MS Thesis Requirements

Please remember, if you choose the MS Thesis option, it is your responsibility to identify and come to an agreement with the faculty member you desire to be your thesis advisor.

In general, when choosing a thesis advisor, full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty members of the Department are eligible to serve.

In general, when choosing a thesis advisory committee: 1. Full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty members of the Department are eligible to serve; 2. Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty of other departments in the School of Engineering & Computing and the University are eligible to serve; 3. Research faculty and adjunct faculty members of the Department are also eligible to serve. However, exceptions to these recommendations (e.g. inviting an outside member to serve) may be made with approval by the thesis advisor and the department chairperson.

Before beginning work on the MS Thesis, the Master’s Thesis Proposal Form needs to be completed and approved. On this completed form will be a description of the general area of the research problem to be investigated and the major topics of the research.

This form must be approved and signed by the thesis advisor, the thesis advisory committee members, and by the Department Chairperson and/or the Director of Graduate Studies; and must be submitted no later than one week after the start of semester in which the student is registered for Thesis I, the department’s thesis course.

The MS Thesis involves focused research on a topic of mutual interest to the thesis advisor and the student. It is expected that the thesis work be of publishable quality. The contents can be, but are not limited to:

• A detailed survey of the state of the art in a well-defined area of engineering
• A new solution to a problem
• A comparison of several solutions to a problem, or
• Any other topic agreed upon by the student and the major professor and approved by the department chairperson

The following is the general structure of the MS Thesis document:

1. Cover page
2. Acknowledgements
3. Abstract
4. Table of contents
5. List of tables
6. List of figures
7. Introduction: Definition of the problem, its importance, historical background
8. Solution of the problem
9. Conclusions and future work: Was the initial research question(s) answered satisfactorily, what questions remain open, suggestions for future work
10. Bibliography
11. Appendices

An oral, public defense of the MS thesis is required. The oral defense is attended by the candidate’s thesis advisor, the MS thesis defense committee members, and any other interested faculty members and students.

The following are the steps to be followed in preparing for and carrying out the thesis defense:

• The thesis advisor forms the thesis defense committee consisting of at least three members including the advisor no later than three weeks before the thesis defense. The thesis defense committee may be the same as the thesis advisory committee or it may contain different individuals. For example, there may be an outside member with expertise related to the thesis topic invited to participate. In all cases the make-up of the thesis defense committee shall be approved by the department chair or the director of graduate studies using the Master’s Defense Committee Approval Form.
• The thesis defense presentation is scheduled to occur no later than the last week of the semester at a time and date all defense committee members can attend. Scheduling the meeting earlier in the semester is encouraged to allow the student more time to close action items that may be raised at the defense presentation.
• The thesis defense should be no longer than a ninety minute formal presentation by the candidate followed by a maximum thirty minute question and answer session. The candidate is responsible for arranging and scheduling the day of the thesis defense. This includes, but is not limited to, scheduling the room, contacting all defense committee members for their availability, inviting the general public to attend, and making sure all the necessary paperwork is in order and available.
• The candidate must submit the written thesis document to all defense committee members no later than two weeks prior to the thesis defense presentation to allow those members time to read the thesis.
• All thesis defense committee members are expected to attend and participate in the presentation and provide their comments and any corrections they feel are necessary to be made to the thesis. Immediately following the public phase of the presentation, the thesis defense committee members, meeting together in private, discuss the quality of the thesis and of the presentation and vote as to accept or reject the thesis. The thesis advisor is a non-voting member of this committee.
  • If accepted, the defense committee will sign off on the Master’s Thesis Defense Report Form and charge the thesis advisor with making sure that any changes or corrections the members of the defense committee recommended get made by the candidate before the final copy of the thesis is prepared.
  • If rejected, indicating a failed defense, the defense committee will sign off on the Master’s Thesis Defense Report Form and the thesis advisor will meet with the department chairperson and the candidate in order to determine the next option for the candidate, which may include issuing an incomplete grade pending a rescheduled defense or a failure for the course if the thesis cannot be defended successfully.
• The candidate corrects the thesis, as necessary, and provides the final copy for thesis advisor’s approval/signature no later than the final day of the semester.