The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Computer Engineering program is one of the highly-ranked engineering degrees from over 1,000 programs offered by U.S. institutions. Its engineering program was ranked #111 by the U.S. News & World Report in its 2019 rankings. In addition, the university’s computer science program was ranked #82. These awards reinforced the UMBC Graduate School’s commitment to further hone future software developers, software engineers and programmers.
Thesis and non-thesis (with project) options
A master’s degree in computer engineering combines training in electrical engineering and computer science. As such, international students must earn a minimum of 30 credit hours for the thesis option or 33 credit hours for the non-thesis option within five years of admission to UMBC.
There is no course-only option and all Master of Science in Computer Engineering students are required to choose between a thesis and a non-thesis option.
Thesis. This option requires a minimum of eight graduate-level courses and six credit hours of thesis research (CMPE 799). The thesis is supervised by a faculty member as the research advisor (or co-advisor) and must show a tangible research component. Upon completion of the thesis, it must be defended with an oral public exam or presentation and approved by the student’s thesis committee.
Non-thesis (with project). This option is supervised by a faculty member as the research advisor (or co-advisor). The non-thesis (project) option requires a minimum of 10 graduate-level courses equivalent to 30 credits plus three credit hours of graduate project research (CMPE 698) resulting in a scholarly paper, which must be approved by the advisor and an additional, approved reader.
Transfer credits and grade requirements
UMBC allows six transfer credits for students who have previously studied in the United States from another university and would like to continue their program at UMBC. The same number of transfer credits are also allowed for UMBC non-degree students who wish to pursue their master’s degree after being approved by the Graduate Program Director.
Pre-requisite courses are categorised under two groups (Group A and B) but students must take at least two of the courses from Group A. They need to take a total of five courses from Groups A and B to qualify for the M.S. program with a grade of at least B in two of the Group A courses. Overall, they need to get an average grade of at least B across all courses. This is equivalent to a grade point average or 3.0 or higher.
Group A Courses
CMSC 611 – Advanced Computer Architecture [3]
CMPE 640 – Custom VLSI Design [3]
CMPE 650 – Digital Systems Design [3]
Group B Courses
CMPE 641 – Topics in VLSI [3]
CMPE 645 – Computer Arithmetic Algorithms and Implementations [3]
CMPE 647 – Analog Integrated Circuit Design [3]
CMPE 670 – Biomedical Microsystems [3]
CMPE 684 – Wireless Sensor Networks [3]
CMPE 685 – Principles of Communications Networks [3]
ENEE 610 – Digital Signal Processing [3]
ENEE 612 – Digital Image Processing [3]
ENEE 620 – Probability and Random Processes [3]
ENEE 621 – Detection and Estimation Theory [3]
ENEE 622 – Information Theory [3]
ENEE 630 – Solid-State Electronics [3]
ENEE 631 – Semiconductor Devices [3]
ENEE 680 – Electromagnetic Theory [3]
ENEE 683 – Lasers [3]
ENEE 684 – Introduction to Photonics [3]
As one of EduCo’s partner universities in the United States, UMBC’s Graduate School offers the following engineering programs: Chemical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical/ Electronic/ Communications Engineering, Environmental/ Environmental Health Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
For details regarding UMBC scholarships, fees, IELTS and other requirements, students and education agents may check out the EduCo Course Finder.
