Program Information:Engineer Degree

The degree of Engineer is intended for those who desire more graduate training than can be obtained in a Master of Science program. It differs from the Ph.D. primarily in looking toward professional engineering work rather than toward theoretical research or university teaching. The Engineer's degree is normally awarded at the completion of a comprehensive two-year program of graduate study.

Applying to the Engineer's Degree Program

Students who are working toward the M.S. EE degree must request permission to continue to study beyond the M.S. by submitting the "Graduate Program Authorization Petition" form in Axess. Students applying to the Engineer’s degree program must submit a statement of purpose and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member in the EE department who is willing to supervise the student’s Engineer degree research. Students must also have maintained an overall graduate GPA of at least 3.5 at Stanford.

Complete applications must be submitted to EE's Admissions Office in Packard 173. The university assesses a fee of $125 for adding a new degree program.

Candidacy for the Engineer's degree begins officially with the approval of the application, as stated above, and lasts for up to five years. Before completing the M.S. degree requirements, students should discuss the possibility of applying for the Engineer's degree with their program adviser.

The Course Program

The student and thesis adviser jointly develop a course program, which must be approved by the adviser and then submitted to the department for approval. The Engineer thesis advisor must be an EE faculty member. The Application for Candidacy for Engineer Degree form must be submitted by the end of the second quarter in the program (fourth quarter for Honors Cooperative Program students). It is signed by the student, program advisor and thesis advisor, then approved by the department chair.

The equivalent of at least one quarter is devoted to independent study and thesis work with faculty guidance. The thesis is typically a professional report on the solution of a design problem.

Units completed at Stanford toward a Master's degree in an Engineering discipline may be used toward the 90-unit residency requirement for the Engineer Degree.

The following requirements assume that the student has completed the requirements for the M.S. degree either at Stanford or elsewhere. The course requirements in addition to the M.S. degree (or an equivalent amount of graduate work) are as follows.

Total of 45 units beyond the M.S. degree:

6 units of lecture courses* in EE or cross-listed with EE, at the 300 level or higher, taken for a letter grade
21 units of lecture courses* in EE or cross-listed with EE, at the 200 level or higher, taken for a letter grade
3 units of lecture courses* at the 100 level or higher, taken for a letter grade
6-15 Thesis units (EE 400) taken with the Engineer thesis advisor

 *Lecture courses do not include special studies (EE 390/391) and thesis (EE 400).

Additional units taken may include other math/science/engineering courses, seminars, research courses, and courses taken for CR/NC. All courses must be at the 100 level or higher.

Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 to continue candidacy for and receive the Engineer degree.

Some deviation from the above may be approved, but applications for such deviations should include a statement to support them, which is approved by the student's program adviser and thesis adviser.

Students must review the Directions for Preparing Theses on the Registrar's Office website before preparing the writeup of their thesis work for submission.