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Master of Science in Computer Science

The Master of Science in Computer Science program prepares students for doctoral studies or professional employment. Students will gain both a strong understanding of the fundamentals of computer science and cutting-edge research in a variety of areas.

Departmental research strengths include:

  • Artificial Intelligence (machine learning, multiagent systems, planning and problem solving),
  • Bioinformatics,
  • Computational Theory (computational learning theory, design and analysis of algorithms, computability theory),
  • Compiler Optimization and Compilation for Parallel Machines,
  • Natural-language Processing, (discourse and dialogue, generation, information extraction, summarization),
  • Systems (parallel and distributed computing, grid and volunteer computing, algorithm and architecture design for massive parallelism),
  • Networks (distributed computing, transport layer protocols, mobile and wireless networks, algorithm and architecture design for massive parallelism, networks management, security performance modeling, simulation),
  • Graphics and Computer Vision,
  • Rehabilitation Engineering (augmentative communication, speech recognition and enhancement),
  • Software Engineering (program analysis and testing),
  • Symbolic Mathematical Computation (algebraic algorithms, parallelization), and
  • Robotics.

If you wish to develop specialized expertise or begin working towards a Doctoral Degree in Computer Science this program will benefit you.

Degree Requirements

The MS in Computer and Information Sciences requires a total of 30 credits.

In addition to satisfying the general requirements of the University, candidates for the Master of Science degree must satisfy both the Departmental General Requirements and the Computer Science Course Requirements.

An Application for an Advanced Degree for the Master of Science degree should be filed with the Graduate Committee no later than the beginning of the semester in which the degree is expected.

A. Departmental General Requirements

The Departmental General Requirements include:

  1. At least 6 credits of the 30 credits used to satisfy the degree requirements must be 800-level CISC courses. Credits for independent study, research, and master’s thesis do not count towards this requirement (6 credits).
  2. Each semester, all graduate students must register for and participate in one of the Department’s special interest groups (i.e., CISC 890). One faculty member for each group will be responsible for overseeing satisfactory participation for each student on an individual basis (e.g., simply attending, giving a presentation) and will assign a pass/fail grade accordingly. Each MS student needs 3 semesters of passed CISC 890 to graduate. Special arrangements for part-time students and those who finish in less than 3 semesters will be made (Zero credits).
  3. Elective Credits (12 credits). Students are encouraged to explore graduate courses (600-level or higher) in other areas such as electrical engineering, mathematics, linguistics, statistics, and business and economics. Graduate courses outside of Computer and Information Sciences require written approval of the Graduate Committee.
  4. Students are encouraged to participate in the research activities of the Department by taking CISC 666, CISC 866, or CISC 868. This is especially true of potential Ph.D. students. No more than three credits of CISC 666, CISC 866 or CISC 868 (combined) may be applied toward meeting the degree requirements or used in satisfying the required minimum grade average without prior written approval from the Graduate Committee.
  5. Thesis option: A master’s thesis is optional; successful completion requires a combination of six credits of CISC 868 and/or CISC 869, which are included in the 30 credits needed for the MS degree. Students with a high GPA and/or motivation and ability to perform research are strongly encouraged to consider the thesis option.
  6. Substitutions or satisfaction through courses taken at another university are permitted, but require written approval by the Graduate Committee.

B. Computer Science Course Requirements

The Computer Science Course Requirements include:

Students must take 12 credits of breadth courses, one course in each of the following four areas

  •  Area 1: Theory
    • Elements of the Theory of Computation (CISC 601)
    • Logic in Computer Science (CISC 604)
    • Algorithm Design and Analysis (CISC 621)
  • Area 2: Systems and Networks
  •  Area 3: Software
    • Computer Graphics (CISC 640)
    • Software Engineering: Principles and Practices (CISC675)
    • Artificial Intelligence (CISC 681)
  • Area 4: Information
    • Bioinformatics (CISC636)
    • Introduction to Machine Learning (CISC684) or Introduction to Data Mining (CISC683)
    • Database Systems (CISC637)
    • Introduction to Computer Vision (CISC642)
  1. All students must take a graduate course in either algorithm design and analysis (e.g., CISC 621) or in theory of computation (e.g., CISC 601).
  2. A grade of B- or better is required in each of the four breadth courses.
  3. Substitutions or satisfaction through courses taken at another university are permitted, but require written approval by the Graduate Committee.

C. Master’s Thesis

A master’s thesis is optional; successful completion requires a combination of six credits of CISC 868 and/or CISC 869, which are included in the thirty credits needed for the MS degree. Students with a high GPA and/or motivation and ability to perform research are strongly encouraged to become involved in a research project. One way to do this is to complete an MS thesis.

Each student working on a master thesis, with the advice of the master’s thesis advisor, needs to establish an advisory committee. The committee consists of 2-3 members of the faculty approved by the CIS Graduate Program Committee. The committee chair is a faculty member in the CIS department, and the thesis advisor. At least one other member should be a faculty member in the CIS department. The proposed advisory committee must be submitted to the Graduate Program Committee for approval. Upon completion of the master’s thesis, a final oral examination must be passed, consisting of a defense of the master’s thesis. The final oral examination is directed and evaluated by the student’s advisory committee.

Admission to the master’s degree program does not guarantee that a student can pursue a thesis since more students may desire to do a thesis than there are faculty available to guide them. A thesis student may obtain three credits of CISC 666, CISC 866, or CISC 868 in addition to the six credits of CISC 868 and/or CISC 869 applied toward the MS thesis only if the areas of study do not overlap, as approved by the Graduate Committee. The MS thesis student must still satisfy all other Department requirements.

Graduate Recruitment Contacts

Li Liao
Email: cis-gradprgm@udel.edu
Phone: 302-831-2783

Chiamesha Carey
Graduate Academic Advisor II
Email: careyc@udel.edu
Phone: 302-831-4467

UD Graduate Admissions
Email: gradadmissions@udel.edu
Phone: 302-831-2129