mseecegeneralrequir

Plan of Study    Course Work GPA Requirements    Seminar Requirement
Time Requirement    Thesis Option    Scholarly Paper Option
Scholarly Paper Procedures

Plan of Study.
Before the end of the second semester, each student must submit a plan of study (approved by his or her academic advisor) to the graduate coordinator's office. This Plan should be kept up to date by regular consultation with the student’s academic advisor. A final, signed, version of this Plan of Study must be turned in when the student submits a Graduation Application. Appropriate forms are available in the ECE Department office.

Course Work.
Each student must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate-level credits beyond the bachelor's degree under one of the two options listed below. This work must represent a cohesive set of courses leading to comprehensive knowledge in one concentration area. It can not be a set of disjoined courses. The plan of study for the degree includes the following:

1. A minimum of two core courses (with B or better in each) from the following list:

2. A minimum of three courses with a grade of B or better at the 600 or above level (not including ECE 798 or 799) from a chosen area of specialization. Approved doctoral level courses (800 - 900 level) may be taken for credit towards the MSEE. For the Architecture-Based Systems Integration specialization the following four 600 level courses must be taken: ECE 672, ECE 673, ECE 674 and ECE 675, and a grade of B or better earned in each.

3. A maximum of six credit hours of non-ECE courses, subject to prior departmental approval. Selected TCOM courses may be taken with prior departmental approval as part of the MSEE degree program. TCOM courses count toward the maximum of six credit hours of non-ECE courses. INFT courses (including doctoral level, 800-900 level, courses) that cover Electrical Engineering topics may be taken for credit toward the MSEE. Electrical Engineering oriented INFT courses do not count toward the six credit hours of non-ECE courses allowed. However, all non-ECE courses are subject to prior departmental approval. Students taking two or more of the ECE 672, ECE 673, ECE 674 and ECE 675 courses may not take non-ECE courses as a part of their degree program.

GPA Requirements.
A maximum of two courses with a C grade may be applied toward the degree. The student must present a GPA of at least 3.0 for all courses submitted for the degree. Students receiving grades of F in two courses, C grades in 9 credit hours of course work, or whose overall GPA falls below 3.0 may face Academic Dismissal or Academic Termination as described in the Graduate Policies of the George Mason catalog.

Seminar Requirement.
All degree candidates must attend a minimum of 10 department seminars. It is the students’ responsibility to maintain their own personal record of the seminars they have attended and also to ensure their attendance at each seminar is promptly reported to the ECE Department office. The Seminar Attendance Record form that must be submitted when applying for graduation is available in the ECE Department office. See ECE Bulletin Board outside the ECE Department office or the ECE homepage at http://ece.gmu.edu for upcoming approved seminars.

NOTE: Only those GMU seminars that are listed on the ECE Department webpage

http://ece.gmu.edu/seminars.htm

or are posted in hard copy on the ECE bulleting board with the departmental approval (stamp APPROVED or Chair's signature) are qualified for ECE Graduate Seminar credit.

Time Requirement.
All degree requirements (transfer courses, GMU courses, seminars, thesis, scholarly paper) must be completed within a 6 year period. Non-course work (thesis, scholarly paper, seminars) must be completed before the Degree Conferral Date. Course work must be completed by the 6^th week after the Degree Conferral Date.

Thesis Option.
Thesis students must complete ECE 799, Master's Thesis, (6 credit hours), and 24 hours of course work. The thesis option is particularly recommended for those students who wish to develop and document their research skills, and/or who contemplate subsequent enrollment in a Ph.D. program. The thesis involves a significant research effort, which is conducted under the guidance of a faculty advisor. In some cases, permission may be granted to complete a portion of the work at the student's place of employment. The final written thesis and oral defense are approved by the student's advisory committee. This committee consists of at least three full-time faculty members, including two from the student's specialization area and one from outside the area. Thesis students may not register for ECE 798 Research Project. Students must register for at least 3 credit hours of thesis for their first thesis semester. Following their first thesis semester they must register for at least one credit hour of thesis until graduation.

The thesis presentation seminar must be announced at least two weeks prior to the presentation. See the Scholarly Paper Procedures for details required for the seminar Announcement.

Scholarly Paper Option.
Students who select this option must complete 30 credits of course work or 27 credits of course work plus ECE 798, Research Project, and must present a scholarly paper. The scholarly paper is a technical report on an independent study, laboratory or computer experimentation, or literature search done by the student on a current scientific or technological topic, such as survey of some new technologies, or new methodologies, or a case study of new applications, on a theme selected under the guidance of a faculty advisor. (Potential/suggested scholarly paper topics.) The student must demonstrate knowledge of the topic and make a satisfactory technical presentation of the paper in a Graduate Seminar. The Scholarly Paper and the final oral presentation must be approved by the student's Advisory Committee. When a student elects to submit an ECE 798, Research Project, final report as a Scholarly Paper it is expected that the 3 credit hours of effort in ECE 798 will result in a much more substantial paper than a Scholarly Paper submitted in addition to 30 hours of regular course work.