Carnegie Mellon University

Advanced Study

For the two EST&P-Advanced Study degrees, EST&P-ADS and EST&P-AAS, students choose an Advanced Study Concentration  (36 units and an extra semester of study) to go beyond the required Energy Core, Engineering Concentration, and Breadth Electives

There are several Advanced Study Concentrations available, including an Energy Projects Concentration, a Data Science Concentration, and a second Engineering Concentration. As an interdisciplinary engineering program focused on energy, Advanced Study is naturally represented by a balance of breadth and depth, which  is described for each concentration below.

Advanced study broadens students' perspective on the interdisciplinary challenges of energy and provides depth in their chosen concentration. It also increases degree customizability for individuals.  

More detailed information on Advanced Study Concentrations are available within the EST&P Student Handbook.

In the Energy Projects Concentration, breadth is achieved by exposure to more energy related topics, in coursework or independent study, and depth is achieved by applying knowledge to tackle significant energy related problems.

The Energy Projects Concentration can be satisfied by completing any combination of the following types of courses, with advisor approval, for a total of 36 units: Independent Master’s Project Courses (39-660 is most common), Project-Intensive Courses (12 unit courses with a significant project component), and Project-Related Breadth Elective Courses (max of 12 units with approval).

EST&P advisors maintain and update a list of approved courses that follow the guiding principles listed below.

  • Independent Master’s Project Courses

Carnegie Mellon faculty are engaged in a wide range of energy related research and projects, in which undergraduate, master, and doctoral students participate. EST&P students working with faculty usually enroll in 39-660 Masters EST&P Project, or the equivalent Masters Project / Independent study course numbers from the partner engineering departments.

  • Project-Intensive Courses 

Many energy-related graduate courses at CMU have a significant energy-related projects integrated with the coursework, allowing students another avenue in which to generate independent solutions to energy problems. With advance approval from an EST&P advisor, such project‐intensive engineering courses may count towards meeting the Energy Projects Concentration requirement. Approved courses are generally 12-unit graduate engineering courses that have a significant energy-related project (represented by 30 % or more of the overall grade) integrated with the coursework (as indicated in the syllabus). The EST&P advisors maintains a list of appropriate courses (which includes a number of regularly scheduled engineering classes), such as this list of pre-approved project courses.

  • Breadth Elective coursework (up to 12 units)

A limited number (12 units maximum) of advisor approved Breadth Electives may be used to count towards the Energy Projects Concentration. The Breadth Electives should be related to a student’s interests in energy project work, enabling or expanding the areas in which project work is done. If used, these breadth electives must satisfy the general requirements of Breadth Electives, as well as the need to be energy projects related.

In the Data Science Concentration, breadth is achieved by exposure to data science methodologies used in engineering, and depth is achieved by completing a second cluster of concentrated courses, here on data science. The Data Science Concentration can be satisfied by completing any combination of the following courses, with advisor approval, for a total of 36 units.

Data sciences, including coding, data, computations, and machine learning aspects, are increasingly relevant in engineering and Energy Science, Technology & Policy fields, which is also reflected in the number of courses in our partner departments. Students can take any courses on the list below, with advisor approval, either staying within one discipline or surveying across disciplines. The Data Science Concentration is new as of 2024, and the page is under construction.

EST&P students in the Advanced Study Degree program can choose to complete a Data Science concentration, instead of a second engineering concentration or the energy projects concentration. The Data Science concentration will also require 36 units of approved coursework from course offerings across all 6 partner departments within CIT, which must be relevant to Data Science. Tables of approved courses permitted to satisfy the requirements of the Data Science concentration are listed below.

Data Science Concentration
Students must take 36 units of concentration electives

Semester

Units

CEE

12-740

Data Acquisition

 

6

12-741

Data Management

 

6

12-760

Special Topics:
      Fundamentals of Programming for Engineering Systems

 

12

12-780

Special Topics: Adv. Python for Infrastructure Systems

 

6

12-778

Special Topics: Sensors, Circuits, and Data Interpretation and
                              Management for Infrastructure

 

12

CHE

06-681

Special Topics: Data Science and Machine Learning in Chemical Engineering

 

12

06-606

Computational Methods for Large Scale Process Design & Analysis

 

9

06-***

see others below that may count

 

 

ECE

18-645

How to Write Fast Code I

 

12

18-646

How to Write Fast Code II

 

12

18-785

Data, Inference, and Applied Machine Learning

 

12

18-788

Big Data Science

 

6

EPP

19-603

Data Science for Technology, Innovation and Policy

 

12

19-703

Applied Data Analytics I

 

6

19-704

Applied Data Analytics II

 

6

19-702

Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis

 

12

MEG

24-780

Engineering Computation

 

12

24-783

Advanced Engineering Computation

 

12

24-703

Numerical Methods in Engineering

 

12

24-***

see others below that may count

 

 

MSE

27-734

Methods of Computational Materials Science

 

12

27-737

Data Analytics and Machine Learning for Mat. Science

 

12

27-719

Computational Thermodynamics

 

6

More
*In engineering concentrations already. Will not double count but could be approved.

24-618 (MEG)

Computational Analysis of Transport Phenomena

 

12

24-718 (MEG)

Computational Fluid Dynamics

 

12

06-665 (CHE)

Process Systems Modeling

 

12

06-623 (CHE)

Mathematical Modeling of Chemical Eng. Processes

 

12

06-625 (CHE)

Chemical and Reactive Systems

 

12

Students may complete their Advanced Study by satisfying the requirements of a Second Engineering Concentration. Here, breadth is achieved by exposure to a second engineering discipline’s approach to energy, and depth is achieved through completing a second cluster of concentrated engineering coursework.

As examples, a student with CEE and EPP concentrations can be strong and broad in areas of sustainability and climate policy; or a student with MEG and ECE concentrations may be broad and strong in areas of generation and storage in modern grids. Many other examples are possible in achieving Advanced Study in energy that are customized to individual students’ interests and technological needs. The standard rules for an Engineering Concentration apply towards satisfying the advanced study requirements.