October 2008
Q: I’m looking for a master of science thesis in engineering from XYZ years ago by John/Jane Smith/Jones. I’ve looked in the catalog and can’t find it.

A: First off, it’s important to verify what kind of degree this person actually got. The Engineering Library has always collected MS and PhD theses by engineering students as these are original research publications with potentially important scientific information. However, students in the one-year professional Master of Engineering programs do not write “theses”; they write “projects”, which–while rigorous–are far less substantial than research-degree theses. Only in the past few years has the Engineering library started systematically collecting M.Eng. projects. Before that, the individual departments usually kept backfiles, using their own procedures. Also, some M.Eng. students who have spent time working in industry choose to withhold their projects from any party other than their advisor because their project describes trade secrets or as-yet-unpublished research done for their prior employer.

M.Eng. theses, if they are in our collection, will be properly cataloged. However they will likely not be in ProQuest Digital Dissertations or Cornell Dissertations.

To determine what kind of degree a student got, we have a paper resource here at the Engineering Library in our reference collection called “Advanced Degrees Conferred” which consists simply of unbound paper packets listing the degrees and names given for each of the 3 graduation dates per year (June, August and January). The names are sorted by degree awarded, with M.Eng. students broken down by department. Typically, not even the title of the student’s project is given, unlike MS or PhD recipients, whose thesis title is given.

“Advanced Degrees Conferred” goes back as far as 1968, with a few gaps, and can be found here:

https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=345782&DB=local

Prior to 1968 and going back as far as 1948 there are a series of stapled booklets called “Register of Fellowships and Degrees”, but which essentially contained the same information. They can be found here:

https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=385065&DB=local