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Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering
Bachelor's in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering

Senior Thesis

For an A.B. degree, a research thesis is strongly encouraged but not required; a thesis is necessary to be considered for High or Highest Honors. Additionally, a thesis will be particularly useful for students interested in pursuing graduate engineering research. 

In the S.B. degree programs, every student completes a design thesis as part of the required senior capstone design course (ES 100hf). During the year-long course students design and prototype a solution to an engineering problem of their own choice.

The guide below provides an overview of the requirement for an A.B. thesis in Mechanical Engineering:

Some recent thesis examples across all of SEAS can be found on the Harvard DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard) repository.

Mechanical Engineering Senior thesis examples:

  • Prototyped a mug to keep tea the perfect drinking temperature using a novel wax substrate for thermal control

 

Engineering A.B. Thesis Information and Timeline

Engineering A.B. Thesis Timeline

The timeline below is for students graduating in May. The thesis deadline for May 2026 graduates is Friday, March 27, 2026 at 2:00PM. For off-cycle students, a similar timeline applies, offset by one semester. The thesis due date for February 2026 graduates is Friday, November 21, 2025 at 2:00PM. Late theses are not accepted.

End of Junior year (6th semester):

Students often find a thesis supervisor by this time, and work with their supervisor to identify a thesis problem. Students may enroll in ES 91r for their next term (first semester of senior year) to block out space in their schedule for the thesis.

September of Senior year (7th semester):

All fourth year engineering A.B. concentrators are contacted by the Office of Academic Programs. Those planning to submit a senior thesis are requested to supply certain information via a brief thesis proposal form, including a summary of their project objectives and confirmation of the thesis advisor.

Mid-January:

A tentative thesis title approved by the thesis supervisor is required by the concentration.

Early February:

At least three readers are required for any Engineering A.B. single or joint thesis. The faculty advisor is one of the three readers. The student should provide the name and contact information for their additional two thesis readers, together with assurance that each individual has agreed to serve. Thesis readers are expected to be teaching faculty members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences or SEAS. Please see the Engineering A.B. Thesis Reader section below for more information.

On the thesis due date:

All SEAS A.B. theses due at 2pm. Late theses are not accepted in Engineering. See the Submitting Your SEAS A.B Thesis section below for instructions and details.

Late May:

The Office of Academic Programs will send readers' comments to the student in late May, after the degree meeting to decide honors recommendations.

Engineering A.B. Thesis Readers

For engineering A.B. students, thesis readers are chosen by the student, in consultation with their thesis advisor. It is the responsibility of the student to select their thesis readers and to ensure that the readers are committed. No readers are ever assigned. For Engineering only (non-joint) the thesis committee typically consists of the advisor and two more faculty from FAS/SEAS. At least two of these must be from SEAS. For joint concentrators the student must still have at least three readers, two of whom must be from SEAS.

Engineering A.B. Thesis Extensions and Late Submissions

Thesis extensions will only be granted in extraordinary circumstances, such as hospitalization or grave family emergency. An extension may only be granted by the DUS (who may consult with thesis advisor, resident dean, and readers). For joint concentrators, the other concentration should also support the extension. To request an extension, please email your ADUS or DUS, ideally several business days in advance. Please note that any extension must be able to fall within our normal grading, feedback, and degree recommendation deadline, so extensions of more than a few days are usually impossible.

Late submissions of thesis work will not be accepted. A thesis is required for joint concentrators, and a late submission will prevent a student from fulfilling this requirement. Please plan ahead and submit your thesis by the required deadline.

 

Submitting Your SEAS A.B. Thesis:

  • All SEAS theses are due at 2pm on their due date. 
  • Electronic copies in PDF format should be emailed by the student to the advisor, reader(s), and the submission email for your concentration on or before the deadline. 
  • An electronic copy should also be submitted via the SEAS online submission system (ProQuest ETD) before the deadline. 
    • During this online submission process, the student will also have the option to make the electronic copy publicly available via DASH, Harvard’s open-access repository for scholarly work. 
    • Please note that ProQuest does not publish undergraduate theses online, though students have the option of ordering a hard copy. Students still need to complete the ProQuest Publishing Options page on the website, even though most of those questions do not apply to undergraduate work. You do not need to delay the publishing to ProQuest because they will not publish it, or you may choose to delay “Until the following date:” and leave the date blank.
  • Readers will receive a rating sheet to be returned to the Office of Academic Programs.

What Happens to Your Submission?

There are three separate thesis publication services that are part of the submission process. Senior A.B. theses submitted to SEAS are made accessible via the Harvard University Archives.  During the submission process in the ProQuest portal, the student will also have the option to make the electronic copy publicly available via DASH. 

  1. ProQuest: ProQuest is the service through which you are required to submit your thesis. ProQuest will not publish your thesis, but you may order a printed hard copy from them.
    1. Basic document information (e.g., author name, thesis title, degree date, abstract) will be collected via the ProQuest submission system. 
  2. Harvard Archives (accessible via HOLLIS): Whether or not a student opts to make the thesis available through DASH, an electronic copy will be submitted to the Harvard University Archives. 
    1. Harvard Archives may make the thesis accessible to researchers per University policy. For a period of five years after the acceptance of a thesis, the Archives will require an author’s written permission before permitting researchers to create or request a copy of any thesis in whole or in part. 
    2. Students who wish to place additional restrictions on the record copy in the Archives must contact the Archives directly, independent of the online submission system. 
  3. DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard): Harvard's open-access repository for scholarly work. You may opt in to having your thesis published here.
    1. Students can also make code or data for senior thesis work available. They can do this by posting the data to the Harvard Dataverse or including the code as a supplementary file in the DASH repository when submitting their thesis in the SEAS online submission system.

Additionally, SEAS will keep an electronic copy as a non-circulating backup for the use of the concentration’s degree committee. 

Please note that theses ordinarily will not be approved for any form of publication until close to or after the degree date.