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Cullen College of Engineering

Degree Requirements

Master of Science
Thesis option

A minimum of 30 semester hours, including a thesis, are required for the degree of Master of Science. Certain programs, such as civil, chemical, and mechanical engineering, place a greater emphasis on the master's thesis and require fewer semester hours of course work. All applicants should contact their departmental or interdisciplinary program graduate advisor for information on variations in the semester hour requirements for the master of science degree. All students selecting the thesis option program must satisfactorily defend the thesis before the thesis committee prior to its acceptance.

Master of Science
Non-thesis option

Civil engineering requires 36 semester hours while mechanical and chemical engineering require 33 and 30 semester hours, respectively. The non-thesis Master of Science option is also available in several interdisciplinary programs: aerospace engineering (30 hours), computer and systems engineering (36 hours), environmental engineering (36 hours), and petroleum engineering (30 hours). Departmental or program graduate advisors should be consulted regarding these and other requirements for the degree.

Master of Engineering
Prerequisites

Graduate students seeking the Master of Engineering must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited program in engineering or a related discipline.

Degree Requirements
Each student must complete between 30 and 36 semester hours of academic work, which may or may not include a design project, depending on departmental requirements. Approximately one-third of the program will be in engineering design, one-third in advanced technical courses, and one-third at the option of the major department.

M.B.A./M.I.E. Concurrent Degree Program
Prerequisites

Students applying for the M.I.E. program are required to have a bachelor's degree from an accredited program in engineering or a related discipline. Students must also be currently working as an engineer and/or have completed a minimum of two years of engineering work experience by the time the degree is completed.

Degree Requirements

The College of Business Administration and the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston offer a concurrent degree program that enables students to prepare for careers in which the understanding of both business and engineering is critical. This program provides students with the opportunity to complete the degree requirements of Master of Business Administration and Master of Industrial Engineering with a major in engineering management in a shorter time period than if the degrees were pursued separately. The intent of this program is that upon completion of the requirements of each degree, both degrees would be awarded simultaneously.

Students interested in the M.B.A./M.I.E. concurrent degree program must follow the separate application procedures for admission to the M.B.A. program and the M.I.E. program. All persons must be admitted separately to each of the programs and admission to one has no official bearing upon admission to the other. Upon acceptance, enrollment in both the Cullen College of Engineering (M.I.E.) and the College of Business Administration (M.B.A.) academic programs should occur within a period of one calendar year.

The College of Business Administration requires concurrent degree program students to complete the core M.B.A. courses and an additional nine hours of graduate business electives. The Cullen College of Engineering requires the student to complete 24 hours of industrial engineering courses. Upon completion of these curriculum requirements for both degrees, 12 semester hours from the graduate engineering curriculum will apply toward the M.B.A. degree and 12 semester hours of graduate business curriculum courses will apply toward the M.I.E. degree.

General Requirements

In general, no 3000-level courses are applicable to a graduate degree program. The use of junior-level engineering courses by engineering students should be for leveling courses only. Any use of junior-level courses for graduate credit must be approved in advance by petition.

All course work taken to satisfy the master's degree requirements must be approved in advance by the departmental or program graduate advisor. The student is expected to be familiar with the various requirements of his or her particular department or program.