D E G R E E R E Q U I R E M E N T S

We are a graduate program offering MS and Ph.D. degrees. The degree requirements are described below,

MS Degree • PhD Degree • Advisory Panels

Application forms, instructions and information can be obtained from the UHM Graduate Division. Information about the department’s people, programs, and research is available via the links to the left of this page, and the PDFs listed below. If you need more information on any ORE program than you can find here, and/or you would like to obtain the application forms by mail, please contact the ORE Department.

MS Degree

The Ocean and Resources Engineering program at the MS level has the following requirements:

Pre-program
MS General Exam
Core, option-area, and elective courses
MS thesis or independent project.

The pre-program, which includes a general education component, one year of college-level mathematics and science, and one and one-half years of basic engineering topics, provides students a broad education background and covers technical and non-technical issues commonly encountered by engineers in professional practice. Students with an undergraduate engineering degree would satisfy the pre-program requirements. About 20% of the students in the program do not have an undergraduate engineering degree. The Department requires these students to make up the deficiencies by taking basic engineering courses listed in Coursework Requirements.

The MS degree can be earned under either Plan A (thesis) or Plan B (independent project) option. The program requires a minimum of 30 academic credits. At least 24 credits must be earned in advanced courses numbered 600 or above. Up to two credits of directed reading and six transferred credits can be counted toward the MS requirements. Students, who satisfy the pre-program requirements, are required to take the General Examination during the first semester of their full-time enrollment to test their knowledge in mathematics, science, and basic engineering, and their preparation for the graduate-level coursework. Students who passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination within the last three years are exempted. Passing the exam advances the students to master's candidacy.

The core, option-area, and elective courses offered by the Department are listed in Coursework Requirements. The core courses provide the students a broad understanding of the ocean and resources engineering disciplines that include hydrostatics, oceanography, water waves, fluid-structure interaction, and underwater acoustics. The laboratory course connects materials covered in the classroom with observations made and data gathered in the ocean. The option-area courses prepare students for specialization in coastal, ocean resources, or offshore engineering. The capstone design project is team-taught by faculty members and practicing professional engineers. Its objective is to familiarize students with the planning and design of a real-life engineering project in a consulting firm setting. Students are required to read a number of engineering case studies and write a paper on issues related to ethics and professional practice. All students are required to attend 15 seminars that cover the latest development and research related to ocean and resources engineering. The core and option-area courses and seminar requirements amount to 25 academic credits and the remaining credits are to be chosen to form a coherent plan of study.

Students complete their study with a Plan A thesis or Plan B independent project. The Plan A thesis is research oriented and students receive six academic credits for the work. The Plan B independent project focuses on engineering application or design and carry three academic credits. Both require a proposal outlining the subject area, objectives, proposed methodology, sources of data, and anticipated results that must be approved by a committee of at least three graduate faculty members. The project provides students an opportunity to explore and contribute to the development of the latest technology in an ocean and resources engineering discipline. The work results in a thesis or a report that demonstrates both mastery of the subject matter and a high level of communication skills. The student must present and defend the work at a final examination, which provides the faculty a final opportunity to test the student's understanding and ability to integrate his or her work at the MS level.

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PhD Degree

Students pursuing the PhD degree are required to achieve a broad understanding of the principal areas of ocean and resources engineering, as well as a thorough understanding of a specific area. Students must, at a minimum, possess the knowledge covered by the core and required courses of the M.S. degree in ocean and resources engineering.

All intended candidates for the PhD degree must take a written qualifying examination before or during the third semester of full-time enrollment. In addition to covering the basic undergraduate fundamentals, the examination tests the students' understanding of the coursework at the M.S. level.

After passing the qualifying examination and being advanced to candidacy, the students must take a comprehensive examination, which tests their ability to carry out original research and preparation for the selected dissertation topic. The examination has a five-day (Monday through Friday) written component and an oral component in the following week. The written component is equivalent to a take-home exam. The students have access to books, computers, and software, but must not discuss the questions with anyone other than the exam committee members. The oral examination provides the students an opportunity to address issues that may arise from the written part and to defend the novelty of the proposed research.

The dissertation topic must be approved by a committee consisting of a minimum of five graduate faculty members with at least one from outside the Department. In addition, the Department Chair may appoint a member to the committee. The student is encouraged to publish the research work in refereed journals in order to obtain feedback from the research community and to develop a publication track record prior to graduation. The student must present and defend the dissertation at a final examination.

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Advisory Panels

The Ocean and Resources Engineering faculty regularly assess and update the education objectives, program outcomes, assessment processes, and academic program with input from surveys of alumni and their employers as well as panels of professionals representing the ocean and resources engineering communities. The last cycle of assessment was completed in Spring 2002 and an updated academic program was implemented in Fall 2002. The following local and international panels participated in the last cycle of assessment and provided input to the education objectives and academic program described in this guide.

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Local Professional Advisory Panel

Karin Lynn, PE (Chair), Captain, Civil Engineer Corps, US Navy Regional Requirements Officer, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Jose Andres, PhD, PE, Vice President, Makai Ocean Engineering Inc., Waimanalo, Hawaii.
Roger Babcock, PhD, PE, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Paul Bienfang, PhD, Senior Vice President, CEATEC U.S.A., Honolulu, Hawaii.
Warren Bucher, PhD, Vice President, Oceanit Laboratory Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii.
Gary Godshak, Director of Hawaii Operations, Orincon, Kailua, Hawaii.
Robert Rocheleau, PE, President, Sea Engineering Inc., Waimanalo, Hawaii.
Elaine Tamaye, President, Ed Noda and Associates, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Gabriel Zee, PhD, Vice President, Pacific Marine and Supply Company, Honolulu, Hawaii.

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International Professional Advisory Panel

Thomas Mathai, PhD (Chair), Senior Analyst, The Glosten Associates, Inc., Seattle, Washington.
Willem Bakker, Visiting Scientist, WL | Delft Hydraulics, Delft, The Netherlands. Formerly, Head of Research and Development (Flushing) Directorate General of Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), The Hague, The Netherlands.
Roger Basu, PhD, Manager, Advanced Analysis Department, ABS Americas, Houston, Texas.
Sander Calisal, PhD, PEng, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; Associate Editor, ASME Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.
Subrata Chakrabarti, PhD, PE, President, Offshore Structure Analysis, Inc., Plainfield, Illinois; Editor, Applied Ocean Research.
Zeki Demirbilek, PhD, PE, Research Hydraulic Engineer, Army Engineer Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Mississippi; Editor, ASCE Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering.
John Halkyard, ScD, PE, Vice President, Deepwater Research and Development, CSO Aker Maritime, Inc., Houston, Texas.
Paul Palo, PhD, PE, Mechanical Engineer, Ocean Facilities Department, Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center, Port Hueneme, California.
Tar-Zen Su, PhD, Associate Professor, Marine Engineering Department, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
Pieter Wybro, PhD, PE, President, Sea Engineering Inc., Houston, Texas.

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