Graduate Study in Engineering

The College of Engineering and Applied Science offers degree programs for the master of engineering (ME), master of science (MS) and doctor of philosophy (PhD) degrees. There are degree programs in each of the following areas:

• aerospace engineering sciences
• architectural engineering
• chemical engineering
• civil engineering
• computer science
• electrical engineering
• engineering management
• materials science and engineering
• mechanical engineering
• technology, media and society
• telecommunications

The master of science in applied mathematics is offered through the Department of Applied Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Graduate programs within each engineering department offer a variety of options, providing a number of alternative careers.

The aerospace program is organized around focus areas in astrodynamics and satellite navigation systems; bioastronautics; remote sensing, Earth and space sciences; and aerospace engineering systems, including fluid dynamics and propulsion, automatic control, structures and mechanics of materials.

Architectural engineering focuses on the design, construction and operation of buildings and their systems. Areas of emphasis include sustainable building design and operation, illumination engineering, energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and construction engineering and management.

Key activities in chemical engineering include biomaterials and tissue engineering, biosensing, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, catalysis and surface science, computational science and engineering, energy, fluids and flows, interfaces and self-assembly, membranes and separations, nanomaterials and nanotechnology, polymers and soft materials, protein engineering and synthetic biology.

Fields emphasized in civil engineering include geotechnical engineering and geomechanics, structural mechanics and engineering, construction management and engineering, environmental and geoenvironmental engineering, hydrology, environmental fluid mechanics, civil engineering systems and engineering science.

Strengths in computer science include computer architecture, operating systems, networking, mobile computing, computer security, computational biology, robotics, algorithm design, artificial intelligence, software and web engineering, programming languages, database design and data mining, human-computer interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, machine learning, lifelong learning and design, numerical and parallel computation, speech and language processing, scientific computing and theoretical computer science.

Areas of focus in electrical engineering include photovoltaic, wind and renewable energy systems, power electronics systems, electromagnetic theory, microwave systems, antennas, remote sensing, bioelectronics and biomedical engineering, communications and signal processing, medical imaging, optoelectronics, nanophotons and nanodevices, biophotonics, man/machine interfaces, controls theory, and complex network systems. 

The core curriculum of Engineering Management addresses the business basics of project management, finance and accounting, quality management and leadership. Elective courses provide in-depth skills in areas such as Six Sigma, product management, R&D, ethical decision-making, lean and agile management and software management.

The environmental engineering program offers study emphasis in several major environmental engineering and science areas: drinking water, wastewater and water reuse treatment using physical, chemical and biological technologies; air, water and sanitation engineering for developing communities; natural water systems—ecology and contaminant fate and transport; air quality and control; and environmental change adaptation.

Materials Science and engineering offers tracks of study in electronic, magnetic and photonics materials, soft materials, structural materials, materials for energy, biomaterials and computational materials science.

Mechanical engineering core areas of concentration include air quality, bioengineering, design, energy and environment, materials, mechanical engineering fundamentals (e.g., heat transfer, fluid mechanics), mechanics of materials, microsystems and simulation-based mechanical engineering sciences. Within these core areas specific expertise includes air quality measurements and modeling, biomedical devices, mechatronics and robotics, pollution prevention, membrane sciences, combustion sciences, energy conversion, nondestructive structural evaluation, micro-electro-mechanical systems, nanotechnology, computational fluid dynamics, product design and engineering education.

Studies in Technology, Media and Society through ATLAS are radically interdisciplinary. The doctoral program caters to highly motivated inventors and investigators whose interests fall outside the scope of traditional disciplinary programs. PhD students hold degrees in electrical engineering, education, journalism, music, computer science, art history, physics, and library science. Attracting similarly diverse students, the master’s program includes tracks in Creative Technologies and Design (CTD), and Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD). The studio-based CTD track invites artists and designers to gain strong technical skills to realize their creative vision, while supporting engineers and scientists to pursue their own vision. Bringing together individuals with vastly different backgrounds and expertise, the program prepares students for a wide gamut of careers in design, technologies, and the creative arts. The related ICTD track develops students’ technical skills, critical thinking and creative problem solving as they seek to address needs in developing countries and underserved communities such as access, social equity, public policy, sustainability, appropriate design and distribution.  

Telecommunications offers an interdisciplinary curriculum.  Students are able to master not only the latest technologies associated with the Internet, but also the business skills and policy knowledge essential to achieving success in the companies driving today’s rapidly changing high-tech world. Within the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program (ITP), students can develop expertise in leading-edge specialties such as network engineering, wireless engineering, network security and telecom policy and strategy—by gaining hands-on experience in our world-class labs working with state-of-the-art technologies.

Graduate Degree for Science Majors

Science graduates who have good academic records and strong backgrounds in mathematics and science may be eligible for admission as graduate students in engineering or may be able to qualify with some extra course work. Information may be obtained from the appropriate academic department office.

Distance Education and Professional Development Programs

At Be Boulder Anywhere, we’ve been providing distance education for more than 30 years. Whether online or on campus, students can expect the most current online learning environment, integrated with streaming and other tools that make it easy to interact with faculty and peers.

• Experience the best-in-class online learning environment. Students stream or download digitally recorded classroom lectures when it’s convenient for them.
• Pursue a master's degree, a graduate certificate or take individual courses in engineering, including aerospace engineering sciences, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering management or interdisciplinary telecommunications. 
• Receive a CU-Boulder degree, the same as main campus students, not an "online degree."
• Deepen expertise in a specific discipline, such as aerospace or computer science; master the skills necessary to transition into leadership in a technical field; or gain interdisciplinary knowledge to target success in the telecom realm.
• Cultivate relationships with CU-Boulder’s highly regarded faculty.

For more information, visit beboulderanywhere.colorado.edu. 

Master of Engineering, Master of Science 
and Doctor of Philosophy 

Students wishing to pursue graduate work in engineering leading to candidacy for advanced degrees should read carefully the requirements for advanced degrees in the Graduate School section. Some departments also have available explanatory material on their advanced degree programs.

Prerequisites. To enroll for an advanced degree in any department of the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the interdisciplinary telecommunications program, candidates either must have previously earned a bachelor’s degree in a curriculum that includes the necessary prerequisites for that branch of engineering or must qualify for the concurrent BS and MS program. If the candidate’s preliminary education was taken at some other institution, the degree of qualification for advanced work is determined by the department concerned and by the dean of the Graduate School.

Graduates of engineering technology programs should note that the equivalent of a BS degree in an appropriate engineering field is required for entry into the Graduate School. Because the goals and orientation of engineering programs differ from those of technology programs, technology graduates should expect to make up deficiencies before being admitted to graduate study in engineering. Students may not be admitted to the Graduate School while making up deficiencies, but can enroll as non-degree students.

For admission as a regular degree student, an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.000 is normally required.

Course Work. Graduate work in each department of the College of Engineering and Applied Science falls into two classes:

1. Courses that are offered for candidates who have chosen to major in the particular department
2. Courses that are offered for candidates who have chosen their major in some other department, but who are pursuing a certificate or other complementary course work

Graduate students majoring in any department may not use toward graduate degrees those courses listed as required undergraduate work in the same department. They may, however,  use up to 6 hours taken at the 3000–4000 level toward a master’s degree. These course must be taken from an engineering department other than that in which they received their bachelor’s degree, and must have the approval of the department granting the degree and the dean of the Graduate School.

Availability of Courses. All courses are not necessarily offered every year. They are available only if there is sufficient demand.

Qualifying or Preliminary Examinations. Graduate students who plan to become candidates for the MS or PhD degree may be required to take a qualifying or preliminary examination. Individual departments should be consulted concerning the timing or requirement of this examination. 

Teaching and Research Assistant
English Proficiency and Intelligibility

The College of Engineering and Applied Science requires that all graduate teaching assistants and research assistants be proficient and intelligible in spoken English. In order to ensure that this is the case, all prospective teaching assistants and research assistants whose native language is not English, or others for whom the department graduate program coordinator believes that spoken language intelligibility is a concern, regardless of native language, will be tested for spoken language intelligibility prior to or at the beginning of the semester in which the teaching or research assistantship is awarded. In the event that a prospective teaching or research assistant does not demonstrate a satisfactory level of proficiency, as determined by campus assessment, that student will be required to participate in training designed to improve intelligibility.