Current Students




Graduate School Policies

Requirements

Qualifying Exam

Links

ENME-ENRE Grad Student Mentoring Guidelines


Plan of Study

Please read the following instructions carefully. Once you have completed your Plan of Study you must obtain your advisor signature and email the form to megrad@umd.edu.


M.S Students: ENME & ENRE with Thesis ONLY

1. Mechanical Engineering Students are required to complete 24 credits (8 courses), including 1 approved math course and 1 core course. At least 5 of the courses in the student’s Plan of Study must be in ENME. Additionally, students are required to register for  a minimum of 6 credits of ENME799 thesis research (permission is required from the department).

Information regarding course requirements can be found here:
https://enme.umd.edu/graduate/degrees/master-science-mechanical

And here:
https://megrad.umd.edu/masters-approved-math-courses/

2. Reliability Engineering Students with Thesis are required to complete 24 credits (8 courses) plus a minimum of 6 credits of ENRE799 thesis research (permission is required from the department).

Information regarding course requirements can be found here:
https://enme.umd.edu/graduate/degrees/master-science-reliability

Using Transfer Credits on your Plan of Study

The M.S. Plan of Study can include a maximum of 6 approved transfer credits for graduate work undertaken at other accredited U.S. institutions. These transfer credits must be approved by the Graduate School. Approval is sought through the submission of a Transfer or Inclusion of Credit form available on The Graduate School website https://gradschool.umd.edu/forms You must submit an official transcript.

The student must have earned a grade of “B-” or better in the course and have a “B” or better average on all the graduate course work taken at the institution from which the transfer is requested.

The transfer course work must have been taken within seven (7) years of the award of the University of Maryland, College Park Master’s Degree for which the student is currently enrolled.

M.S Students: UMD Master of Professional Engineering (MAGE) or UMD BS/MS Mechanical Engineering Students

Courses taken as a Master of Professional Engineering student or as a UMD BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering student must be transferred to the MS program by completing the Transfer or Inclusion of Credit form available on The Graduate School website https://gradschool.umd.edu/forms

Once you have completed your Plan of Study you must obtain your advisor’s signature. Please email the form/transcripts/course descriptions to the ME Graduate Office at megrad@umd.edu.

The Plan of Study must be submitted by the end of your first semester at UMD.

If you have any questions, please email megrad@umd.edu.


PhD Students

The Plan of Study for Mechanical Engineering must contain a minimum of 36 credits (12 courses) of graduate coursework, with a minimum of 12 credits (4 courses) of coursework taken at the University of Maryland as a PhD student. Additionally, students are required to complete a minimum of 12 ENME899 Candidacy Research credits (the Office of the Registrar will automatically enroll you in 6 credits each semester after advancing to candidacy). All Mechanical Engineering students are required to complete 2 approved math courses.

A full list of requirements can be found here: 
https://enme.umd.edu/graduate/degrees/doctorate-philosophy

And here:
https://megrad.umd.edu/phd-approved-math-courses/

The Plan of Study for Reliability Engineering must contain a minimum of 36 credits (12 courses) of 600 level or above courses with  a minimum of 12 credits of coursework taken at the University of Maryland as PhD student. At least 6 of the courses in the student’s Plan of Study must be in ENRE. Additionally, students are required to complete a minimum of 12 ENRE899 Candidacy Research credits (the Office of the Registrar will automatically enroll you in 6 credits each semester after advancing to candidacy). All Reliability Engineering students are required to complete ENRE 600, Fundamentals of Failure Mechanisms and ENRE 602, Reliability Analysis.

Complete information on these requirements can be found here:
http://www.enme.umd.edu/grad/phd-reliability

Transfer Credit from Another Institution

Students with graduate coursework from an accredited institution may, upon student’s advisor and the Graduate Office approval, transfer in up to 24 credits (8 courses) of coursework. Please note that for the Ph.D. program, this is a departmental process, so transferred courses will not appear on a student’s UMD transcript.

For courses to be considered for transfer, you must provide an unofficial transcript, a course description and the UMD equivalent. If there is no UMD equivalent, the course cannot be transferred. Undergraduate courses are not acceptable for transfer.

Once you have completed your Plan of Study you must obtain your advisor’s signature. Please email the form/unofficial transcripts/course descriptions to the ME Graduate Office at megrad@umd.edu

The Plan of Study must be submitted by the end of your first semester at UMD.

If you have any questions, please email megrad@umd.edu.



Graduation Requirements Checklist


Proposal Presentation Guidelines

Student must formalize their committee 6 weeks prior to their final defense:

1. Fill out the Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Form with your advisor.

2. Send the form to megrad@umd.edu and we will obtain the DGS signature and submit the form to the Registrar for you.

3. We will notify you once your committee has been approved.



Please keep in mind the below information regarding the composition of your committee:

The Committee must consist of a minimum of five members, at least three of whom must be Full Members of the University of Maryland College Park Graduate Faculty who are on tenured or tenure-track appointments. Each Dissertation Examining Committee will have a chair, who must be a Full Member of Graduate Faculty, or, by special permission, has been appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School.

Each Dissertation Examining Committee must also have appointed to it a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dean’s Representative should have some background or interest related to the student’s research; be from a department other than the students’; must have a tenure home that is different than the Chair of the Committee; and must be a tenured Member of the Graduate Faculty. Each member of the Committee must be a member of the Graduate Faculty of UMCP. Upon nomination by the Director of Graduate Studies and approval by the Dean of the Graduate School, individuals serve in addition to the three required Regular Members.

To nominate a Special or Associate Member to serve, submit the nominee’s curriculum vitae to the Graduate Office. Graduate Faculty who terminate employment at UMCP (and who do not have emeritus status) retain their status as members of the Graduate Faculty for twelve months, and during that time may serve as members and chairs of Dissertation Examining Committees, but not as the Dean’s Representative. If granted Special Member Status, however, they may serve as co-chairs. Professors Emeriti and Emeritae may serve on the Dissertation Examining Committees if they have retained their membership in the Graduate Faculty.

Once you have satisfactory defended your PROPOSAL , you will need to note and provide us with the following:

A pdf copy of your Proposal Paper send to megrad@umd.edu

A copy of the signature page of your dissertation proposal that includes the signatures of all your committee members.

Once you have satisfactorily presented your proposal and completed all of your coursework per your Plan of Study, you may move on to the next steps. A Plan of Study should have been completed before your 1st semester. If we do not have one on file for you or the one we have on file for is not accurate, you will not advance to candidacy until you submit a new Plan of Study.

  1. Complete the Application for Admission to Candidacy Form and include your advisors signature and the 899 section code you would like to be enrolled in. If you do not know your advisors section code, we can look it up for you upon request.
  2. Email the form to the ME Grad Office (megrad@umd.edu)
  3. We will forward the completed application to the Registrar once we submit the application to the DGS for review.
  4. Once the application is approved, you will be registered for 6 credits of 899 in your advisor’s designated section by Office of the Registrar each semester until you graduate. You cannot register for 899 credits yourself.

NOTE: If you are eligible for a M.S. without thesis (M.S. on the way), you will need to apply for an M.S. degree clearance. Keep in mind that you CANNOT receive two degrees in the same semester, so you need will need to reapply for your PhD degree clearance for a later semester. Additionally, you will need complete the M.S. approved program form .


Graduate Student Handbook


Statement of Mutual Expectations

PhD Students

YOU MUST BE REGISTERED IN THE TERM YOU INTEND TO GRADUATE

In addition to coursework, all PhD students must complete a minimum of 12 credits of  Doctoral Dissertation Research (ENME 899 or ENRE 899) after advancing to candidacy

  1. Apply for graduation via Testudo 
  2. Complete the Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Committee Form.

10 DAYS prior to your FINAL DISSERTATION DEFENSE,  please provide the Graduate Office at megrad@umd.edu with the following:

  • Title of Dissertation
  • Date, time, location
  • List of all committee members
  • Abstract

Once you have satisfactory defended your FINAL Dissertation, you will need to provide the Graduate Studies Office the following: 

  1. A completed Report of Examining Committee Form with all signatures from each committee member (given to the chair a day prior to the defense)
  2. Submit a final copy of your Dissertation via ETD System AND provide a pdf copy to the Graduate Studies Office at megrad@umd.edu before the University’s deadline (please refer to this link for the academic deadlines)
  3. Submit the signed Electronic Publication Form to the Graduate Studies Office 

For the dissertation style guide, templates and how to upload it please visit the link below:
http://gradschool.umd.edu/students/academic-progress/thesis-and-dissertation-filing

If you would like to have your dissertation professional bound, we have used this company in the past:

The Gruver Co., Inc.
3342 Bladensburg Road, LL-B
Brentwood, MD 20722
Attn: Jeff Haven
301-277-2891

All students complete the  DEPARTMENT EXIT PLAN

Complete the Graduate School surveys

https://gradschool.umd.edu/students/academic-progress/doctoral-student-surveys

*International Students complete the ISSS Exit Plan Must be completed at the beginning of their final term. Also be sure that your I-20 does NOT expire before your final dissertation submittal. ALSO, you MUST be assured that you are definitely graduating. If not you may run into major problems

Upload and Submit the ISSS Exit plan through the following link

https://globalmaryland.umd.edu/sites/default/files/ies/ExitPlanForm.pdf

Please direct all questions to megrad@umd.edu.

Proposal Presentation Guidelines

The doctoral dissertation proposal is a formal presentation of the research the student plans to undertake as the basis for the Ph.D. dissertation. The dissertation proposal must be prepared in written form under the guidance of the student’s prospective dissertation advisor, and presented for approval by the student’s perspective dissertation committee. A dissertation proposal will be considered to have been approved when signed by all committee members after the proposal defense and submitted to the Graduate Studies Office for inclusion in the student’s file. The student’s research should not be complete at this time, and the proposal should not be treated as preparation for a final PhD defense. 

Proposal Format

  • Proposals need to be submitted at least a week before the proposal presentation to the committee members
  • Proposal format should follow the dissertation format of the Graduate School and it is preferable to have the material presented in single space with 12 point font
  • It is left open to the committee members to accept an electronic copy of the proposal
  • The proposal presentation should not be public, but the committee can extend invitations to outside parties of their choosing.
  • The proposal presentation should last between 20 and 30 minutes and the total time of the proposal presentation meeting should be between 1 and 1.5 hours.
  • The recommended format for the presentation is as follows:
    • Motivation
    • Literature survey
    • Problem statement
    • Proposed research
    • Roadmap and timeline for completion of dissertation
    • How to make your work more broadly useful: plans for publishing, data sharing, and software sharing

In addition to the University requirements for composition of a dissertation committee, the Department of Mechanical Engineering requires that all dissertation committees for mechanical engineering doctoral students contain five regular (tenure or tenure-track) faculty members. Research faculty and outside scientists are permitted to sit on dissertation committees only in addition to the five regular faculty members.

Students are required to present their proposal within one year of passing the qualifying exam. Below are the procedures for preparing a proposal presentation.

1. Students must formalize their committee via the Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Form. Keep the following information in mind when forming your committee:

  • The Committee must consist of a minimum of five members, at least three of whom must be Full Members of the University of Maryland College Park Graduate Faculty who are on tenured or tenure-track appointments. Each Dissertation Examining Committee will have a chair, who must be a Full Member of Graduate Faculty, or, by special permission, has been appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School
  • Each Dissertation Examining Committee must also have appointed to it a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dean’s Representative should have some background or interest related to the student’s research; be from a department other than the students’; must have a tenure home that is different from the Chair of the Committee; and must be a tenured Member of the Graduate Faculty. Each member of the Committee must be a member of the Graduate Faculty of UMCP. Upon nomination by the Director of Graduate Studies and approval by the Dean of the Graduate School, individuals serve in addition to the three required Regular Members.
  • To nominate a Special or Associate Member to serve, submit the nominee’s curriculum vitae to the Graduate Office. Graduate Faculty who terminate employment at UMCP (and who do not have emeritus status) retain their status as members of the Graduate Faculty for twelve months, and during that time may serve as members and chairs of Dissertation Examining Committees, but not as the Dean’s Representative. If granted Special Member Status, however, they may serve as co-chairs. Professors Emeriti and Emeritae may serve on the Dissertation Examining Committees if they have retained their membership in the Graduate Faculty.

NOTE: It is highly recommended that you bring a printed copy of the cover sheet of your proposal to the presentation so that your committee members can sign off on your presentation in person instead of having to collect all the signature digitally later on.

2. Once you have successfully presented your proposal and are ready to advance to candidacy , you will need to provide the graduate office with the following:

  • A pdf copy of your Proposal Paper sent to megrad@umd.edu
  • A copy of your approved Plan of Study sent to megrad@umd.edu. A Plan of Study should have been completed before your 1st semester, If not, please complete it immediately.
  • A copy of the signature page of your dissertation proposal that includes the signatures of all your committee members.
  • A completed Application for Admission to Candidacy Form (with your advisor’s signature) sent to megrad@umd.edu. We will obtain the Director of Graduate Studies signature for you and then submit the form on your behalf.

5. Once the Application for Admission to Candidacy Form is approved, you will be registered for 6 credits of 899 in your advisor’s designated section by Office of the Registrar each semester until you graduate. You cannot register for 899 credits yourself.

6. If you are eligible for a M.S. without thesis (M.S. on the way), you will need to apply for an M.S. degree clearance. Keep in mind that you CANNOT receive two degrees in the same semester, so you need will need to reapply for your PhD degree clearance for a later semester. Additionally, you will need complete the M.S. approved program form and have your advisor sign it; we will obtain the Director of Graduate Studies signature for you and then submit the form on your behalf.

Proposal, Thesis & Dissertation Assessment Forms

Master of Science Students

YOU MUST BE REGISTERED IN THE TERM YOU INTEND TO GRADUATE

In addition to coursework, all MS students must complete a minimum of 6 credits of  Thesis Research  (ENME 799 or ENRE 799) over the course of the MS program. (Permission is required by the department)

  1. Apply for graduation via Testudo
  2. Complete the Approved Program Form
  3. Complete the Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Committee Form

10 DAYS prior to FINAL THESIS DEFENSE  please provide the Graduate Studies Office at megrad@umd.edu with  the following:

  • Title of Thesis
  • Date, time, location
  • List of all committee members
  • Abstract

Once you have satisfactory defended your FINAL thesis, you will need to provide the Graduate Studies Office the following:

  1. A completed Report of Examining Committee Form with all signatures from each committee member (given to the chair a day prior to the defense)
  2. Submit a final copy of your thesis via ETD System AND provide a pdf copy to the Graduate  Studies Office at megrad@umd.edu before the University’s deadline (please refer to this link for the academic deadlines)
  3. OPTIONAL: Submit the signed Electronic Publication Form to the Graduate Studies Office
  4. Submit the the M.S. Approved Program Form to the Graduate Studies Office at megrad@umd.edu.

For the dissertation style guide, templates and how to upload it please visit the link below:

http://gradschool.umd.edu/students/academic-progress/thesis-and-dissertation-filing

If you would like to have your dissertation professional bound, we have used this company in the past:
The Gruver Co., Inc.

3342 Bladensburg Road, LL-B

Brentwood, MD 20722

Attn: Jeff Haven

301-277-2891

All students complete the  DEPARTMENT EXIT PLAN

*International Students complete the ISSS Exit Plan Must be completed at the beginning of their final term. Also be sure that your I-20 does NOT expire before your final dissertation submittal. ALSO, you MUST be assured that you are definitely graduating. If not you may run into major problems

Upload and Submit the ISSS Exit plan through the following link

https://globalmaryland.umd.edu/sites/default/files/ies/ExitPlanForm.pdf

Please direct all questions tomegrad@umd.edu

Graduation Requirements Checklist

Combined BS/MS Program Form

For more information on the BS/MS program, click here.