A student must meet with the Graduate Student Coordinator and complete the Program of Study Form prior to their final semester of study. After it is approved by the student’s Supervisory Committee and the Director of Graduate Studies it will be submitted to the Graduate School for approval.
Requirements
The Program of Study must meet the Graduate School requirement of 30 credit hours of graduate coursework:
- Required courses for EE or CE track
- 18 Advanced ECE (6000- level and above) credit hours including final exam requirement, see options:
Coursework
3-4 credits
Course from Approved List
see final exam requirement section
3-6 credits
ECE 6950 Special Study
see MS Project page
6-10 credits
ECE 6970 Thesis Research
Up to 6 credits of Special Study and 10 credits of Thesis Research only can count towards the 30 credit degree requirement. Although additional credits of these type, especially thesis, may be required for research and defense, they cannot be counted.
Allied Courses
In addition to the required 18 Advanced ECE credit requirement, students may complete additional courses for allied credit. Allied courses include:
- ECE 5000- level courses
- ECE 5960/6960-011 TA Training
- ECE 6900/6910 Graduate Seminar (for EE track)
- ECE 7951 Teaching Engineering
- ECE 7952 Education Project
- Allied department 5000-7000- level courses
Allied Departments
- ANAT – Neurobiology and Anatomy
- ASTR – Astronomy
- ATMOS – Atmospheric Sciences
- BIO C – Biochemistry
- BIOL – Biology
- BLCHM – Biological chemistry
- BME – Biomedical Engineering
- BMI – Biomedical Informatics
- CH EN – Chemical Engineering
- CHEM – Chemistry
- COMP – Computing
- CS – Computer Science
- CTLE – Center for Teaching Excellence
- CVEEN – Civil and Environmental Engineering
- ENGIN – Engineering
- GEO – Geology and Geophysics
- MATH – Mathematics
- MBIOL – Molecular Biology
- ME EN – Mechanical Engineering
- MET E – Metallurgical Engineering
- MG EN – Mining Engineering
- MSE – Materials Science and Engineering
- MST – Master of Science and Technology
- NEUSC – Neuroscience
- NSURG – Neurosurgery
- NUCL – Nuclear Engineering
- PHYS – Physics
- RDLGY – Radiology
- ROBOT – Robotics see Robotics Certificate
Required Track Courses
Electrical Engineering Track (EE)
ECE 6900 Graduate Seminar I (1.0) – Fall
ECE 6910 Graduate Seminar II (1.0) – Spring
The graduate seminar credits can be completed in any order within a student’s first academic year in the program. Remote learning only students are not required to complete graduate seminar.
Computer Engineering Track (CE)
ECE 6710 Digital VLSI Design (4.0) – Fall
ECE 6810 Computer Architecture (3.0) – Fall
Courses from CE Restricted Elective List* – Various
*Number of courses based on degree option: Coursework – 4 courses; Project – 3 courses; Thesis – 2 courses
CE Restricted Elective List
Students who completed their undergraduate degree at the University of Utah that may have already completed required and/or CE restricted elective courses at the 5000- level will not be required to retake the same class again. They should meet with the Graduate Student Coordinator to make a note that the requirement has been fulfilled, even if the credits are unable to transfer onto the MS Program of Study and count towards the 30 credits for degree completion.
- CS 6110 – Software Verification
- CS 6140 – Data Mining
- CS 6150 – Advanced Algorithms
- CS 6235 – Program. Many-Core Architecture
- CS 6300 – Artificial Intelligence*
- CS 6350 – Machine Learning*
- CS 6353 – Deep Learning*
- CS 6450 – Distributed Systems
- CS 6460 – Operating Systems
- CS 6470 – Comp. Principles & Techniques
- CS 6475 – Advanced Compilers
- CS 6480 – Advanced Computer Networks
- CS 7460 – Distributed Operating Systems
- ECE 5325 – Wireless Comm Systems
- ECE 5520 – Digital Communication Systems
- ECE 6530 – Digital Signal Processing
- ECE 6531 – Adv. Digital Signal Processing
- ECE 6580 – Implementation of DSP Systems
- CS/ECE 6720 – Analog Integrated Circuit Design
- CS/ECE 6740 – CAD of Digital Circuits
- CS/ECE 6745 – Test & Verif of Digital Circuits
- CS/ECE 6750 – Synth & Verif Async VLSI Systems
- CS/ECE 6770 – Adv. Digital VLSI Systems Design
- CS/ECE 6780 – Embedded System Design
- CS/ECE 6785 – Adv. Embedded Systems
- CS/ECE 6830 – VLSI Architecture
- CS/ECE 7810 – Adv. Architecture
- CS/ECE 7820 – Parallel Architecture
*As CS 6300/6350/6353 are similar in content, only one will be accepted on a Computer Engineering track student’s Program of Study to count towards the CE Restricted Elective requirement.
Additional Criteria
All coursework should be completed within 4 consecutive years (not including any official Leaves of Absence) and students should graduate in the semester in which 30 hours of coursework are completed.
- A minimum GPA of 3.0 on coursework listed on the program of study with no grade lower than C- is required for graduation. Courses cannot be removed from a transcript after they are taken. If a student receives a grade lower than C- in a course listed on the Program of Study they must take a different course to meet the 30 credit requirement or repeat that same course and receive a higher grade, if the course is required for their track.
- Students who receive an “Incomplete” grade in a class must complete the work as soon as possible.
- Coursework cannot be used for more than one degree.
- Cross-listed courses must be registered through the ECE course numbers.
- A course taken for 5000-level credit cannot be taken again for 6000-level credit.
- Where an ECE course has both a 5000- and 6000-level number, the 5000-level version is intended for undergraduates and the 6000-level version for honors and graduate students. The two versions of the class will meet together, but extra work will be expected of honors and graduate students.
International students must be registered for at least 9 credit hours of coursework in every semester (excluding summer) unless they receive permission from the Department Graduate Committee prior to the beginning of the semester.
Students on tuition benefit are required to enroll in a minimum of 9 credits and a maximum of 12 credits will be covered. Additional credits will NOT be covered by tuition benefit
For final semester credit requirements for students completing the thesis option, please see the THESIS section under Final Exam Requirement Options.
