Students must comply with rules and regulations as outlined in the general requirements for graduate work. Each candidate will, with the approval and at the discretion of the graduate committee, follow a planned program which must conform to one of the following outlines.
- A minimum of 30 semester credit hours, not more than six of which are in research leading to an acceptable thesis.
- A minimum of 33 semester credit hours, not more than three of which are in research leading to an acceptable problem report.
- A minimum of 36 semester credit hours, with no thesis or problem report required. Although rarely permitted, this option is open to students with practical engineering experience and/or who have demonstrated an ability to organize and develop a project and write a technical report. Approval to pursue this option must be obtained from the student's Advisory and Examining Committee, the graduate program coordinator and the Department chairperson.
No rigid curricula are prescribed for the degrees of master of science in civil engineering and master of science in engineering. Graduate-level work in mathematics, mechanics, or other appropriate areas of science is customary; however, at least 15 semester hours of credit should normally be selected from graduate civil engineering courses.
Thesis: A thesis or problem report is normally required of all candidates. While required credit in research (CE 697) is devoted to the thesis or report preparation, the thesis or problem report is not automatically approved after the required number of semester hours of research work have been completed. The thesis or problem report must conform with the general WVU requirements for graduate study and with any additional requirements established by the Department.
Examinations: A candidate shall be required to pass an examination, which may be written or oral or both, to be administered by the student's advisory and examining committee. The examination shall cover course material and the thesis or problem report, depending upon the program followed.
Approval for the M.S.C.E. degree is restricted to those holding a baccalaureate degree in civil engineering.