MS Course Requirements
MS students must complete the following requirements:
- Core Courses (12-15 credits)
- Elective Courses (9-12 credits)
- Research/Capstone (12 credits)
- Graduate Seminar (non-credit)
- Winter Enrichment Program (WE 100)
All AMCS students must earn at least 24 credits from Core/Elective Courses, not including credits from AMCS 201, AMCS 202, AMCS 206, and STAT 210.These are graded on letter scale but do not count towards the requirements. Core and Elective Courses must be technical courses and cannot be substituted with Research or Internship to fulfill degree requirements.
Core Courses (12-15 credits)
Core Courses provide students with the background needed to establish a solid foundation in the program area. Students must complete between 12-15 credits (4- 5 Core Courses) dependent on their track and be aware that Core Courses may be offered only once per academic year.
Applied Mathematics (AM) Track
Students on the Applied Mathematics (AM) Track must take five Core Courses (15 credits) from the following list:
Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Track
Students on the Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Track must take four Core Courses (12 credits). Two courses (6 credits) should be taken from the following list:
| AMCS 231 | Applied Partial Differential Equations I | 3 |
| AMCS 251 | Numerical Linear Algebra | 3 |
| AMCS 252 | Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations | 3 |
| AMCS 241 | Stochastic Processes | 3 |
| Or | |
| STAT 220 | Probability and Statistics | 3 |
Only one of AMCS 241 or STAT 220 may be counted toward this requirement. Additionally, students enrolled in the CSE track are required to take two courses, totaling 6 credits, from the Computer Science (CS) Program Core Course List. Three of these credits can be earned from the course CS201.
Data Science (DS) Track
Students on the Data Science (DS) Track must take four Core Courses (12 credits) from the following list:
Students must choose between AMCS 241 or STAT 220. Core courses can be replaced by 300-level courses in the same research area if the student has previously taken a similar course. This substitution must be approved both by the Academic Advisor and by the AMCS Curriculum Committee.
Elective Courses (9-12 credits)
Elective Courses allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual research and educational objectives with the permission of the Academic Advisor.
Applied Mathematics (AM) Track
Students in the AM Track must take three Elective Courses (9 credits). Courses can be taken from any KAUST Program. Those taken outside the AMCS program must be approved by the Academic Advisor. Refer to the KAUST Course Catalogue for choices.
Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Track
Students in the CSE track must take a total of four Elective Courses (12 credits) as per the following requirements:
- Two courses (6 credits) in Applications of Modeling. Eligible courses can be found here. This list is not exclusive. At least one modeling course should be from outside the AMCS Program. The choice of modeling courses must be approved both by the Academic Advisor and the Program Chair.
- Two AMCS courses (6 credits)
Data Science (DS) Track
Students in the DS track must take four Elective Courses (12 credits).The choice of courses must include the following:
- One AMCS Course (3 credits)
- Two courses (6 credits) from the Data Science course list maintained by the AMCS Curriculum Committee.
- Any other course from KAUST Programs (3 credits) as approved by the advisor
Graduate Seminar (non-credit)
Students must register for AMCS 398 and receive a Satisfactory grade for two Semesters during their MS.
Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)
All students must complete the Winter Enrichment Program (
WE 100) for credit at least once during their studies at KAUST. Students who have previously completed WEP will be exempt from this requirement in their future studies.
MS Thesis
Students planning to pursue the Thesis option must complete a minimum of 12 credits of Thesis Research (AMCS 297).
For more details on the Thesis Application, Thesis Committee Formation, Thesis Defense Results, Thesis Document and Thesis Archiving please check the policy page.
MS Non-Thesis
Students wishing to pursue the non-thesis option must complete a total of 12 capstone credits, with 6 credits of directed research (AMCS 299). Students must complete the 6 remaining credits through one of the options listed below:
- Internship: Summer internship (AMCS 295) – students can only take one internship
- Any 200/300-level courses from any degree program at KAUST.