Detailed Information
Programs of Study
The Master of Science in information technology (IT) program offers an interdisciplinary, broad-based curriculum for this professional degree. Students take courses from a range of disciplines that include math and computer science, electrical and computer engineering, technical communications, and management information systems. The one-year program has a practical orientation that emphasizes hands-on learning and real-world experience in collaborative projects.
The master’s degree in IT program comprises a minimum of 30 credit hours, which include one course treating modern object-oriented design in a language such as C++, one course treating the principles of computing and telecommunication systems, one course in the management of technology, three courses in application of information technology, and 6 credits of project work. Additional credits can include course or project work. Through course selection and project work, students can focus on areas in IT they find compelling.
Students in this program develop a broad base of competencies in hardware, operating systems, computer applications, and the management of technology. At the same time, they can explore specific application areas of their choices through elective classes and project work. Projects focus on real-world problems that provide experience directly applicable to IT in an organizational setting.
Clarkson provides access to some of the latest equipment and software. Individuals can install and run multiple operating systems (UNIX/Linux and MS), manage Web servers, create storefront CGIs, and administer Oracle databases. Cisco Academy instruction is available on campus.
The academic year consists of two semesters of fifteen weeks each. There is no formal summer session for graduate classes, but many students complete their projects during this time.
Students can also opt to complete their degree in 1½ years, taking 10 credits each semester.
Financial Aid
Partial-tuition assistantships are available for all full-time students who are accepted. This includes up to 30 percent off the cost of tuition until degree requirements are met. This assistantship is merit-based.
Cost of Study
Tuition for graduate work is $1074 per credit hour for 2009–10. Fees are about $440 per year.
Living and Housing Costs
Estimated living expenses off campus are approximately $11,000 a year, which includes rent, food, books, clothing, recreation, and miscellaneous expenses. Most graduate students live off campus, as on-campus housing is very limited.
Student Group
There are approximately 400 total graduate students and 2,700 undergraduates.
Location
Clarkson is located in Potsdam, a quintessential college town, nestled in the foothills of the northern Adirondack region of New York. The beautiful northeast corner of the state is the home of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. Within 2 hours of the campus are Lake Placid and the cosmopolitan Canadian cities of Montreal and Ottawa.
The University
Founded in 1896, Clarkson stands out among America’s private nationally ranked research institutions because of its dynamic collaborative learning environment, innovative degree and research programs, and unmatched track record for producing leaders and innovators.
Clarkson is New York State’s highest-ranked small research institution. The University attracts 3,000 enterprising students from diverse backgrounds (including some 400 graduate students) who thrive in rigorous programs in engineering, arts, sciences, business, and health sciences.
Applying
Although there is a rolling admission policy, the recommended application deadlines are May 15 for the fall semester and October 15 for the spring semester for U.S. applicants. International applicants are encouraged to apply by April 15 for the fall semester and October 1 for the spring semester. Students who apply by January 31 for the fall semester receive priority for assistantships and other financial aid. Prospective students may submit an online application using a credit card. Study may begin in August or January. Scores on the General Test of the GRE are required for all applications. TOEFL scores must be submitted by all applicants for whom English is a second language.
The Faculty
- Fifteen full-time regular faculty members and 2 full-time regular instructors from the four departments participate in the graduate information technology program. The disciplines that compose the IT program include math and computer science, electrical and computer engineering, technical communications, and management information systems.
- SAMPLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS
- Web-Based System for Teaching Controller Performance Assessment
- Fall 2005
- Adviser: Dr. Raghunathan Rengasamy
- This project includes the development of a C++ interface for communicating, with an experiment for controlling the level of liquid in multiple tanks. Matlab is used to control the liquid level by opening and closing valves that regulate the flow into the various tanks. A module written in C++ is integrated with a Web server for displaying real time on the Web data from the experiment. The system allows for a two-way communication so that commands from the Web can be directly fed to the experimental system. The complete site contains a calendar, software for user registration, authentication, and other resources.
- Automatic Web Survey Generator and Administrator
- Fall 2005
- Adviser: Dr. Wm. Dennis Horn
- This system automates the process of creating surveys. The survey administrator enters questions for the survey. Multiple choices for the answers are generated by the software based on a predefined value. The survey generator is password protected to prevent unwanted people from creating or modifying surveys. When users take the survey, results are stored in a flat database. Additional software analyzes the data and presents results on the Web behind authentication. PHP is used for the survey generation and analytical processing. JavaScript is used for validation. HTML/CSS is used for the basic HTML page design.
- HPC Cluster
- Summer 2004
- Adviser: Professor Wm. Dennis Horn
- The purpose of this project was to create a computational cluster to be used by the mechanical and aeronautical engineering faculty members and select graduate students. The hardware for this project consists of:
- (1) IBM xSeries 345 with dual hyperthreaded 2.8-GHz Xeon processors (four logical processors), 2.5 GB of RAM, and two 36-GB Ultra-360 SCSI disks in Raid 0. This box serves as the management node.
- (2) IBM 1350 Blade Centers fully populated with fourteen blades each. Each blade contains two hyperthreaded 2.8-GHz Xeon processors, 2.5 GB of RAM, and a 40-GB laptop hard drive. The blades and the management node are connected with each other using both gigabit Ethernet and Myrinet (a high-speed, low-latency, fiber-optic connection). Each node runs a version of SuSE Linux Professional Edition Version 9.1 and IBM’s cluster services manager.
- Documentation of Cisco Routers and Switches
- Spring 2004
- Adviser: Professor Jeanna Matthews
- This project documents the configuration of Cisco Routers and Switches in Clarkson University’s Cisco-ITL laboratory. The document includes basic router configuration, password recovery, Cisco switches in the ITL, IOS commands, upgrading router IOSes, making network cables and so forth. The document enables future students to maintain the equipment, set up experiments and classes, and update the hardware and software.
- E-mail Gateway
- Spring 2004
- Adviser: Professor Wm. Dennis Horn
- This project created an e-mail gateway to handle all incoming and outgoing e-mail from Clarkson’s campus. This gateway sits between the Internet and Clarkson’s internal mail system and runs antivirus and antispam measures against all SMTP messages that it receives. The hardware for this project consists of an IBM xSeries 345 with dual hyperthreaded 3.2-GHz Xeon processors (four logical processors), 2 GB of RAM, and two 36-GB Ultra-360 SCSI disks in Raid 0. The software running on this box consists of a patched qmail (MTA), spamassassin (antispam), uvscan (antivirus), and a collection of custom Perl scripts to prevent blatant spam attacks. When fully operational, this box handles upwards of 100,000 messages per day and contains approximately 13,000 messages in its queue. The majority of these queued messages are bounces generated as the result of undeliverable mail.
- Windmill Research Project
- Fall 2002
- Adviser: Professor Kenneth Visser
- Every 10 seconds, sensors at the Windmill Site (Potsdam, New York, Airport) record data on wind speed at 18 meters, 12 meters, and 6 meters; wind direction at 18 meters and 6 meters; and the temperature, relative humidity, and pressure. This project reduces the massive amount of raw data to human-interpretable form by creating an HTML interface that allows researchers to select time intervals of minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months and graph changes over periods of days, months, and years. Perl/CGI is used to crunch the data in less than a second and graph it, using the Perl GD.pm module, in PNG format. Graphs are scaled to fit on the screen, and multiple graphs can be placed in a single display for comparison.
Correspondence and Information
Clarkson University
Information Technology
Graduate School
Box 5802
Potsdam, New York 13699-5802
Telephone:
315-268-3802
Fax:
315-268-3989
Email:
sciencegrad@clarkson.edu
horn@clarkson.edu
