Biomedical Engineering Major, MS

Requirements

In biomedical engineering, two MS options are offered. Option I requires a thesis. Option II does not require a thesis and provides graduate students, including co-op and other off-campus students, the opportunity to focus their programs in special areas through extended course work.

Option I (Thesis)

		Credit Hours
1 Course work total		21
Thesis credit hours (minimum)		9
		Total 30

¹ Courses in program (500-level or above) – 12 credit hours minimum. Mathematics (400-graduate level or above) – 6 credit hours minimum.
 

Option II (Non-Thesis)

		Credit Hours
1 Course work total		30
		Total 30

¹ Courses in program (500-level or above) – 18 credit hours minimum. Mathematics (400-graduate level or above) – 6 credit hours minimum.

For all program options, other 500-level engineering courses that are approved by the student’s master’s committee and the graduate programs committee may be substituted for the mathematics courses. All program options require participation in the departmental graduate seminars program and passing a final examination on all work submitted for the degree. The thesis option, Option I, requires submission and defense of a written thesis that demonstrates the ability to conduct and report an independent investigation.

 

FIVE-YEAR BS-MS PROGRAM  

The department offers a 5 year BS-MS program for qualified students. The primary component of the program is that qualified students may take up to 9 credit hours of approved graduate courses for their senior undergraduate electives and have them count toward both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Tennessee. This program is designed for students attending the University of Tennessee for their Master of Science degree because other universities may not accept these courses for graduate credit since they were used to satisfy requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree.

Significant components of the program are:

• Students must have an overall GPA of at least 3.4 to be admitted to the program. Conditional admission may be granted after completing 64 credit hours of required course work while full admission is granted after completing 96 credit hours of required course work with a minimum overall GPA of 3.4 in required course work.
• Students must at least have conditional admission before taking graduate courses for both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. All courses taken for graduate credit must be approved by the departmental chair of the program. Students admitted to the program must request permission from the Graduate School to take approved courses for graduate credit. Students admitted to the program must also follow the normal procedure for admission to the Graduate School.
• Admission of students into this program must be approved by the department and the Graduate School.
• Students will not be eligible for graduate assistantships until they are admitted to Graduate School.