DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Master’s of Sciences in Construction Management Degree Program
In order to earn a master’s degree in construction management, the following requirements must be met:
- Completion of MBA 702 within the first two semesters of study
- Completion of CEM 651, CEM 653, CEM 700, CEM 750 or CEM 751, CEM 685 or CEM 740 or CEM 775, and MBA 702. Other courses may be substituted upon written permission of the graduate faculty advisor. If you have credit in CEM 451 or CEM 453 or equivalent courses, you can select two other courses from the approved elective list maintained by the program’s director.
- A program that shows suitable breadth and coherence. Your program of study will be developed between you and your advisor, approved by your committee, and filed with the Graduate College before the completion of nine credits of course work after admission to the program. If you do not meet this requirement, you can either be placed on probation or be removed from the program.
- Compliance with all Graduate College, Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, and Construction Management Program policies
- Completion of at least six credits of the approved program per calendar year
- A minimum overall GPA of 3.0 (4.0 scale). If your GPA falls below 3.0, you will be placed on probation and will have one semester to raise it to 3.0 or above.
- Compliance with the letter and spirit of the Graduate Catalog and published policies of the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering
- No grade below a C (2.0 GPA) and no more than nine credits with grades below a B (3.0 GPA)
Subject to approval by the your graduate committee, you may choose either one of the following degree options:
Thesis Option — requires completion of at least 30 credits, including:
- 18 credits from 600-/700-level courses of CEM and MBA course work
- Six credits of approved electives (see 2.c below)
- Six credits of thesis research
- A final examination that includes a defense of the thesis. Completion of a thesis project requires you to make a unique contribution to the existing knowledge in the field of construction management. The effort must include the development of a contemporary research topic and the methodology for investigating the topic. The thesis prepared as part of this option shall include a literature review, description of the research topic, methodology, and results and it shall present conclusions obtained from the research effort and recommendations for further work.
Project Option — requires completion of at least 36 credits, including:
- 18 credits from 600-/700-level courses of CEM and MBA course work
- 15 credits of approved electives
- Three credits of project. The final examination will include a presentation of the project. Completion of a project requires the student to investigate and solve, or propose solutions to, a problem related to the field of construction management. It is expected that the results of this effort will be beneficial for and applied to other construction-related projects or problems. The project report prepared for this option shall include a description of the issue investigated, how the investigation was performed, the results obtained, conclusions regarding the investigation, and recommendations for further work.