Master of Science (M.S.) Program

Program Overview

The department offers a program of study leading to the Master of Science Degree in Computer Science. The program is designed to accommodate students seeking a terminal M.S. degree or preparing to enter a PhD program.

In addition to the graduate school admission requirements, students entering the graduate program must have completed computer science coursework in the areas of:

1. Programming in a modern high-level language
2. Basic computer organization and architecture
3. Data structures and algorithms
4. Principles of operating systems and networks

Students should also have completed mathematics courses equivalent to:

1. Differential and integral calculus including infinite series
2. Discrete mathematics
3. Linear algebra
4. Probability and statistics

Applications missing any of those prerequisite courses will not be reviewed.

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Program Requirements

All M.S. in Computer Science students must complete a nine-hour core consisting of CSC 631, 641, and 721. Additionally, all M.S. students (except those in the 5-year B.S./M.S. program) must take the 1-credit hour CSC 781 Computer Science Seminar course.

You can fulfill your M.S. degree requirements through one of the below options:

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M.S. with Thesis

This option requires 30 semester hours, which includes:

• The nine-hour core (CSC 631, 641, 721).
• Six hours of thesis research (CSC 791, 792) and a successfully completed thesis.
• Fifteen additional hours chosen from computer science courses. At least nine of these hours must be from 700-level courses (excluding CSC 791, 792, and 795).

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M.S. with Project

This option requires 36 semester hours, which includes:

• The nine-hour core (CSC 631, 641, 721).
• Three hours of project research (CSC 795) and a successfully completed project.
• Twenty-four additional hours chosen from computer science courses. At least nine of these hours must be from 700-level courses (excluding CSC 791, 792, and 795).

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Coursework Only MS Degree

This option requires 36 semester hours, which includes:

The nine-hour core (CSC 631, 641, 721).

The remaining hours are chosen from computer science courses. At least nine of these hours must be from 700-level courses (excluding CSC 791, 792, and 795).

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Joint BS & MS Degree

See the BS & MS Joint Degree Program page.

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With the approval of the graduate adviser, graduate courses may be taken outside of the department to fulfill requirements; however, no more than six such hours may count toward the degree.

Students in the program may apply to participate in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Track in Structural and Computational Biophysics. The specific requirements are found in the Graduate School Bulletin under the courses of instruction. Upon successful completion of this track, a student will earn an M.S. degree in computer science (thesis option) with a Certificate in Structural and Computational Biophysics.