SECTION II: Master of Science Degree Requirements

Updated: November 17, 2006

Academic Requirements

Degree Designation

The School of Aerospace Engineering offers two master of science (MS) degrees. The first is the "Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering" degree and is generally referred to as a "designated degree." The second is the "Master of Science" degree which is referred to as an "undesignated degree." The only difference between these two degrees is that the "designated degree" requires that the candidate must have completed all academic course work required for a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree. Refer to Appendix A for the courses required for the Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree at Georgia Tech.

Program of Study

Each student enrolled in the Master of Science program will, in conference with the academic advisor, formulate a program of study which satisfies both the technical interests of the student and the degree requirements set forth herein and in the General Catalog. Sample MS degree programs are presented at the end of this section to assist the student in designing a program of study. Appendix B contains descriptions of courses offered by the School of Aerospace Engineering. Appendix C is a listing of the anticipated terms when these courses will be offered. It should be noted that a course may not be offered if there is insufficient demand.

While each program of study can be tailored to the specific interests of the student, it must also satisfy certain minimum coursework requirements in order for the degree to be awarded by the School of Aerospace Engineering. The following table summarizes these requirements for the MS degree. (See below for further discussion of these requirements.)

*  Maximum number of hours taken outside AE, including nontechnical, but excluding Math.
**Technical courses are any courses in the College of Engineering, College of Science or College of Computing; all other courses are considered nontechnical.

After the program of study is agreed to by the student and advisor, the courses will be listed on the "MS Program Summary" form (See Appendix F) by the advisor. This form will be retained with the student's other academic records in the AE Academic Office. Each semester, when the student confers with the advisor before registration, the advisor will update this form with the grades obtained and enter any modifications to the program of study. The final approved program of study must be completed within a period of six consecutive calendar years.

At the beginning of the semester preceding the term in which the student expects to graduate, the student will submit his or her Degree Petition to the AE Academic Office with a completed copy of an "Approved Program of Study for the Master's Degree" (See Appendix F). All courses used to fulfill the course requirements for the degree must be taken on a letter grade basis.

MS With Thesis

All students enrolled in the Master of Science program must decide sometime during the first semester whether or not a thesis will be submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements. Those students who will be submitting a thesis must complete a minimum of 24 hours of formal course work at the 4000 level or above, which do not include any courses required for the Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree at Georgia Tech (see Appendix A). Of these 24 hours of course work, at least 9 must be taken in the School of Aerospace Engineering. Of the remaining hours no more than 3 may be in a non-technical subject as long as the course forms a reasonable part of the program of study. The 24 hours of coursework must include at least 15 credit hours at the 6000 level or above. All of these minimum credit requirements must be taken on a letter grade basis.

In addition to the formal course work described above, the student is also required to satisfactorily complete a minimum of 9 credit hours of Master's Thesis (AE 7000) and submit an approved MS thesis to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.

MS Without Thesis

Those students who will not be submitting a thesis must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 33 credit hours at the 4000 level or above, which do not include any courses required for the Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree at Georgia Tech (see Appendix A). Of these 33 hours, at least 12 hours of coursework must be taken in the School of Aerospace Engineering. Of the remaining hours only 6 may be in a non-technical subject as long as these courses form a reasonable part of the program of studies. These 33 hours must include at least 24 credit hours at the 6000 level or above. All of these minimum credit requirements must be taken on a letter grade basis.

The MS Without Thesis option must also include 3 research hours (AE8900, Special Problems in Aerospace Engineering). This is designed to provide MS students electing this option with an introduction to planning, carrying out, and documenting a research project. Additional hours of AE8900 may be taken but only 3 hours will be allowed in the 33 hour requirement for the degree. In order to pre-register for AE8900, you must complete a request form (see www.ae.gatech.edu/graduate/grad_forms) and have it approved by your advisor before emailing it to a member of the AE Academic Office Staff. In order to receive credit for this course, you must submit a report to your advisor each semester you are registered for any hours. You must then submit a cover sheet showing the letter grade along with a summary or abstract to the AE Academic Office. See Appendix F for the necessary forms.

Mathematics Requirement

Before receiving the Master of Science degree, the student must have completed at least 6 semester hours of mathematics beyond the mathematics requirement for the Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree at Georgia Tech.These courses must be at the 4000 level or above (with the exception of Math 3215).These courses must either carry the 'Math' prefix or be selected from the list in Appendix E. The courses in this list were selected because they primarily introduce mathematical methodology rather than use mathematical techniques to model physical phenomena. Additional courses may be added to the list by the AE Graduate Committee. Request for additional courses should be submitted to the Committee before the student signs up for the class. If the additional mathematics courses were taken before entering the graduate program at Georgia Tech, and if those courses were not used to satisfy requirements for another degree, then the student may seek transfer credit for those courses. If transfer credit is not possible or not awarded, then the additional mathematics courses may not be included in the program of study. However, subject to recommendation by the advisor and approval by the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Research, those courses may still be used to fulfill the six hour mathematics requirement. In this case, the final program of study must satisfy the appropriate degree requirements (minimum of 24 hours or 30 hours of formal course work), but there will be less than six hours of mathematics. All mathematics courses counting towards the six hour requirement must be completed on a letter grade basis.

Academic Performance

All students enrolled in the Master of Science program in the School of Aerospace Engineering are required to maintain a grade point average of at least 2.7 in order to be in "good academic standing." This average will be computed for all course work that is eligible to be counted towards the degree. If a student retakes a class, only the most recent grade will be used to compute this GPA for AE purposes. However, the registrar compiles the official GPA using all grades received while a graduate student at Georgia Tech.

A student may be admitted to the Master of Science program on "conditional graduate standing" because of marginal undergraduate grades or an undergraduate degree which does not provide sufficient prerequisite material.  Such a student must satisfy certain academic requirements which will be established at the time of matriculation before he/she can transfer to full graduate standing. Students with low undergraduate grade point averages must complete at least 18 credits of graduate course work with a grade point average of at least 2.7 before being recommended for "full graduate standing." Students whose undergraduate background does not sufficiently prepare them for the Master of Science program in their discipline of choice must complete certain undergraduate course work as recommended by their academic advisor and approved by the AE Graduate Coordinator. This course work must be completed with a grade point average of at least 2.7 before the student is recommended for "full graduate standing." Eligible courses taken while on conditional standing carry over and count for credit toward the degree.

Transfer Credit

A student may receive up to six hours of transfer credit for graduate-level courses taken at an accredited institution in the United States or Canada and not used for credit toward another degree. To obtain transfer of credit, the student must confer with the academic advisor to ascertain that the courses to be transferred are a logical part of the student's program of study. If the courses are appropriate, the student must provide a current transcript which verifies completion of the credit, plus necessary descriptive materials including catalog descriptions and textbooks for evaluation of the credit.

A student may not receive transfer credit towards the MS degree from universities outside the United States and Canada. An international student can obtain credit for courses previously taken but not applied toward another degree by passing an appropriate examination. Such students should consult with their advisor in this regard. See Student Rules and Regulations X11.8.

MS Thesis

Towards the end of the first semester following matriculation, all students who have elected to submit a thesis as part of their MS degree program will select their thesis topic. This decision will be made in conference with the assigned academic advisor. Definition of the thesis topic will include identification of the motivation for the investigation, a scheduling of the scope of work associated with the study, and a statement of the anticipated objectives. The purpose of the thesis is to further the educational development by requiring the student to plan, conduct and report on an organized and systematic study of importance.

Advisory Committee & Proposal

Shortly after the thesis topic has been identified, the student and advisor will select a thesis advisory committee. This committee will include the advisor as the committee chairperson and two others who are well qualified in the subject matter of the thesis. At least two of the committee must be members of the faculty of Georgia Tech's School of Aerospace Engineering. The task of the advisory committee is to advise and direct the student on the scope and execution of the investigation.

Shortly after the committee has been selected, the student must write a brief thesis proposal. This proposal, which should not exceed 20 pages of text plus figures and tables, should include the motivation behind the topic selection, the scope of work, preliminary results, and the specific objectives. After an editorial review by the advisor, the proposal will be distributed to the other committee members. No less than two weeks following distribution of the proposal, the student will make a presentation of the proposed study to the advisory committee as a whole. After the committee has approved the proposed effort and has signed the "Request for Approval of Thesis Topic" form (See Appendix F), this form and a copy of the thesis proposal will be submitted to the AE Academic Office for approval by the chair and forwarding to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. The AE Academic Office should receive the form at least six months before graduation.

Final Examination

At the conclusion of the research effort the student will write the thesis by setting forth in a clear and articulate form the results and conclusions of the study. The "Manual for Graduate Theses," available from the Graduate Office, specifies the requirements for the thesis. After the advisor has completed an editorial review of the thesis, copies will be distributed to the remainder of the advisory committee. No less than two weeks after distribution of the thesis, the student, with the approval of the committee, will schedule the "Final Examination."

An announcement of the thesis defense will be distributed to all faculty and graduate students of the School of Aerospace Engineering via e-mail and will be posted by the AE Academic Office on the AE web page at least one week prior to the presentation. The announcement will include the title of the thesis and name of the author as well as the time and location of the presentation.

The Final Examination will consist of a formal presentation of the thesis results and conclusions to the advisory committee and others. Immediately following the presentation and discussion by the general audience, the student will be questioned by members of the committee and any interested members of the academic faculty. This meeting will be used by the committee to ascertain that the student is well versed in the topic of the thesis and to inform the student of any modifications to the thesis which they require to be made before it is submitted to the graduate office.

Thesis Submittal

After the advisory committee has approved the thesis and signed the "Certificate of Thesis Approval" form (See Appendix F), the Certificate of Thesis Approval must be turned in to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.The thesis must be submitted electronically via the GT Library-Graduate Studies joint ETD web site at http://etd.gatech.edu . For additional information on how to submit a thesis electronically, visit http://www.grad.gatech.edu/thesis/electronic_submission.html.The graduate office also requires a publishable thesis abstract of up to three hundred words, certified for accuracy by the thesis advisor. Please note that the deadline for submitting a thesis to the Graduate Office is some time prior to the end of the semester in which the student plans to graduate.

MS Special Problem

Registration

All students who will be completing a Special Problem in partial fulfillment of the MS degree requirements must register for three hours of Special Problems in Aerospace Engineering (AE 8900). These credits are normally taken during the final semester of the program of study. Before the student is permitted to register for AE 8900, the AE Academic Office must receive a statement signed by the academic advisor which briefly describes the topic of the investigation and the number of academic credits to be awarded for completion of this part of the project.

Report Submittal

At the conclusion of the Special Problem research effort, the student will write a Special Problem report which describes the task, the results and the conclusions formed on the basis of these results. The format and content of the report will be specified by the academic advisor. A copy of this report will be retained in the files of the advisor for potential future reference by other students and faculty.

Before a grade for AE 8900 can be accepted by personnel in the AE Academic Office, they must receive one copy of the title page of the Special Problem report. These documents will be retained in the student's academic files. The title page must include the special problem title, names of the student and advisor, the date of completion, the grade received and a one- to three-hundred word abstract briefly describing the effort, results and conclusions of the study.

Sample MS Degree Programs

The following programs of study are presented as samples which a student could follow if interested in the indicated technical specialty. It is expected that each student, in consultation with the faculty advisor, will formulate an individually tailored program of study which is compatible with the student's research and career interests.

For students who will be completing a program which includes a thesis, the sample programs to follow should be modified to include a minimum of 12 credits of AE 7000, Master's Thesis. These additional credits will replace both AE 8900, Special Problems in Aerospace Engineering, and other formal courses such that the program of study will include a minimum of 24 credits of formal courses in addition to AE 7000.

It should be noted that the student and his/her advisor have great flexibility in planning a program of studies. Any questions regarding the suitability of a course for an AE program of studies should be addressed to the AE Graduate Committee BEFORE the student registers for the class.

Students on Graduate Research Assistantships are usually limited to three formal courses per term. This limitation typically extends the MS program to sixteen months.

Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics

16 months program

Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics

16 months program

Flight Mechanics & Controls

16 months program

Propulsion & Combustion

16 months program

Structural Mechanics and Materials

16 months program

System Design and Optimization

16 months program-SSDL

* Design students often intern during the summer term; therefore, third term may be the Fall semester of the second year.

** Electives may be design or discipline electives. Electives can be used to support subsequent PhD qualifying exams.

*** Design Seminar is a 1 hour Pass/Fail course required of all design students, but P/F hourse do not count toward academic degree requirements.