Research Focus
The Professional Master’s concentration will not have a thesis/research component and will not have direct matriculation to the Ph.D., program. This degree is not a pathway to Ph.D. Students who wish to apply to the PhD program may do so at the completion of the Professional Master’s and will be required to submit a separate graduate application. However, students are encouraged to seek out independent study projects that enhance their professional development and are aligned with long-term career goals.
Core and technical courses
Total course hours in the plan of study = 30
Required Courses: All students will be required to take a 3 credit “Fundamentals of MSE” course which is exclusive to professional master’s students and will be offered each fall semester. Two semesters of a zero-credit seminar course will be required. The preferred seminar is MSE 691, which is exclusive to Professional MS students, however, students can petition to take alternative seminar courses (i.e. the Engineering Management Seminar) to fulfill this requirement if needed.
Students will be required to apply 6 credits of “Industrial Practice” Electives on their plan of study, which include but are not limited to the following:
- CE 59700 – Advanced Project Management and Analysis
- IE 53000 – Quality Control
- IE 57000 – Manufacturing Process Engineering
- MSE 59700 – Lean Manufacturing
- MSE 59700S – Commercial Metallurgical Processing
- MSE 59900 – Independent Study (Design Project, up to 6 credits total are allowable)
Students are permitted (but not required) to apply 12 credits of “Professional Breadth” Electives on their plan of study, which include but are not limited to the following:
- ABE 59100 – Understanding Federal Science Policy and Funding
- CE 52400 – Legal Aspects in Engineering Practice
- ENGL 42100 – Technical Writing
- IE 54500 – Engineering Economic Analysis
- MGMT 56200 – Project Management
- MGMT 60000 – Accounting for Managers
- MGMT 66000 – Operations Management
The remaining courses are expected to be 500 and 600 level courses from the MSE course catalog or from science or engineering disciplines. A minimum of 18 credits must be in MSE courses. A list of acceptable courses for each of the above categories will be maintained by the MSE graduate committee, published online, and reviewed on an annual basis.