MS-AD in ECE (Master of Science, Advanced Study Program)
*All students who matriculated into the ECE MS program up to and including Spring 2020, please see the program requirements here.
The M.S.-AD in ECE is a four-semester program comprised of 133 units of graduate course work (600 level and above) available at the Pittsburgh campus. The Advanced Study program has the following requirements:
- 60 units of ECE Core Courses
- 36 units of CIT Elective Courses
- 36 units of General Technical Elective Courses
- 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies
Up to 27 units of research project coursework can be used to satisfy program requirements. Students interested in conducting additional project work may pursue the Intensive Project Option outlined below. All students apply for research projects through the Student Project Tracker site.
Up to 12 units of undergraduate coursework (300-level or higher) can qualify to be substituted toward the 133 units of core or elective requirements. Qualifying coursework must be offered by the same department as either an approved core or elective course.
Intensive Project Option requirements
The Intensive Project Option provides students the option to work intensively on a single research project with a CMU faculty member. A student will take a total of 36 units of graduate-level research to count towards their degree in two separate phases. The first phase of the Intensive Project Option is 12 units that will be taken no sooner than the student’s second semester in the program. The second phase is 24 units that will be taken in the following semester. These 36 units satisfy the degree requirements as follows:- 60 units of ECE Core (48 units of Core coursework + 12 units of intensive research)
- 36 units of CIT Elective (24 units of CIT Elective coursework + 12 units of intensive research)
- 36 units of General Technical Elective (24 units of General Technical Elective coursework + 12 units of intensive research)
- 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies
A. ECE core coursework (Advanced Program)
60 units (or 48 units for the intensive project option) must be graduate coursework (600 level or above) within ECE (18-XXX).
EXCEPTIONS – The following ECE (18) courses may not be counted toward ECE Core Coursework. They may be counted toward CIT Electives or General Technical Electives:
- 18-601, 18-602, 18-603, 18-605, 18-606, 18-700, 18-701, 18-702, 18-703
B. CIT elective coursework (Advanced Program)
36 units (or 24 units for the intensive project option) must be graduate coursework (600 level or above) within CIT from the following departments
- ECE (18)
- Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) (39)
- Biomedical Engineering (42)
- Chemical Engineering (06)
- Civil & Environmental Engineering (12)
- Engineering & Public Policy (19)
- Information Network Institute (14)
- Integrated Innovation Institute (49)
- Materials Science & Engineering (27)
- Mechanical Engineering (24)
- CMU Africa (04)
*Note that the courses 39-699 and 18-994 can be counted towards an elective requirement only.
EXCEPTIONS – The following CIT courses may not be counted toward CIT Elective Coursework. They may be counted toward General Technical Elective Coursework.
- Engineering & Public Policy (19) - 19-602, 19-655
- Integrated Innovation Institute (49) – 49-750, 49-751, 49-761, 49-762, 49-763, 49-764, 49-765, 49-766, 49-767, 49-770, 49-771, 49-772, 49-773, 49-774, 49-775, 49-780, 49-781, 49-782, 49-788, 49-790, 49-791, 49-792, 49-793
- Mechanical Engineering (24) – 24-792
- CMU Africa (04) – 04-601, 04-602, 04-605, 04-900, 04-980
C. General technical elective coursework (Advanced Program)
36 units (or 24 units for the intensive project option) of coursework (600 level or above) can be from the following programs (shown under their parent college) or individually approved courses:
College of Engineering
- ECE (18)
- Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) (39)
- Biomedical Engineering (42)
- Chemical Engineering (06)
- Civil & Environmental Engineering (12)
- Engineering & Public Policy (19)
- Information Network Institute (14)
- Integrated Innovation Institute (49)
- Materials Science & Engineering (27)
- Mechanical Engineering (24)
- CMU Africa (04)
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Statistics (36)
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (86)
H. John Heinz III College (HC)
- Heinz School of Information Systems (95)
- Heinz College-Wide Courses (94)
Mellon College of Science (MCS)
- Biological Sciences (03)
- Chemistry (09)
- Mathematical Sciences (21)
- Physics (33)
School of Computer Science (SCS)
- Computational Biology (02)
- Computer Science (15)
- Entertainment Technology Center (53)
- Institute for Software Research (08)
- Robotics Institute (16)
- Human-Computer Interaction Institute (05)
- Language Technologies Institute (11)
- Machine Learning (10)
- Software Engineering (17)
Tepper School of Business (TEP)
- Tepper School of Business (45)
Additional courses outside of these programs that are approved to be counted toward General Technical Elective Coursework:
- 46-926, 46-929
- 47-830, 47-834
- 51-882
- 57-947, 57-948
- 80-713
- 84-688
- 85-777
- 90-756, 90-808
- 93-711
- 99-783
*Note that the courses 39-699 and 18-994 can be counted towards an elective requirement only.
D. Introduction to Graduate Studies
1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies (18-989) must be taken.
This course must be completed in your first semester. Conflicts are not permitted.
E. M.S. Graduate Project coursework (Advanced Program)
Students may count up to 27 project units toward degree requirements. 12 project units can count toward core requirements and up to 15 project units can count toward CIT elective requirements. Only 15 units of M.S. Graduate Project can be taken in any given semester unless a student is pursuing the intensive project option.
For the intensive project option, students will register for 12 units of 18-980 no sooner than their second semester in the program. Students will then register for the remaining 24 units of 18-982 in the following semester.