MS COMP E (PLAN A) THESIS OPTION

A. THE DEGREE PROGRAM FORM—MS COMP E (PLAN A) THESIS OPTION

1. Students are expected to file an official program for the degree after completion of 10 semester credits.

2. There are a total of 31 semester credits in the program.

3. Major field requirement: A minimum of 15 major field course credits are required for the degree. At least 3 of these must be at the 8000-level.

4. The program must include at least 6 major field course credits in Electrical Engineering (courses must be registered using EE course designator).

5. The program must include at least 6 major field course credits in Computer Science (courses must be registered using CS course designator).

6. Related field requirement: A program must include 6 credits from outside the list of courses approved for the major field, but within the Institute of Technology or the Department of Statistics.

7. Minor field requirement: For a designated minor, 6 credits are required in a single field within the Institute of Technology or the Department of Statistics.

8. A designated minor in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science should focus on a particular subject outside of Computer Engineering, such as digital signal processing, microelectronics, artificial intelligence, or numerical analysis, for instance, and must be approved by the Directors of Graduate Study in both Computer Engineering and the designated minor program.

9. The program must include 10 thesis credits (the course designator is CmpE 8777).

10. The breadth requirement must be satisfied (see the Degree Program Checklist).

11. A maximum of 2 semester credits of seminar or special investigations may be included in a program.

12. No credits from colloquia may be included in a program.

13. Practical training does not count toward degree requirements.

14. A maximum of 60% of coursework credits may be taken from a single department. (Courses that have equivalent CS and EE designators may be counted using either designator, for the purposes of satisfying this rule.)

B. CHART OF MS COMP E (PLAN A) CREDIT REQUIREMENTS

C. WHAT THE GRADUATE SCHOOL MONITORS

1. DEGREE PROGRAM FORM

   File after completion of 10 semester credits

2. THESIS REVIEWER'S REPORT FORM

   This form is included in the graduation packet which may be requested via the web or in person at the Graduate School.

3. FINAL EXAMINATION REPORT FORM

   The report form must be returned to the Graduate School no later than the first workday following the examination.

4. TWO UNBOUND COPIES OF THE THESIS, SIGNED BY THE ADVISOR

D. THE MS THESIS

Students must demonstrate familiarity with the tools of research or scholarship in their major field, the ability to work independently, and the ability to present the results of their investigation effectively, by completing a master's thesis.

1. MS THESIS REGISTRATION (CMPE 8777) 10 CREDITS

2. THESIS RESEARCH OFF-CAMPUS REQUIRES PERMISSION FROM THE GRADUATE COMMITTEE

   A student who has completed at least one year of full-time graduate study on campus and who has been admitted to candidacy for a degree may petition the program’s Graduate Committee to conduct thesis research off-campus. This petition should be written in the form of a memo and must be accompanied by an outline, in moderate detail, of the proposed research. It should be signed by your advisor and it should be submitted to the Assistant to the Director of Graduate Studies for program handling. The burden of proof of the desirability of such an arrangement rests upon the stu-dent and his/her advisor; approval must be obtained before the project begins. The following principles will apply:

   1. The specific area of the thesis research must be represented in the Graduate School; i.e., the faculty advisor must be competent to direct the thesis research.

   2. The off-campus site must offer special opportunities, such as experimental facili-ties, installations, specialized collections, or collaborative research items, which are unavailable on campus.

   3. A member of the graduate faculty must actively join in the direction of the research of the student.

   4. An outline of the proposed research study must be approved by the student’s examining committee before the research begins.

3. THESIS CREDIT REQUIREMENT

   Students must enroll for a minimum of 10 master's thesis credits (8777) before receiving the degree. Students cannot transfer thesis credits from other graduate institutions, double-count thesis credits between two master's degrees, or use thesis credits to meet the minimum major and related field coursework requirements for the degree.

4. THESIS TITLE

   The thesis title is submitted for approval as part of the information provided on the student's official Degree Program form. Subsequent changes in the wording of the thesis title only may be made without special approval. However, once the student registers the thesis title with the Graduate School (see Registration of the Thesis Title), changes to the title should not be made.

5. THE THESIS REVIEWERS REPORT FORM AND THE GRADUATION PACKET

   The Graduate School no longer requires Master’s Plan A students to submit a title page in order to register their thesis, i.e., to obtain the graduation packet which ../../../includes the Thesis Reviewers Report form, Application for Degree form, and other important degree clearance documents. The graduation packet may also be requested via the web. The web site is http://www.grad.umn.edu/gsss/degree%5Fcompletion/masters/index.html. Graduation packets will be mailed to students in 3 working days. If there are questions or concerns about the request, the student will be contacted in 3-4 working days.

6. REGISTRATION OF THE THESIS TITLE

   When the draft of the thesis is ready to be distributed to the thesis reviewers, the student must register the title with the Graduate School by submitting a copy of the thesis title page as it will appear in the final document. Upon submission of the thesis title page, the Graduate School confirms that the student has an approved Degree Program on file and that the student has maintained active status (registered at least once a year). If the conditions are met, the student is provided with the thesis reviewers report form and the other forms and information necessary to graduate.

7. THESIS REVIEWERS

   The thesis is read by the entire examining committee, which is appointed by the dean of the Graduate School on recommendation of the faculty in the major field at the time the student's official Degree Program is approved. This examining committee consists of at least three members: two representatives from the major field and one from the minor or a related field.

   To permit faculty to allocate sufficient time to read the thesis and decide whether it is ready for defense, students must notify their adviser and other members of the final oral committee at least two weeks in advance that the thesis will be delivered on a particular date. All members of the examining committee must then have at least two weeks to read the thesis after it has been delivered.

   The entire committee must be unanimous in certifying that the thesis is ready for defense, as indicated by their signatures on the thesis reviewers report form. When the signed form is returned to the Graduate School, the student is provided with the final examination report form.

8. PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF THE THESIS

   Two copies of the thesis must be submitted to the Graduate School. The student's adviser(s) must sign both copies of the thesis to confirm that they are complete and satisfactory in all respects and that all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made. Instructions for the preparation of the thesis, including format specifications and adviser's signature requirements, may be obtained from the Graduate School website http://www.grad.umn.edu.

9. SUBMIT ONE BOUND COPY OF YOUR THESIS TO THE COMPUTER ENGINEERING OFFICE

   Your thesis must be printed on archival paper (100% cotton or acid free 20# weight paper). The binding must be maroon in color.

E. FINAL EXAMINATION

Candidates for the master's degree, Plan A and Plan B, must pass a final oral examination. The candidate is responsible for contacting the committee members and scheduling the Final Oral Examination at a time when all committee members can be present. The final examinations cover the major field and the minor or related fields, and may include any work fundamental to these fields. The final oral for the master's degree is conducted as a closed examination, attended by only the student and the examining committee.