Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science

Mechanical & Materials Sciences & Engineering MS Program Details

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Students pursuing an Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) degree must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours of approved graduate-level coursework. Students can choose to pursue one of three options: thesis, project, or coursework-only.

Required Coursework (45 Credits)

Thesis, research, and electives require advisor and department approval. Courses outside of ME must be approved by the student's advisor and the graduate committee chair beforehand. Students can also apply two credit hours of ME 507 Seminar toward their degree. Students can take up to eight credit hours of coursework outside of ME. 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. The ME department allows up to 17 credits of 501, 503, 504, 505, and 506 to count toward the MSME degree.

Thesis Option

Students must meet the University deadlines for establishing their committee and defending and submitting their thesis.

  • ME 551 Engineering Analysis (4 credits)
  • ME 507 Seminar (1 credit)
  • ME 503 Thesis (9 credits)
  • ME 5XX Graduate Electives (31 credits)

Project Option

Students must meet the University deadlines for presenting their final project.

  • ME 551 Engineering Analysis (4 credits)
  • ME 507 Seminar (1 credit)
  • ME 501 Research (6-9 credits)
  • ME 5XX Graduate Electives (31-34 credits)

Coursework-Only Option

  • ME 551 Engineering Analysis (4 credits)
  • ME 507 Seminar (1 credit)
  • ME 5XX Graduate Electives (40 credits)

Master of Science in Materials Science & Engineering (MSMSE)

Students pursuing an MSMSE degree must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours of approved graduate-level coursework. Students can choose to pursue one of three options: thesis, project, or coursework-only.

Required Coursework (45 Credits)

Thesis, research, and electives require advisor and department approval. 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 apply two credit hours of ME 507 Seminar toward their degree.

Thesis Option

Students must meet the University deadlines for establishing their committee and defending and submitting their thesis.

  • ME 507 Seminar (1 credit)
  • ME/MSE 5XX MSMSE Core Courses (see below) (12 credits)
  • ME 503 Thesis (9 credits)
  • ME 5XX Graduate Electives (23 credits)

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Project Option

Students must meet the University deadlines for presenting their final project.

  • ME 507 Seminar (1 credit)
  • ME/MSE 5XX MSMSE Core Courses (see below) (12 credits)
  • ME 501 Research (6-9 credits)
  • ME 5XX Graduate Electives (23-26 credits)

Coursework-Only Option

  • ME 551 Engineering Analysis (4 credits)
  • ME/MSE 5XX MSMSE Core Courses (see below) (20 credits)
  • ME 5XX Graduate Electives (24 credits)

 

MSMSE Core Courses

CourseDescriptionCredits
ME 513Engineering Materials Science4 credit hours
ME 527Phase Transformations and Kinetics in Materials4 credit hours
ME 528Scanning Electron Microscopy for Materials and Device Characterization4 credit hours
ME 529Transmission Electron Microscopy and Chemical Analysis of Materials4 credit hours
ME 576Materials Failure Analysis4 credit hours
ME 578Introduction to Electronic Packaging4 credit hours
MSE 547Diffusion4 credit hours

Approved Omnibus Core Courses (requires DARS exception)

CourseDescriptionCredits
ME 577Introduction to Semiconductor Manufacturing4 credit hours
ME 510Material Surface Analysis4 credit hours
ME 510Thin Films Material Science & Technology4 credit hours

Thesis Option Details

Thesis defense cannot take place until it has been approved by the MME Academic Program Administrator. This is to ensure that all committees are finalized, timelines are adhered to, and milestones are met before presentations take place.

Students pursuing the thesis option 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 Graduate School. When you have confirmed your thesis committee members, submit the Appointment of Master's Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation Committee (GO-16 Form).

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.

Using this template, students are expected to provide a flyer to the MME Department to advertise their project presentation or thesis defense no later than two weeks prior to the presentation/defense date.

Project Option Details

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 Graduate School.

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 members would be selected by the advisor, department chair or graduate committee chair. All committee members must have master's degrees.

Thesis/Project Report Guidelines

Students pursuing the project option must complete a final report or a fully peer-reviewed paper with Permanent Advisor approval and a presentation. Master’s students pursuing the thesis option must complete and defend a thesis. All students must submit their final documents to their project or thesis committee at least one week prior to presentation/defense. 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 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

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