MS Course Requirements
MS students must complete the following requirements:
- Core Courses (12 credits)
- Mathematics Courses (6 credits)
- Laboratory Course (3 credits)
- Elective Courses (6 credits)
- Research/Capstone (9-12 credits)
- Graduate Seminar 398 (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 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.
| ME 200A | Incompressible Flows | 3 |
| ME 200B | Viscous and Unsteady Flows | 3 |
| ME 211A | Mechanics of Structures and Solids | 3 |
| ME 211B | Homogenization and Upscaling Techniques in Solid Mechanics | 3 |
| ME 212 | Continuum Mechanics | 3 |
| ME 222A | Mechatronics and Microsystems | 3 |
| ME 222B | Mechatronics and Intelligent Systems | 3 |
| ME 241 | Classical Thermodynamics | 3 |
| ME 242 | Theoretical and Numerical Heat Transfer | 3 |
| ME 243 | Statistical Thermodynamics | 3 |
| ECE 271A | Linear Control Systems | 3 |
| ECE 271B | Non Linear Control Systems | 3 |
Mathematics Courses (6 credits)
Students must pass at least two graduate-level courses (i.e., courses numbered 200 and higher) in applied mathematics (AMCS) or statistics (STAT). It is recommended that students take the following courses which will provide a strong foundation of the skills required for a research career in ME.
Other courses listed in the AMCS/ STAT master's program can be taken to fulfill this requirement.
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. It is advised that students take courses from the ME program as per the list below:
| ME 226 | Cyber-Physical Systems | 3 |
| ME 228 | Robot Planning and Control | 3 |
| ME 244 | Combustion Fundamentals | 3 |
| ME 252 | Fundamentals of Circular Carbon Strategies | 3 |
| ME 253 | Sustainable Thermal Technologies | 3 |
| ME 254 | Renewable Fluid Power | 3 |
| ME 256 | Electrochemical Energy Systems | 3 |
| ME 261 | Applications of Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas | 3 |
| ME 302 | Multi-Phase Flows | 3 |
| ME 304 | Experimental Methods in Fluid Mechanics | 3 |
| ME 305A | Computational Fluid Dynamics | 3 |
| ME 305B | Advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics | 3 |
| ME 306 | Hydrodynamic Stability | 3 |
| ME 307 | Turbulence | 3 |
| ME 317 | Mechanics of Composite Materials and Structures | 3 |
| ME 319 | Computational Solid Mechanics | 3 |
| ME 326 | Robust Control | 3 |
| ME 342 | Chemical Kinetics | 3 |
| ME 346 | Turbulent Combustion | 3 |
| ME 348 | Introduction to Spectroscopy and Laser Diagnostics | 3 |
| ME 376 | Introduction to Combustion Engines | 3 |
| ME 378 | Experimental Combustion | 3 |
| ME 394 | Contemporary Topics in Mechanical Engineering | 3 |
200-300 level courses from other KAUST programs upon approval of the Academic Advisor.
Graduate Seminars (non-credit)
Students must register for two semesters to
ME 398 and receive a Satisfactory grade in each semester. They must attend a minimum of 8 Graduate Seminars per semester to earn a Satisfactory (S) grade. The seminars can be chosen from any Graduate Seminar series offered by the PSE division.
Additional Workshop (non-credit)
In preparation for assignments and courses it is strongly recommended that MS students take a relevant skills workshop in the area, such as Scientific Presentation skills, Scientific Research Writing or Writing a Research Proposal. For further details, support or any questions, please contact the English Language and Communication team in the Student Center (Building 18) or at elcp@kaust.edu.sa.
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 (ME 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 9 capstone credits, with a maximum of 6 credits of Directed Research (ME 299). Students must complete the remaining 3 credits through one or a combination of the options listed below: