M.S.C.E., M.S.E.E., M.S.M.E., AND M.S.E. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

1. The satisfactory completion of a minimum of at least 30 approved graduate credit hours as prescribed by the student's department and program committee and fulfilling the following:

   A minimum of 18 semester hours in a major area of engineering, no more than six of which can be for a research thesis or a creative design project; or, alternatively, no more than three of which can be for a special problem report. The decision as to whether a program will include a thesis, design project or problem report is to be made on an individual basis at the time of filing the student's Plan of Study.

   A minimum of 12 semester hours of approved electives. In order to broaden the student's exposure to subject matter and faculty expertise, at least six of these elective hours must be in mathematics, science or another engineering department. Inclusion of business and/or communications courses is permitted.

2. At least 18 of the required 30 semester hours must be in courses at the 6000-level or above.
3. Academic Standards: Only the grades of A, B or C are accepted toward a graduate degree. A grade of U in any graduate course will terminate the student's enrollment subject to readmission as prescribed in the University Catalog. Similarly, an accumulation of three C grades will result in termination of the student's enrollment, subject to readmission to a program. A student in any graduate program is required to maintain satisfactory progress toward the degree. Continued enrollment is at all times subject to review on the basis of academic record and of actions with regard to observance of University rules and regulations.

   Students admitted to full standing will normally be permitted to re-enroll in successive terms, subject to satisfactory performance on coursework and to load limitation imposed by their employers and the University. However, they must complete formal registration within the designated registration period. A student admitted conditionally will be permitted to continue, subject to satisfactory academic performance, until he or she has attempted 12 semester hours of graduate coursework, at which time admission status will be reviewed by the major department. Subsequently, the student will be advised as to his or her eligibility to continue.

   To qualify for a degree, the student must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 based upon all courses acceptable for graduate credit for which he or she received a grade from the University.

4. Transfer and residence credit are to be in accordance with University regulations.
5. All work offered for the master's degrees must be completed within a six-year period.

M.E. DEGREE

1. The satisfactory completion of at least 30 graduate credit hours including at least 18 hours in a major area of engineering and at least 12 hours of approved electives.
2. At least 18 of the required minimum of 30 semester hours must be at the 6000-level.
3. Academic Standards: Only the grades of A, B, or C are accepted toward the M.E. degree. A grade of U in any course will terminate the student's enrollment in the M.E. program subject to readmission as prescribed in the University Catalog. Similarly, an accumulation of three C grades will result in termination of the student's enrollment, subject to readmission to the program. A student in any graduate program is required to maintain satisfactory progress toward the degree. Continued enrollment is at all times subject to review on the basis of academic record and of actions with regard to observance of University rules and regulations.

   To qualify for the M.E. degree, the student must have a GPA of at least 3.0 based on all courses acceptable for graduate credit for which he or she received a grade from any of the participating universities.

4. Transfer Credit. Courses taken at any of the participating institutions are considered part of the program and are not treated as transfer courses. At the time of admission, up to six hours of transfer credit may be accepted from an ABET accredited engineering institution.
5. All courses offered for the Master of Engineering degree must be completed within 10 years.

Relatively minor changes in an approved Plan of Study (e.g., change in a date for when a course is to be taken, or a direct substitution of one course for another course in the same area) may be made at the discretion of the student's adviser and Program Committee, although such changes shall be so indicated in the student's Admission to Candidacy.

However, significant changes such as a change of adviser, change of research topic, change of minor area, etc., shall be submitted immediately to the EGC for its review to ensure that such changes conform to the existing guidelines for the specific program.

Student's Program Committee. Each student's Program Committee shall be composed of not less than three members of the graduate faculty, one of whom shall be from a department other than the student's major, with the Graduate Program Adviser serving as chair of the committee. The committee is recommended by the department after appropriate consultation between the adviser and student, and is subject to approval by the EGC at the time of submission of the Plan of Study.

If the student is to pursue an industrially oriented design project through an internship in a local industrial or governmental organization, the person supervising the internship project shall be added to the Program Committee upon approval of the project by the student's Program Committee.

The functions of the student's Program Committee are to participate in planning the student's program, evaluate his or her academic progress and make appropriate recommendations, evaluate the student's research thesis or design project, administer the comprehensive final examination, and, finally, make the recommendation as to the candidate's qualifications for the degree.

Admission to Candidacy. Upon completion of a substantial amount of graduate work and in no case later than two weeks prior to the beginning of the semester in which the student expects to complete all requisites for the degree, the student shall file for Admission to Candidacy on a form supplied by the Graduate School. This application is a checklist approved by the adviser, department chair, and the College Dean listing all coursework to be offered for the degree (including transfer credit and courses in progress). A tentative or, if possible, actual date for the comprehensive examination should be agreed upon and indicated on this application. The date should be realistic and allow ample time for completion and review of the thesis or project.

Comprehensive Examination. Upon completion (or near completion) of all degree requirements as indicated in the Admission to Candidacy, the candidate shall stand for a final comprehensive examination(s). This examination(s) (written, oral or both) is to be set and administered by the student's Program Committee and is to cover those areas of study and/or research as deemed appropriate by the Committee.

The result of this examination and the Committee's recommendation as to the candidate's qualifications for the degree shall be transmitted to the Graduate School Office through the EGC.

Assistantships. A number of graduate teaching and research assistantships are available each year. These assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis. Further information is available from the individual departments.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) DEGREE

UNC Charlotte offers multidisciplinary programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and in Mechanical Engineering. The doctoral program in Electrical Engineering is focused in the multidisciplinary areas of microelectronics, optoelectronics and computer engineering. The program in Mechanical Engineering is focused in the multi-disciplinary areas of computer integrated manu-facturing, materials, and precision engineering.

Additional Requirements for Acceptance into the Ph.D. Programs. In addition to the general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, the following are required for study toward the Ph.D. programs in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering:

1. A master's degree in engineering or a closely allied field with a GPA of at least 3.5. Students with only a baccalaureate degree may be admitted on a conditional basis, with an overall GPA of at least 3.2, but will not be formally admitted to the Ph.D. program until completion of the requirements for a master's degree.
2. An acceptable score on the verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examination General Test.
3. Three letters of reference, at least two of which must be from faculty members. All three must be from professionals working in the applicant's field of interest.

1. Appointment of a Ph.D. advisor and formation of an advisory committee.
2. Development of a Ph.D. Plan of Study detailing all course and examination requirements.
3. Successful completion of the written qualifying examination.
4. Presentation of a proposal for Ph.D. research and admission to candidacy.
5. Successful defense of the Ph.D. Dissertation.

Plan of Study. The Plan of Study will include at least 45 hours of formal course work beyond the baccalaureate degree and at least 18 hours of research/dissertation credits. For students who do not possess appropriate bachelor's and/or master's degrees in engineering, additional course work will be expected. The specific course requirements will be set by the student's Advisory Committee but must include:

1. At least 30 hours within the major field of study, no less than 18 of which must be in courses at the 6000-level or above open only to graduate students.
2. Two minors consisting of at least 6 hours each in related fields of study. For mechanical engineering students, one of these minors must consist of 9 hours of mathematics.

Graduate Only Courses. At least 18 hours in the major field must be in courses at the 6000-level or higher. At least 12 of those hours must be taken after admission to the Ph.D. program. Course work beyond the 18 hours may be at a lower level and courses taken in the related subject areas may be at the 5000 level.

Grades. A student is expected to achieve A's or B's in all course work taken for graduate credit and must have a GPA of at least a 3.0 in order to graduate. The dissertation is graded on a Pass/Unsatisfactory basis and, therefore, will not be included in the cumulative average. An accumulation of more than two marginal (C) grades will result in termination of the student's enrollment in the graduate program. If a student makes a grade of U on any course, enrollment will be terminated. A graduate student whose enrollment has been terminated because of grades is ineligible to attend any semester or summer session unless properly readmitted to the graduate program. Readmission to the program requires approval of the Dean of the Graduate School upon the recommendation of the student's major department and the Engineering Doctoral Graduate Committee of the College of Engineering.

Transfer Credit. See "Doctoral Degree Requirements" in this Catalog for a discussion of transferred credit.

Residence. A student may satisfy the residency requirement for the program by completing 18 hours, either course work or research credits, by study-in-residence during the academic year and during the summer terms, as long as the study is continuous. Study-in-residence is deemed to be continuous if the student is enrolled in one or more courses (including research/ dissertation credit) in successive semesters until eighteen hours of credit are earned.

Qualifying Examination. In addition to demonstrating a high level of competence in course work, the student must pass a comprehensive written qualifying examination in the major and minor areas. The qualifying examination should be taken before completion of 18 hours beyond the master's degree in the major and minor areas but must be passed no later than one year after initial admission to the program. Failure to pass the qualifying examination in two tries will result in the termination of the student's enrollment in the Ph.D. program.

Dissertation Proposal and Admission to Candidacy. Because the Ph.D. program is heavily based on independent research, each student must write a proposal describing his/her proposed dissertation research following the technical guidelines established by the department. The proposal must be presented to and orally defended before the student's advisory committee. The proposal must be presented within one year after the qualifying examination is passed. Upon approval of the student's dissertation proposal, the advisory committee will recommend the student's admission to candidacy subject to the approval of the Engineering Doctoral Graduate Committee and the Dean of the Graduate School.

Dissertation. Evidence of a high degree of competence in scholarship, written exposition, independent inquiry and the ability to organize and apply knowledge must be demonstrated by the student in the dissertation. The student will make a public defense of the dissertation at which time the dissertation, as well as the student's knowledge of the field, will be appropriate matter for examination by the student's advisory committee. Although questions may be asked by the general audience, evaluation of the dissertation defense is the sole responsibility of the advisory committee. The dissertation will be graded on a Pass/Unsatisfactory basis.

Research Tool Requirements. Each student is expected to develop a working knowledge of the library tools used in literature search and review in the major field of concentration. This would include familiarity with at least one of the computer-based databases available at UNC Charlotte. In addition, each student is expected to have a working knowledge of at least one computer language appropriate for the field of inquiry. The student will have a working knowledge of appropriate major software packages and will have the ability to develop original software as needed.

Time Limit. Students are allowed a maximum of eight (8) calendar years from formal admission to the Ph.D. program to complete the program successfully.

The College of Engineering at UNC Charlotte has a cooperative arrangement with North Carolina State University (NCSU) to provide Ph.D. degree candidates located in Charlotte and enrolled in the Ph.D. program at NCSU with the opportunity to carry out most of their course work and dissertation research at UNC Charlotte. In addition to courses available at UNC Charlotte, selected doctoral-level courses from other participating institutions are available via the NC-REN telecommunications network.

Admission. Requirements for admission to the cooperative Ph.D. program are:

1. The student must have previously earned a master's degree in engineering at UNC Charlotte or another accredited university.
2. The student must be accepted by a department in the UNC Charlotte College of Engineering.
3. The student must be accepted by the UNC Charlotte Graduate School.
4. The student's academic interests must parallel those of a UNC Charlotte faculty member who has been appointed to the NCSU graduate faculty or who is deemed eligible for such appointment.
5. The student must be sponsored and recommended for admission to the NCSU Ph.D. program by the department in which he or she has been accepted at UNC Charlotte. The student must be accepted by the NCSU Graduate School and the corresponding engineering department at NCSU. This acceptance by both UNCC and NCSU constitutes admission to the Ph.D. program which normally should be completed within the second semester of work beyond the master's degree.