Program Overview

Overview

The Master of Science degree in computer science is a research-based option that permits graduate students the flexibility in defining specialized interdisciplinary fields that meet their professional needs. The research-based MS degree option is well-suited to students pursuing a career in academia or industry with a research component.

Requirements

Admission Requirements

Applicants for graduate study in computer science must hold at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent from an accredited institution. They should have programming experience, a number of computer science courses, and sufficient mathematical maturity to understand pure mathematics courses at the upper division (junior/senior) level.

• A minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.00 is required for admission to the master's program.
• Mathematics Courses: A student's academic background should include at least three semesters of mathematics at the level of sophistication of calculus or above.
• Computer Science Courses: At least four one-semester courses in computer science that are beyond the introductory level are required for admissions.

Program Requirements

Degree Plans

While pursuing the traditional MS degree in CS, students have to complete a total of 30 credits of graduate-level coursework and may select between two options:

• The thesis option, wherein students will have to complete 6 credits of MS thesis hours while working on a research problem and completing their thesis work.
• The non-thesis option, wherein students will have to complete 6 credits of MS independent study research hours, while working on research projects with individual faculty.

Course Requirements

The following course requirements are subject to change; for the most current information, visit the department's Traditional MS Degree Program Requirements webpage.

• Professional Development Series: Complete three one-credit Professional Development courses.
• Breadth Courses: Students must complete one breadth course from each of the three bins listed below.
  • Bin One: Choose one course from the list, such as Computer Graphics, Convex Optimization and Its Applications, or Probability for Computer Science.
  • Bin Two: Choose one course from the list, such as Introduction to Robotics, Advanced Robotics, or Algorithmic Human-Robot Interaction.
  • Bin Three: Choose one course from the list, such as Computer-Aided Verification, Datacenter Scale Computing - Methods, Systems and Techniques, or Network Systems.
• Research Hours: Complete six credits of either MS thesis or MS Independent Study Research Hours.
• Electives: An additional 12 credits of approved graduate-level coursework are required to complete the degree, with restrictions.

Time Limit

All degree requirements must be completed within four years of the date of commencing coursework.

Learning Outcomes

By the completion of the program, students will be able to:

• Be knowledgeable in a subfield of computer science and make a research contribution to the subfield.
• Solve technical problems in computer science through writing code, pseudocode, technical writing, and/or applying foundational concepts from a variety of subfields.
• Cast large, societal, and/or complex problems as computational problems.
• Communicate clearly about their ideas and their research.
• Complete the required coursework with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
• Formulate a research thesis and defend it against a panel of experts, or conduct an independent study under the supervision of a faculty member.