General Guidelines for Master of Science Degree (Departmental Report Option) - No Thesis/No Report
A rapidly expanding technology demands that the engineer have increased breadth and depth of knowledge. Consistent with this need, a Master of Science degree may be completed without the preparation of a formal research thesis. Instead, a student may be permitted to enroll in a no-thesis program which involves additional course work (27 hours of organized course work versus 24 hours for a thesis program) and the preparation of an appropriate engineering project. Most graduate students, especially students holding University Fellowships, traineeships or research assistantships, are encouraged to complete a thesis.
For the master's degree under the departmental report option (officially No Thesis/No Report), the Graduate School rules as described in Chapter 3 of the Graduate Catalog apply. That is, at least thirty semester hours of coursework are required. Each program must include at least twenty-seven hours of graduate coursework. At most three hours of upper division undergraduate coursework may be counted toward the degree in either the major or the supporting work.
In addition to the Graduate School requirements, coursework must be approved according to procedures set by the graduate studies committee. Credit/No Credit classes are only allowed in supporting work and, thus, seminars, CE x97C Master's Research are not allowed in approved programs of coursework. The required classes are area specific. Some areas may require registration in a seminar, even if it cannot be counted toward the Graduate School degree requirements.
During the first semester of your MS program you should select a supervising professor. By the end of the first semester you and your supervising professor should develop a program of work and select a topic for your report.
Three semester hours of credit will be received for an engineering report which the student must prepare and have approved by a supervisory committee. The committee consists of the supervising professor and at least one additional member of the graduate faculty of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering. The report must show evidence of good technical writing and demonstrate communication skills. The report should be completed while the student is registered for 398D (Departmental Report) for which credit/no credit is assigned. Civil Engineering and Environmental and Water Resources Engineering majors (code 621700 and 640100 respectively) register for CE 398D. Once a student registers for 398D, registration must be repeated until graduation. You must be registered for 398D during the semester that you receive your degree. In addition, the student must submit to the Graduate Advisor a Clearance Letter signed by the committee members certifying satisfactory completion of the report on or before the posted final submission deadline of the semester the student intends to graduate.
Early in the semester you plan to graduate you should read about graduation guidelines and deadlines on the Graduate School website: https://gradschool.utexas.edu/academics/graduation/deadlines-and-submission-instructions. Included in this material is a list of deadlines you must meet during the semester in order to graduate. The following steps constitute the usual procedure for preparing to graduate:
a) Register for CE 398D in your final semester.
b) Submit a Docusign of your MS_Program of Work form to your faculty advisor. Students will be required to have a GPA of at least 3.0 for courses included on the POW.
Once the Program of Work is approved, you must complete the online Master's Graduation Application Form online before the posted deadline.
c) Submit your Report to your faculty supervisors for review.
The Departmental Report is not uploaded to the Graduate School but instead is retained by the department.
Route the Clearance Letter (faculty signature page) to the faculty for their final approval.
The Clearance Letter docusign form routes automatically to the Graduate Advisor.
The Clearance Letter is due by the posted final submission deadline by 3:00 p.m. CST. Certification of graduation is withheld until a Clearance Letter is on file.
If, after filing for graduation, you find that you will not complete the degree requirements that semester, you should notify the Graduate School and the Graduate Coordinator. A new Master's Graduation Application Form must be submitted at the beginning of the next semester you hope to graduate.
The official degree awarded under this program is the Master of Science in Engineering degree.
