MSAE Thesis Policies 

A Master's thesis is a commitment to work on a project intensively for close to two years. Although not required for the MSAE program, students considering pursuing a PhD or some other research-oriented career may choose this opportunity.

Eligibility

• Complete 8 grad units
• GPA 3.5 or higher

Process

• Talk to faculty about projects you are interested in
• Consider taking Econ 623 (Field Research) in spring along with the IDEC students to develop your project

Funding

• Limited funding may be available to support field research or the purchase of datasets.

Opportunity costs

• The summer after your first year will be spent on your thesis research rather than internships or other activities.
• 4 fewer units for regular courses, since thesis students must enroll in 4 units of ECON 699 (Thesis Advising), in addition to the usual 4 units of ECON 691 (Capstone Research).

Alternative research opportunities

Students may also get research experience without committing to a year-long thesis project in other ways:

• RA work
• smaller-scale independent study
• capstone class project