Master’s program offers greater ECE specialization and depth

Students seeking specialization in electrical and computer engineering can enroll in the Master of Science, Advanced Study (MS-AD in ECE) at Carnegie Mellon University. This is a four-semester, 16-20 month program made up of 133 units of graduate coursework that is offered at the CMU campus in Pittsburgh and CMU-Africa, the College of Engineering location in Kigali, Rwanda.

The MS-AD in ECE allows students to take more units than the standard, 97-unit MS in ECE. In the standard program, students complete 24 units of College of Engineering electives, 12 units of general technical electives, 60 units of ECE core courses, and 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate studies. The advanced program offers two tracks, one focused on taking additional courses and the other on completing a research project.

Course option requirements:

• 60 units of ECE core courses
• 36 units of College of Engineering elective courses
• 36 units of general technical elective courses
• 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies

Project option requirements:

• 48 units of ECE core courses
• 24 units of College of Engineering elective courses
• 24 units of general technical elective courses
• 36 units of MS graduate project coursework
• 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies

Completing a project enables students to build research skills and potentially publish their work, which can be helpful for those seeking a Ph.D. or research career.

"Students have the opportunity to work on real-world projects, which allows them to acquire practical skills that help them in the job market," said Noella Shema, an academic advisor at CMU-Africa.

All students are first admitted into the standard MS in ECE program and can choose to transfer at the end of their first year into the MS-AD in ECE program.

Students have the opportunity to work on real-world projects, which allows them to acquire practical skills that help them in the job market.

Noella Shema, Academic Advisor, CMU-Africa

"It's a very flexible program. You could focus on power, sustainable energy, information systems, system design…There are so many concentrations, and you can design your curriculum around what you are interested in," explained Ian Akotey, an alumnus from CMU-Africa who graduated from the program in 2025.

"I chose advanced study because I started taking courses that were really useful, and I wanted to take as many as possible. The advanced study program doesn’t make things harder, it just lets you learn more."

Elvis Tata Tanghang, another CMU-Africa graduate who graduated from the program in 2025, said taking more courses allowed him to increase his AI knowledge and experience.

"I needed to take more courses to get deeper into my field. In my first two semesters, I had explored the foundations of generative AI and large language model systems, but I needed more units, and the advanced study gave me a chance to take them," said Tanghang.

Akotey and Tanghang said that prospective students should have a plan going into the program because it can be difficult to choose a career path while taking classes due to the high number of options.

"Students should have a clear path and a broad view of the advanced program," said Tanghang. "If you don't have a clear view of what you want to do, you might have so many courses that you want to explore, and you might pick courses that are not really related to your career or your goals. There are many courses here in Pittsburgh, and you might end up exploring too much."

Tanghang and Akotey studied in Pittsburgh through the student exchange program.

"There were particular courses I wanted to explore in Pittsburgh that I didn't have the chance to get at CMU-Africa because they're not offered remotely to Kigali students. Right now, I'm taking generative AI, LLM systems, and speech technology for conversational AI," said Tanghang. "I appreciate CMU-Africa for giving me the opportunity to study in Pittsburgh and have a great experience through my courses, and outside of school. Prospective students of the exchange program should find time to travel and explore, and experience different lifestyles."