Civil and Environmental Engineering MS

Degree Requirements

A total of thirty (30) credits, selected with the approval of the Graduate Advisor, are required. In general, the courses must be designated as CEN courses, although courses taken from other departments may be accepted with approval of the student’s advisor and their graduate committee. There are three different tracks available to students seeking a master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering: (1) Thesis track, (2) Project track (3) Course work track. UMassD CEN undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a master’s degree can choose the accelerated 5-Year BS/MS option. BS/MS students must also select the Thesis, Project or Course work track. Students in the 5-year BS/MS program are allowed to count up to nine credits of eligible courses towards both the BS and MS degrees. Six of these credits may be non-core technical elective 400-level courses assuming they get a B or better. All students must obtain a C or better grade in all graduate courses (500 series or higher), must have a GPA of 3.0 or greater to graduate and no more than two grades can be below a B-. The thesis option requires the completion of a six-credit research thesis usually involving a theoretical or experimental investigation of a fundamental nature. The project option requires the successful completion of a three-credit project, usually involving a theoretical or experimental investigation of an applied nature, often in conjunction with a company’s or government agency’s interests. The course work option involves 30 credits of course work and a comprehensive exam from a subset of courses taken by the student. No more than six credits of individual study, including independent study, directed study, and excluding graduate thesis or project, may apply as credit toward the master’s degree. All full-time onsite MS students must pass the course CEN 500 Graduate Seminar for two semesters.