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Master's Program

Master's Programs

Master's of Science in Engineering (M.S. Eng.) - Electrical Engineering (EE)

Master's of Science in Engineering (M.S. Eng.) - Computer Engineering (CP)

Co-op Option in Graduate Engineering

Graduate-Admissions-RequirementsGraduate Admissions Requirements

1. General requirement for all applications:

All applicants must submit the application materials supplied by the Graduate Admissions Office as well as the official score report for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Aptitude Test. Applicants must meet all Graduate Admissions standards for this program, which includes two letters of recommendation.

2. With a BS in Engineering and related areas:

  • Applicants to the MS Engineering in EE or CP programs should hold a BS degree in EE, CP, areas related to EE or CP, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or other Engineering disciplines, with acceptable quality of undergraduate work from an accredited college or university.
  • Applicants to the MS Engineering in EE or CP should possess the following backgrounds and their pre-requisites.

Electrical Engineering

Computer Engineering

Applicants who lack any of the above backgrounds and their pre-requisites are required to make up their deficiencies as conditions for acceptance.

3. With a BS in Technology

Students who lack the BS Engineering in EE or CP but hold a bachelor’s degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering Technology, or Electronics Technology may be admitted under special circumstances. These circumstances include an academic record of high achievement in their undergraduate studies in Technology as evaluated at the discretion of the Graduate Coordinator.

In addition, such students must complete a series of analytically oriented courses in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell.

4. Applicants applying for the Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's program

The Bachelor's to Master's program is an accelerated program offered by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to encourage its outstanding undergraduate students to continue study at graduate level. Undergraduate students who have a GPA of 3.000 or better at the end of their junior year and are interested in this program must apply for this program before they complete the undergraduate graduation requirements. Students who apply for the BS/MS program are not required to submit the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores and are exempted from the application fee. With the approval of the Graduate Coordinator, students in the BS/MS program may use up to six credits of graduate courses with an earned grade of B or better for both graduate and undergraduate degrees.

AcademicRequirementsAcademic Requirements

This is a 30-credit master's degree. Graduate students can choose to complete a thesis or a non-thesis option. Students are required to take 9 credits of core courses as well as elective courses to complete their program of study.

1. Credit Requirements

Non-Thesis Option
CoursesCr.
Core Requirements9
Technical Electives18
Advanced Project3
Total credit hours30 credits

Thesis Option
CoursesCr.
Core Requirements9
Technical Electives15
Thesis6
Graduate Seminar (16.601/601) 
Total credit hours30 credits

With the approval of the Graduate Coordinator, students in the BS/MS program may use up to six credits of graduate courses with an earned grade of B or better for both graduate and undergraduate degrees.

Technical electives are Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate course and concentration courses. Students may choose their technical electives in their area of concentration and across other areas to establish a broad knowledge base. Graduate courses in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and other engineering disciplines may be taken as technical electives only if they are pre-approved by the Graduate Coordinator for non-thesis option, or concurrently by the Graduate Coordinator and the student’s thesis advisor for thesis option.

The credits for Advanced Graduate Project (EECE.7330) cannot be counted toward the requirement for the thesis-option. It can be replaced with a 3-credit technical elective for the non-thesis option.

2. Core Requirement

The objective of the core requirement is to guarantee broad analytical strength for the MS Engineering students.

Required Core Courses for MS in Electrical Engineering (choose 3 courses)

Students in Electrical Engineering must take three of the above courses that may be pertinent to their area of concentration.

Required Core Courses for MS in Computer Engineering (choose 3 courses)

Students in Computer Engineering must take three of the above courses that may be pertinent to their area of concentration.

3. Concentration

A concentration is generally defined by a coordinated and approved sequence of at least four graduate courses. Each student can choose to work out a concentration either with the graduate coordinator or with his/her academic advisor. Completion of a specific concentration is not required for graduation. The course sequences in the concentrations serve as a starting point for establishing a program of study in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator or the student’s academic/thesis advisor to meet his/her educational objectives. It is expected that the courses comprising the concentration will complement the work the student will undertake in fulfillment of the research requirement. 

4.Research for Thesis Option

The research requirement may be fulfilled by completion of an MS Thesis, including registration for six credits of EECE.7430/EECE.7460 - MS Thesis Research, oral defense of the thesis and submission of the written document. 

Areas of Concentration

In addition to the required three core courses (9 credits), three additional courses from a concentration are recommended depending upon whether a thesis is selected or not.

1. Concentration courses in Electrical Engineering

  • Information Systems (Telecommunications)

Opto-Electronics is an option in cooperation with the Department of Physics, and may be pursued by students enrolled in the MS Eng in EE program. This option contains required and recommended courses designed to provide a fundamental background in optical devices and systems, as well as in optical physics and in the electro-optical properties of materials.

In addition to the required three core courses, students pursuing this option must take 16.568 Electro-Optics and Integrated Optics and two other courses from the above list.

Other concentrations in Electrical Engineering can be found from the clusters of courses specified as ECE certificates in the "Graduate Certificates" section.

2. Concentration courses in Computer Engineering

  • Computer Networking and Distributed Systems
  • Multimedia Digital Signal and Image Processing and Applications
Updated 3/7/24