Learn more about degree requirements including advising, registration, plan of study, culminating experience and graduation.
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This manual is designed to be a general reference for affiliated faculty associated with, and/or students pursuing a Master of Science in Sustainable Transportation and Logistics (STL). Included are policies and procedures as set forth by the SSISTL, as well as the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Graduate School of the University of Buffalo.
The co-directors of the STL program serve as all students preliminary advisors. Students interested in thesis or project options should seek a primary advisor. Students interested in the coursework option should work with a co-director for their E-portfolio.
The MS program in Sustainable Transportation and Logistics is a 30-credit, 3-semester program (if completed full-time) and requires a minimum GPA of 3.0 every semester. Students can flexibly choose their electives based on their interest and intended career path. If a student wishes to take an elective outside of the pre-approved list, the co-directors of Graduate Studies must approve the course.
Students are required to maintain continuous registration until they complete the program. Full-time status is 12 credit hours (9 for GA/TA/RA). If students meet the requirement to be registered for less than 12 credits, they must fill out the full-time status form International students should contact ISS about a reduced courseload form as well.
As part of each Master’s program of study, there is a culminating (“capstone”) experience that ranges from an ePortfolio to an M.S. thesis or project. A student, with approval of his/her permanent advisor, has the opportunity to choose a thesis or project as the culminating experience. The culminating experience will determine the number of electives the student must take in their course plan. The Thesis will replace 2 elective courses and the project will replace 1 elective course.
Students opting for the thesis or project must submit a proposal to their advisor for approval. These forms can be found on the Current Student Information page, or by seeing the graduate coordinator.
Students completing the all-course option will complete 5 elective courses (15 credits) as well as an e-portfolio that showcases the knowledge learned from the Sustainable Transportation and Logistics master’s program and highlights experience and competencies gained as a result of completed coursework. The graduate coordinator will send guidelines for the ePortfolio to students during the beginning of the students' final semester in the program.
The ePortfolio will be graded by one of the program co-directors. Students opting for this all-course option should inform a co-director to show progress on their website. Final projects should be submitted one month before the semester ends (November 1, April 1 or July 1). This will allow the faculty time to review and send feedback to the student.
Grading for the portfolio is on a pass/fail basis. In case of failure, feedback/comments from the reviewers will be required; the student then revises and resubmits the e-portfolio for review within a timeframe of one week.
For those interested in pursuing the MS thesis option, the thesis counts for a total of 6 credits, meaning that the student only needs an additional 24 credits of coursework to graduate. The MS thesis must be successfully defended before the student’s MS thesis committee. The M.S. thesis committee is chaired by the student’s major advisor and must include at least one additional graduate faculty member from the core or affiliated faculty of SSISTL. The additional committee member does not need to have a specific department affiliation. The student’s major advisor will help to form the committee.
After the defense, the committee will determine whether the student has successfully defended the thesis or whether additional work is required. After successfully completing a thesis defense, the candidate must submit to The Graduate School an electronic copy of the thesis as described on their website.
Students ready to defend their dissertation should email the graduate coordinator with the date, time, and location of the defense. The title and abstract of the thesis should also be provided to be included in the formal announcement.
Student's opting for the Master's project will take this course in lieu of one, 3-credit elective. The project must be approved by the student's primary advisor, who will then determine the parameters of project. For all MS projects, a report shall be submitted to the student’s project advisor, who has sole responsibility for its review, revision and acceptance. The advisor must be a faculty member in ISTL and a member of the Graduate Faculty. There are no committee requirements for MS projects.
Students should submit the project plan approval form outlining the description of the project. It must be signed by both the student and the faculty advisor and returned to the graduate coordinator no later than the last day of add/drop in the semester upon which the student is enrolling in project credits. Students will not get registered for the project course until this form is submitted and approved by the director of graduate studies.
Alternatively, students can complete a project in industry (internship) to satisfy their project requirement. Students must have their internship approved by their primary advisor. In order to enroll in the project course, students should submit an offer letter from the company along with a description of the position.
International students will be required to apply for CPT in order to start an internship and should be familiar with the CPT requirements and application process.
Candidates must meet the Graduate School’s degree conferral requirements to be eligible to graduate:
Further, the MS STL program requires that all students complete an exit survey with the program coordinator prior to graduation. Students should email the graduate coordinator to assist with setting up this exit survey in the final semester of the program.
Kaylee Waldby
Graduate Coordinator
istlgrad@buffalo.edu
415 Bonner Hall