To check if you are on track to graduate check:

• Degree Works
• Course Catalog
• If you are still unsure make an appointment to talk with your advisor

Letters that confirm upcoming graduation eligibility and/or degree completion cannot be provided by the Department. After your degree has been certified and posted to your transcript a letter may be requested by contacting the Syracuse University Registrar's Office registrar@syr.edu. See Diplomas - Office of the Registrar – Syracuse University for additional information.

After a degree is awarded, diplomas are ordered for students who have cleared all holds from the Office of Academic Integrity and Community Standards as well as any financial obligations to the University. Diplomas and certificates are mailed to the address provided in the file diploma request process.

May degrees are generally posted by June 30, and diplomas are ordered approximately one week after it is posted.  Once your diploma is mailed out you will receive an email. The average time for delivery is 6-8 weeks.

See Diplomas - Office of the Registrar – Syracuse University for additional information

You do not need an invitation letter from the college or your department to invite your family for commencement. 

If you feel that you need to provide your family with documentation follow the below steps:

1. Write your own invitation letter stating why your parents need a visa.
2. Log into MySlice (use Internet Explorer or Google Chrome)-Student Services – Enrollment – View Enrollment Verification –this brings you to a webpage titled National Student Clearing House. Click on “Obtain an Enrollment certificate” you will see a pop up on the bottom of the page (make sure your pop up blocker is not turned ON!!!), save the file to your desktop. Print a copy.
3. Print a copy of your transcript.
4. Copy off the commencement information from Special Events or Syracuse University Commencement http://commencement.syr.edu/
5. Attach all of this together and give to your parents so they will have it when applying for their visa

CPT eligibility

A student must be in valid F-1-status and have been a full-time student in the U.S. for one academic year (Fall and Spring semesters) before participating in CPT. CPT is not available for students who have completed their coursework and program of study. CPT approval is authorized for one semester (Fall, Spring, or Summer) new CPT paperwork must be submitted and approved each semester. EECS approval and processing is required for CPT. CPT cannot be counted towards the required credits for your degree program.

Internship-CPT Eligibility requirements: Internship-CPT Options

Academics will be reviewed at time of request and considered as part of the application process. No review and approval will be made without a formal offer letter provided by the company.

Fall Admits

1. Completion of 18 credits of course work in the EECS Department at Syracuse University
2. Completion of core coursework within your first two semesters
3. Cumulative GPA of 2.8 or higher
4. Cumulative Program GPA of 3.0 or higher
5. Core Course Final Exam Grade (Average B- Minimum)
6. Core Course Transcript Grade (B- Minimum) CS only

See Syracuse University Course Catalog

Spring Admits

1. Completion of 18 credits of course work in the EECS Department at Syracuse University
2. Completion of core coursework within your first two semesters
3. Cumulative GPA of 2.8 or higher
4. Cumulative Program GPA of 3.0 or higher
5. Core Course Final Exam Grade (Average B- Minimum)
6. Core Course Transcript Grade (B- Minimum) CS only

See Syracuse University Course Catalog

Internship-CPT application process:

Step 1: Provide formal offer letter, to assist and ensure all required information is provided please share the Employee Internship Introduction Letter Spring 2025 when working with your company.

Provide a formal offer letter, on company letterhead, which includes all of the following:

1. Company address, including street address of where you will be working (no P.O. Box)
2. Job title and formal job description.
3. Placement location: onsite or remote
4. Company location of placement, if your position is onsite-*Final semester coursework must be completed via in person, on campus enrollment. CPT placements that do not allow for in-person coursework must be remote.

   Spring 2025 semester placement: Monday, January 13, 2025-(end between) Monday, April 28, 2025-Tuesday, May 6, 2025-your letter must clearly state your end date

   *NOTE: Completed fall 2024 CPT paperwork due by Monday, December 16, 2024. Syracuse University will be closed starting Friday, December 20, 2024 for the holiday break.

    
5. Exact start and end date, dates must begin and end within the semester.
6. Hours per week (specific days and hours that you will be working on site) *estimated on site days will prevent processing of CPT
7. Paid (include salary) or unpaid
8. Signed by company representative with applicable contact information

Once the letter is received and includes all required information, the student is responsible for highlighting the required information.

Step 2: Independent Study Form 

Identify a EECS full-time faculty sponsor who will monitor progress and assign a grade complete the Independent Study Form-Spring 2025 with them.

1. All highlighted fields must be completed by the student and/or faculty sponsor
2. Form must be submitted with student signature
3. Form must be submitted with faculty sponsor signature

Fall and Spring CPT only: Full-Time Certification Form must be completed if you will be registered for less than 9 credits while completing your CPT. If this will be your final semester please see Last Semester Memo section.

 Step 3: Complete CPT Request form-Spring 2025

*NOTE: Student Arrival Verification: All students with Spring 2025 CPT must physically check in at the EECS Department between Monday, January 6, 2025-Monday, January 13, 2025. Failure to return for the start of classes will result in the removal of approved CPT. Your CPT approval letter will not be provided without your department check-in.

*NOTE: All Core Coursework must be completed with a passing grade on the student transcript for CPT application eligibility. Future core course registration does not satisfy this requirement.

Step 4: Submit Paperwork

1. Submit all completed documentation (see Steps 1-3 above) to: cptorskillsrequest@syr.edu
2. Paperwork will be reviewed for completion and student eligibility
3. Once approved student will be sent notice of their approval via email

4. CPT check in with the EECS Department between Monday, January 6, 2025-Monday, January 13, 2025. Failure to return for the start of classes will result in the removal of approved CPT.  Once checked in with the department your CPT letter will be provided to you.

5. Independent study paperwork will be sent via email to Registrar's Office for processing
6. Check your registration, once the IS has been posted to your account please see Home - Center for International Services – Syracuse University for next steps.

Additional Notes:

1. Once paperwork has been processed and approved for a CPT no changes will be made. These include, but are not limited to, approved number of hours, start/end placement dates, location, company. Once processed no changes will be made even if the CPT placement has not started.
2. Students are responsible for ensuring a grade is posted for you by your faculty sponsor at the end of your CPT
3. An I20 cannot be extended for CPT
4. Registration for CPT will result in a charge of 1 credit hour of tuition on a student bill
5. CPT credits do not count towards required program credits for completion of your degree, and can't be converted to an Independent Study
6. Delays in processing will occur if forms and supporting documentation are not provided
7. If you are on a student Visa, you must be in the United States on the first date of your approved CPT. CPT work cannot be done when a student is not in the United States.
8. Students who do not return for the start of the fall semester and fail to check in with the with the EECS Department on or before Monday, January 13, 2025 will have their CPT approval revoked.
9. Remote CPT work must be done from Syracuse for the entire semester. 
10. Final semester coursework must be completed via in person, on campus enrollment. CPT placements that do not allow for in-person coursework must be remote. 

I’m a new student hire, what should I do?

• Visit You’re Hired - 'Cuse Works – Syracuse University for important employee related information
• Visit Sign up for Direct Deposit for instructions on setting up direct deposit
• Visit Recording Time to learn how to complete your timesheet

For issues with your personal payroll account contact payroll@syr.edu or 315-443-4042 (option2)

Students must clock in and out each time you work a shift. If your timesheet needs to be corrected contact Cynthia Bromka-Skafidas at skafidas@syr.edu immediately

I am a RA. How do I get a key to the lab?

• Please have your advisor email Shawn Knight slknight@syr.edu and request a key.

What should I do with my lab key at the end of the semester?

• All keys are to be returned to Shawn Knight in person.  Do not leave the key with a fellow student or faculty member. It is your responsibility to turn in your own key!

I am locked out of my lab. Whom should I contact?

• During normal office hours, you can contact any staff member in the department to give you access to your lab. Call (315) 443-2652 weekdays until 5 p.m. during the academic year and 4:30 p.m. during the summer. Weekends– Please contact DPS at (315) 443-2224

I am a TA. Will I be assigned an office for office hours?

• EECS Dept. currently has 2 TA rooms that are available to be used for office hours located in the basement of CST.  Each door has a sign-up sheet that is used to reserve the room.

• Questions regarding difficulties using MySlice can be answered here, Registration Answersor you can contact IT if the problem persists.
• Courses cannot be added if the add deadline has passed, this policy is strictly enforced.
• Residential students are not eligible for online courses, when searching for classes, be sure to select in-person classes from the drop-down menu.
• Generally, EECS does not offer Winterlude courses and courses taken outside of your program do not count towards degree requirements. 
• If you are at the end of your program and would like to register for over 9 credits, allowing you to complete the program a semester early, make the request to eecsstaff@syr.edu. A student academic record will be reviewed at the time of the request. If permission is granted no classed can be dropped, withdrawn or be eligible for an incomplete. 
• EECS Graduate students are not allowed to audit courses

• A hold on your account may prevent course registration, degree certification, and other required student functions.
• Only the office that placed the hold on your account can remove it, you must contact that office directly for assistance
• To check your status:
  1.  Log into MySlice-locate Holds tile
  2. Open Holds tile to see specifics related to the hold
  3. Click on the hold itself to see who/how to contact for assistance

• Course registration should be dropped before the add deadline allowing others to register for an open seat. 
• Once the add deadline has passed, international students cannot drop courses via MySlice. International students are prevented from dropping courses to ensure they do not drop below full-time enrollment without first consulting with their program and with the Center for International Services.
• Once the add deadline has passed the student must email complete the request to drop a class form, specifying the class(es) they want to drop and return it to eecsstaff@syr.edu for processing.
• Registration must be removed by the university drop deadline to prevent additional charges to the student account.
• International full-time students cannot drop below 9 credits unless it is your last semester.  Students on an F1 Visa must apply for their last semester memo if 9 credits are not needed for degree completion in the last semester of enrollment.

• Students will complete applicable information on the Independent Study Form and send to your FT EECS faculty sponsor for signature
  • After the faculty sponsor signs the Proposal for Independent Study, the student must email the form to
    – Students in MSCS (only), send to: Dr. Nadeem Ghani
    – Students in MSEE, MSCE or MS Cyber, send to: Graduate Program Director Dr. Qinru Qiu.
• After the Graduate Program Director approves, it will be forwarded to eecsstaff@syr.edu for review and processing to the Registrar’s office (with a cc to student).
• Registrar’s office will post the Independent Study to your course registration.  (Please allow 7-10 business days or longer during high volume periods). 
• PhD students - send the signed Proposal for Independent Study form to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu for processing .

Proposal for Independent Study  

• Each semester familiarize yourself with the Academic Calendar and plan accordingly. Deadlines are strictly enforced.
• Forms, petitions and other academic paperwork processing can take up to 5 business days to be reviewed, do not wait until a deadline to submit paperwork.
• Graduate students can withdraw from classes on their own through MySlice; however, if they’re planning to withdraw under full-time credits then they’ll need to submit a Class Withdrawal Petition for review no later than the Withdrawal Deadline.

• At any time that a student is not meeting all of their program requirements, they are considered on academic warning.
• At any time, the department can terminate a student due to lack of academic progress based on the fact that they are not meeting all of their program requirements.
• You may or may not receive a notice from the department that your academics are failing. It is your responsibility to know your program requirements.  Please review the course catalog for the year and semester that you matriculated into the program and/or check Degree Works. You can access Degree Works via MySlice; it will appear under the Advising tile on your home page. (If you were in another program, please make sure you are reaching out to your Master’s program advisor and not your previous advisor).  

• (When checking the academic calendar for your requirements, make sure you are in the correct catalog year.)

• To retain your percent grant you must:
• Be registered for 9 credits that can be used in your program of study each semester.  You do not have to be registered for 9 credits during your final semester.
• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher after the second semester and remain at 3.0 or higher.  Failure to do so will result in the grant will be permanently removed.

• Once your new grade from your repeated course is posted to your account, complete the flag petition and e-mail to eecsstaff@syr.edu.
• Both your original and new grade will be posted to your transcript.
• Once the flag petition is processed the original grade will have a (*) notation, indicating it has been repeated.
• Only your new grade will be used to calculate your cumulative GPA.
• Classes with a final grade of C+ or lower can be repeated one time. 

These FAQ's are to be used only as a tool, please refer to the Syracuse University - Course Catalog for specific information on your program of study.

To assist with planning your program please see Ph.D. Timeline

Before registering for courses outside of the department, that a student would want to receive credit for towards their program they must complete a form-petition-to-faculty.pdf explaining how the course is related to their research. The petition must be signed by the student, faculty advisor and Professor Fardad (ECE) or Professor Soundarajan (CISE). The completed petition should be sent to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu for processing. 

ECS 691 Research Course

• This course is no longer being offered, instead all students will need to register for a 1 credit Independent Study with your advisor
• Work with your advisor to decide on a topic and complete the form-independent-study-course-proposal.pdf
• Register for course CIS 690
• Send back the completed form to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu for processing

GRD 998

• Students must register for this course after completion of all formal coursework

• Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
• Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

• QE 1 Guidelines
• QE 2 Guidelines

QE1 are generally administered each spring semester, the 2024-2025 QE1 has been set for January 6, 2025. 

• QE2 committee consists of the advisor and one other EECS tenured/tenure-track faculty member (no formal approval needed). Any exceptions require department chair approval.
• Doctoral students must take QE2 no later than the spring semester of their second year in the Ph.D. program. Students must pass QE1 before taking QE2.
• Focus: presentation of a written report and an oral critique of one or more publications. The successful student will demonstrate their ability to understand and analyze publications, as well as write and speak satisfactorily.

• Student reading list should be approved by the committee at least a month before the oral presentation; when committee approval is given student will complete PhD Request Form form and submitted to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu for processing.
• Student must ask Advisor to e-mail eecsphdrequest@syr.edu with the pass/fail information.

• Complete advisor/advisee agreement; the student, the new Advisor and Dr. Susan Older must sign.
• E-mail the completed form to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu.

• The objective of the student’s presentation(s) at the Department Colloquium Series is to communicate the student’s research results to the faculty and students of the department. The student must give at least one talk at this colloquium based on his/her dissertation prior to the final dissertation defense.
• Email eecsphdrequest@syr.edu to be assigned a room or to provide the Zoom link for participation.
• After receiving a room completed PhD Request Form and email the completed form to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu, no less than 2 weeks prior to the presentation date.
• Presentation must be scheduled within the academic semester when students are on campus, and not during reading days or final exams.

• Preparing for Graduation – Graduate School
• The proposal defense must be completed within two years of the completion of the QE.
• The examining committee is called the Research Committee and consists of the advisor + two other EECS tenured/tenure-track faculty members.
• The focus is on presenting work done so far, describing what further work is planned, and getting agreement from the committee about the same.
• The student should circulate the written proposal (to the committee) at least a week before the oral presentation.
• Email eecsphdrequest@syr.edu to be assigned a room.
• After receiving a room complete the PhD Request Form and e-mail completed form to eecsphdrequest@syr.edu.
• Student must ask Advisor to e-mail eecsphdrequest@syr.edu with the pass/fail information. 

Please refer to the Class Scheduling Paradigm to assist with available times for classroom spaces.

Core course final exam grades are different than the core course transcript grades.

Core courses must be taken at Syracuse University and cannot be transferred in from another college/university

Core Course Transcript Grades

•  All MS students may retake a course with a transcript grade of B- or lower to improve their GPA. Both the originally earned grade and new grade will remain on the student transcript but if a flag petition is filed, only the new grade will be used to calculate a student GPA-see repeating a course (above).
• All MSCS students must earn a grade of B- (2.667) or higher in their four core course transcript grades. If you do not meet this requirement you must register for and repeat the course the next semester it is offered. To use the new earned grade in your GPA calculation you must file a flag petition.

Core Course Final Exam Grades

• All MS students must average a grade of B- (2.667) or higher in the four Core Course final exams
• Core Course Final Exam grades can be found in Degree Works in the "Core Course Examinations" section
• A grade calculator is available on MySlice which can be used to compute your final exam average.
• To re-take a core final exam please reach out to the faculty, at the start of the semester, teaching the course to request permission to take the final and be added to Blackboard.
• Re-taking a Core Course Final Exam will only change your final exam grade (and effect your core course final exam average) it will not change your transcript grade.
• There is no fee to retake a core course final exam
• *Final exam grades can take up to 2-3 weeks after the end of the semester to post.

• The Master’s Thesis must be started at least 2 semesters before you graduate. (It cannot be started in your final semester.) Registration must include 3 credits of thesis for your last two semesters.
• Fill out a petition to the faculty asking permission to do a Master’s Thesis as part of your program of study.  Please include what your research will be about, you and the full-time faculty from our department who has agreed to monitor your thesis, must sign the petition.

• Email the petition to the following contact (in your respective program):
  MSEE, MSCE or MS Cyber STUDENTS: Dr. Qinru Qiu.
  MSCS STUDENTS: Dr. Nadeem Ghani
  When approved, the form should then be e-mailed by the faculty to eecsstaff@syr.edu requesting registration permission.
• Preparing for Graduation – Graduate School
• Graduation Deadlines
• Universal Exam Report (to be taken to defense by student)

• Students must file a Diploma Request in MySlice when they begin their program.
• Check Degree Works to see if you are on track to graduate. You can access Degree Works via MySlice; it will appear under the Advising tile on your home page.

If you are graduating with a thesis:

• Master’s thesis online via the Syracuse University ETD website
• Electronic dissertation/Thesis submittal checklist
• Before turning in your signed request for exam form to the Graduate School, e-mail a copy to eecsstaff@syr.edu for the department’s records.
• Student must ask Advisor to send eecsstaff@syr.edu an e-mail after the exam with pass/fail information.

The M.S. program in Cybersecurity requires you to take 30 credits as follows:

• 12 credits of cybersecurity core classes                              
• CSE 643 Computer Security                                                   
• CIS 623 Structured Programming and Formal Methods                                              
• CIS 657  Principles of Operating Systems                                          
• CIS 675  Design and Analysis of Algorithms

• 12 credits of coursework taken from the list of approved technical cybersecurity electives
• Approved 600-level courses and any 700-level EECS Security Course-see notes section of courses MySlice during registration for course inclusion

• 6 additional credits of coursework
• All CIS/CSE courses at the 600-level or higher can be counted towards this requirement.
• Students may also choose to apply *one* nontechnical cybersecurity course (i.e., 3 credits) towards this 6-credit requirement.
• Current list of approved nontechnical cybersecurity electives: