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This archived information is dated to the 2008-09 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Engineer in Mechanical Engineering

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Graduate Programs in Mechanical Engineering

The basic University requirements for the degree of Engineer are discussed in the "Graduate Degrees" section of this bulletin.

This degree requires an additional year of study beyond the M.S. degree and includes a research thesis. The program is designed for students who wish to do professional engineering work upon graduation and who want to engage in more specialized study than is afforded by the master's degree alone.

Admission standards are substantially the same as indicated under the master's degree. However, since thesis supervision is required and the availability of thesis supervisors is limited, admission is not granted until the student has personally engaged a faculty member to supervise a research project. This most often involves a paid research assistantship awarded by individual faculty members (usually from the funds of sponsored research projects under their direction). Thus, individual arrangement between student and faculty is necessary. Students studying for the M.S. degree at Stanford who wish to continue to the Engineer degree ordinarily make such arrangements during the M.S. degree program. Students holding master's degrees from other universities are invited to apply and may be admitted providing they are sufficiently well qualified and have made thesis supervision and financial aid arrangements.

Department requirements for the degree include a thesis; up to 18 units of credit are allowed for thesis work (ME 400). In addition to the thesis, 27 units of approved advanced course work in mathematics, science, and engineering are expected beyond the requirements for the M.S. degree; the choice of courses is subject to approval of the adviser. Students who have not fulfilled the Stanford M.S. degree requirements are required to do so, with allowance for approximate equivalence of courses taken elsewhere; up to 45 units may be transferable.

Candidates for the degree must have faculty approval and have a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 for all courses (exclusive of thesis credit and other independent study courses) taken beyond those required for the master's degree.

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