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Students generally elect to take the 10-course Option to complete their MSE degree. In some cases, with the approval of a research advisor and the Robotics Director of Education, the Essay Option may be used to fulfill the MSE Robotics degree requirements. In the standard Course Option, ten (10) courses must be taken as articulated herein. For the Essay Option, eight (8) courses must be taken, not including any research courses, and research must be performed leading to a formal MSE Essay. Degree Track requirements are the same for both the Course and Essay Options.
Primary Robotics MSE Essay / Research Advisor Requirements: Research advisors for all Robotics MSE Essay must be approved in advance by the Robotics MSE Graduate Director. Currently approved Primary Robotics MSE Essay / Research Advisor are listed at the end of this document.
School of Engineering MSE Essay Advisor Requirement: To partially fulfill the degree requirement, the Essay must be approved and signed by the primary research advisor. If the primary advisor is not a robotics faculty member holding primary appointment in the Whiting School of Engineering, a second advisor (who satisfies this requirement) must also read and sign the essay. That secondary advisor must be identified and sign off on the Essay Advisor/Advisee Mutual Work Agreement form.
To qualify for the essay option, fill out and submit an Essay Advisor/Advisee Mutual Work Agreement form at least two weeks before the beginning of your research. Note the form requires the signature of you, your essay advisor, and the Robotics Director of Education. In the extremely unlikely event that you need to change advisors mid-research, please contact Sonya Brown. You are not admitted into the essay option until you have submitted an Essay Advisor/Advisee Mutual Work Agreement form, and that form has been approved by the program.
A student may choose to fulfill the Robotics MSE degree requirements with the Internship Option, which requires having secured an internship of at least three months and no more than six months, approval and oversight of a research advisor, and a submitted report at the conclusion of the internship. The internship is expected to be full-time; any exceptions to this full-time requirement must be requested in advance and approved by the Director of Education. In the standard Course Option, ten (10) courses must be taken as articulated herein. For the Internship Option, eight (8) courses must be taken, not including any research courses, and internship activity must be performed through an Internship, leading to an Internship Report. Alternatively, a journal publication or a conference paper could be submitted, describing the student’s original activity and work product conducted during the internship. This paper must have been submitted to, accepted by, or published in an archival, peer-reviewed technical journal or accepted for presentation at a peer-reviewed technical conference. The student must be the primary author of the article. Degree Track requirements are the same for all degree options.
During the term of the Internship-Option Internship, the student intern is expected to devote 100% of their effort to the internship. The student intern may not simultaneously take additional courses toward the Robotics MSE degree course requirements during the internship period.
JHU Internship Advisor Requirements: The internship advisor should be a member of the Robotics faculty, as listed in the Robotics Advising Manual. In some unusual cases, exceptions can be made, in which case the internship advisor must be a JHU professor holding an appointment in the Whiting School of Engineering. All internship advisors for all Robotics MSE internships must be approved in advance by the Robotics Director of Education.
Students should start the Internship Option process early. Identifying an internship and an internship advisor, completing the Internship Mutual Work Agreement, and completing the Internship Agreement take time. You are required to submit the Internship Mutual Work Agreement and the signed Internship Agreement at least two (2) weeks before the start of the semester of the internship. It is recommended that you start identifying an internship advisor at least a month before the semester of the internship and begin the paperwork then.
To Qualify for the Internship option:
Additional Information:
The final version of the internship report (or journal article) must be submitted, with the cover page signed by the student’s internship advisor and internship supervisor, to the Robotics Academic staff by the completion date. See Sonya Brown for deadline information. In cases where the report must be confidential, then both the internship supervisor and the internship advisor must read and approve the full report, and a non-confidential summary must be approved and submitted to the Robotics Academic Staff by the essay deadline for graduation.