ECE Graduate Student

Orientation

Xiaojun (Ashley) Geng

[email protected]

ECE Department Chair

Graduate Coordinator
Graduate Student Advising
• All our full-time (Highlighted in yellow) professors will work as advisors
for graduate students
Professors and Contacts Specialties
Ali Amini, [email protected] Control Engineering
Ruting Jia, [email protected] Control Engineering
Nagi El naga, [email protected] Digital Systems and Computer Engineering
George K Law, [email protected] Digital Systems and Computer Engineering
Shahnam Mirzaei, [email protected] Digital Systems and Computer Engineering
Ramin Roosta, [email protected] Digital Systems and Computer Engineering
Xiyi Hang, [email protected] Deep Learning and Biomedical Engineering
John Valdovinos, [email protected] Biomedical Engineering
Brad Jackson, [email protected] RF/Microwave Engineering, Antennas
Matthew M Radmanesh, [email protected] Microwave Engineering
Ignacio B Osorno, [email protected] Power Electronics and Systems
Kourosh S., [email protected] Smart grids; Power systems and control
Md Rasoul Narimani, [email protected] Power Electronics and Power Systems
Jack Ou, [email protected] RF and analog integrated circuits
Md Sahabul Alam, [email protected] Communications
Somnath Chattopadhyay [email protected] wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices
MS in Electrical or Computer Engineering

1: Classification
2: Graduate Thesis/Project
3: Application for Graduation
1. Classification
• At admission, if your status is conditionally classified

• Request for classification status if you have received your B.S.

degree officially in late Fall 2022

• Email me your CSUN ID number and I will request

classification status for you

• Passing an English writing test is no longer required

 2. Graduate Thesis/Project
Forming Graduate Program Committee:
• Graduate Course Plan
• Project Plan (Enroll ECE 698C once) -- 3 units
• Thesis Plan (Enroll ECE 698C twice) -- 6 units

• Graduate Project/Thesis Committee (3 members)

• Committee Chair – the main advisor who supervises your
project/thesis
• Two committee members --to assist your main advisor
• One must be an ECE faculty
• The other may or may not be a faculty member of ECE, but needs have
a Ph.D. degree in your area of study
 Graduate Course Plan
• Project Plan
-- 27 units of course work
-- 3 units of graduate project
• Thesis Plan
-- 24 units of course work
-- 6 units of graduate thesis (3 units per semester)
 2. Graduate Thesis/Project
Procedure of Completing Graduate Thesis/Project

• Step 1: Form a Graduate Thesis/Project committee

• Step 2: Submit Thesis/Graduate Project Planning form online

at the Electronic Thesis And Dissertation web site
(ETD.csun.edu).
• Submission is due no later than the 7th week of the semester you
graduate
• Inform your committee members to approve the form
• Any change in the Thesis/Project committee or the topic after Filling
will require the submission and approval of another Thesis/Graduate
Project Planning form.
 2: Graduate Thesis/Project
• Step 3: Submit the draft of your thesis to ETD for
preliminary formatting.
• Submission is due no later than the 11th week

• Step 4: Your project/thesis must be completed by the end of

the 12th week of the semester.
• Also approved by your committee chair

• Step 5: Upon approval of your committee chair, the

graduate report/thesis must be submitted to TurnItIn.com
for Plagiarism check.

• Step 6: Thesis/Dissertation/Graduate Project Final

Submission
• Deadline: around the 14th week
Graduate Thesis/Project

Plagiarism Final
Preliminary Approval by check Submission
Planning Approval by
formatting Committee (TurnItIn) and
form (ETD) Committee
check (ETD) Chair approval
7th week 13th week (ETD)
11th week 12th week
12th week 14th week
3. Application for Graduation

• Who can apply to Graduate?

• Students who have been classified
• Completed or in progress of completing 18 units
• When to apply?
To access the deadlines to apply for Graduation, please click on the Graduation
Deadlines page.
• How to apply?
• Apply to graduate online via your MyCSUN Portal.
• The fee to apply to graduate is $47
• What happens if you miss the deadline to apply?
• You MUST apply for the next available term and will be required enrollment.
Remember

• You are responsible for initiating each step/task

(when ready) by contacting your faculty advisor to
make an appointment.

• Additional Resource:
• https://www.csun.edu/graduate-studies/graduate-student-
handbook
• https://www.csun.edu/graduate-
studies/thesisdissertation/thesisdissertation
General Rule #1
• The passing grade in any course taken is "C” or
better.

• Overall GPA must be 3.0 or higher. Students will be

placed on academic probation whenever their GPA
falls below 3.0 in all units completed.
• Failure to bring up the GPA to 3.0 or higher in the
following semester results in disqualification.
• In the above case student needs to meet with the ECE
Graduate Coordinator and may file a petition for
readmission.
General Rule #2
• No more than 9 units total of
• graduate transfer or extension work with grades of B or
better is allowed
• pre-approved 400-level courses may count toward degree
• course substitution from outside of the required curriculum
• To get credit for any of the above 9 units toward your
master program:
• you need to get the approval of your faculty advisor by
emailing your advisor a request with
• Your name and student ID number
• The course codes that you want to be counted and their scores
• The semester these courses were completed
 General Rule #3
• Repeat of courses
• A graduate course with a grade of B- or less may be
repeated.
• A maximum of 6 units of course repeat is permitted.
• The last grade of the repeated courses will be used in calculating
the GPA.

• What you need to do?

• Email your faculty advisor with
• Your name and student ID number
• The course that you want to repeat
• The grade of the course you received
 General Rule #4
• Two-year time limit on Thesis and MS Project
• The Thesis/Project must be completed, filed, and
approved within two years of the first enrollment in ECE
698C.
• During this time, the student may enroll in other courses
and continue working on the thesis/project
• If completing project/thesis enrolled in an earlier
semester is only work left in the semester you graduate,
you may enroll AR601 with a fee of $250

• Should the student require more time than two years

• Talk to your faculty advisor
• Submit a petition form to your faculty advisor
More General Rules
• 7-year time limit for the completion of the degree
• Pass TurnItIn.com Plagiarism Check
• For graduate project/thesis
• Department deadline will be emailed to you for each
semester
• Required to be enrolled the semester in which the
degree is to be awarded.
MSEE Course Requirements
• Required Core Courses (13 units)
• Engineering Mathematics -- Select one course from the following:
• ECE 580 Digital Control Systems (3)
ECE 650 Random Processes (3)
ECE 582 State Variable Control (3) -- will be added in fall 2023
• Engineering Physics -- Select one course from the following:
• ECE 545 Solid State Devices (3)
ECE 571 Electromagnetic Fields and Waves II (3)
ECE 578 Photonics (3)
• Engineering Circuits -- Select one course from the following:
• ECE 524/L FPGA/ASIC Design and Optimization Using VHDL and Lab (3/1)
ECE 526/L Digital Design with Verilog and System Verilog and Lab (3/1)
ECE 540/L Analog IC Design (3/1) -- currently ECE 595AIC
• Engineering Systems -- Select one course from the following:
• ECE 501 Introduction to Biomedical Engineering (3)
ECE 511 Distributed Energy Generation (3)
ECE 561 Digital Communication Systems (3)
MSEE Course Requirements
• Elective Courses (11-14 units)
• Biomedical Engineering
• Communications Engineering
• Control Engineering
• Digital and Computer Engineering
• Electronics, Solid State Devices and Integrated Circuit Engineering
• Microwave and Antenna Engineering
• Power Systems Engineering
• Course lists: https://catalog.csun.edu/academics/ece/programs/ms-
electrical-engineering/
• Culminating Experience (3-6 units)
• Thesis Plan (3-3 units)
• Project Plan (3 units)
MSCompE Course Requirements
• Required Courses (14 units)
• ECE 520/L System on Chip Design and Laboratory (3/1)
• ECE 524/L FPGA/ASIC Design and Optimization Using VHDL and Lab (3/1)
or ECE 526/L Digital Design with Verilog and System Verilog and Lab (3/1)
• ECE 620 Advanced Switching Theory (3)
• ECE 621 Computer Arithmetic Design (3) -- changed to ECE 622 in Fall 2023

• Electives (10-13 units)

• Select a minimum of 6 units from the following courses:
• COMP 529/L Advanced Network Topics and Lab (2/1)
COMP 541 Data Mining (3)
COMP 542 Machine Learning (3)
COMP 560 Expert Systems (3)
COMP 565 Advanced Computer Graphics (3)
COMP 587 Software Verification and Validation (3)
• Other Allowed Electives
• Electrical and Computer Engineering Courses
• Computer Science 400-Level Courses
Q&A

• What if I took an extra 500-level course which was not counted

towards my BS degree at CSUN?
• Submit a graduate petition form to your faculty advisor along with your
undergraduate DPR
• What if I took an 500-level course as part of my BS program at CSUN
which is required for my MS degree
• You may retake it for better grade
• Or you may replace it by another course by submitting a course substitution
• Talk to your faculty advisor
• What if I took an 500-level or 600-level course through Open
University which was not counted towards my BS degree?
• Talk to your faculty advisor
• Submit a graduate petition request to your advisor along with your transcript
Q &A

• How to have access to DPR?

https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/Student-Degree-Progress-
Report-Guide.pdf

• How to enroll classes?

https://www.csun.edu/current-students/add-classes
International Admissions Advisors

International Admissions Advisors

Family Name Contact Person Email

A – FARG Ernie Hidalgo [email protected]

FARH – LIAA Ashley Lee [email protected]

LIAB – SALS Lilly Hudson [email protected]

SALT – Z Fernando Valle [email protected]