SMU Master of Mechanical Engineering processes

This page collects Master of Mechanical Engineering (MME) program processes to improve the overall health and welfare of everyone.

Choosing a thesis advisor

  1. Talk to faculty about potential projects.
  2. Once you and a faculty member both agree to work together on a thesis, email the program director.
  3. Fill out and submit a Change Major/Minor/Advisor Form.

Thesis

  1. Choose an advisor from the ME faculty. Your advisor will also chair your thesis committee.
  2. Research, taking six credits of Thesis (MME599) from your advisor.
  3. Once you have begun your thesis, you must remain continuously enrolled in MME599 every term. Once you have reached the required six credits, you must continue enrolling for a “zero credit” MME599 until successfully defending your thesis. Once you have successfully defended, your advisor will fill out a Change of Grade Request Form (must get directly from Registrar because it’s not online) to change your MME599 grades from IP to P.
  4. Form a thesis committee with at least two regular faculty from the Department of Mechanical Engineering (inclusive of your advisor) and at least three total members (inclusive of your advisor). All committee members must be approved by your advisor. Once approved, invite each of the potential committee members and email the program director their acceptance at least one month before defending the thesis.
  5. Write the thesis. All theses must be written using the program’s LaTeX template. The template is available as an Overleaf template. For those unfamiliar with LaTeX, this tutorial should help; furthermore, the Overleaf can help one bypass some of the learning curve. Past theses can be found here.
  6. Schedule the thesis defense to be by the last day of Final Examination Week of the semester in which you intend to graduate. Note that, with the approval of your advisor, the thesis defense can be extended for up to 30 days past the last day of the semster (which is the deadline for converting an IP grade to a P).
  7. Defend your thesis. The thesis defense consists of a presentation (typically 30-60 minutes) in front of your committee and is open to the public and a closed question-and-answer session with your committee. After this session, you will be dismissed and your committee will determine whether you pass, pass with conditions, or fail the defense. Graduation depends on the successful defense of your thesis. In the case of a failure of defense, your committee will offer guidance toward a successful defense. Typically, a failed defense will require a significant amount of additional thesis work.
  8. In order for a thesis to be considered officially accepted, the Thesis Defense Report must be completed by the committee Chair, the thesis title page must be signed by the entire committee, and each of these should be submitted to the MME Program Director (copies are fine).
  9. Submit your thesis to the O’Grady Library via their process.

Recent theses

  1. Shelby Ferguson
  2. Jacob Buehn
  3. Jillian Hamilton
  4. Shelbie Davis
  5. Laura Mortimer
  6. Jotham Lentz