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Electrical Engineering Accelerated BS/MS Pathway for Roger Williams University Students

UMass Dartmouth has partnered with Roger Williams University to develop a pathway for Roger Williams students to earn both a bachelor’s degree from RWU and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from UMass Dartmouth in just five years. This accelerated pathway allows students to save time and money earning an advanced degree by enrolling in master's level courses early and double-counting some courses toward both degrees. 

Requirements

Interested students should:

  • Apply to the accelerated BS/MS program in the spring semester of their junior year of college
  • Maintain a 3.2 GPA or better

Eligible courses

1. RWU and UMassD agree that RWU students who complete any two RWU Electrical Engineering Specialization courses from the list below can apply six credits to the Electrical Engineering MS degree at UMassD. The required grade is B or better for each course. See (4) below for double counting credits. 

  • RWU ENGR 424 - Digital Signal Processing (3 credits)➔ UMassD ECE475 Digital Signal Processing (3 credits) 
  • RWU ENGR 445 - Dynamic Modeling and Control (3 credits)➔ UMassD ECE403 Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 
  • RWU ENGR 450 - Mechatronics (3 credits) ➔ UMassD ECE403 Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 
  • RWU ENGR 479 - Special Topics in Engineering VLSI (3 credits)➔ EGE 413 - Introduction to VLSI Design (3 credits) 
  • RWU ENGR 479 - Special Topics in Engineering Power Electronics (3 credits)➔ UMassD ECE403 Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 

2. An RWU student may opt to take one graduate-level ECE course at UMassD during their senior year at RWU. The course should be chosen in consultation with the ECE graduate program director. The required grade is C or better. See (4) below for double counting credits. 

3. An RWU student may opt to take one of the following Cybersecurity-related courses at RWU as part of their full-time load, which counts as a 500-level free elective in the ECE graduate program. The required grade for the Cybersecurity-related course at RWU is (B-, B minus) or better. See (4) below for double counting credits. 

  • RWU SEC 600- CyberSecurity Essentials (3 credits)➔ UMassD ECE591 Special topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 
  • RWU SEC 615 - Intrusion Detection: Firewalling and Defense (3 credits)➔UMassD ECE591 Special topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 
  • RWU SEC 620 - Ma/ware Analysis and Malicious Software (3 credits)➔ UMassD ECE591 
  • Special topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 
  • RWU SEC 625 - Pen Testing and Incident Response (3 credits)➔ UMassD ECE591 Special topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (3 credits) 

4. Double counting: 

With option (1) only, a maximum of 6 credits may be double counted toward the Engineering BS degree at RWU and Electrical Engineering MS degree at UMassD from the following set: ENGR 424, ENGR 445, ENGR 450, ENGR 479 (VLSI), ENGR 479 (Power Electronics). The student will have 6 credits invested toward the 30 credits required for the Electrical Engineering MS degree. 

With options (1) and (2) only, a maximum of 9 credits may be double counted toward the Engineering BS degree at RWU and Electrical Engineering MS degree at UMassD from the following sets: two courses from ENGR 424, ENGR 445, ENGR 450, ENGR 479 (VLSI), ENGR 479 (Power Electronics), and one graduate-level ECE course at UMassD. The student will have 9 credits invested toward the 30 credits required for the Electrical Engineering MS degree. 

With options (1) and (3) only, a maximum of 9 credits may be double counted toward the Engineering BS degree at RWU and Electrical Engineering MS degree at UMassD from the following sets: two courses from ENGR 424, ENGR 445, ENGR 450, ENGR 479 (VLSI), ENGR 479 (Power Electronics), and one course from SEC 600, SEC 615, SEC 620, SEC 625. The student will have 9 credits invested toward the 30 credits required for the Electrical Engineering MS degree. 

With options (1), (2) and (3), a maximum of 9 credits may be double counted toward the Engineering BS degree at RWU and Electrical Engineering MS degree at UMassD from the following sets: two courses from ENGR 424, ENGR 445, ENGR 450, ENGR 479 (VLSI), ENGR 479 (Power Electronics), and one course from SEC 600, SEC 615, SEC 620, SEC 625. By (3), the student will earn 3 credits for a standalone graduate-level ECE course at UMassD, which is excluded from the double counting scheme. All in all, the student will have 12 credits invested toward the 30 credits required for the Electrical Engineering MS degree.