For students with a strong engineering background a minimum of 31 semester hours of graduate study is required for the M.S. Degree. Three hours must be in thesis and three hours must be in a course intended for graduate students only (the 700 level at NC State or the 700-800 level at UNC-CH). An Advisory Committee chaired or co-chaired by a core member of the joint BME graduate faculty will help the student develop a plan of work tailored to fit the student's career goals.

Course credit can be transferred from institutions other than NC State and UNC-CH. Usually this is limited to two courses (six credit hours).  Permission for transfer credit must be obtained by a formal written appeal to the BME Director of Graduate Studies at UNC-CH or NC State as appropriate.  Courses that are eligible for transfer should be equivalent to those available at UNC-CH or NC State. The criteria include the textbook used, the grade obtained, and the university at which the course was taken.

All students are required to take the Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Seminar (BMME 400).  All students are expected to take a Research Experience in BME (BMME 900 or BMME 910L at UNC-CH or BME 693, BME 590R, or BME 893 at NC State), eight hours of graduate-level life sciences (BMME BMME 589/790 or BMME 570/770 at UNC-CH or PHY 503/504 at NC State), nine hours of engineering core topics, three hours of graduate-level statistics, and six hours of graduate-level mathematics. The student's advisory committee may allow exemptions from some of these requirements if students have equivalent prior coursework.  Credit is not given for exempted courses. Therefore, other courses must be substituted in the program of study to replace the required hours. Prerequisites are required for many courses.  Exemptions from taking prerequisites may be requested of the course instructor.

Students should refer to the curriculum summary for the Masters degree for details on all current requirements.

Students may elect to incorporate a minor in the plan of study.  A minor comprises nine credits of academic work intended to broaden the educational experience.  Students may pursue minors in programs at either UNC or NC State.  The policies of the minor-granting program and institution apply.  Students should be aware of these policies before electing to pursue a minor.
 

THESIS

The master's thesis should show the student's ability to conduct a research project from beginning to end, including the ability to clearly document the work done by the student.  For example, it may be a report on a series of experiments, or it may be the design and fabrication of an instrument for research or a mathematical or computer model of some aspect of a biological system.  The student and the student's advisor should jointly select a three (minimum) member committee. This committee will oversee the thesis proposal and research progress, conduct the Master's Comprehensive Examination, approve the final thesis work and schedule the public oral presentation of the work. The committee shall include the thesis advisor and two members approved in advance by the institutional Graduate School. The committee shall include at least two faculty members holding primary, secondary (i.e., joint) or adjunct BME appointments, of which at least one must hold a primary core BME appointment. The third committee member may be from outside of the BME department. If the student has declared an official minor, however, the third committee member must be from that minor department. Usually the concept and design of the thesis projects originate from a faculty supervisor, who is normally asked to be the chair of the advisory committee. If the research advisor does not hold a primary core BME appointment, then a committee member holding a primary core BME appointment must serve as a co-chair (the "academic co-chair" or "academic advisor") of the committee. All committee members should be members of the Graduate Faculty; however, other qualified individuals may be selected if appropriate.  This requires special approval by the institutional Director of BME Graduate Studies and the institutional Graduate School.  Names of committee members should be submitted for approval to the Director of Graduate Studies on the Plan of Work document. After completing the master's thesis, the student is required to report orally on the work at an appropriate seminar or other venue approved by the student's advisory committee.

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