M.S. in Chemical Engineering

The Chemical Engineering Department offers the Master of Science degree, each of which is tailored to fulfill the varying educational needs of its graduate students. All graduate programs offer flexibility. Students are advised to plan programs that use course choices and electives to obtain in-depth studies in one or more subspecialties of their degree majors. Cross-disciplinary studies using courses offered by other departments or schools at Rensselaer are encouraged. In addition, all graduate degree programs are arranged individually, and students are encouraged to use electives to conduct intensive studies in one or more sub disciplines or specialties. The M.S., which requires a thesis, may be used for professional entry, but is also well suited to students who wish to measure their ability to get a Ph.D. without commitment of extra time beyond that required for an M.S. A special optional master’s program is available for this purpose. For the M.S., 30 credits of graduate-level studies, including six credits for the thesis, are normally required. However, the thesis requirement may vary from 3 to 9 hours at the discretion of the department. The 24 hours of approved course work must include at least 15 credits of 6000-level courses. A formal thesis defense is not required. Students who wish to follow the optional master’s program should plan to take the Ph.D. comprehensive examination during their second semester of full-time graduate studies. The examination may be taken a maximum of two times. Passing students may register for an additional three credits of CHME 6990 Master’s Thesis, and formal course work requirements for the master’s degree are reduced to 21 hours. The student also has the option of proceeding directly toward a Ph.D. without completing the master’s thesis. This option will normally reduce the time required for a Ph.D. by about six months. Students who elect to proceed in this manner will receive an M.S. degree, with thesis requirements waived, after two years of satisfactory full-time study and acceptance of the dissertation proposal.