Course of Study

Master's (M.S.) Program

Candidates for the M.S. degree must choose a thesis or non-thesis (project) track.

Thesis Track

Students in the thesis track must complete 36 semester hours of approved coursework including the CS 5998 and 5999 thesis courses, a written thesis adhering to departmental and Graduate School formatting requirements, and an oral defense of the thesis to a committee of 3 or more faculty members.

Non-Thesis Track

Students in the non-thesis track must complete 36 semester hours of approved coursework, including the project course, CS 5800.

All Students

  • All students must take CS 5100, Seminar in Computer Science
  • All students must take the following three core area courses, and demonstrate proficiency in each of the core courses by making a B or higher. Earning less than a B (3.0) in a course then requires passing a comprehensive written examination for the course.
    • CS 5110, Design and Analysis of Algorithms
    • CS 5521, Operating Systems
    • CS 5666, Software Engineering
  • All students must complete 9 hours in an approved concentration
    • Data Science and Visual Computing
    • Systems
    • Theoretics
    • Web & Mobile
  • Project or Thesis (one of the following)
    • CS 5800 Graduate Project (3 hours)
    • CS 5998 Thesis Prep (3 hours) AND CS 5999 Thesis (6 hrs)
  • Additional electives as necessary to reach a minimum of 36 total credit hours
    • If 9 or more additional credit hours are needed, a second concentration may be achieved

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