Electrical Engineering, MSEE (ESE)
Either a thesis option or a course option may be selected. The special requirements for these options are as follows:
Course Option
The Master of Science in Electrical Engineering is an academic master's degree designed mainly for both full-time and part-time students interested in proceeding to the departmental full-time doctoral program and/or an industrial career. Under the course option, students may not take Master's Research (ESE 7998) or Master's Project (ESE 7970). With faculty permission, they may take up to 3 units of graduate-level independent study (ESE 5999).
Thesis or Project Option
These options are intended for ESE students engaged in research projects. Candidates for this degree must complete a minimum of 24 units of course instruction and 6 units of Master's Thesis (ESE 7998) or Master's Project (ESE 7970); up to 3 thesis or project units may be applied toward the 15 core electrical engineering units required for the MSEE program. Up to 6 thesis or project units may be applied as electives for the MSEE, MSSSM, and MSDAS programs. Students can take at most 3 thesis or project units in a semester. For the thesis, the student must write a master's thesis and defend it in an oral examination. For the project, the students must complete a paper documenting their work and either present their work orally or at a departmental or school wide poster session.
Degree Requirements
Students pursuing the degree Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) must complete a minimum of 30 units of study consistent with the residency and other applicable requirements of Washington University and the McKelvey School of Engineering and subject to the following departmental requirements:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ESE 4150, 5130 | Optimization category | |
| ESE 5200-5290 | Applied probability category | |
| ESE 5300-5390 | Applied physics and electronics category | |
| ESE 5400-5490 | Control category | |
| ESE 5500-5590, ESE 5590-5599 | Systems category | |
| ESE 5600-5690 | Computer engineering category | |
| ESE 5700-5790 | Communications category | |
| ESE 5800-5890, ESE 5910-5980, ESE 5931-5933 | Signal and image processing category | |
| ESE 7998 Master's Research or ESE 7970 Master's Project | ||
| BME 5700 | Mathematics of Imaging Science | |
| CSE 5600 | Computer Architecture | |
- At least 15 units of the 30 total units applied toward the MSEE degree must be in ESE courses which, if cross-listed, have ESE as the home department.
- A maximum of 6 credits may be transferred from another institution and applied toward the master's degree. Regardless of the subject or level, all transfer courses are treated as electives and do not count toward the core requirements for the degree.
- All full-time graduate students are required to take Electrical & Systems Engineering Graduate Seminar (ESE 5980) each semester. This course is taken with the unsatisfactory/satisfactory grade option.
- The degree program must be consistent with the residency and other applicable requirements of Washington University and the McKelvey School of Engineering.
- Students must obtain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 out of a possible 4.0 overall for courses applied toward the degree. Courses that apply for the degree must be taken with the credit/letter grade option.
Degree Electives
- Any course numbered 4001 or greater in the Engineering (with the prefix of BME, CSE, EECE, ESE, or MEMS), Physics, Mathematics or Statistics and Data Science department, excluding the exceptions listed below, are approved by the department as electives.
- Students may take either ESE 4170 or CSE 4107, but they may not use both as electives for the degree.
- For students who have already taken ESE 3180 and ESE 3190, ESE 5010 may not be used as an elective for graduate credit.
- Undergraduate lab course, research, independent study, senior design or capstone course are not approved as electives. Requests for an exception to this policy may be submitted to the graduate program coordinator with the approval of the student's academic advisor.