Manton M. Matthews, Chair

Overview

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering offers master’s and doctoral-level degrees in computer science and engineering. In addition, a graduate certificate program in information assurance and security is offered. These programs emphasize student involvement in research programs and projects, many of which are supported by government agencies or are collaborative efforts with local industries. Current research emphasizes work in agent-based computing and artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, computer security and information assurance, computer vision and image processing, embedded and reconfigurable computing, quantum computing, robotics, software quality assurance, and wireless networks.

The M.S. and M.E. degrees are designed to provide a strong foundation for pursuing careers in the computer and information systems industry. The Ph.D. degree prepares graduates for careers in industrial research and university-level teaching and research. The graduate certificate program in information assurance and security is designed to provide information professionals with the background and knowledge needed for management of computer security and information assurance. Additional information on current research projects, detailed course outlines, and other aspects of the graduate program may be found on the departmental Web site, www.cse.sc.edu.

Admissions

Requirements for admission to all graduate degree programs in computer science and engineering include the general admission requirements of The Graduate School as well as more stringent departmental requirements, as described below. In general, the admission process is highly competitive. Admissions decisions are based on the quality of the applicant’s previous university-level academic work, letters of recommendation, GRE scores, and other evidence of past accomplishments.

For admission to the M.E., M.S., or Ph.D. program, applicants normally hold the B.S. degree in computer science and engineering from an ABET-accredited program. Applicants should have completed courses in algorithmic design, data structures, computer organization, analysis of algorithms, operating systems, discrete mathematics, and calculus. Applicants not having courses in all of these subjects may be admitted conditionally while they take the remaining ones. Any required prerequisite courses are an integral part of the student’s degree program and must be completed before any graduate degree will be awarded.

For admission to the Certificate of Graduate Study in Information Assurance and Security program, applicants normally hold the B.S. degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related field. In addition, they must have completed courses in data structures and algorithms, operating systems, database management systems, discrete mathematics, linear algebra, and probability and statistics. Students enrolled in other graduate degree programs at USC are automatically eligible to pursue the certificate as long as they have taken the prerequisite courses.

For admission to the Master of Software Engineering program, applicants normally hold the B.S.degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer information systems, management information systems, or a closely related field. Applicants should also have at least one year of experience in software development or maintenance. Students not having adequate experience in software development or maintenance will be required to take CSCE 793 Internship in Software Engineering must be completed before the degree will be awarded.

All applicants must submit GRE scores. International applicants must also submit TOEFL (IBT) or IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam scores. The average GRE scores of the accepted applicants for fall 2008 were: verbal 545, quantitative 768, and analytical writing 4.3 (on a 1 to 6 scale).

In addition, all applicants should submit an official transcript from each school or college previously attended, and at least two letters of recommendation.

The admission committee will evaluate all aspects of each application and will make a recommendation on admission to The Graduate School. All application materials must be received by February 1 for fall and summer admission and by October 1 for spring admission.

Academic Standards

All students are expected to meet the academic standards of The Graduate School.

Programs and Courses

Programs

• Computer Science and Engineering, M.E.
• Computer Science and Engineering, M.S.
• Computer Science and Engineering, Ph.D.
• Cyber Security Studies, Certificate
• Software Engineering, M.S.
• System Design, M.S.

Courses

• CSCE 500 - Computer Programming and Applications
• CSCE 510 - System Programming
• CSCE 512 - System Performance Evaluation
• CSCE 513 - Computer Architecture
• CSCE 515 - Computer Network Programming
• CSCE 516 - Computer Networks
• CSCE 517 - Computer Crime and Forensics
• CSCE 518 - Ethical Hacking
• CSCE 520 - Database System Design
• CSCE 522 - Information Security Principles
• CSCE 526 - Service Oriented Computing
• CSCE 531 - Compiler Construction
• CSCE 546 - Mobile Application Development
• CSCE 547 - Windows Programming
• CSCE 548 - Building Secure Software
• CSCE 551 - Theory of Computation
• CSCE 552 - Computer Game Development
• CSCE 555 - Algorithms in Bioinformatics
• CSCE 557 - Introduction to Cryptography
• CSCE 561 - Numerical Analysis
• CSCE 563 - Systems Simulation
• CSCE 564 - Computational Science
• CSCE 565 - Introduction to Computer Graphics
• CSCE 567 - Visualization Tools
• CSCE 569 - Parallel Computing
• CSCE 571 - Critical Interactives
• CSCE 572 - Human-Computer Interaction
• CSCE 574 - Robotics
• CSCE 578 - Text Processing
• CSCE 580 - Artificial Intelligence
• CSCE 582 - Bayesian Networks and Decision Graphs
• CSCE 587 - Big Data Analytics
• CSCE 590 - Topics in Information Technology
• CSCE 611 - Advanced Digital Design
• CSCE 612 - VLSI System Design
• CSCE 613 - Fundamentals of VLSI Chip Design
• CSCE 711 - Advanced Operating Systems
• CSCE 713 - Advanced Computer Architecture
• CSCE 715 - Network Systems Security
• CSCE 716 - Design for Reliability
• CSCE 717 - Computer System Performance and Reliability Analysis
• CSCE 718 - Real-Time Computer Applications
• CSCE 719 - Security and Privacy for Wireless Networks
• CSCE 721 - Physical Database Design
• CSCE 723 - Advanced Database Design
• CSCE 725 - Information Retrieval: Algorithms and Models
• CSCE 727 - Information Warfare
• CSCE 730 - Programming Language Semantics
• CSCE 740 - Software Engineering
• CSCE 741 - Software Process
• CSCE 742 - Software Architectures
• CSCE 743 - Software Requirements
• CSCE 744 - Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
• CSCE 745 - Object-Oriented Programming Methods
• CSCE 747 - Software Testing and Quality Assurance
• CSCE 750 - Analysis of Algorithms
• CSCE 755 - Computability, Automata, and Formal Languages
• CSCE 758 - Probabilistic System Analysis
• CSCE 760 - Numerical Analysis I
• CSCE 761 - Numerical Analysis II
• CSCE 763 - Digital Image Processing
• CSCE 765 - Computer Graphics System Design
• CSCE 766 - Scientific Visualization
• CSCE 767 - Interactive Computer Systems
• CSCE 768 - Pattern Recognition and Classification
• CSCE 769 - Computational Structural Biology
• CSCE 771 - Computer Processing of Natural Language
• CSCE 772 - Computer Speech Processing
• CSCE 774 - Robotics Systems
• CSCE 780 - Knowledge Representation
• CSCE 781 - Knowledge Systems
• CSCE 782 - Multiagent systems
• CSCE 784 - Neural Information Processing
• CSCE 787 - Introduction to Fuzzy Logic
• CSCE 790 - Topics in Information Technology
• CSCE 791 - Seminar in Advances in Computing
• CSCE 793 - Internship in Software Engineering
• CSCE 797 - Individual Study and Research
• CSCE 798 - Directed Study and Research
• CSCE 799 - Thesis Preparation
• CSCE 813 - Internet Security
• CSCE 814 - Distributed Systems Security
• CSCE 815 - Computer Communications
• CSCE 818 - Top-Down VLSI Design
• CSCE 819 - Custom VLSI Design
• CSCE 821 - Distributed Database Design
• CSCE 822 - Data Mining and Warehousing
• CSCE 824 - Secure Database Systems
• CSCE 826 - Cooperative Information Systems
• CSCE 846 - Software Reliability and Safety
• CSCE 850 - Advanced Analysis of Algorithms
• CSCE 853 - Formal Methods in Computer Security
• CSCE 865 - Advanced Computer Graphics
• CSCE 867 - Computer Vision
• CSCE 868 - Advanced Pattern Recognition
• CSCE 883 - Machine Learning
• CSCE 895 - Ph.D. Seminar
• CSCE 899 - Dissertation Preparation