Computer Science Department College of Engineering Florida Institute of Technology

FIT College of Engineering's Department of Computer Sciences Offers Everything from Artificial Intelligence to Security

The Department of Computer Sciences offers programs of graduate study leading to the degrees of Master of Science in Computer Science, Master of Science in Software Engineering, and Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science. Major areas of study include artificial intelligence, computer security, data mining, machine learning, database systems, information assurance, programming languages, software engineering, software testing, and Web technology.

The master's degree in computer science offers students the opportunity to pursue advanced studies in various areas of computer science. The program is designed for students with baccalaureate degrees in computer science and provides a solid preparation for those who may pursue a doctorate. All students must complete and defend a thesis or pass a final program examination during their last semester.

The master's degree in software engineering offers the student the opportunity to advance their skills in software development and software project management. The program is designed for students with baccalaureate degrees in computer science or closely related fields. Software testing and computer security are fields of emphasis within the department. All students must complete and defend a thesis or pass a final program examination during their last semester.

The doctoral program is designed to provide research in the disciplines of computer science. The program requires broad knowledge of computer science fundamentals, mastery of a specialized subject, and the creativity to produce a dissertation based on original research.

CSE Research Projects Explore Bioinformatics, Security Issues, Databases, and Software Testing, Among Scores of Topics

The Department of Computer Sciences (CSE) is home to a variety of exciting, groundbreaking research projects. Recent research projects have included National Science Foundation work and investigations into artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, computer vision, speech recognition, network security, cryptography, database systems, malicious code, and software testing. Research funding has been provided by major corporations and organizations, such as BMW, DARPA, Harris Corporation, ISM, Microsoft, NASA, Rational Software, Texas Instruments, and others.

Special Centers Are Home to Leading-Edge Research, with Students and Faculty Members Working in Every Computer Specialty

The Harris Institute for Assured Information is funded by both industry and government sponsors and concentrates on all aspects of computer hardware and software security. Faculty participants are internationally recognized for their technical contributions, especially in the areas of hardware and software security testing. License agreements in place with a number of industry leaders enable the implementation research results in commercial quality hardware and software products, focusing on assuring the integrity of computer hardware and software applications from malicious intrusion. The center performs funded hardware and software testing, vulnerability testing, security assessments, and basic research in a computer security and software development testing.

The Center for Computation and Intelligence (CCI) is part of the Department of Computer Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology. The primary mission of the center is to engage in fundamental research on intelligent systems and its applications. The center strives to apply basic research toward solving practical problems. The objective is to make strong contributions in computer science, disseminate its research via quality publications, to secure funding, to enrich students' educational experience, and to contribute toward the intellectual quality and collaborative environment within the department and the university. CCI studies how to make computers more intelligent as well as how intelligence can change the way people compute. Specifically, the CCI investigates algorithms that can help computers learn (machine learning), listen (speech recognition), reason (constraint reasoning, spatio-temporal reasoning), and see (computer vision). Moreover, CCI examines how distributed intelligent agents can interact (coordination, distributed constraint reasoning, cryptography). The CCI also studies how simplistic animal behavior can provide a novel way to solve problems (swarm intelligence). Applications of these techniques include computational biology, computer security, device monitoring, digital government, surveillance, Web personalization, and information retrieval.

The Center for Software Testing Education and Research (CSTER) is currently working on many projects, some of which are underway, others in planning. The Black Box Testing Course is publishing lecture slides, sample exam questions, many worked examples, and background reading papers on testing and on the teaching of testing. All these materials are available to students and teachers anywhere in the world, for free. Such other testing-related studies as High Volume Automated Testing and Software Testing Measurement are examining measurement theory in general, as well as the measurement of testing progress and tester performance, and on the implications of high-volume test results for models of software reliability. In the Programmer Testing Course, researchers write their own programs in Ruby to test commercial applications through their APIs. The course closes with test-first development of a high-volume-automation test tool. Exploratory Testing studies the psychological aspects of exploration, including cognitive theory, education theory, and characteristics of the individual, while the Failure Mode Catalogs project has produced two catalogs so far, which will help establish the extent to which materials like these can help novice testers and (more likely) experienced testers who are new to their current type of application. The Test Techniques project is looking into domain testing, scenario testing, and risk-based testing (especially failure-mode analysis). Procedural Instruction studies aim to devise better methods for technical instruction, particularly with printed materials.

• Degrees Offered
• Major Degree Levels Offered
• Computer Science Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
  Master of Science (MS)
• Software Engineering Master of Science (MS)
• Computer Information Systems Master of Science (MS)

• Degrees Awarded
• Master's Degrees 43
• Doctoral Degrees 0
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported
• * Shows the number of degrees awarded for the last academic year that data was reported.

• Earning Your Degree
• Part-time study available? Yes
• Evening/weekend programs available? Yes
• Distance learning programs available? No
• Terminal master's degree available? No

• Degree Requirements
• Master's Degrees Required for some, optional and final exam, seminar, or internship (for non-thesis option)
• Doctoral Degrees Required, Required and publication in journal, teaching experience (strongly encouraged), specialized research program
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported

• Acceptance Rate
• Applied395
• Accepted238
• Acceptance Rate60%
• Enrolled34
• Applying
• Application Fee - Domestic Not Reported
• Application Fee - International Not Reported
• Electronic applications accepted? Yes
• Applications processed on a rolling basis? Yes
• Application Deadlines
• Type Domestic International Priority Date
• Fall deadline April 1st Not Reported
• Winter deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Spring deadline September 30th Not Reported
• Entrance Requirements
• Master's DegreesGRE General Test, minimum GPA of 3.0, 3 letters of recommendation
• Doctoral's DegreesGRE General Test, GRE Subject Test in computer science (recommended), 3 letters of recommendation, minimum GPA of 3.5, and resume, statement of objectives
• First-Professional's DegreesNot Reported
• Other Advanced DegreesNot Reported
• International DegreesTOEFL required, 550 paper based, TOEFL iBT

• Tuition & Fees
• In-state tuition *$20,214
• Out-of-state tuition *$20,214
• International student tuitionNot Reported
• * Tuition for full-time graduate student per academic year
• Fees
• Per-academic year feesNot Reported
• Per-term feesNot Reported
• One-time feeNot Reported
• * Fees for full-time graduate students
• Financial Support
• Financial award applicants must submitFAFSA
• Application deadlines for financial awardsMarch 1
• Types of financial support availableResearch Assitantships, Teaching Assistantships, Tuition Waivers, Career or Field-Related Internships, Financial Support for Part-time Students, Institutionally-sponsored Loans, Graduate Assistantships, tuition remissions

• Gender
• Total Graduate Students150
• Female Percentage19%
• Male Percentage81%
• Participation
• Total Graduate Students150
• Part-time Percentage45%
• Full-time Percentage55%
• Ethnicity
• Hispanic / Latino7%
• Black / African American3%
• White / Caucasian62%
• American Indian / Alaskan Native0%
• Asian3%
• Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander0%
• Two or more races5%
• Unknown20%

• Faculty Breakout
• Total Faculty28
• Full-time Percentage61%
• Part-time Percentage39%
• Female Percentage4%
• Male Percentage96%

• Existing Research
• Focus of faculty researchArtificial intelligence, software engineering, management and processes, programming languages, database systems
• Externally sponsored research expenditures last year$642,316