Bioengineering M.Sc. Program
It is the sole responsibility of students to plan their graduate program in consultation with their academic advisor. Students are required to meet all deadlines. Students should be aware that most core courses are offered only once per year.
The Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree is awarded upon successful completion of a minimum of 36 credit hours. A minimum GPA of 3.0 must be achieved to graduate. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- for course credit. Students are expected to complete the M.Sc. degree in three semesters. Satisfactory participation in every KAUST summer session is mandatory.
The M.Sc. Requirements
- Core courses (12 credits)
- Elective courses (12 credits)
- Research/capstone experience (12 credits)
- Graduate seminar 398 (non-credit) – all students are required to register each semester and receive a satisfactory grade for three semesters during their M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees (three seminars in each program). Attendance of at least 10 seminars per semester is mandatory. For more details about BioE seminars please contact your GPC.
- Completion of one Winter Enrichment Program (WEP)
Core Courses (12 credits) Mandatory for ALL tracks.
| B 241 | Molecular and Cellular Biology Lab | 3 |
| BioE 201 | Foundations of Bioengineering | 3 |
| BioE 202 | Foundations of Synthetic Biology | 3 |
| BioE 230 | Foundations of Bioengineering Lab | 3 |
BioE 201 and BioE 230 are corequisites and combined in one time block. It is required to register for both BioE 201 and BioE 230. These core courses are designed to provide students with the background needed to establish a solid foundation in the program area.
Elective Courses (12 credits)
Track 1: Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Track 2: Bioinformatics and Machine Learning
| B 322 | Computational Bioscience and Machine Learning | 3 |
| B 324 | Machine Learning for Genomics and Health | 3 |
| CS 220 | Data Analytics | 3 |
| CS 229 | Machine Learning | 3 |
| CS 249 | Algorithms in Bioinformatics | 3 |
| IED 210/IED 220 | Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship | 3 |
| IED 220/IED 210 | New Venture Development and Leadership | 6 |
| STAT 210 | Applied Statistics and Data Analysis | 3 |
Others upon approval of the academic advisor
Track 3: Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Others upon approval of the academic advisor
Track 4: Synthetic Biology
Others upon approval of the academic advisor
The elective courses (which exclude research and internship credits) are designed to allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives, with the permission of the academic advisor.
M.Sc. Thesis
Students wishing to pursue the thesis option must complete a minimum of 12 credits of thesis research (297).
The thesis defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, must include the following members:
- First member/academic advisor/chair: KAUST faculty member (within your degree program)
- Second member: KAUST faculty member (within your degree program)** see below for notes on including a research scientist
- Third member: KAUST faculty member (from another degree program)**
This membership can be summarized as:
| Member |
Role |
Program Status |
| 1 |
Chair |
Within program |
| 2 |
Faculty |
Within program |
| 3 |
Faculty or approved research scientist |
Outside program |
| 4 |
Additional faculty or research scientist |
Inside or outside KAUST |
Notes:
- The only requirement for commonality with the proposal examination committee is the academic advisor, although it is expected that other members will carry forward to this committee
- Assistant, associate, and full professors may be the academic advisor. Research, emeritus, and adjunct professors may serve as co-advisor.
- If you have a co-advisor, this person can be considered one of the first three members required (not the external examiner), provided they come under the categories listed. If your co-advisor does not meet the criteria above for one of the first three members, a fifth member can be added.
- **M.Sc. thesis students may include one research scientist (RS) as the second or third member of the committee. Whether they are considered in-program or out-of-program is dependent on the research assignment of the RS in agreement with the academic advisor.
View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.
M.Sc. Non-Thesis
Students wishing to pursue the non-thesis option must complete a total of 12 research/capstone credits, with a minimum of 6 credits of directed research (299).
Students must complete the remaining credits through one or a combination of the options listed below:
- Broadening experience courses: courses that broaden a student’s M.Sc. experience
- Internship: research-based summer internship (295) – students are only allowed to take one internship
- Ph.D. courses: courses numbered at the 300 level
- Additional directed research