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) currently offered to students who begin their studies at the Pittsburgh campus. Within the Advanced Program you can choose between the following options:
Course option 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 12 units of undergraduate course work (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.
Project option requirements
- 48 units of ECE Core Courses
- 24 units of CIT Elective Courses
- 24 units of General Technical Elective Courses
- 36 units of M.S. Graduate Project coursework
- 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies
Up to 12 units of undergraduate course work (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.
A. ECE core coursework (Advanced Program)
60 units(for the course option) or 48 units (for the 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 (for the course option) or 24 units (for the 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 this 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 (for the course option) or 24 units (for the 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)
- 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
D. M.S. Graduate Project coursework (Advanced Program)
36 units (for the project option only) of 18-980 (M.S. Graduate Project) must be completed.
For the 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.
*The M.S. Graduate Project is not required for students in the course option, however, these students may take up to 27 project units that can count towards degree requirements. 12 project units can count towards their core requirements and up to 15 project units can count toward their CIT elective requirements. Only 15 units of M.S. Graduate Project can be taken in any given semester in the course option.