The Master of Science (MS) degree is awarded upon successful completion of a minimum of 36 credits. A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 must be achieved to graduate. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- 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:
The Non-Thesis option is only for students who intend to complete both an MS and PhD at KAUST. 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 an individual study plan, all admitted students must take a written assessment test when they arrive on campus. The assessment determines whether students have mastered the prerequisites for undertaking graduate-level courses taught in the program. The exam will focus on mathematics and basic sciences. 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.
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. Students who Fail the “Chemistry and Thermodynamics” subject of the assessment test are not allowed to take Chemistry Core Courses before finishing mandatory PSE 102 course. Click here for more information on the assessment test.
MS Course Requirements
MS students must complete the following requirements:
- Core Courses (12 credits)
- Laboratory Rotation (3 credits)
- Elective Courses (6 credits)
- Research (15 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.
Chemistry 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.
Lab Rotation (3 credits)
All MS students must enroll for Lab Rotation (Chem 296) in their first Semester in the Program. The goal of this course is to introduce students to various Chem research groups to aid them in the selection of an Academic Advisor. The nature of the rotation may vary from one lab to another. Thus, some rotations can be research focused and others can involve more literature and background work.
Rotation assignments will be made by the mutual approval of the designated faculty and student. Students with a pre-identified Academic Advisor may spend their entire rotation period in a given lab with the approval of the Academic Advisor and the Program Chair. Students must complete three (3) rotations during the first Semester.
Elective Courses (6 credits)
Elective Courses allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives with the permission of the Academic Advisor. You can find below the list of recommended Elective Courses related to chemistry within and outside the Chemistry Program. However students can choose other courses according to their needs.
| BioE 319 | Biomaterials and Biomedical Devices | 3 |
| BioE 326/MSE 326 | Biosensing Materials | 3 |
| CE 201 | Chemical Thermodynamics | 3 |
| CE 203 | Advanced Reaction Engineering | 3 |
| CE 300 | Sustainable Process Design | 3 |
| CE 319 | Chemical Process Technology | 3 |
| CE 335 | Heterogeneous Catalysis | 3 |
| CE 336 | Membrane Science and Membrane Separation Processes | 3 |
| Chem 215 | Polymers and Polymerization Processes | 3 |
| Chem 220 | Organometallic Chemistry | 3 |
| Chem 250 | Material Chemistry II | 3 |
| Chem 302 | Sustainability in Chemistry | 3 |
| Chem 303 | Structure-Activity Relation in Polymers | 3 |
| CS 201 | Introduction to Programming with Python | 3 |
| CS 220 | Data Analytics | 3 |
| ECE 394 | Contemporary Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering | 3 |
| EnSE 202 | Aquatic Chemistry | 3 |
| EnSE 310 | Colloids, Interfaces, and Surfaces | 3 |
| EnSE 325 | Water Desalination | 3 |
| CS 229 | Machine Learning | 3 |
| CS 247 | Scientific Visualization | 3 |
| ME 256 | Electrochemical Energy Systems | 3 |
| ME 348 | Introduction to Spectroscopy and Laser Diagnostics | 3 |
| MSE 221 | Crystallography and Diffraction | 3 |
| MSE 225 | Electronic Properties of Materials | 3 |
| MSE 226 | Thermodynamics of Materials | 3 |
| MSE 228 | Materials Characterization | 3 |
| MSE 310 | Energy Storage Materials and Devices | 3 |
| MSE 314 | Ab-Initio Computational Methods | 3 |
| MSE 318 | Nanomaterials | 3 |
| MSE 320 | Energy Conversion Materials and Devices | 3 |
| MSE 331/AP 331 | Advanced Nanoelectronics | 3 |
| PSE 201 | PSE Lab | 3 |
Graduate Seminars (non-credit)
Students must register for two Chem Graduate Seminar Courses (Chem 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)
All students must register for WE 100 and successfully complete one Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), usually taken in the first year of study.
MS Thesis
Students pursuing the Thesis option must complete a minimum of 12 credits of Thesis Research (Chem 297).
Thesis Application
Students must
complete the application and have it approved by the Program Chair no later than the end of week one of their third Semester. The Thesis Advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated Assistant, Associate, or full Professor at KAUST. The Thesis Advisor can only become project affiliated for the specific Thesis project with the Program Chair’s approval. The application must include a Thesis Proposal endorsed by the Thesis Advisor and a timeline for completion.
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 by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar. The Thesis Defense Committee, which must be approved by the Dean, must consist of at least three members and typically includes no more than four members. At least two of the required members must be KAUST Faculty. The Chair plus one additional Faculty member must be affiliated with the student's program. This membership can be summarized as follows:
| Member |
Role |
Program Status |
| 1 |
Chair |
Non-Program-affiliated KAUST faculty |
| 2 |
Faculty |
Within program |
| 3 |
Faculty |
Outside program |
| 4 |
Optional Faculty or Research Scientist |
Inside or outside KAUST |
Notes:
- Members 1-3 are required; Member 4 is optional.
- Co-Chairs may serve as members 2, 3, or 4 but may not be a Research Scientist.
- Members 2 and 3 must use primary affiliation only.
- Adjunct Professors and Professors Emeriti may retain their roles on current Committees but may not serve as Chair on any new Committees.
- Professors of Practice and Research Professors may serve as members 2, 3, or 4 depending upon their affiliation with the student's program; they may also serve as Co-Chairs.
- Visiting Professors may serve as member 4.
View a list of Faculty and their affiliations here.
Petition to Defend Thesis
Students must
submit a petition to defend their Thesis by the deadline published in the
Academic Calendar. Students are responsible for scheduling the Thesis Defense Date. All committee members must attend the Defense.
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. The division recommends that the student submit the written Thesis to the Committee no later than two (2) weeks prior to the Defense. However, the Committee Chair sets the final requirement for the submission timeline.
Thesis Defense
The format of the Oral Defense is left to the discretion of the Thesis Committee. As a general guideline the Defense is expected to be a 45-minute presentation followed by 15 minutes of general Q&A then a closed-door Q&A session with the Committee. Student must submit the final Approval Form by the deadline published in the academic calendar. The required forms are available from the Office of the Registrar.
It is the student’s responsibility to book a room and make the necessary IT arrangements for the Thesis Defense. Room booking is done via the Student Portal under Service Request Management. The student must submit to the GPC the title and abstract of the Thesis one (1) week before Defense date. The GPC will announce the Thesis Defense to the Program members. The time and location of the Defense must be included in the email. The student is required to check the Chemistry Program Guide for further instructions related to the Defense format.
The outcome of the Thesis Defense will be as follows:
A Pass is achieved when the Committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote otherwise the student Fails. The student will be given one (1) week to apply for any corrections required by the Committee Members. During the following week, the student is required to upload the final draft of Thesis document to Blackboard for format check and to start the submission process.
In the case of Fail the student must notify the GPC immediately of the Committee decision. The Results of MS Thesis Examination form must be submitted to the GPC for collecting signatures within two (2) working days after the Defense regardless of the outcome. The GPC will then send it to the Office of the Registrar.
Thesis Archiving
Students must archive the Thesis in the
KAUST Library two weeks from the
final result form. This must not exceed the duration of study or the deadline published in the
Academic Calendar.
MS Non Thesis
Students pursuing the Non-Thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, including 6 credits of Directed Research* (Chem 299). The remaining 6 credits can be from any credit-bearing course at KAUST including additional Directed Research.
*As students on the Non-Thesis track are expected to continue to their PhD, choosing a topic that can be expanded upon for the PhD Dissertation is recommended.