mit meng thesis

Disclaimer: This text is exactly copied from the MEng Thesis guide on the mit.edu website. The purpose of this page is simply to consolidate 29 different pages into a single page.

Last Updated: September 4, 2017.

1. Introduction: What is the MEng Thesis?

The thesis requirement gives students an opportunity to develop and demonstrate their ability to carry out and document a reasonably comprehensive project requiring considerable initiative, creative thought, and a good deal of individual responsibility, and it is the most important part of the MEng degree. The thesis may be a design project, an analytical paper, or experimental work of a technical nature. The scope of the MEng thesis may vary, but for a student taking classes and/or working as a Research or Teaching Assistant, the thesis usually takes between one and one and a half years, so that starting it as an undergraduate is vital for finishing MEng in a single graduate year, and advisable even if you're willing to take a year and a half to finish MEng. The thesis should be completed in no more than three graduate terms, not including summers. Students are expected to begin work on their thesis no later than the beginning of their graduate program, and to work on it every term until it is completed. Deciding to take classes first and do the thesis later does not work and is not acceptable.

MEng theses normally involve one or more of the following:

• Design of a system followed by construction, test, and evaluation;
• Formulation of an analytical or computational model of a system or process, simulation of the model, and comparison with actual data;
• simulate a real system (e.g. Artificial Intelligence);
• aid in a diagnostic procedure;
• provide sophisticated, real-time analysis of measured data;
• develop and analyze a theory or theorem which is an abstraction or idealization of an actual process or system;
• apply some of the standard methods (of communication theory or control theory, for example) to aid in understanding of a process or system.
• Experimental study of physical phenomena.

Ordinarily the thesis is an individual effort; however, group projects are possible if the work of the individuals can be evaluated separately. Separate thesis documents must be submitted.

The research supervisor is found and the project is normally begun during the senior year or the summer after it, and completed during the graduate year. Work may be begun while the student is an undergraduate (for pay or for credit as UROP or SuperUROP), but the bulk of the thesis work should be done and registered for under 6.ThM while the student is classified as a graduate student. Unless you are in the VI-A Program, you must do your research at M.I.T., not at a summer or part-time job for which you received pay. Students may use a thesis topic which suggested itself during their summer jobs, but they must have an M.I.T. supervisor and do their work at M.I.T. or one of the M.I.T.-affiliated research labs (Draper, Lincoln, MGH/Harvard Medical, etc.).

2. Administration and Registration: How to Get More Information

The MEng Thesis is administered by Anne Hunter, the Administrator of Course VI Undergraduate and M.Eng. Programs. Questions about thesis policies and procedures should be addressed to her. The MIT Archives part of the MIT Libraries is in charge of thesis for MIT, and has a document about MIT theses.

Units and Registration: The M.Eng. thesis requirement calls for a minimum of 24 units of 6.ThM. Students normally register for 12 units of thesis each graduate term, and are expected to make some progress on their project each term. No matter how many units of 6.ThM a student registers for over several terms, no more than 24 units of 6.ThM credit will be awarded. 6.ThM is not affected by the Add Date. It may be added or dropped up to the Drop Date. However Anne Hunter's approval is required, not that of your supervisor. Unit adjustments can be made up to the last day of classes at the Course VI Undergraduate Office.

Students must be registered for thesis in the term in which they complete their thesis in order to receive a final grade. Students who fail to complete their theses on time must therefore register for at least one additional unit of thesis during the subsequent term. Graduate students cannot be on light load or pay by the unit. However there is a proration system whereby students can pay a prorated amount of tuition if they finish their theses during the first few weeks of a term, if they register for the term immediately preceding or following it.

Summer Tuition Subsidy: Graduate students who register only for thesis and/or RAship (6.991) for a summer session will receive a full tuition subsidy if they are registered for the preceeding or subsequent term.

3. Off-Campus Theses

Thesis research is usually carried out in laboratories operated by M.I.T. and located on-campus. There are some exceptions to this general rule which do not require explicit approval:

Students in the 6A MEng Thesis Program who are doing their theses at their 6A company, and those doing research at MIT Lincoln Lab or the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory need only arrange for the Company Letters to be received with their proposals and final documents . Students doing research at the Joint Program with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Whitehead, The Broad Institute, or the Harvard Teaching Hospitals are also excepted.

All such theses must have an M.I.T. faculty or approved research staff supervisor as well as a supervisor at the off-campus location.

Students not covered by the cases listed above must request permission of the Department Undergraduate Officer to pursue thesis research off-campus, and it is unlikely to be granted. Under no circumstances will projects undertaken at a company be approved as M.Eng. theses after the fact.

4. Classified Research and Copyright

M.I.T.'s rules require that copies of all graduate theses shall be deposited in the Institute Library where they are available to the public. Consequently no student is permitted to embark on a thesis project which might be classified by the government as 'Confidential' or 'Secret' for reasons of national security, or 'Company Confidential'' by a company for proprietary reasons. Theses done in classified areas of VI-A companies, Lincoln Lab or Draper must be reviewed by the government to confirm that they are unclassified. A statement must be attached to the proposal when it is submitted indicating that in the best judgment of the student and the supervisor the thesis will be unclassified. A sample statement is attached. (See Section 25 .)

Patent and copyright: If while a graduate student, the student has received any financial support for the thesis in the form of wages, salary, stipend, RAship, or grant from M.I.T. administered funds, the thesis is copyrighted to M.I.T. Otherwise, the student may copyright the thesis. [For more information consult the MIT thesis specifications .] Students may consult their thesis supervisor or the MIT Technology Licensing Office and the Office of General Counsel .

It is occasionally necessary for theses to be placed on hold briefly while they are checked for classified information or while patents are being filed.

5. Thesis 6A MEng Thesis

VI-A students use their final six-month work assignment to do their thesis research. This is an M.Eng. thesis registered for as 6.ThM and subject to M.Eng. thesis policies, not those for the S.M. or Ph.D. theses. VI-A students must find an M.I.T. supervisor before their graduate VI-A assignment begins, and settle proprietary issues before they begin work on their thesis project. Students should make every effort to arrange their thesis project, find a supervisor and submit a proposal and agreement letter in the spring of their senior year. If difficulties are encountered, seek assistance from the VI-A staff and company faculty advisor.

6. The MEng Thesis Proposal

It is very important that the Thesis Proposal be started as soon as a supervisor has agreed to work with you on a thesis. It's best to look very hard and find a great project during your senior year, and submit the proposal then.  Do NOT wait until the week before the proposal deadline (the end of the first term of grad registration) to start writing it. Only when a proposal has been submitted to the Undergraduate Office do you officially have a thesis and a supervisor. Students must submit a thesis proposal for Department approval before undertaking the major work of the thesis.

MEng students are expected to register for and make progress on their thesis in each of their graduate terms.  The proposal should be submitted at the end of the senior year or during the summer, and no later than the first term of registration as a grad student.

Failure to meet the proposal deadline will result in the permanent grade of "U" for Unsatisfactory Progress in 6.ThM, and an academic warning will be sent.

The proposal must be well-written and substantial (around ten pages, double-spaced, including references) and must be accompanied by a Thesis Proposal Cover Sheet . Students may consult the EECS Communication Lab for assistance with the writing. 6A students must also submit a proposal accompanied by a company agreement letter .

It is understood that theses will evolve after the proposal is submitted, but if they change topic, or if the supervisor(s) change, a new proposal must be submitted right away.

7. Thesis Grades: The Grade of J or the Grade of U

The grade of U (Unsatisfactory progress) in 6.ThM will be given if the thesis proposal is not submitted by the end of the first term of thesis registration, which is normally the student's first term in the MEng program, or if the thesis supervisor informs the Undergraduate Office that he or she wishes to give a student that grade due to unsatisfactory progress. The final grade in 6.ThM is a letter grade, not Pass/Fail. No Incompletes (I's) will be given in thesis. A grade for 6.ThM is required from a thesis supervisor by the Undergraduate Office ONLY at thesis completion. Unless a supervisor informs us otherwise, the grade of J will be given until thesis completion as long as an approved and current proposal is on file. For thesis registration, IAP is part of the Fall Term and no IAP thesis registration is usually necessary.

8. When to Start

Start thinking about your thesis research project as early as possible, e.g., by developing research expertise through UROPs. Be alert to interesting problems that come to your attention in class, personal contacts, or through the technical literature. By doing several UROPs early on you will learn about research areas that do NOT interest you, which is invaluable.

Undergraduates planning to continue for the MEng should get involved in a research group (through UROP, initially) as early as the sophomore or junior year. It is particularly important for students interested in continuing for the Ph.D. to gain exposure and experience in research. (Being involved in a research group long-term is the best way to improve chances for funding as a Research Assistant for the MEng, although of course there are no guarantees.) Some faculty feel that there is a long period of apprenticeship during which the student's training requires more effort than is returned by the student's labor. Only after this period does the 'payback' begin. It is in that 'payback' period that most supervisors expect to find the student's M.Eng. thesis work.

It is vital to have a thesis supervisor by the time you switch to graduate status, or very shortly thereafter. You are expected to register for thesis each term in MEng, make significant progress, and submit a proposal no later than the end of your first graduate term. Failure to submit a proposal after more than one term may result in removal from the MEng program.

9. The First Step: Finding a Supervisor and Topic

It's not as difficult to find a thesis as many students think. It's a lot like finding any research project. See https://www.eecs.mit.edu/academics-admissions/undergraduate-programs/opp... . For one thing, an M.Eng. thesis supervisor need not be a Course VI faculty member. Students thinking about continuing directly into the Course VI Ph.D. program will find it strongly to their advantage to establish an early research relationship with EECS labs and faculty. However, any School of Engineering or Science faculty member (including the Media Lab) and most Department-affiliated senior research staff members may supervise an M.Eng. thesis. Use the Faculty and Advisor listing to look for supervisors. If you wish to be supervised by a faculty member outside the School of Engineering or Science, or by a staff member not listed in the Research Supervisor list, you may request permission. Consult Anne Hunter.

Find a project which is of direct and intense interest to you and which will give you a maximum opportunity not only to learn about the subject being investigated, but also about proper methods of technical investigation. If you are already a graduate student in the M.Eng. program, you will want to avoid projects so remote from your current training that acquiring the necessary background will cause excessive delay.

10. More Ways to Find a Thesis

Each student is entirely responsible for finding a thesis topic and supervisor. While many people will be willing to help you, the final responsibility is yours alone.

Even if you haven't been involved in a research group where you can do your thesis, it still isn't that hard to find a thesis. If you already have a very specific topic in mind, you may have to be flexible and talk to many faculty and staff to find one interested in supervising you, so start early.

• You may have done a project in a laboratory subject which you wish to extend, or you may have done well in a subject which needs a lab or lecture demo developed. If so, talk to the appropriate faculty or staff members.
• Scan the technical journals.
• Network! Talk to your faculty advisor and any others you know for leads, and to develop and define your technical interest. Ask Ph.D. students to recommend faculty.
• Browse the Research Supervisors list, MEng Thesis Research Opportunities in CSAIL , and Recent M.Eng. Thesis Projects , look at research group websites and then talk to members of research groups.
• Attend the many colloquia and seminars held by research labs and the Department. Every Fall each Graduate Area has an Open House -- be sure to attend those that might interest you.
• Narrow your scope to one or two specific research areas, and see faculty and staff in those areas. Skim their recent papers, then ask them what projects they need done, and who else might have suitable research available in the same area.
• Look at recent EECS theses in MIT DSpace . You will often find definite suggestions in such theses for additional work that needs to be done. If you get stuck, go back to your academic advisor and talk things out again, choosing a different field with new people to contact.

As soon as you have reached a meeting of minds with a supervisor, start work on a thesis proposal to get your topic defined and formalized.

11. Working on the Thesis and Avoiding Delay

Many students fail to graduate on time because their theses are not complete. Some delays are inevitable, but there are ways to minimize them.

• 1. Unavailable Parts. Special parts which have to be ordered can cause delays of weeks or months. Try to find alternate sources, other ways of coping, and do legwork rather than passively waiting for parts to arrive. Do other aspects of the thesis, like writing, if waiting is unavoidable.
• 2. Waiting for Other People to do Their Part. PhD students and faculty can operate on a different time-scale than MEng students. Next term can be almost as good as next week. Try to anticipate and work around these problems, avoiding projects that are excessively interwoven with theses that can't really be started until somebody else makes something work. Think flexibly about altering your project to avoid this, but NOT by enlarging it to include other people's projects! Bear in mind that some faculty are more accustomed to extensive two-year research masters theses, not the two to three term MEng thesis projects.
• 3. The Incredible Expanding Thesis. Your project will evolve as you progress. But that should not mean that it gets bigger and more inclusive. Negotiate diplomatically.
• 4. The Alienated Supervisor. Students often think a supervisor has lost patience with the student and the project when it is nothing personal, just the press of other commitments. Do not react to this situation by disappearing. Keep working and keep your supervisor aware of your efforts and progress. They like to know what is going on, and they hate feeling that you've disappeared. Be visible and send updates even if there's no response.  Failure to communicate is one of the major problems -- be mature!

5. Writing Delays. Students can be frustrated when they hand their supervisors a chapter or two of write-up, which it took them a few hours to write, and find that it takes the supervisor several days or even weeks to read, correct and return it. Other students find it impossible to start writing. Don't wait until you are finished designing, programming, testing, debugging, etc., to start writing. Go to the Barker Engineering Library and read theses similar to yours for good ideas about presentation, tone, etc. Develop a detailed outline with lots of notes, a list of figures, a reasonable format (there's no single correct format), bibliography. Draft an introduction and first chapter. Listen carefully to your supervisor's suggestions for revision. Don't wait until it is 90% written to show it to your supervisor. Take at least the first chapter to the EECS CommunicationLab   or the Writing and Communication Center for analysis and assistance.

Lack of Discipline and Time Management Skills. Working on a thesis may be different from anything you've done while at MIT; for four years you may have had nothing but short, specific and discrete tasks due at short-term intervals. With the thesis there is a final deadline, a term or more away. This requires a different kind of self-discipline. MAKE A SCHEDULE. Write out a detailed, ordered list of tasks that have to be done, allowing for the inevitable delays and other commitments, and aiming not for the final deadline, but for a week or so earlier. Set specific short-term deadlines and be a hard taskmaster. If you find your hours, days and weeks melting away to no effect, take early action. Note that supervisors will expect a first draft of the thesis document well in advance of the deadline.

Use the MIT Barker Library . Barker is eager to help thesis students at every stage of the thesis project. The library can help students to approach topics, to perform on-line searches, and to assist with indexes, abstracts, and citations.

• Funding and Special Equipment. If you need special computer accounts or equipment for your thesis, ask your thesis supervisor. If your work is for a sponsored research project or an academic subject, there are funds which should pay for necessary equipment. The use of Department laboratory kits is discouraged. The Department has little or no funding available for general thesis support.
• If You Just Can't Finish. If you're going to miss the deadline, not by hours or days, but by weeks or months, sit down with your supervisor and agree on what exactly has to be done. Get off the degree list, arrange for housing for extra time, and keep going. It is very difficult to complete a thesis long distance or while working. Students who are sure they have only a few weeks of work left end up graduating several terms later. A few walk away with only the thesis remaining, let that thesis get "old and cold," and get their degrees years later, if at all. Don't let this happen to you!

12. Thesis Completion

The thesis write-up is considered a major part of the thesis project. The report should include a clear statement of the problem and why it is of interest or importance, a description of the history and background literature on the subject, a statement of the author's work and observations, a discussion of the author's findings in relation to those of predecessors, the author's conclusions and suggestions for further work. Extensive data, code, or mathematical derivations should be in appendices rather than in the body of the report. Specific bibliographic citations should be included whenever reference is made to documents or other communications. It must be well written, clearly organized, and contain no stylistic or grammatical errors. Supervisors are encouraged to require early drafts, to provide criticism of the writing as well as the technical content, to require re-writes, and to insist that the final document conform to accepted standards of technical writing. The final grade should be based in part on the writing quality of the thesis. The Writing and Communication Center and the EECS Communication Lab offers free consultation on writing issues.

Deadlines and Extensions

This academic year's deadlines are listed on the front page of this document. Note that the Department's final thesis deadlines are much LATER than the Institute's deadlines. Going past the Institute's Deadline to the Department's Deadline is NOT considered an extension and does NOT require any permission. The Institute Deadline means nothing to Course VI students. Do NOT call us or email to check the deadline: Trust us!

Here's Why: The Department Deadline is later than the Institute one because the Institute allows ten days after its deadline for supervisors to read and grade theses. We know from experience that by the time they are ready to sign theses, supervisors know the grade. Therefore our deadline for theses is also the deadline for final grades to be submitted to the Undergraduate Office. Students must bring to us the completed grade sheet with the final copies of the thesis.

The Department's thesis deadline means that students who hand in theses after that date are not guaranteed that their final thesis grade will be posted in time for them to graduate that term. Students who hand in a thesis late may be able to graduate at Commencement but not have their names in the Commencement Book.

Students who fail to graduate because their thesis wasn't submitted in time will have to register for the following term, get on that term's degree list, and graduate at the end of it. No extensions of that guarantee beyond the final Department Deadline (as listed on the front of this guide) are possible. No thesis supervisor is empowered to extend the deadline. Since there are no extensions, there are no forms to be filled out to get an extension.

Students should NOT give up at the deadline, but should hand in their theses as fast as possible. You may hand in your thesis on any weekday during business hours, at any time of the year. Students who miss the deadline but are very close to finishing should email Anne Hunter on the morning AFTER the Final Thesis Deadline, so we can reassure you and encourage you to keep working, knowing we're pulling for you. Please eliminate calls to the Undergraduate Office to inquire about extensions, especially ON or BEFORE the deadline. We save all of our strength and sympathy for those who actually miss the deadline, so that we just don't want to deal with people trying to get extensions on or before the deadline.

Supervisor's Signature and Final Grade

Try not to wait until the afternoon of the deadline to submit your thesis. Make sure well in advance that your supervisor will be here when you need his or her signature; no thesis can be accepted without a supervisor's original signature on the title pages. The Department signature (Christopher J. Terman) will be furnished automatically later. Be sure to pick up a grade sheet from the Undergraduate Office before you hand in your thesis. Have your supervisor fill out the grade sheet at the same time that he or she signs your thesis. Remember that your final thesis grade must be handed in with your thesis. In emergencies we will accept phoned-in or emailed grades from supervisors as long as the grade sheet is sent promptly.

Copies, Binders, Labels and Clips

Submit only two (2) copies of your thesis. They must both be on acid free paper. The title page (see samples in Section 27 and Section 28 ) must bear your and your thesis supervisor's original signatures as well as the signature of the VI-A company thesis supervisor if VI-A thesis. The Departmental signature will be provided later. It is customary to give your thesis supervisor at least one copy when you finish.

The copies must be submitted in temporary binders consisting of two pieces of cardboard and binder clips, pictured right. (Note the placement of the binder clip at the upper left of the document including the covers). These are available free for recycled ones in a cabinet outside the Preservation Services Section of the Libraries (14N-0513), and new at CopyTech. Do not hole-punch or bind your thesis in any other way. On the front cover of each binder, tape a label containing your name.

The Thesis Receipt/Grade Sheet and the Degree List

Before you come to the Course VI Undergraduate Office to submit your thesis, use the checklist to be sure you're ready. You must bring the grade sheet/thesis receipt form with you when you hand in your thesis. Do not trust anyone else to hand carry the grade sheet or let it be sent in the Institute mail. At that time your name will be checked against the Degree List. If you intend to graduate in that term and you're not on that list (which is maintained by the Registrar) you can add yourself . If you've followed these instructions successfully, your thesis will be accepted, and your thesis receipt/grade sheet will be stamped with an official Department stamp. Keep your receipt; it is your evidence that you did turn in a thesis.

Put Your Thesis in MIT's DSpace Thesis Collection

Putting your thesis on DSpace is now required, as it preserves your research at MIT and makes it available to the world on line. Follow the Document Services Instructions to do this and bring the email acknowledgement when you submit your thesis. In the case of patent or is classified, please let us know the problem.

The Department's Exit Survey Receipt

Please complete the department's survey completely, so that we can consider student feedback and experience in our programs. Bring the survey receipt with you when you submit your thesis.

13. Other Documents: MIT's Specifications for Thesis Preparation, etc

The Institute publishes an online document, Specifications for Thesis Preparation outlining detailed rules for theses. Be careful when using it to distinguish between the more stringent requirements for Ph.D. theses and those for the M.Eng. thesis. We also recommend The Mayfield Handbook if you're looking for a technical style book, and consulting with the EECS Communication Lab for writing assistance.

14. Writing an Abstract

You must include an abstract on its own page, right after your title page, which includes your thesis title, your name, your thesis supervisor, the degree and the date (see Sample Abstract ). Those students who found it difficult to get their thesis title short enough should have no difficulty writing an abstract. Start by writing out a full title, with all the adjectives and phrases you cut from the title. Describe your methods or procedures in a couple of sentences, and your conclusions or results in another sentence or two. It should be no longer than 150 words. It may be helpful to refer back to your Thesis Proposal.

15. Word Processors, Printers, and Paper

• Wordprocessing. Students generally wordprocess their theses themselves, rather than having someone prepare them. Most theses go through many draft versions, with minor and major revisions. Supervisors won't accept handwritten material at any stage. Please note that the "Course VI" thesis templates online are NOT official or correct, especially for the title page. Check to be sure that your title page is exactly like the one in section 26 or section 27 . And DO BACKUPS!
• Printers. CopyTech has a thesis printer that uses acid-free paper. Whatever printer you plan to use, don't wait until just hours before the deadline, when you haven't slept in a week, to find an alternative. Have a contingency plan ready.
• Double-sided Printing. Theses should generally be doubled-sided, including all prefatory material, but single-sided will be accepted.
• Paper. The two original copies that you submit must be on acid-free paper. [Acid-free paper is often indicated by an infinity symbol.] There are thesis printers that use this kind of paper.
• Type. Font size should be between ten and twelve, and the bulk of the paper should not be single-spaced, although peripheral parts like the abstract, title page, acknowledgments, and appendices should be single-spaced. All print must be dark black (not gray or any other color).
• Margins. There must be at least one-inch margins on the top and bottom and both sides, with all text, charts, photographs, and code INSIDE the margins. This includes appendices of code (try using a copier to reduce material to make it fit). Lack of control over your formatter (TEX or LATEX, for example) is NOT an excuse for failure to adhere to these rules. Find assistance from on-line consultants, friends, or SIPB . For pages of code, remember that there are good quality photocopiers available that will reduce your code so that it fits within the margins.
• Format. While no specific format is required, it is important to structure your paper clearly and logically. Use the Mayfield Guide or your favorite guide to technical writing.
• Corrections. Do not use correction fluid; hand corrections and labels are never permitted.
• Figures. Charts, tables, and graphs should be capable of being photocopied clearly, and may not be hand-labeled. No material may be taped or glued to pages. Color figures are permitted, but must make sense when photocopied in black and white. (Please check).
• Supplementary Media. You may submit supplementary media with your thesis, but the written part must make sense by itself.

16. Title Page, Copyright, and Patenting

Make your title page look EXACTLY like the sample one in section 26 of this guide. Use the name "Christopher J. Terman" for the third signature, precisely as shown. Check that the title page is as shown, as online templates are incorrect. If you own the copyright, copyright your thesis by placing a copyright notice on the title page, with your name and the year, as shown on the sample in section 26 . The author must, as a condition of the degree, grant nonexclusive permission to the Institute to reproduce and distribute publicly copies of the thesis. A statement to this effect must appear on the title page. (See the sample title page in section 26 .) You must submit correct title pages. If MIT holds the copyright, grant it to MIT and omit the permissions sentence.

6-A students must have an extra line on the thesis title page for their company thesis supervisor's name and signature, (See section 27 ) and MIT holds the copyright on all 6-A theses.

If you hold the copyright and wish to register your copyright (certainly a good idea if you're planning to use your thesis for commercial purposes), contact the Intellectual Property Office for assistance. Use the date on which you will graduate or your degree will be conferred, consulting the MIT Academic Calendar .

Thesis Holds : Under some circumstances you can arrange for a brief delay of the official publication of your thesis in the MIT Libraries. This is good for patent issues and getting security clearance permission.

17. Deadlines and Extensions

Here's Why: The Department Deadline is later than the Institute one because the Institute allows ten days after its deadline for supervisors to read and grade theses. We know from experience that by the time they are ready to sign theses, supervisors know the grade. Students must bring to us the completed grade sheet with the final copy of the thesis.

The Department's thesis deadline means that students who hand in theses after that date are not guaranteed that their final thesis grade will be posted in time for them to graduate that term. Students who hand in a thesis late may be able to graduate at Commencement but not have their names in the Commencement Book. Students who fail to graduate because their thesis wasn't submitted in time will have to register for the following term, get on that term's degree list, and graduate at the end of it. No extensions of that guarantee beyond the final Department Deadline (as listed on the front of this guide) are possible. No thesis supervisor is empowered to extend the deadline. Since there are no extensions, there are no forms to be filled out to get an extension.

Students should NOT give up at the deadline, but should hand in their theses as fast as possible. You may hand in your thesis on any weekday during business hours, at any time of the year. Students who miss the deadline but are very close to finishing should email Anne Hunter ( [email protected] ) on the morning AFTER the Final Thesis Deadline, so we can reassure you and encourage you to keep working, knowing we're pulling for you. Please eliminate calls to the Undergraduate Office to inquire about extensions, especially ON or BEFORE the deadline. We save all of our strength and sympathy for those who actually miss the deadline, so that we just don't want to deal with people trying to get extensions on or before the deadline.

18. Supervisor's Signature and Final Grade

Try not to wait until the afternoon of the deadline to submit your thesis. Make sure well in advance that your supervisor will be here when you need his or her signature; no thesis can be accepted without the student's and supervisor's original signature on the title pages. The Department signature (Christopher J. Terman) will be furnished automatically later. Be sure to pick up a grade sheet from the Undergraduate Office before you hand in your thesis. Have your supervisor fill out the grade sheet at the same time that he or she signs your thesis. Remember that your final thesis grade must be handed in with your thesis. In emergencies we will accept phoned-in or emailed grades from supervisors as long as the grade sheet is sent promptly.

19. Copies, Binders, Labels and Clips

Submit only two (2) copies of your thesis. They must both be on acid free paper. The title page (see samples in Section 26 and Section 27 ) must bear your and your thesis supervisor's original signatures as well as the signature of the VI-A company thesis supervisor if VI-A thesis. The Departmental signature will be provided later. In addition to the two copies submitted to 38-476, it is customary to give your thesis supervisor at least one copy when you finish.

The copies must be submitted in temporary binders consisting of two pieces of cardboard and binder clips, pictured right. (Note the placement of the binder clip at the upper left of the document including the covers). These are available free (recycled) at MIT Archives, and new at CopyTech. Do not hole-punch or bind your thesis in any other way. On the front cover of each binder, tape a label containing your name.

20. The Thesis Receipt/Grade Sheet and the Degree List

Before you come to the Course VI Undergraduate Office to submit your thesis, use the checklist to be sure you're ready. You must bring two copies of the grade sheet/thesis receipt form with you when you hand in your thesis. Do not trust anyone else to hand carry the grade sheet or let it be sent in the Institute mail. At that time your name will be checked against the Degree List. [If you intend to graduate in that term and you're not on that list (which is maintained by the Registrar) you will need to add yourself at http://student.mit.edu . If you've followed these instructions successfully, your thesis will be accepted, and your thesis receipt/grade sheet will be stamped with an official Department stamp. Keep your receipt; it is your evidence that you did turn in a thesis in case our office burns down.

21. Put Your Thesis in MIT's DSpace Thesis Collection

To facilitate electronic access to the research done by Course VI students, we are requiring that students deposit their thesis in DSpace , MIT's long-term digital storage facility (you'll need to have a DSpace account for the link to work). When you have done this, you will receive a receipt via email. Please print this receipt and bring it with you when you submit your thesis.

21a. Course VI Exit Survey

We are eager to receive your feedback about your experiences in Course VI to improve our programs. We will use this information only in the aggregate without student names or identifiers. So please be entirely honest. When you have completed the survey, please bring your survey receipt with your thesis and other materials to 38-476.

22. Thesis Prizes

The thesis supervisors nominate theses for thesis awards that carry cash prizes. The supervisor nominates by sending an additional copy of the thesis, with a nominating letter detailing how the thesis is superior, to the Thesis Prize Committee Chairs for the year. These chairs will be announced to the supervisors in late April. Theses which were submitted earlier, for the previous September and February degree dates, may be considered for prizes in the following spring. Questions from supervisors (not students) about prizes should be referred to the appropriate faculty member, when announced. Students cannot nominate their own theses. Prizes are awarded at a Department party.

23. Masterworks: The Oral Presentation

Each spring the Department holds a special thesis poster event, called MasterWorks, where masters students make presentations of their research to interested Department faculty, students, and guests. We will be in touch with all M.Eng. students at the proper time. Prizes will be given for the best presentations. Here are tips for preparing a poster: http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters .

If for any reason participation in Masterworks is not possible, students are still required to make an oral presentation of their thesis project. This valuable part of your thesis generally consists of a twenty-minute presentation with a five-minute discussion period with the supervisor and at least one other faculty or staff member. Your supervisor will arrange your presentation. 6A students completing thesis research at work usually arrange the oral presentation with their company supervisor, even if the final document is not completed there.

Supervisors are responsible for arranging oral presentations. While this presentation is not a 'thesis defense', the supervisor may include the quality of the thesis presentation when assigning the final grade.

Hints for Oral Presentations: https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~mernst/advice/giving-talk.html

24. 6A/non-6A Thesis Proposal Agreement Letter

Sample 6A Thesis Proposal Agreement Letter Dr. Christopher J. Terman Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Room 38-476, M.I.T. Cambridge, MA 02139

Subject: Master of Engineering Thesis of [Student]

Dear Dr. Terman:

The attached Thesis Proposal Form entitled [Thesis Title] describes a research study that [Student] will carry out as an MIT VI-A student using, at least in part, the facilities of [Company]. [Student] intends to prepare a thesis based on this VI-A assignment to be submitted as one of the requirements for the Masters of Engineering degree. We understand that, if such a report is to be acceptable to MIT, faculty regulations require that:

• The written presentation of the work must be approved by a member of the MIT staff who can have full access (during the course of study and in confidence) to the pertinent background, methods of investigation and results.
• Research studies and thesis topics involving subject matter (including data, results, or methods) subject to restriction for reasons of either proprietary interest or national security are unacceptable as the basis for a thesis.
• The actual thesis document becomes the permanent property of MIT, and will be placed in the MIT Library within one month of the date of submission.
• For the thesis to be accepted, [Student], as copyright owner must give MIT the right to reproduce and to distribute publicly the thesis. If the student has assigned the copyright to [Company], [Company] agrees that MIT shall have the nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish and distribute the thesis.

We believe the proposed research can be carried out and an acceptable thesis prepared under these conditions. We understand that the thesis will not be accepted by MIT unless accompanied by a letter from an authorized official of [Company] confirming that the thesis is within the approved scope, and does not contain details objectionable to [Company]. A copy of the thesis will be submitted by [Student] to [Company] sufficiently in advance of the date of submission to permit review.

We also understand that except as noted above, and provided that [Student] is not associated with any government or other sponsored project at M.I.T. in the field of the research study and does not make significant use of M.I.T. funds or facilities, all rights in the results of the research including any inventions or software developed by [Student] in the course of this research study and thesis preparation, belong either to [Student] or [Company] as his or her assignee. (Direct Company Supervisor [signature])

Sample Non-VI-A Company Thesis Proposal Agreement Letter Dr. Christopher J. Terman Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Room 38-476, M.I.T. Cambridge, MA 02139

The attached Thesis Proposal Form entitled [Thesis Title] describes a research study that [Student] will carry out at least in part, at the facilities of [Company]. [Student] intends to prepare a thesis based on this work to be submitted as one of the requirements for the Masters of Engineering degree. We understand that, if such a report is to be acceptable to MIT, faculty regulations require that:

We believe the proposed research can be carried out and an acceptable thesis prepared under these conditions. A copy of the thesis will be submitted by [Student] to [Company] sufficiently in advance of the date of submission to permit review.

25. Thesis Release Letter

General Thesis Release Letter and Classification Review Letter (formerly Appendix B)

Dr. Christopher J. Terman Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Room 38-476, M.I.T. Cambridge, MA 02139

I have reviewed the attached thesis of [Student] on behalf of [Company]. The thesis is within the scope of the thesis proposal as previously approved and does not contain any material that is objectionable to [Company]. It is also approved for its technical content.

It is understood that the actual thesis document will be the permanent property of M.I.T. and will be placed in the M.I.T. Library within one month after the date of submission. [Company] agrees that M.I.T. shall have the nonexclusive right to reproduce, publish, and distribute the thesis.

(Authorized Official of Company)

26. Sample Abstract

Sample Abstract (formerly Appendix C)

A Stratigraphic Model Editor by Stephen P. Gildea Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

May 16, 1986 In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

ABSTRACT The stratigraphic model editor provides a convenient and efficient tool for geophysicists manipulating the complex models used in ray tracing and other forward modeling techniques. The editor allows the user to build a model of the earth on a Symbolics Lisp Machine screen using the mouse. The earth models manipulated by the program represent a two-dimensional slice of the earth, typically extending three or four miles down and having 10 to 50 layers. The layers need not be flat, but can contain features such as reefs and salt domes. These models are important in exploration geophysics. The editor generates data files representing this model that can be used as input to a ray-tracing program. The description of the file format is written in a high-level declarative language, so that the editor can be easily modified to support other formats.

27. Sample Title Page for Student Holding Copyright

Sample Title Page for Student Holding Copyright (formerly titled Appendix D)

PDF Version

28. Sample VI-A Title Page with Copyright to MIT

Sample VI-A Title Page with Copyright to MIT (formerly titled Appendix E)

29. Checklist for Handing in a Thesis

Read over this checklist before you hand in two identical copies of your thesis at the Undergraduate Office, 38-476

• Are your margins at least one inch on top and bottom and both sides? If your thesis is two-sided it must be two-sided throughout the document, including the prefatory pages. Odd-numbered pages should be on the right, even-numbered pages on the left.
• Does your title page look exactly like the sample title pages? Check the copyright and the sentence right after it that starts "The author hereby...". Use the date/month of your degree (June, February or September), NOT the month you're submitting it.
• Only one title page and one abstract page are required for each thesis copy. The abstract must look a lot like the one here . It should be page two, right after your title page, and must be on its own page.
• There must be a Table of Contents, and if there are any figures, a List of Figures. There must be a properly formatted bibliography.
• Make sure that there is only one continuous sequence with the title page counting as page 1. This includes all appendices, etc. Check that all of your pages are included, in the right order. It's easy and extremely common to miss a few pages deep in the middle of the document. Count all the way through it. Make sure you have printed your two final copies on acid-free paper. There is a 'thesis' printer at CopyTech that provides this paper automatically. Are your submission copies properly covered in cardboard, held together only with clips, with the front covers clearly labeled? [ Copies, Binders, Labels, and Clips ] Have you and your supervisor signed the title page of the submission copies? These must be original, not digital, signatures. The third signature (Dr. Terman's) will be provided later. [See Section 26 ] If it's a 6A thesis, has your company thesis supervisor also signed the title page and do you have your release letter? [See Section 28 ]
• Grade Sheet: Have you and your supervisor completed your thesis grade sheet/receipt form ? ( Also available in the Course VI Undergraduate Office) [See Section 20 ]. Be sure to bring in two copies of the thesis grade sheet if you want a receipt, so that we can stamp your copy. We do not provide thesis receipts otherwise.
• Receipt from DSpace
• Receipt from Exit Survey
• Two copies of the Thesis

MEng (Masters of Engineering) by Mitra L. '07

Learn about the masters plans of Phil '05 and Laura '06.

June 13, 2006

• in Life after MIT ,
• MIT History & Culture ,

Interested in different paths you can take to get a masters degree? Consider the stories of Phil ’05 and Laura ’06.

Phil ’05 (who got his undergrad degree last year in Course 6: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science ) stayed a fifth year at MIT this school year to earn his masters in engineering.

Phil got his masters from the Program Analysis Group ( PAG ) –, but he strongly encourages you to check out a complete listing of all the groups. (Right, Phil?)

What is the M.Eng. Thesis? The thesis requirement gives students an opportunity to develop and demonstrate their ability to carry out and document a reasonably comprehensive project requiring considerable initiative, creative thought, and a good deal of individual responsibility. The thesis may be a design project, an analytical paper, or experimental work of a technical nature.

M.Eng. theses normally involve one or more of the following:

1. Design of a system followed by construction, test, and evaluation;

2. Formulation of an analytical or computational model of a system or process, simulation of the model, and comparison with actual data;

3. Development of a computer program that might:

a. simulate a real system (e.g. Artificial Intelligence); b. aid in a diagnostic procedure; c. provide sophisticated, real-time analysis of measured data; d. develop and analyze a theory or theorem which is an abstraction or idealization of an actual process or system; e. apply some of the standard methods (of communication theory or control theory, for example) to aid in understanding of a process or system.

4. Experimental study of physical phenomena.

For more frequently asked questions about the MEng thesis, check out the official MIT website .

The Course 6 MEng program is an extra year of study only available to MIT Course 6 undergraduates who want to earn a Master of Engineering degree in addition to their Bachelor of Science degree. There are two main components to the degree – Graduate-level classes and a Master’s thesis. An S.B. (Bachelor of Science) degree is pretty much only based on classes, and most of those classes are introductory survey courses intended to give the student an overview of different areas within EE and CS. The graduate classes required for an MEng degree require the student to study a particular area in depth, which might be the area that the student’s thesis is in. Many students take graduate courses as undergraduates in order to reduce the courseload during their 5th (MEng) year, but doing so is not mandatory. In general, the MEng program is a great deal because you can get a Master’s level degree in 1 extra year (instead of 2 if you apply to another school), and you don’t need to really apply for it (you automatically get in if you have above a certain GPA by the end of your junior year). Philosophically, the MEng program is geared mostly for people who want to work as engineers in the high-tech industry (at companies like Google, Microsoft, Linear, Analog Devices, etc.), which is why it’s called a Master of Engineering degree and not a Master of Science degree, but of course there are people who graduate with an MEng and continue on the academic path for their Ph.D.

This is the website for Course 6 academic programs (not just limited to MEng): http://www.eecs.mit.edu/ug/index.html

(Above, Phil has some fun at the notorious .)

One of the many perqs of being a graduate student (heh), according to Phil, is the opportunity to be a TA (teaching assistant). This semester, Phil TAed 6.170: Laboratory in Software Engineering . The class website even links to information about repetitive stress injuries ( RSI ), so you know TAing it has to be a barrel of fun.

6.170: Laboratory in Software Engineering, reputed as one of the most intense and time-consuming classes in Course 6, is a course where students learn software engineering concepts through programming problem sets and a group final project. 6.170 is not an introductory programming course (for an intro. programming course, see 1.00: Introduction to Computers and Engineering Problem Solving ); it uses programming as a tool to teach concepts for building, maintaining, and debugging large, sophisticated software systems. The final project, done in groups of 3-4, gives students the chance to build a moderately-sized piece of software in collaboration with teammates. Examples of final projects include Gizmoball (a customizable pinball game), Antichess (a variant of chess), and an RSS reader (for viewing online news). Each semester, the staff picks one or more of these projects and allows students to choose among them. Most 6.170 survivors who work as software engineers in industry (e.g., companies such as Microsoft or Google) cite it as one of the most educational and useful classes they have taken at MIT.

Phil is now off to Stanford University, where he plans to earn a PhD in computer science.

——

Laura ’06 ( Course 1: Civil and Environmental Engineering ) decided to head to UC Berkeley after finishing her undergraduate degree at MIT to earn her masters degree in transportation systems . There are several masters programs in the CEE department at MIT, but Laura wanted to experience a change for her masters program:

What made you want to go to a different school for your masters?

I had time to take lots of grad classes and was very involved in my department, so I already knew all the professors, attended weekly meetings with the transit group, watched thesis presentations, attended weekly lunch guest speaker seminars, worked on a grad student’s thesis as a UROP . . . so I kinda feel like I already got a lot out of MIT’s grad program. While I could have gotten a head start on my thesis had I stayed at MIT (plus, I would have had the advantage of already knowing all the profs, getting some classes out of the way, just knowing all the ins and outs of the dept), because I had already become so involved, staying for grad school wouldn’t have been a change at all, and I needed a change. Also, it will be good to see what other professors are working on, see a new part of the country, meet new students, etc.

(Above, Laura has some fun in the rainforest.)

How has MIT prepared you for your internship/the masters program at Berkeley?

I am incredibly well prepared for grad school because of my own initiative, [but] not as well prepared for internships because MIT expects you to learn how to use the programs engineers use at work on the job, and while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, students from other schools almost always already know how to use the programs.

(You may remember Laura from Melis’s entry about her UROP and summer in Italy.)

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7 responses to “MEng (Masters of Engineering)”

Don’t forget that Phil won a ridiculously competitive NSF fellowship to pay for his PhD! I think he also won a NDSEG (or whatever the initials are for that one).

it’s ok..

Mitra, what is the significance of the suffix (’06) or (’07) in the name of the students of MIT? Does it signify the passing year or the year of admission?

Hey Ayush, that’s a good question. The suffix refers to the person’s graduation year — for example, I would be “Mitra ’07” because I will graduate next June.

Ah .. I see.

Thanks a lot mitra!….i have been following your blog past 1yr….I am making my attempts to get into the Bachelors of Electrical Engineering or The Physics….and this info would really help me!

thanks once again!

Thanks a lot of mitra!…I have been following your blogs past 1year…. I m making my attempts to get into bachelors of Computer Science and engineering …And this info would really help me!

Thank once again with a lot of loves!

BYE, ABHINAV KUMAR, AKHALASPUR, BHABHUa, BIHAr, INDIA.

Dissertations/Theses: MIT

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• MIT Thesis FAQ View topics such as specifications, submitting to DSpace, copyright, holds, availability, and fees.

MIT doctoral dissertations and masters theses

• Paper and microfiche: Search the library catalog, Search Our Collections .
• DSpace does NOT contain the complete collection of MIT theses.
• Use Search Our Collections to search for all MIT theses.
• Theses are received one month after degrees are granted in February, June, and September.
• Additional information may be found at Thesis Access and Availability FAQ .
• Theses may not be borrowed from the Distinctive Collections Reading Room .
• PDF copies may be purchased through the Distinctive Collections Request System . See Requesting Materials for complete information.
• Theses may be viewed in person in the Distinctive Collections Reading Room .
• Institutions may purchase PDF copies through the Distinctive Collections Request System . See Requesting Materials for complete information.

View Online:

•   MIT theses in DSpace are available to anyone, for free, as printable full-text PDF files.

Order PDF Copies:

• For theses not in DSpace, PDF copies may be purchased through the  Distinctive Collections Request System . See  Requesting Materials  for complete information.
• See pricing information and contact Distinctive Collections with any questions. 

Prepare and Submit Your MIT Thesis:  

• How to write a dissertation or thesis
• Manage your references
• MIT Thesis FAQ
• Specifications for Thesis Preparation and Submission
• Add your thesis to DSpace: Electronic submission information

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For prospective MEng students

The MEng application opens on drop date of each regular semester (fall, spring) and closes on the last day of classes. Admission notifications are typically sent out roughly one month after the application closes.

For current MEng students

Thesis Proposal: The thesis proposal is required for students in the first semester of their MEng, and is due on the last day of classes of that semester.

Thesis: MEng theses are due on dates set by the registrar . The vast majority of students submit their thesis the semester they are graduating; if you plan to submit your thesis early, please contact the EECS Undergraduate Office .

The Undergraduate Office is typically able to grant small extensions to these deadlines for students with exceptional circumstances. All students will receive instructions from the Undergraduate Office on how to submit your proposal or thesis, as well as how to request an extension.

The MIT thesis template in LaTeX

The latex template.

The current MIT thesis template was developed in 2023, using up-to-date LaTeX coding, to meet the current formatting requirements of the MIT Libraries. The title and abstract pages are automatically laid out from information provided by the user. This template includes options to use a variety of fonts, and it is compatible with either pdfTeX or unicode engines such as luaLaTeX. When using LaTeX formats dated November 2022 or later, the resulting pdf file meets the PDF/A-2b archivability standard. A standard TeX Live installation includes all other packages required by the template.

This template was written by John Lienhard at the request of the MIT Libraries.

• Documentation: Documentation for the template is available in pdf format here .
• Download: The most current LaTeX files for this template are distributed through the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN): https://ctan.org/pkg/mitthesis Download
• Overleaf.com: A copy of the thesis template is also present in Overleaf.com's template gallery, here . Overleaf includes all the packages in TeX Live, so no additional downloads are needed. Learn more about Overleaf at MIT .

Specifications for MIT theses

The formatting requirements for MIT theses are set by the MIT Libraries, as described at this url: http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/thesis-specs/ . Questions regarding these specifications should be directed to [email protected] .

The original LaTeX 2.09 template was written by Stephen Gildea in the late 1980s (also in CTAN, here ). That template was edited by many later students, leading to the files archived here.

LaTeX has changed greatly since the original MIT thesis template was written. LaTeX 2.09 was replaced by LaTeX2e in 1994. New engines were developed, particularly pdfTeX during the 1990s and Unicode-aware engines in the decades that followed. Many packages and fonts were developed to accompany the original platform, particularly after 2000; and major updates to the LaTeX kernel began in 2018. Over the years, the MIT Libraries have changed the required format several times, especially as electronic thesis submission has become the norm. The original template served MIT well; but by the early 2020s, it was substantially out of date. That situation motivated the creation of this new template.

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Neuroscience concentrator melissa meng wins glushko undergraduate thesis prize.

• May 24, 2024

Neuroscience concentrator Melissa Meng has been awarded the Glushko Undergraduate Thesis Prize , which honors students who write theses in cognitive science. It is issued by the Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative. Meng conducted her research in the Uchida Lab . 

In her thesis, Meng investigated whether distributional reinforcement learning, a mathematical construct for describing how learning might happen, occurs in the mammalian brain. “The field of RL [reinforcement learning] asks how agents – humans, animals, or machines – can learn from trial and error to maximize the total reward they obtain,” explains Uchida Lab graduate student Adam Lowet , who mentored Meng. “This reward may be a random variable – that is, it is drawn from some probability distribution, rather than being fixed. Traditional RL simply averages over this randomness, but recent work in machine learning has demonstrated that learning the entire distribution of rewards, rather than just the mean, can be beneficial.”

To find out, Meng started with a traditional laboratory task for mice. “I recorded neural activity from the striatum of well-trained mice performing a classical conditioning task that associates random odors with different reward distributions,” she explains. “For the second part of my thesis, I decided to look into the neural basis behind distributional coding in the striatum. To investigate this, I induced a unilateral lesion using a neurotoxin to ablate dopaminergic neurons in the ventral striatum of mice as they performed the same classical conditioning task. From these experiments, we were able to provide direct evidence for distributional RL in the mammalian brain, show that striatal populations encode for not only mean, but also variance, and conclude that dopamine serves as a teaching signal for distributional RL in the striatum.” 

“Entrusting undergraduates with so much responsibility is extremely rare in the Uchida laboratory, but Melissa’s combination of enthusiasm, commitment, reliability, and curiosity left us no choice,” Lowet says. “As often happens in science, this passion was rewarded by the discovery that distributional representations were in fact impaired in dopamine-depleted brains, compared to intact brains. Melissa’s contribution has been recognized in the form of co-authorship on three posters presented at top conferences in the field, two contributed talks, and an in-revision manuscript .”

“Melissa spent a lot of time in the lab performing many difficult experiments,” adds MCB faculty Naoshige Uchida . “She was very much dedicated and grew her interest and passion in neurobiology research as she learns new experiments and gets exciting results. Melissa’s experiments led to important discoveries such as that dopamine plays a crucial role in learning to acquire neural activity reflecting the probability distribution of rewards, above and beyond the average reward.” 

Meng will pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Yale in the fall. Over the summer, she’ll be spending time with her family in Blacksburg, Virginia and traveling in China and South Korea. 

“I am extremely honored and grateful to receive the Glushko Prize, especially among such an incredible group of nominees, and I would like to thank several individuals for making this entire thesis possible,” she says. “I’d first like to thank my PI and supervisor, Dr. Naoshige Uchida, for providing me the incredible opportunity to be a part of this lab and for helping me learn and grow significantly as a student, researcher, and person during my time at Harvard. I’d also like to thank my mentor, Adam Lowet, who is a graduate student in the Uchida Lab, for teaching me everything I know and for always showing me so much encouragement and support with all of my endeavors. I also want to thank the entire Uchida Lab for welcoming me with open arms and for being not only inspirational, but also incredibly kind role models.”

Meng adds, “Additionally, I’d like to thank Dr. Laura Magnotti , my concentration advisor, and Dr. Ryan Draft , Dr. Kristina Penikis , and Mr. James Poolner for facilitating the wonderful undergraduate neuroscience community that I’m so proud to be a part of. Lastly, I’d like to thank all of my friends and family (particularly my mom, my dad, and my brother) for supporting me unconditionally every step of the way throughout my entire college career.” 

(l to r) Wen Li (mom), Xiang-Jin Meng (dad), Melissa Meng, and Bowen Meng (brother)

(l to r) Nao Uchida, Melissa Meng, and Adam Lowet

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Eleven from MIT awarded 2024 Fulbright fellowships

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Eleven MIT undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni have won Fulbright grants to embark on projects overseas in the 2024-25 grant cycle. Two other students were offered awards but declined them to pursue other opportunities.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers year-long opportunities for American citizen students and recent alumni to conduct independent research, pursue graduate studies, or teach English in over 140 countries.

MIT has been a Fulbright Top-Producing Institution for five years in a row. MIT students and alumni interested in applying to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program should contact Julia Mongo, MIT Fulbright program advisor, in the Office of Distinguished Fellowships in Career Advising and Professional Development.

April Cheng is a junior studying physics with a minor in mathematics and is fast-tracked to graduate this spring. They will take their Fulbright research grant to the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, where they will study different statistical techniques to infer the expansion rate of the universe from gravitational waves. They first developed an interest in gravitational waves and black holes at the MIT LIGO and Caltech LIGO labs, but their research spans a wide range of topics in astrophysics, including cosmology and fast radio bursts. Cheng is passionate about physics education and is heavily involved in developing educational materials for high school Science Olympiads. At MIT, they are a member of the Physics Values Committee, the physics mentorship program, and the MIT Lion Dance team. After Fulbright, Cheng will pursue a PhD in astrophysics at Princeton University, where they have received the President’s Fellowship.

Grace McMillan is a senior majoring in literature and mechanical engineering with a concentration in Russian language. As a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award recipient, she will teach at a university in Kazakhstan. McMillan’s interest in Central Asia was sparked by a Russian language immersion program she participated in during her sophomore summer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, funded by MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). She is excited to help her students learn English to foster integration into the global academic community. During her time at MIT, McMillan has conducted research with faculty in nuclear science; earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences; and the Digital Humanities Lab. Outside of academics, she has been an active member of her sorority, Sigma Kappa, and has served on the MIT Health Consumers’ Advisory Council for two years. After Fulbright, McMillan hopes to attend law school, focusing on education reform.

Ryan McTigue will graduate this spring with a BS in physics and mathematics and a concentration in Spanish. With a Fulbright award to Spain, he will do research at the University of Valencia’s Institute of Molecular Science focusing on the physics of two-dimensional multiferroic nanodevices. He is looking forward to improving his Spanish and getting the opportunity to live abroad. At MIT, McTigue became interested in condensed matter physics research with the Checkelsky group, where he focused on engineering materials with flat bands that exhibited correlated electron effects. Outside of research, McTigue has been a mentor in the physics department’s mentoring program and a member of the heavyweight men’s crew team. After his Fulbright grant, McTigue will begin a PhD in physics at Princeton University.

Keith Murray ’22 graduated from MIT with a BS in computation and cognition and linguistics and philosophy. He will receive his MEng degree in computation and cognition this spring. As a Fulbright Hungary research grantee at the HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Murray will design generative AI models inspired by the primary visual cortex with the goal of making AI models more interpretable. At MIT, Murray’s research experiences spanned from training mice to perform navigation tasks in virtual reality to theorizing about how neurons might compute modular arithmetic. He was also a member of the men’s heavyweight crew team and the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. After Fulbright, Murray will pursue a PhD in neuroscience at Princeton University.

Maaya Prasad ’22 completed her undergraduate education at MIT with degrees in both electrical engineering and creative writing and will graduate this month with an MS in mechanical and ocean engineering. Her thesis research focuses on microplastic detection using optical sensing. Prasad’s Fulbright fellowship will take her to Mauritius, an East African island country located in the Indian Ocean. Here, she will continue her master’s research at the University of Mauritius and will work with local researchers to implement a microplastic survey system. While at MIT, Prasad joined the varsity sailing team with no prior experience. Her time spent on the water led her to pursue marine research at MIT Sea Grant, and she eventually earned an honorable mention to the 2023 All-American Sailing Team. After Fulbright, Prasad hopes to pursue a PhD in applied ocean engineering.

Anusha Puri is a senior majoring in biological engineering. Her Fulbright award will take her to Lausanne, Switzerland, where she will conduct cancer immunology research at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research. At MIT, Puri’s work in the Weinberg Lab focused on understanding mechanisms that drive resistance of breast cancer to immunotherapy. On campus, she founded and serves as president of MIT’s premiere stand-up comedy group, Stand-Up CoMITy, leads MIT’s Bhangra dance team, and is the editor-in-chief of the MIT Undergraduate Research Journal . She looks forward to engaging with teaching outreach and practicing her French in Switzerland. After her Fulbright grant, she plans to pursue a PhD in biomedical science.

Olivia Rosenstein will graduate this spring with a BS in physics and a minor in French. Her Fulbright will take her to ENS Paris-Saclay in Palaiseau, France, where she’ll deepen her education in atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics. At MIT, Rosenstein has worked in Professor Mark Vogelsberger’s group researching models of galaxy formation and the early universe, and in Professor Richard Fletcher’s group on an erbium-lithium experiment to investigate quantum many-body dynamics in a degenerate mixture. In France, she will expand on the skills she developed in Fletcher’s lab by contributing to a project using optical tweezer arrays to study dipolar interactions. After Fulbright, Rosenstein plans to return to the United States to pursue a PhD in experimental AMO at Caltech.

Jennifer Schug willreceive this spring an MEng degree in the Climate, Environment, and Sustainability track within the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. During her Fulbright year in Italy, she will conduct research on carbon storage in the Venice lagoon at the University of Padua. Schug is excited to build upon her research with the Terrer Lab at MIT, where she is currently investigating the effectiveness of forestation as a carbon sequestration strategy. She also looks forward to improving her Italian language skills and learning about Italian history and culture. Before beginning Fulbright this fall, Schug will study ecological preservation in Sicily this summer through an MIT-Italy collaboration with the University of Catania. After Fulbright, she hopes to continue researching nature-based solutions as climate change mitigation strategies.

Vaibhavi Shah ’21 earned a BS in biological engineering and in science, technology, and society at MIT, where she was named a Goldwater Scholar. She is now a medical student at Stanford University. As a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellow in Public Health, Shah will use both her computational and humanities backgrounds to investigate sociocultural factors underlying traumatic surgical injuries in Nepal. While at MIT, she was on the executive board of GlobeMed and the Society of Women Engineers, and she hopes to use those experiences to amplify diverse voices in medicine while on her journey to becoming a neurosurgeon-scientist. After Fulbright, Shah will complete her final year of medical school.

Charvi Sharma is a senior studying computer science and molecular biology with a minor in theater arts. As a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Spain, she is excited to engage in cross-cultural exchange while furthering her skills as a teacher and as a leader. In addition to teaching, Sharma looks forward to immersing herself in the country’s vibrant traditions, improving her Spanish proficiency, and delving into the local arts and dance scene. At MIT, through Global Teaching Labs Spain and her roles as a dynaMIT mentor, an associate advisor, and a captain and president of her dance teams Mirchi and Nritya, Sharma has served as a teacher of both STEM and dance. Her passion for making a difference in her community is also evident through her work with Boston Medical Center’s Autism Program through the PKG Public Service Center and as an undergraduate cancer researcher in the Yaffe Lab. After Fulbright, Sharma plans to pursue an MD and, ultimately, a career as a clinician-scientist.

Isabella Witham is a senior majoring in biological engineering. As a recipient of the Fulbright U.S.-Korea Presidential STEM Initiative Award, she will conduct research at Seoul National University’s Biomimetic Materials and Stem Cell Engineering Lab. Her work will involve creating biomimetic scaffolds for pancreatic cell transplantation to treat type I diabetes. While in South Korea, Witham aims to improve her language skills and explore cultural sites and cities. At MIT, she worked in the Belcher Lab on nanoparticle formulations, was a tutor for MIT’s Women’s Technology Program, and volunteered as a Medlink. After her Fulbright fellowship, she plans to pursue a PhD in biological engineering.

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