Earth Science and Engineering MS Program
ErSE MS students must choose one of the available tracks. Students in the Geophysical Fluids and Climate System Science track study flow and transport processes both beneath and above the Earth's surface, including ocean and atmospheric circulation, flows in subsurface porous media, transport of dust and anthropogenic pollutants in atmosphere and ocean, and their effect on climate. Students in the Geophysics track focus on seismology, geophysics, geodynamics and geomechanics. The Geology track covers (carbonate) sedimentology and stratigraphy, petrology/geochemistry and structural geology. The Machine Learning in Geosciences track equips graduate students with the fundamentals of machine learning (ML) methods and their applications to geoscience problems.
The Master of Science (MS) degree comprises Thesis and non-Thesis options. It 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.
Duration of Study
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 once per year. Students must complete the MS degree as follows:
- MS (non-thesis) three Semesters and one Summer Session
- MS (thesis) four Semesters and one Summer Session.
Students must complete their Thesis by the end of the fourth Semester (not including the second Summer Session). Students who require additional time to complete their Thesis must apply for an extension per the time limits and extensions policy.
Assessment Test
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 ErSE 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.
Three topics are covered by the assessment test for the ErSE program (additional information can be found here):
- Engineering Mathematics
- Physics and Mechanics
- Chemistry and Thermodynamics
Each examination is 25 minutes long, consists of 12 multiple-choice questions, and are taken consecutively in a single 90-min session during the week before the semester formally starts. Additional information about the three topics, including the covered material and references, will be provided to students in advance of the test.
In the case of failure in one or more topics of the assessment test, MS students are mandated to take topic-specific 100-level courses and will be graded Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) for these courses but do not receive academic credit toward their degree.
MS Course Requirements
MS students must complete the following requirements:
- Core Courses (12 credits)
- Elective Courses (12 credits)
- Research/Capstone (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 Earth Science and Engineering. Students in all the four tracks must choose at least four courses from the list below and be aware that they are offered only once per academic year and some only every other year.
Elective Courses (12 credits)
Elective Courses within each track allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and academic objectives with the permission of the Academic Advisor. Students must choose 4 courses (12 credits) from any 200/300 level courses at KAUST. ErSE Core Courses listed above can also be considered Elective Courses. The courses listed below provide suggestions for students in the four tracks:
Geophysical Fluids and Climate System Science Track
| AMCS 206 | Applied Numerical Methods | 3 |
| AMCS 231 | Applied Partial Differential Equations I | 3 |
| AMCS 251 | Numerical Linear Algebra | 3 |
| CE 202 | Advanced Transport Phenomena | 3 |
| ErSE 301 | Geophysical Fluid Dynamics II | 3 |
| ErSE 305 | Multiphase Flows in Porous Media | 3 |
| ErSE 309 | Thermodynamics of Subsurface Reservoirs | 3 |
| ErSE 330 | Pore-Scale Modeling of Subsurface Flow | 3 |
| ErSE 353 | Data Assimilation | 3 |
| ME 200A | Incompressible Flows | 3 |
| MSE 200 | Mathematics for Material Science and Engineering | 3 |
Geophysics Track
| AMCS 206 | Applied Numerical Methods | 3 |
| AMCS 231 | Applied Partial Differential Equations I | 3 |
| AMCS 251 | Numerical Linear Algebra | 3 |
| AMCS 252 | Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations | 3 |
| ERSE 326 | Computational Geophysics | 3 |
| ErSE 327 | Multiscale Modeling of Geological Reservoirs | 3 |
| ErSE 328 | Advanced Seismic Inversion | 3 |
| ErSE 331 | Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in Earth Sciences | 3 |
| ErSE 360 | Mathematical Methods for Seismic Imaging | 3 |
| ERPE 221 | Geoscience Fundamentals | 3 |
| ERPE 230 | Rock Mechanics for Energy Geo-Engineering | 3 |
| ERPE 315 | Energy Geoscience | 3 |
| MSE 200 | Mathematics for Material Science and Engineering | 3 |
Geology Track
Machine Learning in Geosciences Track
| AMCS 211 | Numerical Optimization | 3 |
| AMCS 251 | Numerical Linear Algebra | 3 |
| CS 201 | Introduction to Programming with Python | 3 |
| CS 229 | Machine Learning | 3 |
| ErSE 305 | Multiphase Flows in Porous Media | 3 |
| ErSE 328 | Advanced Seismic Inversion | 3 |
| ErSE 331 | Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in Earth Sciences | 3 |
| ErSE 353 | Data Assimilation | 3 |
| ERPE 221 | Geoscience Fundamentals | 3 |
| MSE 200 | Mathematics for Material Science and Engineering | 3 |
| STAT 220 | Probability and Statistics | 3 |
Graduate Seminars (non-credit)
Students must register for ErSE 398 and receive a Satisfactory grade for two Semesters of the program they attend. 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 planning to pursue the Thesis Option must complete a minimum of 12 credits of Thesis Research (ErSE 297). Students are expected to work weekly a minimum of 3 hours/week per each research credit they are registered for.
Thesis Application
Students must secure a Thesis Advisor and submit the Thesis application no later than by the end of week 8 of their second Semester.
Students wishing to pursue the Thesis Option must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA. The selected Academic Advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated Assistant, Associate or Full Professor at KAUST. The Faculty not affiliated with ErSE can become project-affiliated for only the specific Thesis project upon program-level approval. Project-affiliation approval must be completed before commencing research.
Students who meet the graduation requirements of the non-thesis track may drop the thesis up until the end of their third Semester. Students not able to complete their thesis after this deadline 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 |
Within or outside program |
| 2 |
Faculty |
Within program |
| 3 |
Faculty |
Within or outside program |
| 4 |
Faculty or Research Scientist |
Within or outside program |
Notes:
- Members 1, 2, and one of 3 or 4 are required
- Co-chairs may serve as member 2 or 3
- 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 or 3 depending upon their affiliation with the student's program, they may also serve as co-chairs
- Visiting Professors may serve as member 3
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.
Thesis Defense
The format of the oral defense is left to the discretion of the Thesis Committee. Students defending their Thesis receive an 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 of 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 webpage of the Office of the Registrar.
Thesis Archiving
Students must archive their Thesis in the KAUST Library within two weeks from issuance of the final result form. This must not exceed the duration of study or the deadline published in the Academic Calendar.
MS Non-Thesis
Students wishing to pursue the non-thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, with a minimum of 6 credits of Directed Research (ErSE 299). Students must complete the remaining 6 credits through one or a combination of the options listed below:
*Students in the Machine Learning in Geosciences track are strongly encouraged to include a Summer internship at a high-tech company that requires machine learning applications.