The NCSU Graduate School and MEAS have established the following
requirements for completion of the M.S. program with thesis in MEAS. All must be met to complete the degree. (Items 4, 5, 7, and the first part of 6 have
been established by MEAS; all others
are requirements of the Graduate School and can be found in the NCSU Graduate
Administrative Handbook, http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_publicns/handbook).
1.
30
total credits are needed (this is the “30-credit requirement” referred to
below).
2.
At
least 20 of these credits must be at the 500-800 level.
3.
Courses
at the 400 level may count toward the 30-credit requirement if they do not have
an “MEA” prefix; courses below the 400
level do not count.
4.
At
least 18 credits must be in coursework, as opposed to research or seminar
credits.
5.
One
credit of the MEAS seminar course (MEA 601) is required, and no more than 1 may
be counted toward the 30-credit requirement.
6.
Six
credits of MEA 695 (Thesis Research) are required, and no more than 6 may be
counted toward the 30-credit requirement.
7.
The
other 5 credits required for the degree (in addition to the 25 credits
specified in items 4-6 listed above) may be in any form acceptable to your Graduate
Advisory Committee (see below), subject to the other restrictions listed here.
8.
MEA
699 (Master’s Thesis Preparation) and MEA 690 (Master’s Examination) may not be
counted toward the 30-credit requirement.
9.
No
more than 3 credits of MEA 685 (Supervised Teaching) may be counted toward the
30-credit requirement.
10.
No
more than 12 “transfer” credits may be counted toward the 30-credit requirement
(the different types of acceptable transfer credit are described in the NCSU
Graduate Administrative Handbook, section 3.1, http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_publicns/handbook/).
11.
A
minimum GPA of 3.0 must be achieved in all course work required for the M.S.
degree.
12.
The
M.S. thesis and final oral exam must be successfully completed.
13.
All
degree requirements must be completed within 6 calendar years, beginning with
the date that you first register for courses carrying graduate credit
applicable to the M.S. program.
MEAS also offers the M.S. without thesis. Financial support in the form of teaching or research assistantships (defined below) is generally not available to non-thesis M.S. students. Graduation requirements for the non-thesis M.S. are those given above for the M.S. with thesis, except that items 4-7 and 12 do not apply because the 30-credit requirement must be fully met with coursework (no research or seminar credits).
Planning and executing a research project and writing a thesis based on the results is a critical component of the M.S. program, and one that sets it apart from undergraduate study. The research aspect of the program can be thought of as a professional apprenticeship, in which you work closely with a faculty member who guides your research and provides advice on all aspects of your progress through the program. It is important that you identify this faculty member (your “advisor”) as soon as possible so that you can begin the background work and planning for your thesis research project (see the section on “Thesis Research” below).
Before applying to the program, you should attempt to identify an advisor by directly contacting individual faculty members whose research is of interest to you. Information about faculty research interests is found on the MEAS web site (http://www.meas.ncsu.edu/03-faculty.html). Often these individual contacts, before or after an offer of admission, will be useful in identifying an advisor. If you identify a particular faculty member with whom you may be interested in working, you should call or e-mail him/her to discuss your interests and ask about his/her willingness to serve as your advisor. If you are admitted to the M.S. program but do not identify an advisor before arriving on campus, the Director of Graduate Programs will assign you an interim advisor based on your scientific interests. In this case, the interim advisor assigned may or may not continue as your permanent advisor; you should continue your efforts to define your research interests and identify a permanent advisor, whether it is your interim advisor or another faculty member. The key thing to remember is that you should take the initiative to talk to faculty members and find an advisor, based on your interests and the interests and availability of the faculty. A particular professor is not necessarily obligated to serve as your advisor, even if you are admitted and would like to work with that professor (a faculty member may be over-committed and not able to take on new advisees). However, if you are admitted and making good progress through the program, one of the MEAS faculty members will serve as your advisor, even if it is not necessarily your first choice.
You should contact your advisor (interim or otherwise) before your first semester starts to discuss your course work for the first semester. This can be done through e-mail or phone even before you arrive on campus. Also, at this time you can begin discussing potential thesis research with your advisor. Selection of a thesis topic and work toward a thesis proposal should begin as soon as possible (see “Thesis Research” below). In addition to meeting with your advisor, you may want to seek out introductory meetings with other faculty members of the department whose research fields are of potential interest to you. It is often possible to change advisors during the first semester if your interests change or you find a different research opportunity you’d prefer to pursue.
While coursework is required for the M.S. degree and is important, we consider the focus of the M.S. program to be completion of a thesis involving original research. Completion of the M.S. degree in two years requires that you begin your research as soon as possible. Students sometimes underestimate the time required for carrying out research and writing a thesis; experience shows that two years go by quickly! Thesis research should begin in the first semester, with at least background readings and discussions of these readings with your advisor, and possibly preliminary lab, field, or computer work. This background and preliminary work during your first 1-2 semesters forms the basis for your thesis proposal (see “Thesis Proposal” below). Your first summer will normally be your first opportunity to carry out research without concurrent coursework, and should be a time for significant progress. Your research will then continue through your second year (you should try to have all your coursework completed by your third semester at the latest, so that you can complete your thesis without interruption). The bulk of your last semester should be devoted to writing your thesis.
Each M.S. student at NCSU is required to prepare a “Plan of Graduate Work” (which, for some reason, NCSU refers to by the acronym POW) with a schedule for taking the 30 credits required for the M.S. degree. Your plan will be prepared by you with the help of your advisor, and must be approved by your “Graduate Advisory Committee” (GAC). Your GAC consists of your advisor and at least two other NCSU faculty members (at least one of whom must be a regular, non-adjunct faculty member in MEAS) chosen by you and your advisor. While you will work most closely with your advisor on your POW and research, the GAC as a whole will have input on and must approve both your POW and your research thesis. You should work closely with your advisor to develop your POW, preferably before the end of your second semester but in no case beyond the end of your third semester (counting summer as a semester) in the M.S. program. Once developed with your advisor, you will present your POW to your full GAC at a meeting, for their comment (including possible revision) and approval. At this same meeting you will also present your plan for thesis research to your GAC, for their comment and approval (see “Thesis Proposal” below). You will schedule this meeting after getting approval to do so from your advisor.
You should choose the courses for your POW in close consultation with your advisor, in such a way that your POW will satisfy the criteria listed above in the “Graduation Requirements” section. Up to 6 credits of graduate coursework may be transferred from another accredited university toward your M.S. requirements, provided the credits were completed with a grade of "B" or better, were not used to satisfy your Bachelor’s degree requirements, and are considered acceptable as part of your POW by your advisor and GAC.
As noted above, you must have a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 to graduate from the M.S. program. Your GPA will be based only on formal lecture and/or lab courses, not research credits (MEA 693, 695, 696, or 699). You may lose your financial support (teaching or research assistantship) if your GPA drops below 3.0. Refer to Section 3.19 of the Graduate Administrative Handbook (http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_publicns/handbook/) for information on the conditions for academic warning, probation, and termination from the graduate program.
As soon as possible, but no later than about the mid-point of your second semester, you should formally choose a thesis topic. At this time, working closely with your advisor, you will prepare a short written proposal for your thesis research. The text of the proposal must be double-spaced and no longer than 10 pages (not including figures, tables, or bibliography). The proposal should address a scientific problem of some significance, should contain a specific and feasible methodology that is appropriate to the problem, should be logically and clearly presented, and should reflect your sound understanding of coursework and research literature relevant to the topic. At your first meeting with your GAC (the meeting at which you also present your POW), you will give a short (20-30 minute) oral presentation of your research proposal, after which the members of your GAC will question you about the work and offer feedback on scientific and practical aspects. Your GAC as whole may suggest (or even require) that some aspects of the research plan be modified; you should take careful notes of these comments (have a pen in your hand during the discussion) and address them as you continue in your research during the coming months. After the meeting is concluded and the research plan in your proposal is approved by your GAC (possibly with modification at the meeting), you will be responsible for seeing that a copy of the approved proposal is submitted to the MEAS Graduate Program Director for inclusion in your permanent MEAS student file.
Thus, this first meeting with your GAC is very important, as it should lead to the approval you need to carry forward with your POW and research (perhaps modified on the basis of comments from your GAC). You should schedule this meeting after your advisor has agreed that your POW and thesis research proposal are ready for distribution to the full GAC. Also, you should make sure that all members of your GAC have your written proposal at least 2 weeks before the meeting. In some cases, a faculty member may want to see the proposal before even agreeing to serve on your GAC, in which case the proposal must be prepared and shared with the faculty member before the GAC membership is finalized and the meeting scheduled.
Guidelines for thesis
preparation and electronic submission at NCSU can be found at http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/grad/ETD/. These guidelines must be followed exactly.
Your thesis is submitted first to your thesis advisor (wholly or in sections, depending on your advisor’s instructions to you). Generally your advisor will require revisions as part of a normal iterative process of producing a high-quality draft suitable for distribution to your GAC. Once your advisor feels the thesis is ready to present to the full GAC, you will distribute copies to the other members, and at that time also schedule your final oral exam with your GAC members. You must provide copies of your thesis to your GAC at least 2 weeks before your final oral exam. At this time you should also inform the MEAS Student Services Assistant of the date and time of your exam, and he/she will find and schedule a room for the exam.
Closer to the date of your
final oral exam, you may visit with each committee member and ask whether they
have comments or suggestions to relay to you before your exam. They are under no obligation to provide
comments at that time, but you should be prepared to act on any that arise.
At your final oral exam, you
will present your results in a talk to the department and answer questions from
the audience. After this open
presentation and question/answer period, your GAC will question you about the
results of your project and related background knowledge in more detail. You will then leave the room while your GAC
evaluates your performance.
Possible outcomes include:
1. Unconditional pass: This usually involves minor revision to your thesis. In this case members of your GAC, with the exception of your advisor, may sign your thesis indicating their acceptance pending the final minor changes, with the understanding that your advisor will guarantee the changes are made; after making the necessary changes you will submit a revised version to your advisor for his/her approval and signature. In some cases one or members of your GAC may prefer to see the revised version of your thesis before they sign off on it. In this case you will make the required changes and submit a revised version to your advisor for his/her approval and signature. You will then forward the thesis to the other members of the GAC for their review and signature.
2. Conditional pass: This usually involves major revision to your thesis. In this case you will make the required changes and submit a revised version to your advisor for his/her approval and signature. You will then forward the thesis to the other members of the GAC for their review and signature.
3. Failure: In this case your GAC has found serious deficiencies in your written thesis and/or performance during the final oral exam. A second attempt at the final oral exam may be scheduled. The GAC members will provide clear feedback on changes necessary in your written thesis and/or in your performance during the exam. Your advisor will work with you to ensure those changes are made prior to your second attempt at the exam. This outcome is rare, and can be avoided by careful attention to a few common-sense points:
·
Be
sure there is clear agreement among members of your GAC, at the completion of
your first meeting, about the requirements and expectations for your thesis.
·
Do
careful, quality work in your research and writing, in close contact with your
advisor.
·
Keep
your GAC informed of your progress between your proposal defense and your
thesis defense, especially if there are changes in the scope or focus of your
work after your proposal presentation at your first GAC meeting. MEAS guidelines require that you meet with
your GAC at least twice per year.
·
Prepare
well for your final oral exam (i.e., construct a good talk with clear visual
aids, practice the talk several times before the exam, try to anticipate likely
questions and formulate answers in advance).
After the thesis is approved
by all committee members, final copies should be prepared with careful
attention to the NCSU thesis guidelines (http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/grad/ETD/). It is common practice and courtesy to
prepare a bound copy for your advisor, and for each GAC member who would like
one.
Each
semester the Graduate School publishes
the deadline by which a completed thesis must be submitted for graduation in
that semester (http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/grad/calendar.htm). It is important to be aware of this deadline
and keep it in mind when scheduling your final oral exam. Given that making (and obtaining GAC
approval for) even relatively minor changes can take 1-2 weeks, you should
schedule your final oral exam at least 2 weeks before the deadline for thesis
submission if you hope to graduate at the end of the semester in which you
defend your thesis.
While your
thesis should represent a complete presentation of your research findings and
conclusions, there may be important supporting research materials that are not
included directly in your thesis (e.g., large data files, output files from
computer programs, video tape and photographs, large maps, etc.). These materials may be of critical
importance to your advisor in publishing papers, supplying required reports to
funding agencies, and working with other students (e.g., in continuing the
research enterprise after your graduation).
Original computer files with the material in your thesis (text,
graphics) may also be very useful to your advisor and to other graduate students
working with him or her. Because of
this, you are required to prepare and leave behind an organized archive of all
research materials (especially computer files) for your advisor prior to
graduation. Different advisors will
have different standards for this archive, your advisor will provide guidance
on his/her preferred content and format.
This requirement is not difficult to meet if your materials are
organized and backed-up in a systematic manner from the beginning of your
research.
Nothing
in this requirement is intended to modify or supercede the NCSU policies on
intellectual property and copyright (REG 01.25.3) or the UNC Copyright Use and
Ownership Policy that applies to the entire University of North Carolina
System, including NCSU http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/academic_admin/REG210.00.1.php). These policies afford university faculty
members, students, and staff members certain rights and responsibilities with
regard to their creative works. The
purpose of this section of the MEAS Graduate Handbook is simply to inform you
of your responsibility to leave your research materials in good and useful order
upon graduation, subject to the terms of the NCSU/UNC policies cited above, for
the continued good of the research program in which you carried out your thesis
work. As an M.S. graduate from MEAS,
you will have benefited from participation in a research program that existed
because of the efforts of your advisor and his or her previous students; your parting obligation to the program is to
help your advisor pass it on to the next student, as you found it or better.
The
results of most of our M.S. theses in MEAS are published in peer-reviewed
scientific journals, and in practice this usually occurs after the graduated
author of the thesis has left the university.
While the task of writing the paper may fall to your advisor after you
have graduated and moved on, you should expect to contribute to the publication
effort by at least meeting the requirement of this section. Some students also take a more active role
in the publication process, something generally welcomed by the faculty. Normally you and your advisor would be
co-authors of any journal paper(s) resulting from your thesis.
It is generally fairly easy
to change advisors within your first semester, and sometimes even your second
semester. Later changes after you’ve
carried out a substantial amount of work (e.g., after having approval for your
POW and thesis research proposal) are fairly rare but not impossible, and
require approval from the MEAS Director of Graduate Programs and Department
Head. We expect that you and your
advisor will be in agreement before the request is submitted, and that approval
will be routine. If you and your
advisor disagree over the change, you are both urged to discuss it with the
Director of Graduate Programs, and then with the Department Head if necessary,
and make every effort to resolve the disagreement. If the disagreement is resolved in this way, you will submit a
written request for change of advisor to the Director of Graduate Programs and
Department Head, and their approval of the request should be
straightforward. If the disagreement is
not resolved in discussion, you may still present your written request for a
change of advisor to the Director of Graduate Programs and Department Head. Your advisor may also submit a written
explanation of his or her arguments against the change (e.g., he or she has
invested a great deal of funding and training in you and feels you should
follow through on this investment and complete your thesis). The Director of Graduate Programs and Department
Head will consider both arguments and reach a decision on your request (in the
event that they disagree, the Department Head’s decision will prevail).