Programs of Study in Systems and Design

The formal requirements for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are stated in the General Catalogue under the Graduate Program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. When you get here, you will work with your faculty advisor to formulate a program of study. In the meantime, the following is intended to give you an idea of the possibilities.

For the M.S. degree, you may choose either the Thesis Option or the Comprehensive Examination Option. Within the Comprehensive Examination Option, you can choose the Courses Only Suboption or the Project Suboption. The requirements are stated in terms of units, but roughly speaking the Thesis, Project, and Courses Only require 7, 9 and 11 courses, respectively. All options require a total of 36 units; for the Thesis and Project Options, research units supplement the course units. For the Ph.D. degree, six courses additional courses are required. Because the program of study for the Ph.D. degree is very student and research topic specific, we will limit our attention to programs of study for the M.S. degree in the following.

The Department is separated into a Fluid/Thermal Sciences Section and a Systems and Design Section. The following example programs of study for the M.S. degree are provided to illustrate some but not all possibilities in Systems and Design.

Core Courses (required for all students):

MAE200A Engineering Analysis I (4 units)

MAE200B Engineering Analysis II (4 units)

MAE241 Dynamics (3 units)

MAE270 Linear Systems Theory I (3 units)

MAE298 Seminars in Mechanical Engineering (1 unit each quarter)

For the Thesis, Project, and Courses Only Options, the remaining 3, 5 and 7 courses, respectively, could be chosen in one of the following areas. Most if not all of the courses listed are 3 units. For the Thesis and Project Options, research possibilities are listed for each area and should be investigated further through consultation with the associated faculty member.

 

Biomechatronics

Computer-Controlled Devices

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

Robotics and Automation

Theoretical and Applied Control