Graduate Student Services
The Graduate Student Affairs Office is located in ECT 101, along with Undergraduate Student Affairs.
Welcome to the Graduate Student Affairs Office
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering Graduate Student Affairs Office provides a complete range services for all graduate students in an M.S. or Ph.D. program, as well as for potential students interested in joining a graduate program in engineering. UCI’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering is dedicated to the philosophy of meeting tomorrow’s technological challenges by providing the highest quality engineering education and research today.
Office Location and Mailing Address
Attn: Graduate Student Affairs
University of California, Irvine
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
101 ECT
Irvine, CA 92697-2710
Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PST, Monday – Friday.
Office closed noon - 1:00 p.m. for lunch.
Voice: (949) 824-3562 Fax: (949) 824-3440
Email: soegradinfo@soemail.eng.uci.edu
Graduate Student Handbook
The 2005-06 Graduate Student Handbook contains pertinent information as you navigate through your program.
International Student Services
For newly admitted and continuing international students, the following forms may be necessary to complete throughout your graduate studies.
The University and The Henry Samueli School of Engineering have a variety of deadlines that are the responsibility of individual graduate students. Please see the 2005-06 deadlines on the RGS site.
Required forms can be found at the UC Irvine Graduate Studies site for general campus financial aid, and other information for graduate students such as:
- Current Students
- Diversity Students
- International Students
- GSHIP Waiver/Medical Release
- Financial Aid
- Research Activity
- IRS - Tax Filing
Graduate Deadlines
Master's Degree Paperwork
**Advancement to candidacy forms (to be eligible for a Spring 2006 degree) are due February 27, 2006
Final Degree paperwork (to be eligible for Winter 2006 degree)is due March 17, 2006.
**Advancement to Candidacy forms (to be eligible for a Summer 2006 degree) are due June 16, 2006.
Final Degree paperwork (to be eligible for Spring 2006 degree) is due June 9, 2006.
Doctoral Degree Paperwork
**Advancement to Candidacy forms--Ph.D. Form I--(to be eligible for Spring 2006 degree) are due March 28, 2006.
Final Degree paperwork for Winter 2006 degree is due March, 17, 2006.
**Advancement to Candidacy forms--Ph.D. Form I--(to be eligible for a Summer 2006 degree) are due June 16, 2006.
Final Degree paperwork for Spring 2006 degree is due June 9, 2006.
Time to Degree for Graduate Students
In Academic Year 2003-04, The Graduate Studies Committee of the HSSoE, which is composed of members from each graduate program in the school, reviewed and agreed to the adoption of the following policy regarding nominal time to degree for students who are enrolled full time.
MS Degree: Plan I. Thesis Option
- The nominal time to degree is two years
MS Degree: Plan II. Comprehensive Examination Option
The nominal time to degree is one year and one quarter. However, the nominal time to degree for students who elect to complete a project and project report as part of the Comprehensive Examination Option is one year and two quarters.
All students who obtain a PhD must have first obtained an MS Degree. Thus, the nominal time to degree for a PhD depends on whether the student has completed a MS degree in a related field before they enter the PhD program or earns the MS degree here at UCI.
PhD Degree: (For students who enter without an MS Degree)
- The nominal time for Advancement to Candidacy is three years
- The nominal time to degree is five years
- The maximum time to degree is seven years
PhD Degree: (For students who enter with an MS Degree)
- The nominal time for Advancement to Candidacy is two years
- The nominal time to degree is four years
- The maximum time to degree is seven years
Procedures
Steps To Earning Your Master's Degree
There are several steps involved in earning your Master's Degree.
Step 1: You must submit your Plan of Study 2 quarters prior to expected degree conferral.
Step 2: You must submit your Advancement to Candidacy form 1 quarter prior to expected degree conferral.
If you are pursuing Plan I (Thesis Option), you must include your Thesis Committee on your Advancement to Candidacy form. You must also include a Conflict of Interest form.
PhD Advancement
Step 1: Students must submit a PhD Form I: Report of the PhD Candidacy Committee 1 quarter prior to expected degree conferral.
Final Degree paperwork must be submitted prior to the end of the quarter in which the degree is to be conferred.
Organizations & Involvement
BMES
Organization for Biomedical Engineering Students, http://www.bmes.org/
UCI Nano Society
The MAE and EECS graduate students have recently initiated a new MEMS/NEMS student society at UCI, the "UCI Nano Society", in order to promote interaction and collaboration within the MEMS community at UCI, and also the MEMS industry. The group is registered as a UCI student club, website: http://nanosociety.eng.uci.edu . The organization holds weekly meetings on every Wednesday, and has a speaker from one of the MEMS labs at UCI, or from industry. Check out the website and see if you are interested! It is open to all students.
HSSoE Graduate Student Council/Advisory Board
The graduate students at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering have never had an official graduate student council. The Graduate Student Affairs Staff is desirous of assisting you, the graduate students, in forming this organization, commencing in Fall '04. This council will serve as a means of communication among the various majors and departments, will advise the Associate Dean, John LaRue, of any curriculum or programmatic issues or questions brought forth from the student body. It is forecasted that this group will assist the Graduate Student Affairs Office with student recruitment, outreach, career days and corporate recruitment events, have a presence in the school's annual E-Week, and serve as contacts for prospective students. It is also anticipated that these student leaders will help in planning orientation, poster sessions, and serve as ambassadors for the school. As well as the aforementioned items, this group will select continuing student "mentors" for the new students to become more engaged in the school, helping to guide them along the way toward degree completion.
Please notify Tom Cahoon at tcahoon@uci.edu or Christy King at clking@uci.edu if you are interested in the graduate council.
HSSoE Graduate Student Sport and Social Club
Graduate school cannot be all work and no play! There is currently no organization to address the extracurricular needs of our graduate students. It is important to keep a balance in your life and dedicate some time to all things outside the lab and classroom. Therefore, the Graduate Student Affairs Office is proposing to help you, the graduate students, in forming a "sport and social club" (name can be finalized later).
All registered and recognized student organizations are entitled to funding from the Dean of Students office, as long as they are open to all students. Therefore, if you register your club, you will be able to receive university funding for social events, speaker series, and other activities. We envision this as yet another way for the graduate students to network and get to know one another. With so many majors and students scattered throughout 5 departments and 3 programs, it is a challenge to meet and get to know others. You might benefit greatly from meeting other HSSoE graduate students in other departments, sparking an interest in other avenues of research, or simply meeting a new friend or activity partner.
Look for more information at the beginning of the Fall Quarter!
Student Mentors Needed For New Graduate Students
The Graduate Student Affairs Office is asking for continuing students to serve as "mentors" to our new graduate students. This incoming cohort proves to be much larger than last year, so we are asking for your help! As a mentor, you will help guide a new student or students throughout his or her first year of graduate study. Can you remember your first year of graduate school? Wouldn't it have been helpful to have an upper-class guide or mentor to help you navigate your way? In my graduate school experience, the most helpful people were the continuing students who completed the courses before my arrival and had taken their preliminary exams and/or completed their theses. I was able to ask these students what it really was like to be a student in my program because they had lived through the experience and survived!
As a "mentor", you would be able to answer questions about courses, professors, and the process of completing various "landmarks", such as advancement to candidacy, preliminary examinations, or conducting research, or working on a thesis or dissertation. If you serve as a TA or Research Assistant, you can also share those experiences with our new students. Taking your mentee to lunch or dinner maybe once a quarter is advised, or just being available by phone or email to answer questions would be helpful.
Please notify Tom Cahoon at tcahoon@uci.edu or Christy King at clking@uci.edu if you are interested becoming a mentor.
Accelerated Masters Program
Exceptionally promising UCI undergraduate Engineering students with a minimum cumulative 3.5 GPA may, during their junior or senior year, may apply for streamlined admission into an M.S. program within The Henry Samueli School of Engineering. Streamlined admission would allow a student to petition for exemption from UCI's GRE requirement for graduate school admission. This exception applies only to current UCI undergraduate engineering students applying for admission to one of the M.S. programs in the UCI Henry Samueli School of Engineering.
The student would request GRE exemption at the time of applying. Streamlined admission applicants would otherwise and in all other ways be evaluated in the same manner as other applicants to the School's graduate programs.
Students offered admission under the accelerated procedures may, upon completion of the bachelor's degree and matriculation into a graduate program, petition to transfer up to 18 units of graduate-level course work completed in excess of requirements for the bachelor's degree.
Students who wish to apply for early admission to the Ph.D. program may do so in their senior year but must take the GRE prior to admission.
Undergraduate streamlined admission students admitted to an M.S. or Ph.D. program within The Henry Samueli School of Engineering may also petition their department to use up to eight units of 199 Individual Study to meet undergraduate degree requirements, either as design units or as preliminary preparation for their master's thesis work.
Graduate FAQ
Who is my faculty advisor?
Your admission letter should have stated who your faculty advisor will be while you are at UC Irvine. If this information was not given to you, contact your department (i.e, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science).
Academic Leave of Absence (LOA)
An Academic Leave of Absence is intended to cover a temporary interruption of a student's program.
A leave may be granted for the following reasons:
1. serious illness
2. enrollment at another education institution
3. concentration on an occupation
4. family obligations
5. other appropriate reasons
LOA will only be granted for 3 quarters. It must be requested prior to the beginning of the quarter for which the approval is sought.
Students are not eligible to be on Filing Fee status immediately following an LOA.
How do I qualify for a Filing Fee?
Filing Fee is a reduced fee equal to 1/2 of the registration fee (approximately $120.00).
In general, the Filing Fee option is available to those students who have completed all coursework requirements for a Master's or PhD degree except for official submission or thesis or dissertation or completion of the comprehensive exam.
Eligible students must submit a Filing Fee Petition with the Department Chair/Graduate Advisor and Associate Dean signatures to the Office of Graduate Studies.
What happens if I miss a filing deadline?
Typically, if a student misses a filing deadline, an exception may be requested. A memo stating the request and the reasons for the delay must be generated by the department and signed by both the Department Chair/Graduate Advisor and the Associate Dean.
Exceptions will only be granted in the most extreme cases.
What happens if I get a B- in one of my classes?
Typically, B- grades are not accepted towards a graduate degree. However, a graduate student may petition to have one B- grade accepted towards their graduate degree. Approval is left to the discretion of the Graduate Advisor/Faculty Advisor.
Graduate Student Affairs
Graduate Student Affairs Contacts
Tom Cahoon
Director of Graduate Student Affairs
Office Location: ECT 110
Christy King
Academic Counselor
Office Location: ECT 127B
Contact Information
Location: Engineering and Computing Trailer (ECT)
Room 101
Phone: (949) 824-3562
Email: soegradinfo@soemail.uci.edu
What We Do
From recruitment and admission to degree conferral and graduation, our office provides many services for new and continuing graduate students. As you navigate toward degree completion, our main function is to provide general counseling and advice for you. We also collaborate with the various departments on many student-related issues. Our office serves as the final school-wide place of approval for petitions, advancements to candidacy, degree conferrals, and other processes.
The Role of the Faculty Graduate Advisor
The Graduate Advisor is a faculty member in the respective academic unit who is the official representative of the Graduate Dean in matters affecting graduate studies in the Faculty Graduate Advisor's academic unit. A close working relationship is established between the Advisor and the Office of Graduate Studies. The Graduate Dean is dependent upon the experience and judgment of the Graduate Advisors, and upon their recommendations, in matters requiring the Graduate Dean's action. The Graduate Division staff provides information to the Advisors on a continuing basis and responds to requests for special assistance.
The Faculty Graduate Advisor is responsible for supervising graduate study in his or her department and for ensuring that each graduate student is assigned an individual faculty advisor and mentor. In many academic units, the advisor is instrumental in the appointment and supervision of graduate student Teaching Assistants, Associates, Readers, and Tutors. In most schools, there is also an Associate Dean for Graduate Studies who coordinates many of the functions which affect graduate students. This faculty member works in conjunction with their academic dean and department chairs.
Current HSSoE Graduate Advisors:
Arts, Computation, and Engineering:
Simon Penny
Email: penny@uci.edu
Biomedical Engineering:
Abe Lee
Email: aplee@uci.edu
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering:
Vasan Venugopalan
Email: vvenugop@uci.edu
Civil Engineering:
Stephen Ritchie
Email: sritchie@uci.edu
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science:
Hamid Jafarkhani
Email: hamidj@uci.edu
Environmental Engineering:
Brett Sanders (Program Director)
Email: bsanders@uci.edu
Materials Science and Engineering:
Martha Mecartney
Email: martham@uci.edu
Fargalli Mohamed (Program Director Interdisciplinary Program)
Email: famohame@uci.edu
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering:
Faryar Jabbari (admissions)
Email: fjabbari@uci.edu
Feng Liu (continuing students)
Email: fliu@uci.edu
Graduate Advisors review and sign off on most of your paperwork during your program of study. This approval includes petitions for part-time study, leaves of absence, transfer of coursework, and thesis committee membership. They also approve your program of study, coursework, and advancement to candidacy. Graduate Advisors are available to discuss any issue related to your matriculation as a graduate student at UC Irvine, or to refer you to the right place on issues not handled under their jurisdiction.
Graduate Student Handbook