Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering

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Master's Programs

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Students pursuing an MSME degree must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours of advisor-approved* graduate-level coursework. For students pursuing the project or thesis option, this includes ME 501 Research or ME 503 Thesis credits.

Thesis Option

Required Coursework  
ME 551 Engineering Analysis 4 credit hours
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
ME 503 Thesis* 9 credit hours
ME 5XX Graduate Electives* 31 credit hours
  Total 45 credit hours

Project Option

Required Coursework  
ME 551 Engineering Analysis 4 credit hours
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
ME 501 Research* 6-9 credit hours
ME 5XX Graduate Electives* 31-34 credit hours
  Total 45 credit hours

Coursework-Only Option

Required Coursework  
ME 551 Engineering Analysis 4 credit hours
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
ME 5XX Graduate Electives* 40 credit hours
  Total 45 credit hours

Students can take up to eight credit hours of coursework outside of ME. Courses outside of ME must be approved by the student's advisor and the graduate committee chair beforehand. Students can also apply two credit hour of ME 507 Seminar toward their degree.

Only courses with a grade of B- or higher will be applied to the degree. The MME Department does not accept ME 502 Independent Study credits. A maximum of 17 credit hours of 501 Research, 503 Thesis, 505 Reading and Conference, and 506 Project credits can be applied to an MSME degree.

*Must be approved by student's advisor and the graduate program chair.

For previous degree requirements, please see AY 2019-2020 & Earlier Degree Requirements.

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Master of Science in Materials Science & Engineering (MSMSE)

Students pursuing an MSMSE degree must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours of advisor-approved* graduate-level coursework, which includes at least three MSMSE core courses for the project or thesis option, and five core courses for the coursework-only option. For students pursuing the project or thesis option, this also includes ME 501 Research or ME 503 Thesis credits.

Thesis Option

Required Coursework  
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
ME/MSE 5XX MSMSE Core Courses 12 credit hours
MSE 503 Thesis* 9 credit hours
ME/MSE 5XX Graduate Electives* 23 credit hours
  Total 45 credit hours

Project Option

Required Coursework  
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
ME/MSE 5XX MSMSE Core Courses 12 credit hours
MSE 501 Research* 6-9 credit hours
ME/MSE 5XX Graduate Electives* 23-26 credit hours
  Total 45 credit hours

Coursework-Only Option

Required Coursework  
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
ME/MSE 5XX MSMSE Core Courses 20 credit hours
ME/MSE 5XX Graduate Electives* 24 credit hours
  Total 45 credit hours

MSMSE Core Courses

MSMSE Core Courses
Core Courses
ME 513 Engineering Materials Science 4 credit hours
ME 527 Phase Transformations and Kinetics in Materials 4 credit hours
ME 528 Scanning Electron Microscopy for Materials and Device Characterization 4 credit hours
ME 529 Transmission Electron Microscopy and Chemical Analysis of Materials 4 credit hours
ME 576 Materials Failure Analysis 4 credit hours
ME 578 Introduction to Electronic Packaging 4 credit hours
MSE 547 Diffusion 4 credit hours
Required Core Course
ME 507 Seminar 1 credit hour
Approved Omnibus Core Courses (requires DARS exception)
ME 577 Introduction to Semiconductor Manufacturing 4 credit hours
ME 510 Material Surface Analysis 4 credit hours
ME 510 Thin Films Material Science & Technology 4 credit hours

Only courses with a grade of B- or higher will be applied to the degree. The MME Department does not accept ME/MSE 502 Independent Study credits. Students can also apply two credit hour of ME 507 Seminar toward their degree.

*Must be approved by student's advisor, program committee, and the graduate program chair. Graduate electives may contain courses outside of ME/MSE depending on student's individualized course plan.

For previous degree requirements, please see AY 2019-2020 & Earlier Degree Requirements.

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Thesis & Project Policies

All students should familiarize themselves with the Graduate School (GS) deadlines for applying for graduation via the Graduate Candidate Deadlines. In addition, thesis-track students should focus on the deadlines for establishing their committee, and defending and submitting their thesis. Project-track students should focus on the deadline for presenting their final project.

Thesis Committee

Students pursuing the thesis option in the MSME or MSMSE degree are required to have a thesis committee to provide guidance and approve both the final written thesis and oral examination. Committee members are selected by the student and their advisor and must be approved by the GS.

Thesis Committee Breakdown

Committee must consist of:

  • A thesis advisor/committee chair. Must be a regular, full-time MME instructional faculty, tenured or tenure-track, assistant professor or higher in rank. 
  • An MME faculty committee member. May be a regular, full-time instructional faculty (tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term) or an adjunct faculty.
  • An additional committee member. May include regular, full-time instructional PSU faculty (tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term), an adjunct faculty, and/or one member of the OHSU faculty.
    • If it is necessary to go off-campus for one committee member with a specific expertise not available among PSU faculty, a curriculum vitae (CV) for that proposed member must be present with the GO-16M form.
    • All committee members must have master's degrees.

A thesis committee must be approved by GS using the Appointment of Final Oral Examination Committee form (GO-16M). No proposal defense shall be valid without a thesis committee approved by GS.

Project Committee

Students pursuing the project option in the MSME or MSMSE degree are required to have a project committee to provide guidance and approve the final project presentation. Committee members are selected by the student and their advisor and do not need to be approved by the GS.

Project Committee Breakdown

Committee must consist of:

  • A project advisor/committee chair. Must be regular, full-time MME instructional faculty (tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term).
  • An MME faculty committee member. May be a regular instructional faculty (tenure, tenure-track, or fixed-term) or an adjunct faculty.
  • A third committee member could be selected at the discretion of the department. Additional member would be selected by the advisor, department chair or graduate committee chair.
    • All committee members must have master's degrees.

Thesis & Project Policy

Master’s students pursuing the project option must complete a final report* and presentation. Master’s students pursuing the thesis option must complete and defend a thesis.

All final documents must contain the following items:

  • Title Page
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Tables and List of Figures
  • Nomenclature
  • Introduction
  • Other Chapters
  • Conclusion
  • Reference/Bibliography

All students should refer to their Permanent Advisor for additional information regarding content. The formatting of thesis and dissertation papers is standard for the University and all documents must meet the requirements outlined in the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Formatting Requirements.

All students must submit their final documents to their project or thesis committee at least one week prior to presentation/defense.

*Master’s students pursuing the project option may substitute a fully peer-reviewed paper in lieu of the final report with Permanent Advisor approval.

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