A non-thesis Master's degree requires 33 semester credit hours. A Master's degree with the thesis option requires 36 semester credit hours, 6 of which must be research. An M.S. thesis is supervised by a committee, and must be defended in a public oral examination. All full-time students who are supported by the University are required to participate in the thesis option.

Please refer to the Graduate Catalog for information on admissions requirements.

The course requirements for the M.S.E.E. With a Concentration in Optical and Photonic Devices, Materials and Systems are as follows:

• 4 Optics/Photonics core courses:
  All 3 of the following:
  • EE 6316, Fields and Waves
  • EE 6317, Physical Optics
  • EE 6314, Fiber and Integrated Optics
  plus 1 of the following:
  • EE 6310, Optical Communication Systems
  • EE 6329, Optical Signal Conditioning (Electro-Optics)
• 4 courses chosen from the following list (courses taken as core courses cannot be counted) (advance approval by a Faculty Advisor in Electrical Engineering is required):
  • EE 6309, Fourier Optics
  • EE 6310, Optical Communication Systems
  • EE 6312, Lasers & Modern Optics
  • EE 6313, Semiconductor Opto-Electronic Devices
  • EE 6315, Engineering Optics
  • EE 6328, Nonlinear Optics
  • EE 6329, Optical Signal Conditioning (Electro-Optics)
  • EE 6333, Statistical Optics
  • EE 6334, Advanced Geometrical and Physical Optics
  • EE 6340, Introduction to Telecommunications Networks
  • EE 6343, Detection and Estimation Theory
  • EE 6345, Engineering of Broadband Packet-Switched Networks
  • EE 6349, Random Processes
  • EE 6351, Computational Electromagnetics
  • EE 6352, Digital Communication Systems
  • EE 6481, Numerical Methods in Engineering
  • EE 7340, Optical Network Architectures and Protocols
• 3 elective courses, which may be chosen from either Electrical Engineering or Computer Science (advance approval by a Faculty Advisor in Electrical Engineering is required)

To quote from the Graduate Catalog:

"Each program for doctoral study is individually tailored to the student's background and research objectives by the student's supervisory committee. The program will require a minimum of 90 semester credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree. These credits must include:

• At least 30 semester hours of graduate level courses beyond the bachelor's level in the major concentration.
• A qualifying exam consisting of:
  • A written dissertation proposal
  • A public seminar
  • A private oral examination conducted by the student's Supervising Committee.
• Completion of a major research project culminating in a dissertation demonstrating an original contribution to scientific knowledge and engineering practice. The dissertation will be defended publicly. The rules for this defense are specified by the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies."

Please note that you are responsible for selecting a supervising professor for the Ph.D., as well as the other members of your Supervising Committee. The supervising professor serves as the head of the Supervising Committee and consults with the student in choosing the other members.

The most important choices that one makes in the Ph.D. program are the selection of one's supervising professor and one's choice of field. The fame of the institution that grants the Ph.D. degree is of secondary importance in comparison with the standing and capabilities of one's supervising professor.