Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering Program Guidelines

1. All students are expected to follow the Program Guidelines set forth herein; otherwise students may be dropped from the program. Students receiving tuition scholarships and/or stipends must be registered as a full-time student (18 credithours) and follow the prescribed program of study. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of tuition and stipend support and/or late fee charges. 
2. First-year, full-time students should register for three (3) courses per semester, plus ME 5800 (Graduate Colloquium) for each semester. Additional credit-hours are to be taken as ME 6950 (Thesis) or ME 6810 (Research) to meet the 18 credit-hour requirement. A student’s advisor may require that only 2 courses (or even 1 course) be taken. Technical Writing Seminar (ET 6020) should be taken during the first year. 
3. Full-time students must select an advisor for their graduate program before entering into the program. Under special circumstances, the student can make a written request to delay the selection. 
4. Graduate students are required to meet with their academic advisor every Fall and Spring semester during the 9th or 10th week (advising weeks). The purpose of this meeting is to approve/review the plan of study, which is required each semester to maintain good standing in the graduate program. Following the student’s meeting with their academic advisor, a meeting with the graduate chair may be arranged to review student’s program of study.  
5. All students must take ME 5800 (Graduate Colloquium) for two (2) semesters and make one research presentation. Full-time students should take this during the first academic year of study.  
6. A maximum of four (4) credit hours of Special Investigation (ME 5930) can be counted for graduation credits. Lecture classes taught as ME 5930 are exempt from this policy. 
7. A student must maintain a GPA of no less than 3.00 to graduate with the M.S.M.E. degree. If the GPA falls below 3.00, the student will be placed on probation for one semester. Failure to improve his/her GPA to 3.00 during the probation semester will result in dismissal from the program. A grade below a “C” (2.00) will disqualify a course from being used for credit. 
8. While the students must submit their preliminary plan of study by the end of their first semester, students must have their final plan of study approved by their entire committee at the time of their thesis proposal defense. Further, this plan of study must be re-certified by the advisor and graduate chair at the time of the thesis defense to ensure it has been followed. 
9. Students must have an approved (signed) thesis or project proposal on file with the Russ graduate office (Stocker 166) by the end of their first academic year, and must have successfully defended their project or thesis within three academic years. Failure to meet these requirements will indicate unsatisfactory progress towards degree completion and will result in the student being dropped from the program. The Thesis/Project Proposal approval form is attached to these guidelines or can be obtained from the Russ College graduate program administrator. 
10. Part–time students must complete the MSME degree within the time allotted by the university. 

The M.S. in Mechanical Engineering requires a minimum of 30 credit hours. During the first semester of study, students will develop a specific plan of study in consultation with their advisor, which will minimally include the following:

1. Required general courses
2. Mechanical Engineering (ME) core courses
3. Electives
4. Other Required Coursework – thesis hours or non-thesis project hours
5. Culminating Experience

To review the most accurate and up-to-date information about course requirements, including the number of credits you must complete at the 5000-level, 6000-level or above, refer to the University Catalog program page.

University Catalog

Note, the Department of Mechanical Engineering also offers an Accelerated Graduate Pathways (AGP) program , which will allow undergraduate students to finish ‘Project (non-thesis) option’ in one year. It is a 4+1 program, which means 4 years of undergraduate and 1 year of graduate school. This option allows ME undergraduate students to finish both Bachelors and ‘Project (non-thesis) option’ MS in a total of 5 years.

1. The committee for the thesis option will consist of four (4) members. At least two shall be ME faculty, the third may be faculty from other engineering departments, and one must be external to the Russ College. All committee members must be college-approved graduate research faculty. Before the proposal defense, the external representative and committee must be approved. 
2. Thesis work must conform to the university policy on plagiarism. Students should follow college guidelines to avoid plagiarism in their theses and in all academic work.
3. The committee guiding and approving the work must be finalized (see forms) at least three weeks prior to the proposal defense date. 
4. Both the proposal and the final defense (thesis or dissertation) must be unanimously approved by the designated committee and the graduate chair. 
5. A thesis or project proposal must be submitted or presented to the student’s committee at least three (3) months before the final defense. Further the committee must approve the Plan of Study by the proposal defense date. 
6. Students must adhere to all university thesis guidelines with regard to format, submission procedures and deadlines. This information is provided on the Thesis and Dissertation Services webpage . The thesis and dissertation submission form, the oral defense forms, and the deadlines for thesis oral defenses are also obtained through this website or via Russ College Dean’s office by contacting at russgradinfo@ohio.edu . 
7. Regarding deadlines: for the proposal defense, the department and Dean’s office require two week notification, while the committee requires the proposal document at least two weeks before the defense.  
8. For the actual thesis defense, the final thesis (pdf file) must be submitted to the College (Dean’s) office at least two weeks before the defense for a plagiarism check. The student will be required to sign a form asserting originality of the work. Instances of plagiarism will be referred to the University Judiciary for appropriate action. Additionally, the thesis committee requires the thesis document for review at least two weeks in advance of the proposed defense date, however any committee member can require more time for thesis review. 
9. The thesis proposal and thesis defense scheduling form must be approved by the advisor before it is given to the graduate chair for signature. This form must also be submitted to the graduate chair at least two weeks prior to the defense date.
10. Students are expected to use a consistent style for citations of the work of others in any document (ASME, Chicago Manual of Style, ACS or another accepted format). It is strongly encouraged that students manage their citations (websites, journal articles, books, etc.) using software such as zotero ( http://www.zotero.org/ ) or the “Manage Sources” feature (under the “References” tab) in Microsoft Word. 
11. Use the ASME website as a resource for your thesis, referring to Guidelines and Information, Writing a Technical Paper or Brief :   http://journaltool.asme.org/Help/AuthorHelp/WebHelp/JournalsHelp.htm.
12. After the student has successfully defended his/her thesis, signed copies of the “report of the oral exam” (thesis approval form) must accompany the final thesis. 
13. Prior to ME department approval for graduation, all keys and items borrowed from the department must be returned to the ME Department Office. 

One thesis committee member must be from outside of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology (such as from Physics, Chemistry, Math, Business, or Biology). This faculty member must have graduate faculty status in his/her college. In special cases it may be possible to have a college representative from another University. If the college representative is from a college that does not specify graduate faculty status, the faculty member must be engaged in teaching graduate courses, advising graduate students and publishing research results. 

Basic Requirements 

1. This member must be able and willing to assess the general "technical quality of the work" in comparison to the expectations for Ohio University graduate students and judge whether the work is "thesis worthy" or "dissertation worthy". The college representative is not expected to have expertise in the technical content of the thesis, but to make sure that good research methods were used.
2. This member must be able and willing to assess the general "quality of the thesis document" in comparison to the expectations for Ohio University graduate students and judge whether the written document is of acceptable quality for a thesis or dissertation. The Introduction and Literature Search should be understandable to any educated reader, and the citations must meet an acceptable standard. The college representative is not expected to act as an editor, but rather as an assessor.

Basic Expectations 

1. The member is expected to read the thesis proposal document and participate in the in the proposal defense (approximately 3 hour time commitment). 
2. The member is expected to read the thesis document and participate in the thesis defense (6 to 8 hour time commitment). 
3. The member is expected to notify the graduate chair of the M.E. department or the college's Assistant Dean for research of any concerns with the thesis advisor or the overall process. 

• This option is not available to students receiving support from the department or college. 
• Students in the non-thesis option will have a committee of at least two ME faculty members for their projects. 
• Non-thesis students must write a short project proposal, and it must be approved by the committee at least three (3) months prior to completion of the work and submission of the project report. A project proposal form signed by the committee must be submitted along with approvals of the final Plan of Study. 
• A proposal presentation and final oral defense are required. 
• Non-thesis students must complete a minimum of six (6) hours of ME 6940. The advisor must submit a special grade report to credit six (6) hours of ME 6940 when the project is completed. 
• The final project report in pdf file format must be submitted to the Russ College graduate program administrator at least two weeks before the student submits it to the committee for final approval, in order for a plagiarism check to be conducted. The student will be required to sign a form asserting originality of the work. Instances of plagiarism will be referred to the University Judiciary for appropriate action. 

1. Take written notes when you read. Avoid copying complete sentences unless you want to quote the sentence.
2. Take some time (i.e., a day) after reading the original source text to write your draft.
3. Don't draft your paper with the original source text (or a photocopy) open next to you. Use your notes. Go back to the source to check anything of uncertainty.

You can use other peoples' ideas and words as long as you give them appropriate credit. 

An overview of this internship program and its requirements are available from the ISSS office. 

Curricular Practical Training

In addition, these requirements must be met for CPT approval by M.E.:

• The student must have completed all course requirements and made significant progress on the thesis/project. An acceptable draft of the thesis/project must be approved by the advisor. The graduate chairman will review the draft before signing the CPT papers.
• The student must be committed to returning to the program of study after the CPT (within a maximum of 1 year) and make progress towards completing the program of study during the year by spending some time on the research and/or writing/correcting the thesis document.
• In the event that the student does not make reasonable progress in completing the program of study (as determined by the M.E. graduate committee) within one year after obtaining the CPT, the graduate committee, in consultation with the advisor, will initiate steps to drop the student from the program.
• For CPT approval, the student's Plan of Study must include a 1 credit-hour internship course (ME 6910), and the plan must be signed by all members of the thesis/project committee. The credit hours for this internship cannot be used to satisfy course credit hour requirements for graduation. The student mu st al so submi t a “report of acti vi ti es” and th e end of each semester i n whi ch   ME 6910 is registered. The report must describe the work activities of the CPT for that semester and how it relates to the student’s M.S.M.E. education. 

An overview of this work experience program and its requirements are available from the ISSS office. 

Optional Practical Training

In addition, the following requirements must be met for OPT approval by the M.E. Department.

• The student must have completed all course and credit-hour requirements. 
• The student must have a final thesis or project draft completed at the time of OPT application. This draft must be acceptable to the advisor as a final draft. The graduate chairman will review the draft before signing the OPT papers.
• The student must defend the thesis/project before the OPT assignment begins.