Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Graduate Catalog 
    
2019-2020 Graduate Catalog [Not Current Academic Year. Consult with Your Academic Advisor for Your Catalog Year]

Aerospace Engineering, MS


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Cullen College of Engineering > Department of Mechanical Engineering > Aerospace Engineering, MS

The Houston area is recognized nationally for the strength of its aerospace-oriented companies and its proximity to the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Aerospace Program offers the opportunity for graduate study to those employed or seeking employment in the aerospace field to help them advance in the technical track of this profession. The Aerospace Engineering Program at UH provides graduate education in Aerospace Engineering to those interested in acquiring advanced knowledge, conducting research and pursuing careers in this field. The program offers the opportunity for full-time or part-time graduate study to those employed or seeking employment in Aerospace Engineering to help them advance in the technical track of the profession. This is an interdisciplinary program taught by faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department with assistance from other colleges and departments at UH.

For more information, please visit: http://aerospace.egr.uh.edu/about-us/overview.

Admission Requirements


Admission into the MS program is based on a competitive combination of the following:

  1. academic background
  2. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores
  3. letters of recommendation
  4. statement of purpose

Additional documentation for international applicants, including English language proficiency requirements, can be found on the Graduate School website. An undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 out of 4.0 is required on the last 60 semester credit hours attempted, exclusive extracurricular credits. While there is no minimum required GRE score, average scores for the 2011 - 2015 admission classes for all programs are 157 on the Quantitative section and 156 on the Verbal section.

In special cases, conditional admission may be granted to a student who is not clearly competitive in all areas; however, conditional admission is not available to non-immigrant visa holders. While letters of recommendation from industrial supervisors are accepted, letters from faculty members who have observed the academic performance of the applicant are preferred.

Degree Requirements


Credit hours required for this degree: 30.0

The MS degree has two options: non-thesis and thesis. The MS non-thesis option degree consists of a minimum of thirty term hours of graduate course work. Eighteen of these semester hours should be completed with courses in the following core areas:

  1. Aerodynamics and Heat Transfer,
  2. Structural Mechanics and Materials, and
  3. Controls and Dynamics.

Approved courses in these core areas are listed below under the Courses heading. Students can select a core area of concentration where they take the majority of their core courses. However, as a breadth requirement, students should take at least six term hours of core course work outside their core area of concentration. The remaining twelve semester hours of graduate work should be completed with courses from the above core areas or from approved graduate elective courses listed under the Courses heading. The course work should be selected with the approval of the Aerospace Engineering Program Director. The MS thesis option degree consists of a minimum of twenty-one term hours of course work and nine term hours of thesis work. As in the non-thesis option, eighteen of the course work term hours should be completed in the core areas (A), (B), and (C) with at least six term hours of core course work outside the core area of concentration. The remaining three hours of course work should be completed with a course from the approved elective courses or the core courses. For the M.S. thesis option the course work should be selected based on the recommendations of the student’s thesis advisor. For both MS degree options a maximum of six hours of course work may be completed at the 5000 level.

The MS degree requirements are summarized below with the numbers representing semester credit hours.

  Core* Designated Electives Thesis or Dissertation Research Total
MS (non-thesis) 18.0 12.0 0 30.0
MS (thesis) 18.0 3.0 9.0/0 30.0

*At least six term hours should be completed outside a core area of concentration.

The following list shows the approved core courses divided by areas.

Core Area A: Aerodynamics and Heat Transfer


Core Area B: Structural Mechanics and Materials


Core Area C: Controls and Dynamics


Elective Courses


The following list shows approved elective courses of the program. Other graduate elective courses can be applied to the program subject to the approval of the Program Director.

Department/Program Policies


A student must meet the requirements listed below for continued enrollment in, and successful completion of the program. These requirements are in addition to the general requirements of the University as given in the Graduate and Professional Studies Catalog.

  • Degree plans must be approved by the Program Director and must meet the specific requirements listed in this document for the degree program.
  • Masters students supported as Research Assistants must be enrolled in a minimum of 9 credit hours in each long term.
  • Only full-time students are eligible to receive financial support from the University in the form of scholarships, academic fellowships, teaching fellowships or assistantships, research fellowships or assistantships, or other comparable forms of support.
  • Up to 6 credit hours of course work may be transferred from another institution with the approval of the Program Director.

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