The Master of Science (MS) degree requires completion of a minimum of 36 credits with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- grade for course credit.
Students are responsible for planning their graduate program in consultation with their Academic Advisor. Students must meet all deadlines and be aware that most Core Courses are offered only once per academic year. Students are expected to complete the MS degree as follows:
Students must complete their Thesis by the end of the fourth Semester (not including the Summer Session). Students who require additional time to complete their Thesis must apply for an extension per the time limits and extensions policy.
To facilitate the design of individual study plans, students must take a written Assessment Test when they arrive on campus. The Assessment Test determines whether they have mastered the prerequisites for undertaking the graduate-level courses taught in the program. Students must prepare for the test by refreshing the general knowledge gained from their undergraduate education before arriving at KAUST. The study plan requirements must be satisfactorily completed, in addition to the university degree requirements. More information regarding the Assessment Test is available on the MSE webpage.
In the case of failure of the Assessment Test students are mandated to take 100-level courses and are graded Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) for these courses but do not receive academic credit toward their degree.
Course Requirements
Students must complete the following requirements:
- Core courses (12 credits)
- Elective courses (12 credits)
- Research Courses (12 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.
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. Students must complete 9 credits (3 Core Courses) from the list below:
| MSE 221 | Crystallography and Diffraction | 3 |
| MSE 225 | Electronic Properties of Materials | 3 |
| MSE 226 | Thermodynamics of Materials | 3 |
| MSE 227 | Applied Quantum Mechanics | 3 |
| MSE 228 | Materials Characterization | 3 |
| AP 220 | Statistical Physics | 3 |
| AP 228 | Advanced Quantum Mechanics | 3 |
| AP 230 | Condensed Matter Physics | 3 |
Students must complete 3 credits (1 Core Course) from the list below:
| MSE 200 | Mathematics for Material Science and Engineering | 3 |
| AMCS 202 | Applied Mathematics II | 3 |
| AMCS 206 | Applied Numerical Methods | 3 |
| AMCS 214 | Introduction to Analysis | 3 |
| AMCS 215 | Mathematical Foundations of Machine Learning | 3 |
| AMCS 231 | Applied Partial Differential Equations I | 3 |
| AMCS 232 | Weak Solutions of Partial Differential Equations | 3 |
| AMCS 241/STAT 250 | Stochastic Processes | 3 |
| AMCS 251 | Numerical Linear Algebra | 3 |
| AMCS 252 | Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations | 3 |
| AMCS 253 | Iterative Methods of Linear and Nonlinear Algebra | 3 |
| AMCS 255 | Advanced Computational Physics | 3 |
| AMCS 301 | Random PDEs - Modern Numerical Methods | 3 |
| AMCS 308 | Stochastic Numerics with Application in Simulation and Data Science | 3 |
| AMCS 331 | Applied Partial Differential Equations II | 3 |
| AMCS 332 | Introduction to Mathematical Modelling | 3 |
| AMCS 335 | Multiscale Modelling and Simulation for PDEs | 3 |
| AMCS 336 | Numerical Methods for Stochastic Differential Equations | 3 |
| AMCS 338 | Functional Analysis | 3 |
| STAT 210 | Applied Statistics and Data Analysis | 3 |
Elective Courses (12 credits)
Elective Courses allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives. Students must complete 12 credits (4 Elective Courses) from the list below. With the consent of the Academic Advisor, 6 credits (2 Elective Courses) can be replaced with courses from the AP, AMCS, BioE, CE, Chem, CS, ECE, and ME programs.
Graduate Seminars (non-credit)
Students must register for 2 semesters MSE Graduate Seminar Courses (MSE 398) and must receive a Satisfactory (S) grade in all of them. Students must attend a minimum of 8 Graduate Seminars per semester to receive a Satisfactory (S) grade. The seminars can be chosen from any Graduate Seminar series offered by the PSE division. Details will be clarified each semester by the seminar committee chair.
Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)
Students must complete 1 Winter Enrichment Program (
WE 100), usually taken in the first year of study.
MS Thesis
Students pursuing the Thesis option must complete 12 credits of Thesis Research (MSE 297).
Thesis Application
Students must secure a Thesis Advisor and must submit the Thesis application no later than by the end of week one of their third semester. A minimum of 3.2 cumulative GPA is required to apply. Students must select a KAUST Faculty member affiliated with the MSE program. A list is available on the PSE webpage. A KAUST Faculty member not affiliated with the MSE program can obtain the program’s approval to become affiliated for the specific Thesis project before the student commences the research work. To start the affiliation process, a research proposal of the project signed by the potential Thesis Advisor must be submitted to the GPSA.
Students who meet the graduation requirements of the non-thesis track may drop the thesis up until the end of their third Semester. Students not able to complete their thesis after this deadline 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 |
Faculty
|
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.
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.
Thesis Archiving
Students must archive the Thesis in the KAUST Library within 2 weeks from the Thesis Defense and not later than the deadline published in the Academic Calendar. A step-by-step guide to archive the Thesis is available on the MSE webpage.
MS Non-Thesis
Students pursuing the Non-Thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, including 6 credits of Directed Research (
MSE 299). The remaining 6 credits must be obtained from regular 200 or 300-level courses at KAUST. Replacing the courses with research or summer internship credits is not permitted.