Santa Clara University - Academic Regulations

Academic Bulletins » Graduate School of Engineering » Academic Regulations

Admissions and Academic Regulations

CLASSES

Classes are taught in the following timeslots: 7:10-9:00 a.m., 5:10-7:00 p.m., and 7:10-9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday with some Saturday and/or Sunday offerings; 2-unit courses meet one day per week, and 4-unit courses meet two days per week.

PROGRAM OF STUDIES

During the first quarter of enrollment, a student whose objective is an M.S. degree should meet with a faculty advisor to discuss the program of studies and future coursework. The advisor-approved program of studies, including any transfer units, must be submitted to Engineering Graduate Programs before the end of the first quarter of enrollment. Variations from the approved program of studies may be made only with the written approval of the advisor and the filing of the proper forms.

A maximum of 16 units earned in a SCU nondegree status and 9 units of transfer credit from an accredited university may be applied toward graduation upon approval of the academic advisor. All units must be included on the Program of Studies. Note: Extension and continuing education units are not accepted for transfer.

MBA COURSES

Graduate engineering students in a degree program may take MBA courses subject to these guidelines:

Department	Number of MBA units allowed	Approved by
AMTH	Case-by-case basis	Chair
COEN	Case-by-case basis	Advisor
ELEN	Maximum of 6 units to be included in the allowed 9 units of transfer (if any)	Advisor
EMGT	9 units total	Advisor
MECH	Combination of EMGT and MBA courses totaling 8 unit	Advisor

Please follow this procedure for MBA course registration:

Complete and sign the MBA Course Enrollment Request form (available online at: http://www.scu.edu/engineering/graduate/forms/form.cfm).
Submit the form to the assistant director of engineering graduate services for signature and processing.

(The form will be sent to the Leavey School of Business for course enrollment, and you will be notified of acceptance or denial by e-mail directly from MBA Services.)

Note: Please include any MBA courses on your Program of Studies.

Note: Undergraduate and Open University students are not eligible to take MBA courses.

NONGRADED COURSES

Courses such as seminars (with the exception of COEN 400 and ELEN 200), Co-ops, etc., are limited to a total of 5 units and must be approved by the student’s advisor.

Note: Co-op units may not be used toward the completion of a degree.

PETITION FOR GRADUATION

It is a student’s responsibility to file a petition for graduation no later than the last day to petition for graduate degrees as indicated in the Academic Calendar. The petition to graduate will only be accepted through online submission and may be found at http://scu.edu/engineering/graduate/courses_registration/petition-new.cfm.

Any student graduating in September or December who is within 4 units of degree completion and wishes to participate in the annual commencement ceremony is also required to complete the Petition to Walk in the June Commencement Ceremony section of the online form.

INCOMPLETE GRADES

A student’s work may be reported incomplete if due to illness or other serious circumstance some essential portion of the coursework remains unfinished after the final examination, or if the thesis has not been completed. An incomplete (I) becomes a failure (F) unless the unfinished work is completed to the satisfaction of the instructor and proper notice is filed with the registrar within four weeks from the beginning of the next scheduled quarter, not including summer session. Makeup work must be in the hands of the instructor no later than the end of the third week so that the instructor can meet the four-week submission deadline.

COOPERATIVE EDUCATION OPTION

The objective of cooperative education is to provide students with the opportunity, through the interaction of study and work experience, to enhance their academic knowledge, to further their personal work experience, and to learn about working with people. The Cooperative Education option integrates classroom work with practical industrial experience. It alternates or parallels periods of college education with periods of practical training in industry. The industrial training is related to the field of study in which the student is engaged and often is diversified to afford a wide range of experience. To qualify for this study option, students must complete at least 30 units at Santa Clara University. Interested students should contact the Cooperative Education Office in the Career Services Office early in their academic program.

THE GRADUATE CORE

The Graduate Core is a set of requirements that is common to all departments in the School of Engineering. The Core promotes an educational philosophy that goes far beyond narrow specialization and emphasizes a global and societal orientation. It also reflects the fact that we live in an increasingly complex world, in which engineers must continually deepen their understanding of the interdisciplinary environment in which they operate.

Students will be required to take a course in each of the following three areas of the Core (for a minimum of 6 units):

Emerging Topics in Engineering
Engineering and Business/Entrepreneurship
Engineering and Society

The following courses are currently approved for this purpose (students are encouraged to periodically check the graduate engineering Web site for updates regarding new courses in these areas).

Emerging Topics in Engineering

AMTH 308 Theory of Wavelets
AMTH 367 Mathematical Finance
AMTH 387 Cryptology
CENG 219 Designing for Sustainable Construction
COEN 331 Mobile and Ad Hoc Networking
ELEN 280 Introduction to Alternative Energy Systems
ENGR 250 Introduction to Bioinformatics and Sequence Analysis
ENGR 251 Molecular Biology for Engineers
ENGR 253 Molecular Biology for Engineers II
ENGR 260 Nanoscale Science and Technology
ENGR 262 Nanomaterials
ENGR 371 Space Systems Design and Engineering I
ENGR 372 Space Systems Design and Engineering II
ENGR 400 Emerging Topics in Engineering
This requirement can also be satisfied by taking three short courses. Students who wish to pursue this option should register for ENGR 400.

Engineering and Business/Entrepreneurship

AMTH 367 Mathematical Finance
COEN 287 Software Development Process Management
ENGR 302 Managing in the Multicultural Environment
ENGR 304 Building Global Teams
This requirement can also be satisfied by taking any 2-unit course in Engineering Management.

Engineering and Society

CENG 280 Engineering and the Law
COEN 250 Information Security Management
COEN 288 Software Ethics
ELEN 217 Chaos Theory, Metamathematics and the Limits of Knowledge: A Scientific Perspective on Religion
ENGR 302 Managing in the Multicultural Environment
ENGR 303 Unmasking Gender Effects in the Engineering Workplace
ENGR 304 Building Global Teams
ENGR 310 Engineering Ethics
ENGR 330 Law, Technology and Intellectual Property
ENGR 332 Emergent Human Systems

Note: Although certain courses (such as ENGR 302 and ENGR 304, for example) may appear in multiple categories, they cannot be used to satisfy more than one core requirement.

Note: ENGR 302 is a 1-unit course, and must be taken in conjunction with another course in this area to satisfy the requirement.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PROGRAMS AT SANTA CLARA

Certificate Programs
A certificate can be requested by students when they have completed the 16-20 units required by the specific certificate program. Students must receive a minimum grade of C in each course and have an overall GPA of 3.0 or better to earn a certificate of completion.

Continuation for a Master’s Degree
All Santa Clara University courses applied to the completion of a certificate program earn graduate credit that may also be applied toward a graduate degree. Students who wish to continue for such a degree must submit a separate application and satisfy all normal admission requirements. The general GRE test requirement for graduate admission to the master’s degree will be waived for students who complete a certificate program with a GPA of 3.5 or better.

Master of Science
This degree is granted after students complete a minimum of 45 units of the program to which they were admitted with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better and fulfill the requirements of the degree-granting department.

Engineer’s Degree
This degree is granted on the completion of an approved program of studies that is 45 units beyond the master’s degree and the acceptance for publication in a recognized engineering journal of a paper principally written by the candidate. A letter from the journal accepting the paper must be submitted to the department chairperson. In certain cases, the department may accept publication in the proceedings of an appropriate conference.

Doctor of Philosophy
This degree is granted on the completion of an approved program of studies that is 72 units beyond the master’s degree and after the student has completed the department’s degree requirements, which typically include the following:

Preliminary Examination
The preliminary examination shall be written and oral, and shall include subject matter deemed by the major department to represent sufficient preparation in depth and breadth for advanced study in the major. Only those who pass the written examination may take the oral.

Students currently studying at Santa Clara University for a master’s degree who are accepted for the Ph.D. program and who are at an advanced stage of the M.S. program may, with the approval of their academic advisor, take the preliminary examination before completing the M.S. degree requirements.

Students who have completed the M.S. degree requirements and have been accepted for the Ph.D. program should take the preliminary examination as soon as possible but not more than one and one-half years after beginning the program.

Only those students who pass the preliminary examination shall be allowed to continue in the doctoral program. The preliminary examination may be repeated only once, and then only at the discretion of the thesis advisor.

Thesis Advisor
It is the student’s responsibility to obtain consent from a full-time faculty member in the student’s major department to serve as his/her prospective thesis advisor.

It is strongly recommended that Ph.D. students find a thesis advisor before taking the preliminary examination. After passing the preliminary examination, Ph.D. students should have a thesis advisor before the beginning of the next quarter following the preliminary examination. Students currently pursuing a master’s degree at the time of their preliminary examination should have a thesis advisor as soon as possible after being accepted as a Ph.D. student.

The student and the thesis advisor jointly develop a complete program of studies for research in a particular area. The complete program of studies (and any subsequent changes) must be filed with Engineering Graduate Programs and approved by the student’s doctoral committee. Until this approval is obtained, there is no guarantee that courses taken will be counted toward the Ph.D. course requirements.

Doctoral Committee
On the student’s request, the thesis advisor will form a doctoral committee. The committee will consist of at least five members, including the thesis advisor and at least two additional current members from the major department. The committee must also include at least one member from outside the major department, preferably from outside the School of Engineering. The doctoral committee will review the proposed program of studies and determine any further changes that may be required prior to approving the program.

Residence
The Ph.D. degree is granted on the basis of academic achievement. The student is expected to complete a minimum of 72 units of graduate credit with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better. All Ph.D. thesis units are graded on a Pass/No Pass basis. A maximum of 18 quarter units (12 semester units), not previously used for the completion of another degree, may be transferred from any accredited institutions at the discretion of the student’s advisor.

For more information about residence requirements, please visit the individual department Web site:

Comprehensive Examinations and Admission to Candidacy
After completion of the formal coursework approved by the doctoral committee, the student shall present his/her research proposal for comprehensive oral examinations on the subject of his/her research work. The student should make arrangements for the comprehensive examinations through the doctoral committee. A student who passes the comprehensive examinations is considered a degree candidate.

The comprehensive examinations normally must be completed within four years from the time the student is admitted to the doctoral program. These examinations may be repeated once, in whole or in part, at the discretion of the doctoral committee.

Thesis Research and Defense
The period following the comprehensive examinations is devoted to research for the thesis, although such research may begin before the examinations are complete. After successfully completing the comprehensive examinations, the student must pass an oral examination on his/her research, conducted by the doctoral committee and whomever they appoint as examiners. The thesis must be made available to all examiners one month prior to the examination. The oral examination shall consist of a presentation of the results of the thesis and the defense. This examination is open to all faculty members of Santa Clara University, but only members of the doctoral committee have a vote.

Thesis and Publication
At least one month before the degree is conferred, the candidate must submit one copy of the final version of the thesis to the department and one copy to the Orradre Library. The thesis will not be considered as accepted until approved by the doctoral committee and one or more refereed articles based on it are accepted for publication in a professional or scientific journal approved by the doctoral committee.

All doctoral theses must also be reproduced on microfilm by University Microfilms International, which keeps on deposit the master microfilm copy and responds to requests for copies by individuals and libraries.

Time Limit for Completing Degrees
All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed within eight years following initial enrollment in the Ph.D. program. Extensions will be allowed only in unusual circumstances and must be recommended in writing by the student’s doctoral committee, and approved by the dean of engineering in consultation with the Graduate Program Leadership Council.

Non-Enrollment Period
If a student has not enrolled for an extended period (typically for two years), he or she will be removed from the Ph.D. program. Exceptions will be allowed only in unusual circumstances and must be approved in writing by the student’s doctoral committee. Typically, to continue the Ph.D. program, the student must resume enrollment, starting no later than the quarter immediately following the nonactive period, for three consecutive quarters with at least 1 unit per quarter. An acceptable reason for nonenrollment during the abovementioned period is when a student has already completed 72 or more required units but has yet to complete his/her research work, or is waiting for acceptance of his/her paper in an approved journal.

Additional Graduation Requirements
The requirements for the doctoral degree in the School of Engineering have been made to establish the structure in which the degree may be earned. The student’s Ph.D. committee looks at the proposed research and the prior background of the student to determine whether or not there are specific courses that must be added as requirements. The University reserves the right to evaluate the undertakings and the accomplishments of the degree candidate in total and award or withhold the degree as a result of its deliberations.

THE INDUSTRIAL TRACK

In addition to our regular Ph.D. program, Engineering Graduate Programs also offer an “industrial track” for working professionals as an option to facilitate the collaboration between academia and industry. Details are as follows:

The topic of the research should be coordinated with the needs of the candidate’s employer, and must be agreed upon by all parties. This topic must have a component that is publishable, and is presentable in open forums. If necessary, a collaborative research agreement will be enacted to indicate the rights of the School and the industrial partner.
As a part of the application process, candidates must submit a letter of support from their employer. This letter should contain a pledge of financial support, and must identify a co-advisor within the company. The co-advisor shares responsi- bilities for guiding the candidate’s research with a full-time faculty advisor. This person is also expected to be a member of the Ph.D. Committee.
The full-time study component of the residence requirement is waived, but other residence requirements remain the same. Students who opt for this “industrial track” are responsible for meeting all other requirements for the Ph.D. The awarded degree will be the same for all students, regardless of the track that they choose to pursue.

Return to Web format