Master’s Degree with Thesis - Graduate Handbook

Course 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.
• Students should complete the following courses from different categories:
  • Category 1: At least 6 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).
  • Category 2: One credit of seminar (FS791A) is required.
  • Category 3: Minimum 6 to a maximum of 10 thesis credits. Maximum 9 thesis credits can be registered per semester. Register for thesis credits every semester (16 maximum credits, class + thesis credits per semester) until all are taken.
• Category 1: 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.
• 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.
• 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)

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 1 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

• Maximum 6 Graduate credits can be transferred from a BS degree or another MS 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 at graduate student forms & documents.
• For students completing a 5-year BS/MS program (Accelerated Masters), an additional 6 credits can be transferred from the BS degree (double counted). Please submit a form for ‘Transfer credits, Accelerated Masters’
• 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.

Establish thesis committee

• The student requests that their advisor sends an email to the GPD requesting the appointment of a thesis  committee (at least 2 faculty members including the advisor) at least one month before the final defense.

Defense notification

• The student requests Moriah to send a defense notification to all members of the department 2 days prior to the scheduled defense.

After completion of defense

• The student requests their advisor emails GPD with the results of defense, date passed, and committee names.

The student will submit the signed thesis signature sheet and signed Master’s degree eligibility form (ask Moriah for template and set up DocuSign) to the graduate school after completion of successful defense.

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.

• Student files thesis electronically to ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst