grad programs
MS in Reliability and
Maintainability Engineering
The Reliability and Maintainability Engineering (RME) program is a multidisciplinary program that focuses on the use of management systems, analysis techniques, and advanced condition-based and preventive technologies to identify, manage, and eliminate failures leading to losses in system function. Once perceived as a practitioner or manufacturing issue, reliability, and maintainability engineering is now considered a business issue of urgent priority.
The Master of Science degree consists of thirty hours of graduate work in RME and may have a concentration in one of the traditional engineering academic departments. Thesis and non-thesis research options are available for students, and the program can be completed on campus or through real-time and interactive distance delivery.
Student can also choose to pursue a dual MS-MBA program with a major in reliability and maintainability engineering.
Admission
Applicants for admission to the MS program in Reliability and Maintainability Engineering are expected to have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited undergraduate program in engineering or physics. Students from other appropriate disciplines (e.g. chemistry, mathematics, etc.) can be admitted but additional engineering courses may be required. Entering students must have, as a minimum, competency in mathematics through ordinary differential equations. Students in the program may choose a concentration with one of the departments offering the major:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- Nuclear Engineering.
The RME program does not require a GRE score for admission, but some of departments listed above may require one for admission.
Graduation Requirements
Students, with the concurrence of their graduate committee, may choose between a thesis option and a non-thesis project option. The chosen coursework must be approved by the graduate student’s major professor and committee. After the completion of the formal program coursework and research, the student must pass an oral examination conducted by his/her graduate committee. The committee will include the student’s major professor, the Reliability and Maintainability Engineering program director (or his/her appointee), and another faculty member at the rank of assistant professor or above.
Thesis Option
Specific requirements of the thesis option are a minimum of 30 semester hours including:
- Twelve semester hours of RME Core Courses as listed below.
- Six hours of required statistics sequence.
- Three hours of reliability and maintainability engineering elective courses or statistics electives chosen from the lists below.
- Three semester hours in engineering, statistics, business management, or a related field.
- Master’s thesis: six semester hours through the department of the major professor.
- A final oral examination covering the thesis and related coursework.
Non-Thesis Option
Specific requirements of the thesis option are a minimum of thirty semester hours including:
- Twelve semester hours of RME Core Courses as listed below.
- Six hours of required statistics sequence.
- Six semester hours of RME Elective Courses chosen from the list below.
- Three semester hours in engineering, statistics, business management, or a related field.
- Project in lieu of thesis (three semester hours). The course will be supervised by the student’s master’s committee. A written project proposal describing what the student will do in the course must be submitted in advance to the graduate student’s committee for approval. A written final report is required. (this course may be taken through the major professor’s department: ChE 580, ECE 501, ES 590, IE 501, ME 590, NE 598 )
A final oral examination covering the project and related coursework. The final oral examination must be on the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus.
Note: At least two-thirds of the minimum required hours must be taken in courses numbered at or above the 500 level.
Coursework
Students, with the concurrence of their graduate committee, may choose between a thesis option and a non-thesis project option.
Core Courses
- Introduction to Reliability Engineering (CBE/IE/ME/MSE/NE 483)*
- Introduction to Maintainability Engineering (CBE/IE/ME/MSE/NE 484)*
- Process System Reliability and Safety (CBE/NE 585)*
- Reliability of Lean systems (IE 517)*
Statistics Sequence
- Statistical Methods in Industrial Engineering (IE 516)* or Survival Analysis (STAT 567)*
- An additional course selected in consultation with the major professor and committee members
RME Electives
- Applications of Linear Algebra in Engineering Systems (CBE/BME/ECE/IE/MSE/ME 529)
- Random Process Theory for Engineers (ECE 504)
- Optimization Methods in Industrial Engineering (IE 522)*
- Mechanical Vibrations (ME/BME/ES 534)*
- Mechanical Behavior of Materials II (MSE 421)*
- Equipment and System Prognostics (NE 575)*
- Empirical Models for Monitoring and Diagnostics (NE 579)*
Statistics Electives
- Data Mining and Business Analytics (Stat 474)
- Statistics for Research I (STAT 537)*
- Statistics for Research II (STAT 538)*
- Applied Time Series (Stat 575)
- Applied Multivariate Methods (Stat 579)*
*Currently offered through distance education. All courses are three-hour courses.
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