MSCS: Computer Science

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Program Requirements:

M.S. Computer Science:

Computer Science Concentration

The CPSC M.S. program requires a student to complete a minimum of 33 semester hours of graduate work including a thesis, or 36 semester hours of graduate work including a project.

Students admitted to the program who lack academic experience in certain areas will be required to complete up to 18 hours of additional course work in mathematics and/or the computer science foundation courses listed below (CPSC 5000, 5010, and 5020, or their undergraduate equivalents) in order to gain needed competencies.

All students admitted to the program must complete 15 semester hours of required courses from the computer science core courses listed below. The program also includes 6 hours of thesis and at least 9 hours of computer science elective courses. The student (in consultation with his/her major adviser and the graduate program coordinator) can select an additional 3 hours of elective coursework in an area of interest within or outside of computer science.

Students may elect to undertake a project in lieu of a thesis. In this case, 6 additional hours of elective coursework, for a minimum total of 36 hours of graduate credit, are required. The courses used for these additional six hours are subject to the approval of the major adviser and the graduate program coordinator.

With either the thesis or project option, a minimum of 21 hours of credit must be from UTC computer science courses at the 5000 level or above (not including CPSC 5000, 5010, or 5020, which may not be used to fulfill degree requirements).

Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average and are subject to all general regulations of The Graduate School, such as those regulating admission to candidacy, transfer of credits, time limitations, thesis, and degree conferral.

Curriculum Options and Details:
To view course descriptions, visit the Graduate Catalog, choose the current year, and click on Course Descriptions.

Core Computer Science Courses

Choose 5 courses (15 credit hours) from the following courses:
Subject/Crse	Course Name	Fall	Spring
CPSC 5100	Theory of Computer Programming Languages	✔
CPSC 5210	Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms	✔
CPSC 5260	Introduction to Parallel Algorithms	✔
CPSC 5410	Model Analysis and Simulation
CPSC 5590	Advanced Computer Networks	✔
CPSC 5700	Advanced Computer Architecture		✔
CPSC 5800	Advanced Topics in Systems Software		✔

Computer Science Electives

Computer Science Elective Courses may be chosen from:
Subject/Crse	Course Name	Fall	Spring
CPSC 5110	Mobile Computing
CPSC 5130	Cloud Computing		✔
CPSC 5180	Programming Languages for Advanced Data Analytics
CPSC 5200	Automata, Complexity, and Computability
CPSC 5240	Principles of Data Analytics		✔
CPSC 5270	Advanced Database and Database Security	✔
CPSC 5440	Introduction to Machine Learning		✔
CPSC 5450	Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence
CPSC 5460	Pattern Recognition
CPSC 5500	Computer Graphics Applications and Algorithms
CPSC 5530	Data Visualization and Exploration		✔
CPSC 5600	Advanced Biometrics and Cryptography		✔
CPSC 5610	Advanced Information Security Management
CPSC 5620	Computer Network Security		✔
CPSC 5660	System Vulnerability Analysis and Auditing	✔
CPSC 5680	Computer Forensics	✔
CPSC 5910r	Special Topics
CPSC 5920r	Graduate Internship in Computer Science
CPSC 5997r	Individual Studies

Project Information

A project typically has well-defined requirements; it is expected to be of graduate quality but is of such a nature that it can be completed within a single semester, given diligent effort on the student’s part.

Requirements are established by the faculty member who is instructor of record for CPSC 5900 and generally include interim status reports, a final written report, and a presentation/demonstration of the finished project.

Project topics may be suggested by the student, a faculty member, or an external client (e.g. a company or non-profit organization) and must be approved by the CPSC 5900 instructor.

Thesis Information

A thesis generally involves the pursuit of a more open-ended research objective, and results in the writing, oral defense, and publication of a paper of substantial length and scholarly quality. The research and writing of the thesis always requires at least two semesters, and may take longer depending on a variety of factors.

A total of at least 6 credit hours in CPSC 5999r must be successfully completed. The credits may be distributed over two or more semesters 3/3, 2/4, 4/2, 2/2/2, etc. with the proviso that the student must be enrolled for at least two semester hours of thesis during the semester that the thesis is completed and submitted to the Graduate School.

Before registering for CPSC 5999r thesis credits, the student must establish a thesis committee consisting of a chairperson and at least two other persons, all of whom must be members of the UTC graduate faculty. (See the Graduate School web site for the thesis committee appointment form and the list of graduate faculty members.) The committee must approve the student’s proposed thesis topic, the completed thesis, and the thesis defense in order for the student to receive his/her degree.

Once a student enrolls in thesis credits, he/she must continuously enroll in CPSC 5999r each semester until the thesis is completed. It is not necessary for the student to take CPSC 5999r during Summer terms unless the student plans to complete the thesis for August degree conferral.