The College of Engineering offers its students the opportunity of pursuing a combined BS/MS degree to be completed in a period of five years. Features of this program are:

1. Students maintain all financial aid and loan packages during the five-year period.
2. Students enjoy the benefits and rewards of Drexel's co-op experience.
3. Students can gain research experience by working with research faculty.
4. Tuition during the five years is maintained at the undergraduate rate.
5. Typical salaries for students with MS degrees are about 25% higher than those with BS degrees.
6. Candidates can receive their BS and MS in two different disciplines.

Tuition Policy

1. During the five years, students will not be charged graduate tuition unless they take graduate courses while on co-op.
2. If students complete the program in five years with regular three co-ops, no additional tuition is incurred (not including classes taken during co-op or beyond 20 credits per term).
3. If students miss one co-op to complete the required courses, they will be charged on a per credit basis for the courses taken during that period at 60% of the undergraduate per credit rate (plus fee).
4. If students stay beyond five years, they will be charged at the graduate rate for taking graduate courses, and at the undergraduate rate for taking undergraduate courses.

Eligibility

Students with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 and who are enrolled as five-year co-op students are eligible. Students officially enter the program after completion of 90 credits and before completion of 120 credits of their undergraduate program.

Approvals are required by the undergraduate department head, graduate department head and the academic dean. Interested students should see their undergraduate advisor for more information.

Academic Requirements

A BS degree in Mechanical Engineering requires 195 approved credits, while a MS degree requires 45 credits. On the other hand, the BS/MS program requires only 183 undergraduate credits plus the 45 credits for graduate studies.

If a student decides to withdraw from the BS/MS program s/he must complete the 195 credits to receive the corresponding BS degree.

Students in the Mechanical Engineering Department must follow the requirements stated below.

The Undergraduate Curriculum

Students in the department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics must follow this template.

The Graduate Curriculum

Students must follow the requirements described in the department's Graduate Program Manual.

Plan of Study

All students entering the graduate program in the Mechanical Engineering Department must file an approved MS or PhD Plan of Study. With the consultation of the student's advisor, the Plan of Study must be filed prior to the third term of study since the requirements for graduation will be those in effect at the time of filing. Any changes or deviations from this Plan that may affect the fulfillment of degree requirements must be approved in writing, in advance, by filing a new Plan of Study.

Failure to file a Plan of Study and failure to obtain prior written approval to major changes in it may result in non-acceptance of the unapproved courses as fulfilling degree requirements.

MS Thesis

The MS Thesis is optional. If the Thesis Option is chosen, the student should register for a total of 9 thesis credits. The work for an MS Thesis will generally be completed under the supervision of a faculty advisor who will direct the research work, assign grades for Thesis credits and review the final Thesis document. The faculty advisor must approve the Thesis before the student will be cleared to graduate. See section 2.2.2 of the Graduate Program Manual for further details.

MS Courses

The minimum course requirements for the M.S. degree are 45 credits, including 9 credits of the optional MS Thesis. Students may transfer no more than 15 credits (equivalent to 10 semester credits) from approved institutions, provided they follow the rules and regulations described in the Drexel University's Graduate Curricula. These 45 credits consist of the required 9 credits of applied mathematics, the required 12 credits of core area courses and the remaining 24 credits of technical elective courses, as tabulated below.

• Mathematics courses (required)    9 credits
• Core area courses (required)       12 credits
• Technical electives courses          24 credits
• Total                                             45 credits

The 9 credits of applied mathematics will be fulfilled by either of the sequences mentioned in Section 1: General Information, or by any other approved equivalent mathematical courses.

The 12 credits of core area courses will be fulfilled by choosing the first (unless otherwise approved) 2 courses from any 2 of the subject areas shown in Section I. These subject areas must be from 2 core areas.

Of the remaining 24 technical elective credits, at least 12 must be taken from within the MEM department, while the rest may be taken from the College of Engineering, College of Arts and Sciences, or from other colleges, if consistent with the student's Plan of Study and given advance written approval by his/her Advisor. Also, 15 of these 24 elective credits must be exclusive of Independent Study and Thesis.

Core Areas and Subject Areas

The MEM Department offers the following three core areas for specialization:

• Mechanics
• Thermal & Fluid Sciences
• Systems & Control

Each core area consists of three subject areas, which are listed below. The courses listed in parenthesis cover the subject materials of the corresponding areas, with each course being a three-credit course.

Mechanics

• Theory of Plasticity (MEM 600, 661, 662)
• Solid Mechanics (MEM 663, 664, 665)
• Advanced Dynamics (MEM 666, 667, 668)

Thermal & Fluid Sciences

• Advanced Thermodynamics (MEM 601, 602, XXX)
• Heat Transfer (MEM 611, 612, 613)
• Fluid Mechanics (MEM 621, 622, XXX)

Systems & Control

• Robust Control Systems (MEM 633, 634, 635)
• Nonlinear Control Theory (MEM 636, 637, 638)
• Real-Time Microcomputer Control (MEM 639, 640, 641)

To provide the mathematical foundation required for these courses, the MEM Department offers a three-quarter sequence in applied mathematics entitled "Engineering Analysis" (MEM 800/591, 592 and 593 for on-campus and MEM 800/X01, 02X, X03 for off campus). This sequence is equivalent to the sequence, "Advanced Engineering Mathematics" (MATH 544, 545, 546) offered by the Mathematics Department.