Duluth campus

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Duluth Campus

Computer Science M.S.

Computer Science
Swenson College of Science and Engineering
Link to a list of faculty for this program.
Contact Information
Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1114 Kirby Drive, 320 Heller Hall, Duluth, MN 55812 (218-726-7607; fax: 218-726-8240)
Email: cs@d.umn.edu
  • Program Type: Master's
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2016
  • Length of program in credits: 33
  • This program does not require summer semesters for timely completion.
  • Degree: Master of Science
Along with the program-specific requirements listed below, please read the General Information section of this website for requirements that apply to all major fields.
Computer science is a discipline that involves understanding the design of computers and computational processes. Study in the field ranges from the theoretical study of algorithms to the design and implementation of software at the systems and applications levels. The master of science is a two-year program that provides the necessary foundational studies for graduates planning to pursue either a doctorate in computer science or a career as a computer scientist in business or industry. It is designed for students with undergraduate degrees in computer science or computer engineering. These students should be able to enroll immediately in 8xxx computer science courses.
Program Delivery
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Prerequisites for Admission
The preferred undergraduate GPA for admittance to the program is 3.00.
The program is designed for students with undergraduate degrees in computer science or computer engineering.
Other requirements to be completed before admission:
Students with undergraduate degrees in fields other than computer science or computer engineering may be considered for admittance if they have completed the following courses or their equivalents: CS 1511-1521 - Computer Science I-II; CS 2511 - Software Analysis and Design; CS 2521 - Computer Organization and Architecture; CS 3511 - Computer Science Theory; CS 5621 - Computer Architecture or CS 5651 - Computer Networks; and CS 5631 - Operating Systems. The appropriate math prerequisites, namely MATH 1296-1297 - Calculus I-II and STAT 3611 - Introduction to Probability and Statistics, are also required.
Applicants must submit their test score(s) from the following:
  • GRE
International applicants must submit score(s) from one of the following tests:
  • TOEFL
    • Internet Based - Total Score: 79
    • Internet Based - Writing Score: 21
    • Internet Based - Reading Score: 19
    • Paper Based - Total Score: 550
  • IELTS
    • Total Score: 6.5
  • MELAB
    • Final score: 80
The preferred English language test is Test of English as Foreign Language.
Key to test abbreviations (GRE, TOEFL, IELTS, MELAB).
For an online application or for more information about graduate education admissions, see the General Information section of this website.
Program Requirements
Plan A: Plan A requires 17 to 23 major credits, 0 to 6 credits outside the major, and 10 thesis credits. The final exam is oral.
Plan B: Plan B requires 27 to 33 major credits and 0 to 6 credits outside the major. The final exam is oral.
This program may be completed with a minor.
Use of 4xxx courses toward program requirements is permitted under certain conditions with adviser approval.
A minimum GPA of 3.00 is required for students to remain in good standing.
The master of science degree is offered under Plan A (thesis) and Plan B (non-thesis). At least 33 credits are required, including 16 credits from 8xxx courses in computer science, 1 credit of CS 8993 - Seminar, and 6 credits of electives (either CS 5xxx courses or from a minor or related field). Plan A also requires 10 thesis credits; Plan B requires at least 10 credits in additional courses, 5xxx or above. Except in very rare instances, these must be computer science courses. All courses are chosen in consultation with the student's adviser, subject to approval by the director of graduate studies. Normally 4xxx computer science courses may not be included in degree programs for the master of science in computer science.
Computer Science requirement (17 cr)
Take 16 or more credit(s) from the following:
· CS 5652 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8631 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5612 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8751 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8761 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8771 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5732 - Advanced Computer Security (4.0 cr)
Graduate Seminar
CS 8993 - Seminar (1.0 cr)
Electives outside of Computer Science (6 cr)
The purpose of this requirement is to provide coursework that will support your degree program without duplicating or overlapping courses available within the graduate CS curriculum. Such courses may be chosen from mathematics, statistics, electrical engineering and CS 5xxx courses subject to the approval of the director of graduate studies.
Plan A or Plan B (10 cr)
Plan A
Students must register for 10 credits.
CS 8777 - Thesis Credits: Master's (1.0-24.0 cr)
or Plan B
Take 10 or more credit(s) from the following:
· CS 5511 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5521 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5222 - Artificial Intelligence (4.0 cr)
· CS 5551 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5571 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5621 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5312 - Operating Systems (4.0 cr)
· CS 5342 - Compiler Design (4.0 cr)
· CS 5422 - Computer Networks (4.0 cr)
· CS 5212 - Computer Graphics (4.0 cr)
· CS 5232 - Introduction to Machine Learning and Data Mining (4.0 cr)
· CS 5242 - Natural Language Processing (4.0 cr)
· CS 5991 - Independent Study (1.0-4.0 cr)
· CS 5994 - Advanced Topics in Computer Science (4.0 cr)
· CS 5652 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8631 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5612 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8751 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8761 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 8771 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· CS 5732 - Advanced Computer Security (4.0 cr)
 
More program views..
View college catalog(s):
· Swenson College of Science and Engineering

View future requirement(s):
· Fall 2023
· Fall 2022
· Fall 2020
· Fall 2019


View checkpoint chart:
· Computer Science M.S.
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CS 5732 - Advanced Computer Security
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Broad, active, hands-on and implementation-based approach to computer security. Fundamental cryptographic theory, advanced techniques and application. Complexity, cryptanalysis, and impact of technological change. Core security theory; confidentiality, integrity, availability. Security models. Risk assessment and decision-making. Issues for general -purpose, trusted and cloud operating system security including hardware requirements, authentication, access control, information flow and assurance. Program and network security fundamentals and best practices including coding principles, firewalls and network design. Exploits, defenses and remediation for multiple issues pertaining to software, hardware, databases and networks. Political, social and engineering issues relating to security and privacy. prereq: CS 4821, grad student and instructor consent
CS 8993 - Seminar
Credits: 1.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Presentation and discussion of basic ethical theories, case studies dealing with ethical issues facing the computing professional in his/her life as a practitioner, and the development of research proposal which meets the requirements and standards of the department and serves as the foundation of and guideline for the development of the graduate research project (i.e., thesis). prereq: instructor consent
CS 8777 - Thesis Credits: Master's
Credits: 1.0 -24.0 [max 50.0]
Grading Basis: No Grade
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
(No description) prereq: Max 18 cr per semester or summer; 10 cr total required (Plan A only)
CS 5222 - Artificial Intelligence
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Principles and programming methods of artificial intelligence. Knowledge representation methods, state space search strategies, and use of logic for problem solving. Applications chosen from among expert systems, planning, natural language understanding, uncertainty reasoning, machine learning, and robotics. Lectures and labs will utilize suitable high-level languages (e.g., Python or Lisp). prereq: grad student, 2511, (2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355) or instructor consent, a grade of C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses
CS 5312 - Operating Systems
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Operating system as resource manager. Modern solutions to issues such as processor management and scheduling, concurrency and related problems including deadlocks, memory management and protection, file system design, virtualization, distributed and cloud computing. Concepts including concurrency are illustrated via laboratory assignments, This is a potential Master's project course. prereq: grad student, 2511, 2521, (2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355) or instructor consent, a grade of C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses
CS 5342 - Compiler Design
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
A selection from the following topics: finite-state grammars, lexical analysis, and implementation of symbol tables. Context-free languages and parsing techniques. Syntax-directed translation. Run-time storage allocation. Intermediate languages. Code generation methods. Local and global optimization techniques. prereq: grad student, 2511, 2521, (2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355) or instructor consent, a grade of C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses
CS 5422 - Computer Networks
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to computer networking, network programming, networking hardware and associated network protocols. Layered network architecture, network services, and implementation of computer networking software. prereq: grad student, 2511, 2521, (2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355) or instructor consent, a grade of C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses
CS 5212 - Computer Graphics
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Introduces the fundamentals of computer graphics to create 2D images from 3D data representations, the graphics pipeline, 3D representations of objects such as triangles and triangle meshes, surface material representations, color representation, vector and matrix mathematics, 3D coordinates and transformations, transport of light energy, global illumination, graphics rendering systemes, ray tracing, rasterization, real-time rendering, OpenGL and computer graphics hardware. prereq: graduate student, CS 2511, (2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355), (MATH 3280 or 3326) or instructor consent, a grade of C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses
CS 5232 - Introduction to Machine Learning and Data Mining
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to primary approaches to machine learning and data mining. Methods selected from decision trees, neural networks, statistical learning, genetic algorithms, support vector machines, ensemble methods, and reinforcement learning. Theoretical concepts associated with learning, such as inductive bias and Occam's razor. This is a potential Master's project course. prereq: grad student, 2511, 2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355, Stat 3611 or 3411, Math 3280 or 3326 or instructor consent; a grade of C- or better is required in all prerequisite courses
CS 5242 - Natural Language Processing
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Techniques for creating computer programs that analyze, generate, and understand written human language. Emphasizes broad coverage of both rule-based and empirical data-driven methods. Topics include word-level approaches, syntactic analysis, and semantic interpretation. Applications selected from conversational agents, sentiment analysis, information extraction, and question answering. Significant research project that includes experimental results, written report, and clear grasp of ethical considerations involved. prereq: CS 2511, (2531 or 3512 or MATH 3355), grad student or instructor consent; a grade of C- or better is required in the prerequisite course; credit will not be granted if already received for CS 4242 or 5761
CS 5991 - Independent Study
Credits: 1.0 -4.0 [max 8.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Directed study of special interest topics not available in the standard curriculum. Must be arranged with the instructor in advance of registration. May include readings, research, or special projects. prereq: instructor consent
CS 5994 - Advanced Topics in Computer Science
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Research-oriented study of topics of current academic or industrial interest, such as parallel algorithms, VLSI design, computational geometry, logic programming languages, program correctness, information retrieval systems, and decision support systems. prereq: Grad student or instructor consent
CS 5732 - Advanced Computer Security
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Broad, active, hands-on and implementation-based approach to computer security. Fundamental cryptographic theory, advanced techniques and application. Complexity, cryptanalysis, and impact of technological change. Core security theory; confidentiality, integrity, availability. Security models. Risk assessment and decision-making. Issues for general -purpose, trusted and cloud operating system security including hardware requirements, authentication, access control, information flow and assurance. Program and network security fundamentals and best practices including coding principles, firewalls and network design. Exploits, defenses and remediation for multiple issues pertaining to software, hardware, databases and networks. Political, social and engineering issues relating to security and privacy. prereq: CS 4821, grad student and instructor consent