ISAT Specialist Tracks in the Department of Computer Science

The Department of Computer Science offers two Disciplines of Study under the Integrated
Science and Technology (ISAT) Specialist Track. These Disciplines of Study are General
Computer Science and Data Science programs.

The General Computer Science program covers a wide breadth of topics in Computer Science.The
Data Science program is a special multidisciplinary field that mainly integrates computer
science, math, and information science. This  aims to teach how to process data and
utilize the processed data by means of algorithms that mimics human intelligence.
The Data ScienceDiscipline of Study is especially appropriate for students wishing
to pursue a graduate degree leading ultimately to a research career or software application
development for data analysis.

The ISAT Specialist Track offers thesis and project options. The MS degree requires
a total of 36 credit hours. Course requirements are:

  • ISAT 600 Applied Science Seminar (3 hours)
  • Core course requirements (9 hours)
  • Elective course requirements (18 hours for thesis, 21 hours for project option)
  • Thesis option (6 hours) or project option (3 hours)

 

Core Courses

  • ISAT 625 Applications of Computing in Science and Technology
  • ISAT 651 Applied Knowledge Discovery for Engineering and Science
  • ISAT 670 Pattern Recognition and Applications for Engineering and Science
  • Any other ISAT course
  • Note that ISAT 600/601 must be taken in coordination with the major professor

The Data Science program requires ISAT 651 and ISAT 670 as core courses.

 

Elective Course Requirements

Thesis Option (18 hours)

At least six elective courses must be taken. Out of six elective courses, at least
four courses shall be from the 600-level of the Discipline of Study’s curriculum.

 

Project Option (21 hours)

At least seven elective courses must be taken. Out of seven elective courses, at least
four courses shall be from the 600-level of the Discipline of Study’s curriculum.

 

MS Thesis/Project Exam (6 or 3 hours)

Each student is required to complete a thesis or research project that investigates
a significant interdisciplinary, applications-oriented topic centered in the area
of concentration.  Thesis option requires 6 credit hours of work while project option
requires 3 credit hours of work. The student defends the work in a public oral examination.

 

Academic Standards Policy

A student in the ISAT program must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0, with no grade
lower than a “C”. A student who fails to meet this standard will be placed on probation
the following regular semester and allowed an opportunity to repeat this course to
improve his/her cumulative GPA. A student failing to improve his/her cumulative GPA
to a 3.0 will be dismissed from the ISAT program and Graduate School.

 

Timeline

  • Year-1: Choose a major professor consulting with the Graduate Advisor. Decide on a
    thesis/project topic consulting with the major professor. Conduct literature review
    and submit the literature review report while taking ISAT 600.
  • Year-1, second semester: Form the Degree Committee consulting with the major professor.
    Submit the plan of study form. Present topic proposal to the Degree Committee.
    Topic proposal: The students present topic proposal with a comprehensive literature
    review. The proposal must clearly define the problem and explain the significance
    of the topic together with a timeline that outlines tasks to be accomplished.
  • Year-2 or beyond: Take MS Thesis/Project Exam. The students must register ISAT 770
    or ISAT 771 for the thesis or project in progress. The format of a master thesis must
    follow the guidelines defined by the Graduate Studies in the catalog of the year at
    which the student plans to submit the thesis. The format of the master project must
    follow the guidelines provided by the Graduate Advisor. 
  • The format of a master thesis must follow the guidelines defined by the Graduate Studies
    in the catalog of the year at which the student plans to submit the thesis. The format
    of the master project must follow the guidelines provided by the Graduate Advisor.

 

Computer Science Graduate Advisor

The head of the Computer Science department appoints the concentration Graduate Advisor
who will be the liaison to the ISAT program. The Graduate Advisor is responsible for
all activities related to the M.S. degree in the Computer Science and Data Science
Disciplines of Study within the Specialist Track such as processing of applications
to the Disciplines of Study, authorization to register in courses, approval of the
major professor, the degree committee, the plan of study, and the final thesis/project
product. The Graduate Advisor processes all applicants’ application materials and
presents them to the Graduate Advisory Committee for approval. The Graduate Advisor
supervises the work of graduate assistants registered in the Disciplines of Study.
The Graduate Advisor serves as the department’s representative on the ISAT Graduate
Faculty Committee.

 

Computer Science Graduate Advisory Committee

The department head forms the Graduate Advisory Committee consulting with the graduate
advisor. This committee is responsible for approval of admissions to the concentration
and implementation of Academic Standard Policy.

 

Major Professor (Advisor)

Students must choose a Major Professor (Advisor). The Major Professor is responsible
for supervising the thesis or project and approving of the final written product.
The Major Professor is also responsible for reporting the student’s progress to the
Graduate Advisor.

 

Degree Committee

Each candidate must form a Degree Committee. Each Degree Committee will consist of
minimum three faculty members from the Computer Science Department, and a representative
from business or industry is highly recommended. The committee members must be approved
by the Major Professor and the Graduate Advisor. A student’s Degree Committee will
be selected during the student’s first semester in the program no later than the second
semester in the program. The research project topic will be chosen during the student’s
first year in the program, but after completion of the Applied Science Seminars. Students
deemed to be making insufficient progress toward their degrees will be notified of
the problems identified by the committee, and will be given upto one semester to make
improvements.

 

Elective Courses

This is not an inclusive list.

CMPS 539 Database Systems
CMPS 543 Simulation and Modeling
CMPS 551 Data Mining
CMPS 570 Machine Learning
CMPS 573 Introduction to Computer Vision
CMPS 591 Special Topics
ISAT 625 Applications of Computing in Science and Technology
CMPS 626 Industrial Applications for Data Science
CMPS 672 Deep Learning
CMPS 685 Software Engineering for Data Science
CMPS 690 IoT for Data Science
CMPS 691 Advanced Special Topics
MATH 605 Applied Statistics
MATH 615 Coding Theory and Cryptography
MATH 617 Applications of Combinatorics and Graph Theory

 

Forms

Plan of Study Form

New Student Guideline

 

Process Flow

1. Application -> Admission Office -> ISAT Graduate Director -> CS Graduate Advisor
-> CS

Graduate Advisory Committee -> Recommend to

1.1. Admit -> ISAT Graduate Director -> Inform {Applicant, Graduate Studies, other
offices}.

1.2. Reject -> ISAT Graduate Director -> Inform {Applicant, Graduate Studies, other
offices}.

2. Request for {Plan of study, major professor, degree committee, final thesis/project
product}

-> CS Graduate Advisor ->

2.1. Approve -> Inform ISAT Graduate Director,

2.2. Table -> CS Graduate Advisory Committee ->

2.2.1. Approve -> Inform ISAT Graduate Director.

2.2.2. Reject -> Inform student and request resubmit.

3. Issues related to the Academic Standard Policy -> CS Graduate Advisor -> CS Graduate

Advisory Committee -> Meeting with student ->

3.1. Decision: Issue is resolved -> Inform student.

3.2. Decision: Failing to improve -> Inform ISAT Graduate director -> Inform Graduate
Studies and Other Offices.