Degree Requirements

Course Requirements

The MS degree requires 30 credits of formal course work. The 30 credits include a total of 24 credits plus an MS thesis, CS 2000; or 27 credits plus an MS project, CS 2910.

The 30 credits must include one course from each of the following foundation areas.

Theory and Algorithms

Architecture and Compilers

Operating Systems and Networks

Artificial Intelligence and Database Systems

In addition to the 12 credits needed to satisfy the foundation area courses, a student has to complete additional coursework based on one of the two following options:

Thesis Option: six credits for the MS thesis + at least 12 additional credits of graduate Department of Computer Science courses.
Project Option: three credits for the MS project + at least 15 additional credits of graduate Department of Computer Science courses.

General Requirements

All courses except the project or thesis must be taken for a letter grade.
The student must recieve a grade of B or better in each of the Foundation Area courses, a grade of B- or better for all other courses, and must maintain an overall average of B or better.
The additional coursework cannot include independent or directed study courses (CS 2990, CS 3000), MS thesis (CS 2000) or project (CS 2900), cooperative (CS 2905), or research courses (CS 2001, CS 2002, CS 2003 and CS 3900).
Two CS 20XX courses are allowed as additional coursework, the remaining additional courses must be 21XX or higher.
One course may be taken outside the department if approved by GPEC. The outside course will reduce by one the number of allowed CS 20XX courses.

Timetable

MS degrees must be completed within four calendar years from the student’s initial registration for graduate studies. This limit applies to all students, whether full-time or part-time. Normally, full-time students will complete the degree within two years.

Copies of the thesis must be submitted to the committee at least two weeks in advance of the examination.

The project report must be submitted to the advisor at least a week in advance of the end of the term.

MS Thesis or Project

There are two options for completing the MS degree: the thesis option and the project option.

For the thesis option, the student must complete a written thesis, taking six credits of CS 2000, which must be taken with the S/N grading option. The student’s advisor will assist them in selecting a thesis committee, to consist of at least three faculty members, at least two members must be from Computer Science (one being your advisor) and at most one from outside the department or University (all three could be from Computer Science). The committee will conduct a public oral final examination. The committee must be formed with all names sent to the graduate administrator at least four weeks before the examination date. The thesis committees must be composed of at least two tenure-stream graduate internal CS faculty.

The graduate faculty roster can be viewed here.

The committee will vote on the outcome and sign a report that will be filed in the SCI Graduate Students Office. The oral examination is public and open to all members of the Computer Science Department. It must be announced to CSD via the faculty and graduate mailing lists at least one week prior to its scheduled date. The announcement must include a title, an abstract, name of advisor(s), name of committee members, date of examination, and location of examination.

For the project option, the student must complete a Master’s project, taking three credits of CS 2910, with the S/N grading option. Approval of a project report by the advisor is required.

Both CS 2000 and CS 2910 are closed courses, requiring approval of the faculty advisor for enrollment.

Regarding advisors, the Computer Science department permits appointment-stream faculty to advise Master's theses and projects. For a Master's project, one of the following should be true to make the advisor eligible to supervise a student: membership of the advisor in the graduate faculty roster, having taught a graduate course, having a co-advisor who is a member of the graduate faculty, OR a discussion about the project objectives and grading with the department chair. For the Master's thesis option, if the faculty member who serves as advisor is not on the graduate faculty roster, three other graduate internal CS faculty should be part of the thesis committee (of whom at least two tenure-stream); otherwise standard rules about committee composition apply (at least three committee members, of whom at least two tenure-stream graduate internal CS faculty).

MS Internships and Co-Ops

MS students are eligible to enroll in MS Internship (CS 2900) one time or Co-Op (CS 2905) one time to supplement their in-class education with practical training. Approved experiences cannot earn internship credit if the employer was previously used for co-op and visa versa. Additional limitations apply to students on a visa. Complete policies can be found on the internship and co-op policy pages.

Students wishing to complete an internship or co-op rotation as part of their MS degree must review the related policy page before securing an offer. Once secured, they should submit the experience for credit consideration by following the instructions listed under 'Process to Enroll' for the related class on the Experiential Learning Course page. Experiences should be approved and the student enrolled in the course before work begins and prior to the add/drop deadline for the semester working.

Financial Support

Students whose goal is a terminal Masters degree do not receive financial support from the department. Occasionally, opportunities for financial support for part time instruction may be available. It is the responsibility of the student to watch and apply for these opportunities, when they are announced.