Programs of Study

Fargo-based North Dakota State University (NDSU) is a public research university with a graduate student enrollment of about 2,100 out of a total enrollment of 14,500 students. NDSU has earned a place on U.S. News & World Report’s Best National Universities and Top Public Schools lists. U.S. News & World Report also ranks the College of Engineering at North Dakota State among the Best Engineering Schools, with recognized programs in agricultural and biological, civil, computer, electrical, industrial and manufacturing, and mechanical engineering. NDSU also offers graduate programs in environmental engineering, construction management and engineering, and biomedical engineering.

The College of Engineering (CoE) is the largest college at North Dakota State. It offers a broad range of graduate-level degree programs, most with both Master of Science and Ph.D. options.

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering: Students interested in high-level careers in agribusiness, biorenewable energy development, and related fields may choose to earn the M.S. or the Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. The master’s degree program consists of 30 credits, with up to 24 credit hours earned in the classroom and the remainder in thesis research and writing. The Ph.D. program requires an additional 60 credit hours beyond the M.S., including dissertation research and research publication.

Biomedical Engineering: Biomedical Engineering (BME) is offered jointly by NDSU’s College of Engineering and UND’s College of Engineering and Mines and School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The interdisciplinary program is designed to meet the needs of regional students interested in biomedical engineering; attract women and under-represented students into a developing field; educate and train students through courses and research focused on biomedical research and device development; advance the biomedical knowledge base through collaborative research; and develop intellectual property to generate company spin-offs, attract new companies, and spur economic development.

Civil and Environmental Engineering: The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NDSU administers four graduate-degree programs. The M.S. in Civil Engineering is intended for students who want to work as planners, consultants, designers, or managers for public and private enterprises. Course work covers the civil engineering sub-fields of environmental, geotechnical, water resource, transportation, and structural engineering.

Course work is also offered in engineering mechanics. The Ph.D. in Civil Engineering gives students the opportunity to delve into a particular sub-field or to develop an interdisciplinary path of study. The M.S. in Environmental Engineering program covers air pollution, wastewater and water quality management, hazardous waste management, and related topics.

Construction Management and Engineering: NDSU offers two master’s degree programs in construction management and engineering. The M.S. in Construction Management is a research-oriented program that requires 31 credit hours of work, including a thesis. The Master of Construction Management (M.Cons.M.) program is administered entirely online and is designed for working professionals. This program requires 30 credit hours of course work without a thesis to prepare students for the Associate Constructor and Certified Professional Constructor national exams.

Working students who want a graduate certificate in construction management may apply to NDSU’s 9-credit online program, which covers construction cost estimating, construction management, and scheduling and project control. The department also offers supervision for doctoral students in civil engineering who specialize in construction management and engineering.

Industrial and Manufacturing (IME): There are two industrial and manufacturing (IME) master’s degree programs at North Dakota State University: the M.S. in Manufacturing Engineering and the M.S. in Industrial Engineering and Management. Each degree program is available with a thesis option or, for working engineers, a project option. The programs are available full- or part-time to accommodate working students. Both the thesis and the project option total 30 credit hours of work, with course topics including engineering economics, logistics and systems engineering and management, quality assurance and control, and supply chain management.

The Ph.D. in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering requires an additional 60 credit hours; 30 hours of course work and 30 hours of dissertation work.

Mechanical Engineering: Mechanical engineering is critical to a number of industries, and the graduate programs at NDSU are designed to prepare students for engineering and management careers in the public and private sectors. NDSU offers both the M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and the Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. The master’s program is available with a thesis or a comprehensive study option. Students who hope to obtain an assistantship with the mechanical engineering department must choose the thesis option.

The Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering may be pursued after completion of the M.S. program or as part of a combined M.S./Ph.D. program for bachelor’s degree holders.

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE): Students seeking a graduate degree in electrical and computer engineering have three options at NDSU. The M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering requires a thesis and is the choice for students seeking an assistantship. The Master of Engineering (M.Engr.) in ECE is a course-only program for students who are not interested in an assistantship position. The Ph.D. in ECE requires a dissertation. Specialized areas of graduate study within the ECE department include: biomedical engineering, communications and signal processing, computer architecture, cyber physical and embedded systems, electromagnetics and optics, power and energy, and very-large scale integration. Prospective students are encouraged to contact NDSU ECE faculty members directly for detailed information on specialized study topics.

Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree Programs: The College of Engineering supports several interdisciplinary graduate degree programs in collaboration with other North Dakota State University colleges. The programs include the M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental and Conservation Science, the M.S. and Ph.D. in Natural Resources Management, and Ph.D. programs in Materials and Nanotechnology, Transportation and Logistics, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Education.

Research

North Dakota State spends more than $150 million each year on research conducted through government and industry grants and partnerships. Some examples of research topics studied by departments within the College of Engineering include the following:

• the role of precision agricultural technology in reducing energy usage
• the use of nanoparticles for remediation of contaminated soil and water
• the role of RFID technology in leadless cardiac pacemaker electrodes
• ergonomic design

NDSU’s Bison Ventures and Bison Microventures elective programs are project-based research efforts that bring together small teams of students and faculty for problem-solving and entrepreneurial development of lab research. Other participants in the Bison Ventures program are NDSU’s Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, College of Business, and Center for Technical Enterprise.

Financial Aid

Applicants are automatically considered for financial support, such as assistantships that include a full tuition waiver and a stipend. Research and teaching assistantship availability varies by department. Master’s degree students should be aware that most programs require them to select the thesis option in order to qualify for an assistantship.

North Dakota State University funds a number of general and departmental scholarships that may be open to graduate engineering students. NDSU also supports educational benefit programs for military veterans and their families, including the Yellow Ribbon program and the G.I. Bill.

Cost of Study

Up-to-date information on costs can be found online at https://www.ndsu.edu/onestop/accounts/tuition/.

Living and Housing Costs

Information about on-campus housing for graduate students can be found at https://www.ndsu.edu/reslife/general_apartment_information/. There is not a specific residence hall for graduate students, but they can live in the University apartments. In addition, there are numerous housing options in the Fargo-Moorhead community.

Faculty

Faculty members in the College of Engineering at NDSU have won numerous awards for teaching and research. For example, Dr. Eakalak Khan, Professor and Director of the Environmental and Conservation Sciences graduate program, has won two teaching awards while at NDSU, along with a Career Award from the National Science Foundation. His research on water quality improvement and water management has been underwritten by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the New York State Department of Transportation.

Assistant Professor Na Gong, Ph.D., teaches in the ECE department and conducts research on energy efficient very-large scale integration and computer architecture. She has served as an associate editor for "Mobile Computing", "Microelectronics Journal", and other publications.

Location

NDSU is located on the eastern edge of North Dakota in Fargo, the state’s largest community. With its sister city, Moorhead, Minnesota, directly across the Red River, Fargo is one of the largest metropolitan centers between Minneapolis and Seattle and offers a family friendly environment with excellent schools, safe neighborhoods, and a low crime rate; an active arts and cultural scene, including a symphony, civic opera company, art museums, and community theater; and many places to shop and eat, including numerous restaurants, coffee shops, and a newly refurbished downtown district.

Applying

Students interested in applying for admission are advised to communicate with the Graduate Program Coordinator(s) and the faculty member(s) with whom they wish to work in the specific department(s) within the College of Engineering. Applicants should visit the NDSU Graduate School website at https://www.ndsu.edu/gradschool/. More information can be obtained from individual CoE academic units.

• Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Department of Construction Management and Engineering
• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
• Department of Mechanical Engineering
• Doctoral Program in Engineering

• Degrees Offered
• Major Degree Levels Offered
• Engineering And Applied Sciences Graduate Certificate
  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
  Master of Church Ministry (MCM)
  Master of Engineering (ME)
  Master of Science (MS)

• Degrees Awarded
• Master's Degrees Not reported
• Doctoral Degrees Not reported
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported
• * Shows the number of degrees awarded for the last academic year that data was reported.

• Earning Your Degree
• Part-time study available? Yes
• Evening/weekend programs available? No
• Distance learning programs available? No
• Terminal master's degree available? Yes

• Degree Requirements
• Master's Degrees Thesis Required
• Doctoral Degrees Comp Exam Required and Thesis Required
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported

• Acceptance Rate
• Applied Not Reported
• Accepted Not Reported
• Acceptance Rate Not Reported
• Enrolled Not Reported
• Applying
• Application Fee - Domestic $35
• Application Fee - International $35
• Electronic applications accepted? Yes
• Applications processed on a rolling basis? Yes
• Application Deadlines
• Type Domestic International Priority Date
• Fall deadline April 1st May 1st Yes
• Winter deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Spring deadline October 1st August 1st Yes
• Entrance Requirements
• Master's Degreesminimum GPA of 3.0
• Doctoral's Degreesminimum GPA of 3.0
• First-Professional's DegreesNot Reported
• Other Advanced DegreesNot Reported
• International DegreesTOEFL required

• Tuition & Fees *
• Tuition & FeesNot Reported
• *Average dollar amount (tuition & fees) required to complete the degree
• Financial Support
• Financial award applicants must submitNot Reported
• Application deadlines for financial awardsApril 15
• Types of financial support availableTuition Waivers, Career or Field-Related Internships, Federal Work-Study, Financial Support for Part-time Students, Institutionally-sponsored Loans, Scholarship and/or loans

• Existing Research
• Focus of faculty researchTheoretical mechanics, robotics, automation, environmental engineering, man-made materials
• Externally sponsored research expenditures last yearNot Reported