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).  

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.

Catalog

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