Master’s Degree (Non-Thesis)

Master’s Degree (Thesis)

Graduate Handbook

Contact Information

Program Objectives

The Nuclear Engineering Program is housed within the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE). The Nuclear Engineering Program offers graduate students the opportunity to conduct state-of-the-art research under the supervision of faculty while pursuing Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degrees in the Nuclear Engineering Sciences (NES). The UF Graduate Catalog is the University of Florida’s official record of graduate policies, critical dates, deadlines, course descriptions and faculty members for master’s degree and doctoral degree students.

Master Degree (Non-Thesis)

The requirements for completing a Master of Science (Non-Thesis) in Nuclear Engineering include a minimum number of credit hours, nuclear core courses, and a final project report. 30 credit hours of course work are required to earn a M.S. Students with graduate work in nuclear engineering or a related field from a different institution may transfer up 9 hours from that institution at the discretion of the Graduate School. Credit for nuclear engineering courses may be given at the discretion of the Graduate Program Coordinator. Students with graduate work in a different graduate program at the University of Florida may transfer up to 9 hours from that program at the discretion of the Graduate Program Coordinator.

• A minimum of 24 of the 30 credit hours must be graded (A-E) lecture or lab courses with numbers with any engineering, science, math, or statistics prefix. ENU 6905, 6910, 6936 and 6971 may not be used to meet this.
• Students must complete the following core courses:
  • ENU 6051 (Radiation Interaction Basics and Applications I) – 3 credits
  • ENU 5615C (Nuclear Radiation Detection and Instrumentation) – 4 credits
• A minimum of 18 of these 24 graded credit hours must be numbered 5000 or above.
  • The remainder of these 24 credits (i.e.; up to 6 may be non-ENU courses numbered 3000 or above. (No ENU courses with course numbers of 4999 or below may be used)
  • 12 of the 30 credit hours must be graded (A-E) lecture or lab courses with numbers 5000+ with the nuclear engineering (ENU) prefix. ENU 6905, 6910, 6936 and 6971 may not be used to meet this requirement
• 6 of the 30 credit hours may be research or individual work courses, including ENU 6905 (Individual Work – letter graded), ENU 6910 (Supervised Research – S/U graded), and ENU 6936 (Special Projects in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Sciences – letter graded). ENU 6971 (Research for Master’s Thesis – S/U graded) may not be used for the M.S. non-thesis degree, nor may ENU 7979 (Advanced Research) and ENU 7980 (Doctoral Research).

Students should be advised that transitioning between the M.S. non-thesis and thesis programs may not be possible in the middle of their graduate studies. Even when allowed, not all credits may transfer to the new degree.

Students must select an advisor who has graduate faculty status in nuclear engineering. The supervisory committee will consist of this advisor only and must be formed by submitting the Appointment of Supervisory Committee Form. This must be done by the end of the second semester or once the student has completed 12 credit hours of work (whichever occurs first). Students are urged to find an advisor interested in mentoring them towards a strong M.S. project. Students who are unable to find a willing mentor will default to having the graduate program coordinator as an advisor. 

In conjunction with their course work, M.S. non-thesis students are required to produce an M.S. project report.

For students who identified a faculty member to serve as their mentor, this work will be a report supervised by that faculty member. Students will submit a written report of their work to their mentor, who will determine if the report is satisfactory. Students with a mentor should take ENU 6936 with that faculty member.

For students without a mentor, it is the responsibility of the student to propose an M.S. project for the approval of the Graduate Program Coordinator and to abide by the deadline set by the Graduate Program Coordinator for submission of the project (this deadline will be earlier than those set by the graduate school to allow time for technical review of the work). In this case the satisfactory/unsatisfactory determination will be made by the Graduate Program Coordinator. This project may be related to the student’s coursework but should not be a document prepared as part of the work for any particular course nor a trivial extension thereof.

The M.S. project should represent a substantial effort over and above completion of coursework. As a guideline, students should expect to spend not fewer than 300 hours (i.e.; a half-time effort over a semester or a quarter-time effort over an academic year) on their M.S. project and to produce a report of 15 pages or more. Exceptions to these guidelines may be approved at the discretion of the student’s advisor (whether this is their identified mentor or the graduate program coordinator).

Students are urged to find an advisor interested in mentoring them towards a strong M.S. project. For students who are unable to find a willing mentor, the graduate program coordinator shall serve as advisor. In this case, the graduate coordinator will evaluate the M.S. project selected and produced by the student.

Master Degree (Thesis)

The requirements for completing a Master of Science (Thesis) in Nuclear Engineering include a minimum number of credit hours, nuclear core courses, and a final project report.

30 credit hours of course work are required to earn a M.S. Students with graduate work in nuclear engineering or a related field from a different institution may transfer up 9 hours from  that institution at the discretion of the Graduate School. Credit for nuclear engineering courses may be given at the discretion of the Graduate Program Coordinator. Students with graduate work in a different graduate program at the University of Florida may transfer up to 9 hours from that program at the discretion of the Graduate Program Coordinator.

• A minimum of 24 of the 30 credit hours must be graded (A-E) lecture or lab courses with numbers with any engineering, science, math, or statistics prefix. ENU 6905, 6910, 6936, and 6971 may not be used to meet this requirement.
• Students must complete the following core courses:
  • ENU 6051 (Radiation Interaction Basics and Applications I) – 3 credits
  • ENU 5615C (Nuclear Radiation Detection and Instrumentation) – 4 credits
• A minimum of 18 of these 24 graded credit hours must be numbered 5000 or above.
  • The remainder of these 24 credits (i.e.; up to 6 may be non-ENU courses numbered 3000 or above. (No ENU courses with course numbers of 4999 or below may be used).
  • 12 of the 30 credit hours must be graded (A-E) lecture or lab courses with numbers 5000+ with the nuclear engineering (ENU) prefix. ENU 6905, 6910, 6936, and 6971 may not be used to meet this requirement
• 6 of the 30 credit hours may be research or individual work courses, including ENU 6905 (Individual Work – letter graded), ENU 6910 (Supervised Research – S/U graded), and ENU 6971 (Research for Master’s Thesis – S/U graded). ENU 6936 (Special Projects in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Sciences – letter-graded) may not be used for the M.S. thesis degree, nor may ENU 7979 (Advanced Research) and ENU 7980 (Doctoral Research).

Students should be advised that transitioning between the M.S. non-thesis and thesis programs may not be possible in the middle of their graduate studies. Even when allowed, not all credits may transfer to the new degree.

Students must select a committee with a chair, with graduate faculty status in nuclear; at least two other members, one with graduate faculty status in nuclear; and one external member, with graduate faculty status but not in nuclear. The supervisory committee must be formed by submitting the Appointment of Supervisory Committee Form.

Once the student has completed his or her research, they must present this work to their committee. This is the final exam. During the final exam, the student will present their thesis research; any further requirements for this presentation will be set by their advisor. The student’s advisor must approve the student attempting the exam. The student’s supervisory committee will administer the final exam. All committee members must attend. In conjunction with the final exam, the student should prepare a written document, i.e. their thesis. This document should be prepared and formatted in accordance with graduate school requirements and must be approved by the student’s advisor and committee.

Summary of the graduate degree requirements