The Master of Science (MS) degree requires completion of a minimum of 36 credits with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- grade for course credit.
Students are responsible for planning their graduate program in consultation with their Academic Advisor. Students must meet all deadlines and be aware that most Core Courses are offered only once per academic year. Students are expected to complete the MS degree as follows:
Students must complete their Thesis by the end of the fourth Semester (not including the Summer Session). Students who require additional time to complete their Thesis must apply for an extension per the Time Limits and Extensions Policy.
To facilitate the design of individual study plans, students must take a written Assessment Test when they arrive on campus. The Assessment Test determines whether they have mastered the prerequisites for undertaking the graduate-level courses taught in the program. Students must prepare for the test by refreshing the general knowledge gained from their undergraduate education before arriving at KAUST. The study plan requirements must be satisfactorily completed, in addition to the university degree requirements. More information regarding the Assessment Test is available on the AP webpage.
In the case of failure of the assessment test MS students are mandated to take 100-level courses and will be graded Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) for these courses but do not receive academic credit toward their degree. Students mandated to take the full Fall Semester of the PGDip Program and who wish to transfer to the PGDip Program in the Spring Semester, must apply to do so before Week 1 of the Spring Semester.
Course Requirements
Students must complete the following requirements:
- Core courses (12 credits)
- Elective courses (12 credits)
- Research Courses (12 credits)
- Graduate Seminar (non-credit)
- Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)
Core and Elective Courses must be technical courses and cannot be substituted with Research, Internship, or Broadening Courses to fulfill degree requirements.
Core Courses (12 credits)
Core Courses provide students with the background needed to establish a solid foundation in the program area. Students must complete 12 credits (4 Core Courses) and be aware that Core Courses may be offered only once per academic year.
Elective Courses (12 credits)
Elective Courses allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives. Students must complete 12 credits (4 Elective Courses) from the AP, AMCS, Chem, CS, ECE, ME, and MSE programs. The following list contains the courses well aligned with the AP program, organized by themes.
Fundamentals in Physics
Experimental Techniques and Characterization
| AP 210 | Spectroscopy of Solids | 3 |
| ECE 203 | Solid-State Devices Fabrication | 3 |
| ME 348 | Introduction to Spectroscopy and Laser Diagnostics | 3 |
| MSE 228 | Materials Characterization | 3 |
Materials
| ME 317 | Mechanics of Composite Materials and Structures | 3 |
| MSE 229 | Polymeric Materials | 3 |
| MSE 310 | Energy Storage Materials and Devices | 3 |
| MSE 318 | Nanomaterials | 3 |
| MSE 320 | Energy Conversion Materials and Devices | 3 |
| MSE 322 | Semiconductor Materials | 3 |
| MSE 324 | Photophysics of Organic Semiconductors | 3 |
Device Physics
Optoelectronics and Photonics
| ECE 208 | Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices | 3 |
| ECE 231 | Principles of Optics | 3 |
| ECE 332 | Optical Waves in Crystals | 3 |
Theoretical and Computational Physics
| AMCS 201 | Applied Mathematics I | 3 |
| AMCS 202 | Applied Mathematics II | 3 |
| AMCS 231 | Applied Partial Differential Equations I | 3 |
| AMCS 252 | Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations | 3 |
| AMCS 255 | Advanced Computational Physics | 3 |
| AMCS 331 | Applied Partial Differential Equations II | 3 |
| AMCS 353 | Advanced Topics in Wave Propagation | 3 |
| AP 314 | Ab-Initio Computational Methods | 3 |
| AP 330 | Many-Body Theory in Condensed Matter | 3 |
| CS 229 | Machine Learning | 3 |
| ME 305A | Computational Fluid Dynamics | 3 |
| ME 305B | Advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics | 3 |
| ME 319 | Computational Solid Mechanics | 3 |
Graduate Seminars (non-credit)
Students must register for 2 AP Graduate Seminar Courses (AP 398) and must receive a Satisfactory (S) grade in all of them. Students must attend a minimum of 8 Graduate Seminars to receive a Satisfactory (S) grade. The seminars can be chosen from any Graduate Seminar series offered by the PSE division.
Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)
Students must complete 1 Winter Enrichment Program (WE 100), usually taken in the first year of study.
MS Thesis
Students pursuing the Thesis option must complete 12 credits of Thesis Research (AP 297).
Thesis Application
Students must secure a Thesis Advisor and must submit the Thesis application no later than by the end of week one of their third semester. Students must select a KAUST Faculty member affiliated with the AP program. A list is available on the PSE webpage. A KAUST Faculty member not affiliated with the AP program can obtain the program’s approval to become affiliated for the specific Thesis project before the student commences the research work. To start the affiliation process, a research proposal of the project signed by the potential Thesis Advisor must be submitted to the GPC. Thesis withdrawal is not permitted, and students who cannot complete their thesis will face academic dismissal.
Thesis Committee Formation
Students must form the Thesis Committee and submit a petition to defend the Thesis by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar. The required form and procedure details are available on the AP webpage. The Dean must approve the Thesis Committee, which must consist of 3 or 4 members as follows:
| Member |
Role |
Program Status |
| 1 |
Chair |
KAUST Faculty without program affiliation |
| 2 |
Thesis Advisor |
KAUST Faculty with program affiliation |
| 3 |
Member |
KAUST Faculty with program affiliation |
| 4 |
Member |
Faculty or research scientist inside or outside KAUST |
Notes:
- Members 1 to 3 are required; member 4 is optional.
- Co-Advisors may serve as members 3 or 4, depending on their status.
- Instructional and Research Faculty, as well as Visiting Faculty, may only serve as member 4.
- Adjunct Professors and Professors emeriti may retain Committee roles.
View a list of Faculty and their affiliations here.
Thesis Document
Students must follow the Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines available from the KAUST Library when they write their Thesis. Once the Thesis is ready to be examined, students must determine the Defense date with the agreement of all members of the Thesis Committee.
Thesis Defense
The format of the oral Thesis Defense is left to the discretion of the Thesis Committee. Students defending their Thesis receive as outcome a Pass or Fail. A Pass is achieved when the Committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote, otherwise the outcome is a Fail. In the case of a Pass, students must send the Thesis Result Form within 2 days after the Thesis Defense to the GPC. In the case of a Fail, the Committee Chair must inform the GPC immediately to take the necessary action. Students must submit the Final Approval Form by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar. The required forms are available on the Office of the Registrar webpage, and procedure details are available on the AP webpage.
Thesis Archiving
Students must archive the Thesis in the KAUST Library within 2 weeks from the Thesis Defense and not later than the deadline published in the Academic Calendar. A step-by-step guide to archive the Thesis is available on the AP webpage.