MS Course Requirements

MS students must complete the following requirements:

• Core Courses (12 credits)
• Laboratory Rotation (3 credits)
• Elective Courses (6 credits)
• Research (15 credits)
• Graduate Seminar (non-credit)
• Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)

Core and Elective Courses must be technical courses and cannot be substituted with Research, Internship, or Broadening Courses to fulfill degree requirements.

Chemistry Core Courses (12 credits)

Core Courses provide students with the background needed to establish a solid foundation in the program area. Students must complete 12 credits (4 Core Courses) and be aware that Core Courses may be offered only once per academic year.

Chem 320	Advanced Organic Chemistry I	3
Chem 330	Advanced Inorganic Chemistry I	3
Chem 340	Advanced Organic Chemistry II	3
Chem 350	Advanced Inorganic Chemistry II	3
Chem 360	Advanced Physical Chemistry I	3
Chem 370	Advanced Physical Chemistry II	3

Lab Rotation (3 credits)

All MS students must enroll for Lab Rotation (Chem 296) in their first Semester in the Program. The goal of this course is to introduce students to various Chem research groups to aid them in the selection of an Academic Advisor. The nature of the rotation may vary from one lab to another. Thus, some rotations can be research focused and others can involve more literature and background work. 

Rotation assignments will be made by the mutual approval of the designated faculty and student. Students with a pre-identified Academic Advisor may spend their entire rotation period in a given lab with the approval of the Academic Advisor and the Program Chair. Students must complete three (3) rotations during the first Semester.

Elective Courses (6 credits)

Elective Courses allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives with the permission of the Academic Advisor. Elective courses are not limited to the Chemistry program and can also be selected from any program with approval of your Academic Advisor.  

Graduate Seminars (non-credit)

Students must register for two semester of Chem Graduate Seminar courses (Chem 398) and must receive a Satisfactory (S) grade in all of them. for each of these semesters students must attend a minimum of 8 individual seminars to receive a Satisfactory (S) grade. These attended individual  seminars can be from any Graduate Seminar courses offered by the PSE division.

Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)

All students must register for WE 100 and successfully complete one Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), usually taken in the first year of study.

MS Thesis

Students pursuing the Thesis option must complete a minimum of 12 credits of Thesis Research (Chem 297).

Thesis Application

Students must complete the application and have it approved by the Program Chair no later than the end of week one of their third Semester. The Thesis Advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated Assistant, Associate, or full Professor at KAUST. The Thesis Advisor can only become project affiliated for the specific Thesis project with the Program Chair’s approval. The application must include a Thesis Proposal endorsed by the Thesis Advisor and a timeline for completion.

Thesis withdrawal is not permitted, and students who cannot complete their thesis will face academic dismissal.  

Thesis Committee Formation

The MS thesis defense committee must include a minimum of three members and may have up to four members. The committee structure is outlined as follows: 

Member	Role	Affiliation
1	Chair	Primary affiliation within the student’s program
2	Faculty	Primary affiliation within the student’s program
3	Faculty	Primary affiliation outside the student’s program
4	Faculty or Research Scientist	Affiliation within or outside of KAUST

Notes:

• The committee must be approved by the Dean. 
• Members 1-3 are mandatory, while member 4 is optional. 
• The student’s advisor serves as the chair of the committee. If the advisor holds a primary affiliation within the student’s program, then they act as member 1. If the advisor has a secondary or one-time affiliation within the student’s program, then they act as member 3.
• The student’s co-advisor may serve as member 4.
• Adjunct Professors and Professors Emeriti may continue serving on existing Committees but may not serve as Chair on new Committees. 
• Professors of Practice, Research Professors and Visiting Professors may serve as member4. 
• Once approved, any changes to the committee require the approval of both the student's advisor and Dean.   

Petition to Defend Thesis

Students must submit a petition to defend their Thesis by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar. Students are responsible for scheduling the Thesis Defense Date. All committee members must attend the Defense. Students must defend their Thesis and obtain the final approval of the Defense within their duration of study (4 Semesters).

Thesis Defense Results

The format of the Oral Defense is left to the discretion of the Thesis Committee. At the end of the Final Defense, students will be evaluated with one of the following outcomes:

• Pass: The Committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote. The Thesis must be archived within two weeks of the defense, and the student must send the Thesis Result Form to the GPSA within two days of the defense.
• Pass with Conditions: All committee members must agree on the required conditions. If they cannot agree, the Dean will make the final decision. The student has up to three months to meet these conditions, unless the Committee unanimously agrees to change the deadline.
• Fail with Retake: If conditions cannot be met within three months, or more than one member casts a negative vote, one retake of the defense is allowed. The retake must occur within six months of the original defense unless the Committee unanimously agrees to a shorter timeline. If the student fails the retake, they will be dismissed from the University. The Committee Chair must immediately inform the GPSA to initiate the necessary actions.
• Fail Without Retake: The decision must be unanimous, resulting in the student’s dismissal from the University. The Committee Chair must inform the GPSA immediately to take the necessary actions. 

Additional Guidelines:

• Students who have exceeded their duration of study must apply for an extension as per the Time Limit and Extension Policy. All conditions must be fulfilled by the end of the extension period, which takes precedence over the Committee’s set deadlines. 
• The outcome of the Thesis Defense must be recorded by submitting the Thesis Defense Evaluation Form to the Office of the Registrar within two days of the defense.
• Additionally, students must submit the Defense Results Form by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar.
• The required forms are available on the webpage of the Office of the Registrar.  

Thesis Document

Students must follow the Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines available from the KAUST Library when they write their Thesis. Once the Thesis is ready to be examined, students must determine the Defense date with the agreement of all members of the Thesis Committee. The division recommends that the student submit the written Thesis to the Committee no later than two (2) weeks prior to the Defense. However, the Committee Chair sets the final requirement for the submission timeline. 

Thesis Archiving

Students must archive the Thesis in the KAUST Library two weeks from the final result form. This must not exceed the duration of study or the deadline published in the Academic Calendar.

MS Non Thesis

Students pursuing the Non-Thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, including 6 credits of Directed Research* (Chem 299). The remaining 6 credits can be from any credit-bearing course at KAUST including additional Directed Research. 

*As students on the Non-Thesis track are expected to continue to their PhD, choosing a topic that can be expanded upon for the PhD Dissertation is recommended.