at least 18 credit hours must be ECE course credit hours.

Admission Requirements

For students to become candidates for a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, they must either have completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering or at least demonstrated its equivalent, with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale).  If students do not hold a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, they must complete or demonstrate the equivalent to at least three of the following five prerequisite courses:  Electronics I (ECE 342), Fields and Waves (ECE 351), Feedback Control Systems (ECE 414), Electric Power Systems (ECE 427), and Digital Signal Processing (ECE 486). A student may be provisionally admitted to the program pending the completion of prerequisite course(s) with a grade of B or better.

Graduation Requirements

All students must register for one credit of ECE 598 Graduate Seminar during the first semester.  This seminar course’s pass/fail grade will be given upon graduation. At the advisory committee’s discretion, this seminar credit may be substituted for one of the 6 required thesis/dissertation credits (ECE699).  

The majority of course credits taken must be in Electrical Engineering focused courses, that is 15 credit hours for thesis students and 18 credit hours for non-thesis students. Normally no more than 6 credits of ECE400 level course work will be acceptable for graduate credit. In addition, no more than three credits of ECE599 may be taken toward fulfilling the requirements for a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. ECE 699 cannot be counted as credits in the non-thesis Master’s programs. Degree candidates may also choose to take courses in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science and other disciplines which are consistent with his/her program goals.  All course work is documented in the student’s Program of Study (POS). This POS is discussed with and approved by the student’s thesis committee for thesis-based MS-CEN students, and by the student’s advisor for non-thesis students. Final approval rests with the Graduate Coordinator who must verify that the POS meets Graduate School and ECE requirements.

Catalog

Details about courses, graduate school policies, and schedules are available in the UMaine Graduate Catalog.