Students pursuing the degree Master of Science in Electrical Engineering must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of study consistent with the residency and other applicable requirements of Washington University and the School of Engineering & Applied Science, and subject to the following departmental requirements.

1. A minimum of 15 of these credit hours must be at the graduate level in electrical engineering subjects taught by the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering. The list of courses that may be used to satisfy the 15-credit graduate-level course requirement is:

ESE 513  Nonlinear Methods in Engineering

ESE 515  Optimization

ESE 516  Optimization in Function Space

ESE 520-529  Applied probability category

ESE 530-539  Applied physics and electronics category

ESE 540-549  Control category

ESE 550-559  Systems category

ESE 560-569  Computer engineering category

ESE 570-579  Communications category

ESE 580-589  Signal and image processing category

ESE 599  Master’s Research (thesis option only, max 6 units)

2. The remaining courses in the program may be selected from senior- or graduate-level courses in Electrical and Systems Engineering or elsewhere in the University. Courses outside of Electrical and Systems Engineering must be in technical subjects relevant to electrical engineering and require the department's approval.

3. A maximum of one 500-level cross-listed ESE course, whose home department is outside of ESE, may be applied toward the 15-credit gradute-level requirement.

4.  At least 15 units of the 30 total units applied toward the MSEE degree must be in ESE courses which, if cross-listed, have as the home department the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering.

5. A maximum of 6 credits may be transferred from another institution and applied toward the MSEE degree. Regardless of subject or level, all transfer courses are treated as electives and do not count toward the requirement of 15 credit hours of graduate-level electrical engineering courses.

Either a thesis option or a course option may be selected. The special requirements for these options are as follows:

Course Option

This option is intended for those employed in local industry who wish to pursue a graduate degree on a part-time basis, or for full-time students who do not seek careers in research. Students must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2 out of a possible 4.0 over all courses applied toward the degree. Under the course option, students may not take ESE 599, Master's Research, and may take no more than 3 units of ESE 500, Independent Study.

Thesis Option

This option is intended for those pursuing full-time study and engaged in research projects. Candidates for this degree must complete a minimum of 24 credit hours of course instruction and six (6) credit hours of thesis research (ESE 599). These six (6) credit hours of thesis research can be counted as part of the 15 graduate-level electrical engineering credit hours specified above. The student must write a master's thesis and defend it in an oral examination.