Program Overview

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Ocean Engineering, MS

The Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering is the center of scholarly work in aerospace and ocean engineering, addressing the complex issues of today's society and tomorrow's future. It offers a large variety of activities related to aerospace and marine applications through disciplines ranging from aero/hydrodynamics; materials and structures; design and dynamics; control and estimation. Large-scale facilities (wind tunnels, towing tank, cavitation tunnels), advanced measurement systems, and HPC capabilities are available to graduate students to pursue their work. About 35 enthusiastic faculty recruit new students every year and guide them towards their degree. The AOE department is committed to providing a rich, respectful, and diverse learning environment that attracts and retains outstanding graduate students.

Disciplinary Areas:

• Hydronautics
• Naval engineering
• Autonomous systems

Graduate Program Director:

Olivier Coutier-Delgosha

Program Details:

• CIP code: 14.2201
• College: Engineering
• Campus(es) where program is offered: Blacksburg, Virtual
• Minimum GPA: 3.0
• TOEFL IBT: 90
  • TOEFL reading sub-score: 20
  • TOEFL listening sub-score: 20
  • TOEFL speaking sub-score: 20
  • TOEFL writing sub-score: 20
• IELTS (TOEFL alternative): 6.5
• GRE: optional
• Letter(s) of recommendation: 3 required

Admission Terms and Deadlines:

• Admission terms: Fall, Spring
• Admission application deadlines: Dec 30 for Fall; Sep 1 for Spring
• Institution code: 5859

Degree Requirements:

• Minimum total credit hours required for the degree: 30
• Total minimum credit hour requirement of graded graduate-level courses:
  • Thesis option: 15
  • Non-thesis: 18
• Total minimum credit hour requirement of Project and Report:
  • Non-thesis option: 3 (max. 6) of AOE 5904
• Total minimum credit hour requirement of Research:
  • Thesis option: max. 9 of AOE 5994

Degree Options:

• Thesis
• Non-thesis with Project & Report
• Non-thesis Coursework Only

Core Courses:

• Blacksburg Campus Students Only: At least two (2) semesters of AOE Seminar (AOE 5944) must be taken by Blacksburg campus students. Credit hours for the AOE Seminar do not count toward the awarded degree.

Breadth-Requirement Disciplinary Areas:

• Students must take at least one course in each of the three (3) disciplinary areas listed below for a minimum total of 3 courses.
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Dynamics & Control
  • Structures & Materials

Math Requirement:

• Students must take one (1) graduate-level course of three (3) credits or more, numbered 5000 or 6000 level, focused on mathematics, statistics or numerical methods.

Breadth-Requirement Disciplinary Area – Fluid Mechanics:

• AOE 5104 Advanced Aero and Hydrodynamics
• AOE 5124 Aero and Hydroacoustics
• AOE 5144 Boundary Layer Theory and Heat Transfer
• AOE 5304 Advanced Naval Architecture

Breadth-Requirement Disciplinary Area – Dynamics & Control:

• AOE 5334 Advanced Ship Dynamics
• AOE 5444G Advanced Dynamics of High-Speed Craft (also known as Advance Dynamics of High-Speed Marine Craft)
• AOE 5704 Sensors and Algorithms for Autonomous Navigation

Breadth-Requirement Disciplinary Area – Structures & Materials:

• AOE 5024 Vehicle Structures
• AOE 5074 Advanced Ship Structural Analysis
• AOE 5634 Aerospace and Ocean Materials and Modeling Techniques

Math Requirement – Course Options:

• AOE 5154 Data Analysis in Fluid Dynamics
• AOE 5404 Applied Numerical Methods
• AOE 5434G Advanced Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics
• AOE 5734 Convex Optimization
• AOE 5744 Linear Systems Theory
• AOE 5784 Modeling & Estimation
• AOE 6145 Computational Fluid Dynamics
• AOE 6174 Computational Plasma Dynamics
• AOE 6314 Advanced Dynamics
• AOE 6444 Verification and Validation in Scientific Computing
• CS 6404 Inverse Problems and Data Assimilation
• ESM 5734 Introduction to the Finite Element Method
• ESM 5744 Energy and Variational Methods in Applied Mechanics
• ESM 6714 Applied Tensor Analysis
• ESM 6734 Finite Element Analysis
• MATH 5214 Introduction to Stochastic Analysis
• MATH 5225 Real Analysis
• MATH 5235 Complex Analysis
• MATH 5424 Numerical Linear Algebra
• MATH 5425 Applied Partial Differential Equations
• MATH 5465 Numerical Analysis
• MATH 5474 Finite Difference Methods for Partial Differential Equations
• MATH 5484 Finite Element Methods for Partial Differential Equations
• MATH 5524 Matrix Theory
• STAT 5434 Applied Stochastic Processes
• STAT 5444 Bayesian Statistics
• STAT 5525 Data Analytics
• STAT 5615 or 5616 Statistics in Research
• STAT 5664 Applied Statistical Time Series Analysis for Research Scientists

MS Non-Thesis Additional AOE Course Requirement - Course Options (select 2):

• AOE 5074 Advanced Ship Structural Analysis
• AOE 5084 Submarine Design
• AOE 5304 Advanced Naval Architecture
• AOE 5314 Naval and Marine Engineering System Design
• AOE 5324 Principles of Naval Engineering
• AOE 5334 Advanced Ship Dynamics
• AOE 5444G Advanced Dynamics of High-Speed Craft (also known as Advance Dynamics of High-Speed Marine Craft)

Other Requirements:

• For thesis students, up to 9 credit hours may be allotted for Research and Thesis (AOE 5994).
• Credit hours of graduate-level coursework include courses numbered 5000 or 6000 level. 4000-level courses do not fulfill this requirement; these credits are counted towards the overall credit total for the degree.
• Graduate-level coursework credit hours do not include: AOE Seminar (AOE 5944), Research and Thesis (AOE 5994), Project & Report (AOE 5904) or Graduate School-required I&D-related course credit(s) such as ENGE 5304.
• A maximum of 6 credit hours of 4000-level courses, taken as a graduate student, can be counted towards the degree credit total.
• A maximum combined total of 6 credit hours of 5974 (Independent study) and/or 5984 (Special study courses) is allowed.
• Transferred Courses: Up to 50% of the courses on the Plan of Study may be transferred, subject to approval of the Advisory Committee. Substitution of a transferred course for a specific required course is subject to the approval of the Graduate Program Director or a designee, usually the responsible instructor. Each transferred course must have a grade of B (3.0/4.0) or better. All transferred courses must have been taken while in graduate student status.
• Courses that are double counted for both an undergraduate and graduate degree for students in Virginia Tech’s UG/GR Program are subject to the grade requirements for transfer courses.
• 4000-level AOE courses taken by Virginia Tech undergraduate students who are registered in the Accelerated Undergraduate-Graduate program (UGG or UGGR Program) are applicable towards the graded graduate-level coursework credits for MS Thesis and MS Non-Thesis.