Electrical and Computer Engineering MS Program

Program Mission
The mission of the MS in ECE at KAUST is to advance excellence in education, research, and community engagement by developing graduates who think critically, innovate responsibly, and contribute to knowledge and practice. The program fosters an interdisciplinary learning and research environment that supports professional development, ethical practice, and a distinctive emphasis on translation of research into impact.

Program Goals
• Provide high-quality graduate education that builds deep technical foundations and effective problem-solving skills.
• Develop research capability and inquiry skills that enable rigorous scholarship and innovation.
• Enable practical competence through hands-on training with contemporary tools, methods, and experimental practice.
• Promote professional leadership, ethical responsibility, and community engagement that deliver societal and economic value.

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

Knowledge and Understanding
• K1: Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of fundamental and advanced principles in ECE.
• K2: Apply mathematical, computational, and optimization methods relevant to system analysis and design.
• K3: Analyze the role of emerging technologies and interdisciplinary trends relevant to ECE.
• K4: Integrate foundational knowledge with systems-level concepts to frame engineering problems.

Skills
• S1: Design engineering systems or components to meet specified requirements under realistic constraints.
• S2: Implement experiments, simulations, and prototype systems using contemporary hardware and software platforms.
• S3: Conduct independent or collaborative research using systematic inquiry and evidence-based reasoning.
• S4: Communicate technical ideas clearly in written, oral, and visual formats appropriate to professional contexts.

Values, Autonomy, and Responsibility
• V1: Adhere to standards of research ethics, integrity, and sustainable practice.
• V2: Engage in reflective learning and continuous professional development.
• V3: Exercise initiative and accountability in academic, research, and professional settings.
• V4: Contribute to the profession and community through leadership, mentorship, and service.

MS Course Requirements

MS students must complete the following requirements:

Core Courses (12 credits)
Elective Courses (12 credits)
Research/Capstone (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 or Internship 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.

ECE 200	Power System Analysis	3
ECE 202	Analog Integrated Circuits	3
ECE 206	Device Physics	3
ECE 208	Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices	3
ECE 209	Power Electronics	3
ECE 221	Electromagnetic Theory	3
ECE 231	Principles of Optics	3
ECE 242	Digital Communication and Coding	3
ECE 251	Digital Signal Processing and Analysis	3
ECE 271A	Linear Control Systems	3
ECE 245	Wireless Sensors and Sensor Networks	3
ECE 263	Cyber-Physical Systems	3
AMCS 211	Numerical Optimization	3
AMCS 241	Stochastic Processes	3
CS 204	Data Structures and Algorithms	3
CS 244	Computer Networks	3
CS 256	Digital Design and Computer Architecture	3

Elective Courses (12 credits)

Elective Courses allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives with the permission of the Academic Advisor. ECE students are required to take the following:

One 200/300-level ECE course (3 credits). ECE courses taken as Core do not count toward this requirement.
Two 200/300-level course from any program at KAUST (6 credits)
One AMCS or STAT course (3 credits). If a Core course is from AMCS or STAT, then this course can fulfill the applied mathematics/statistics requirement. In this case, the Elective would need to be fulfilled using another 200-level/300-level course from any degree program at KAUST.

Graduate Seminar (non-credit)

Students must register for ECE 398 and receive a Satisfactory grade for two Semesters during their MS.

Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)

All students must complete the Winter Enrichment Program (WE 100) for credit at least once during their studies at KAUST. Students who have previously completed WEP will be exempt from this requirement in their future studies.

MS Thesis

Students planning to pursue the Thesis option must complete a minimum of 12 credits of Thesis Research (ECE 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.

MS Thesis 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 composition of the committee is outlined as follows:

Member	Role	Affiliation
1	Faculty	Primary affiliation within of the student’s program
2	Faculty	Primary affiliation within of the student’s program
3	Faculty	Primary affiliation outside of 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.
Professors of Practice and Research Professors may serve as members 1-4, depending on their affiliation and whether they are the student’s advisor or co-advisor.
Adjunct Professors and Professors Emeriti may continue serving on committees in the roles they had at the time of their departure but are not permitted to serve on new committees. Visiting Professors may only serve as member 4.
Once approved, any changes to the committee require the approval of both the student's advisor and the 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.

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 wishing to pursue the non-thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, with 6 credits of directed research (ECE 299). Students must complete the 6 remaining credits through one of the options listed below:

Internship: Summer internship (ECE295) – students can only take one internship
Any 200/300-level courses from any degree program at KAUST.