Master’s Degree with Thesis - Graduate Handbook

General Requirements

• The standard M.S. degree in Food Science involves the completion of a total 30 graduate course credits.
• The minimum GPA (final) required for graduation is 3.0.
• Students must get approval from their advisor on course selection.

Thesis Credits

• The student must have a minimum of six to a maximum of ten thesis credits.
• A maximum of nine thesis credits per semester.

Course Requirements

Students should complete the following courses from different categories:

• Category 1: At least six credits of Food Science courses at the 600 or 700 level are required, excluding Thesis, Independent Study, or Journal Club. One of the courses must be Research Methods (FS797R).
  • Typically, two 700-level Food Science courses are offered each semester. Each graduate course is usually offered once every two years, except Research Methods (FS797R) is offered every Fall semester.
• Category 2: One credit graduate seminar (FS791A) taken for a letter grade is required.

• Category 3:

  • Food Chemistry (FS541, FS542) or Food Analysis (FS581)
  • Food Microbiology (FS567) or Food Quality and Safety Control (FS521)
  • Food Processing (FS561) or Elements of Food Process Engineering (FS575)
  • Students with a background in Food Science and previously took the following courses (or equivalent) need not repeat them but may enroll in other 500-level or above courses to fulfill their requirements.
  • One course (3 or 4 credits, 400-level or above) may be from courses outside the Department. Note, if you take a 400-level course, this course must be outside the department.
  • Graduate students can take Teaching Experience (FS796T), an additional seminar with SAT (satisfactory grade, no presentation), or one credit journal club toward their degree requirements (either letter grade or SAT) toward their degree requirements (20 course credits). Note, the maximum number of journal club credits you can take is 2.

  Students should complete a thesis defense at the completion of their research project. The advisor may require a thesis proposal. The format of the proposal and thesis should be discussed with the advisor.

Credit Transfer

• A maximum of six graduate credits could be transferred from a B.S. degree or another M.S. degree, if they were not required for the respective degree. To transfer, you must submit a correct form to the Graduate School. These forms can be found under the graduate student forms & documents.
• For students completing a 5-year B.S./M.S. program (Accelerated Master's), an additional six credits can be transferred from the B.S. degree (double-counted). Please submit a form for ‘Transfer credits, Accelerated Master's’
• Please submit a form for 'Transfer credits, External' for students transferring unused credits from the previous M.S. program from another institution. Transfer credits should be done in the first semester.

Continuous Enrollment

• Students who take less than nine credits in a semester must first register for (GRADSCH 999) and then request an academic load override by emailing Moriah ([email protected]). This needs to be done at the beginning of each semester.

Establish Thesis Committee

• The student requests that their advisor sends an email to the GPD requesting the appointment of a thesis committee (at least two faculty members, including the advisor) at least one month before the final defense.

Defense & Paperwork

• The student requests that Moriah send a defense notification to all members of the department two days prior to the scheduled defense.
• The student requests their advisor email Moriah and the GPD with the defense results, date passed, and the names of the committee members.
• After a successful defense, the student will use DocuSign to obtain signatures from their committee for their signature page and submit it to the Graduate School.
• Students should also submit the master's degree eligibility form through the SPIRE system. The student should select the graduation term and the courses that satisfy degree requirements, and submit the form for review and approval via the Kuali workflow.
• Student files thesis electronically to ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst

You can submit the required documents by either emailing them to UMass Graduate School Student Records at @email or by handing them in at the Graduate Student Service Center, 534 Goodell Building.