College of Computer and Information Science Northeastern University

The First College of Computer and Information Science in the Nation

The College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first college in the country to be devoted entirely to the field. Since its founding in 1982, it has developed graduate degree programs that bring students to the forefront of research. The college's faculty consists of both highly accomplished academics and industry experts with years of experience.

Research at the college centers on 4 interrelated topics: information assurance, network science, software reliability, and health informatics. The college is home to research groups in programming languages, social networks, network security, information retrieval and data mining, software engineering, systems, formal methods, algorithms and theory, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and robotics. Northeastern University has one of the top programming languages research teams in the country.

The College of Computer and Information Science (CCIS) offers graduate degrees in both computer science itself and health information and information assurance, 2 cutting-edge interdisciplinary fields. Approximately 65 doctoral students and 200 master's degree students from many different countries are enrolled in these programs.

More information is available regarding graduate applications and graduate studies at Northeastern University.

Master's Degree and Certificate Programs in Health Informatics

The College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University offers both traditional and online master's degree and certificate programs in health informatics. The CCIS joins forces with the Bouve College of Health Sciences to provide programs that are strongly connected to health industry professionals.

The Health Informatics faculty members are leaders in the field. Gil Alterovitz is a National Institutes of Health, NLM Biomedical Informatics Fellow, and a researcher at Harvard Medical School's Biomedical Cybernetics Laboratory. Timothy Bickmore received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award to evaluate a virtual health-counseling agent. Other faculty members hold leadership positions within healthcare organizations, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Atrius Health, Women's Health Institute, Partners HealthCare, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization.

Master of Science in Information Assurance

The College of Computer and Information Science offers a Master of Science (MS) in Information Assurance to train graduate students and working professionals to combat information security threats, such as computer viruses, identity theft, and electronic fraud. Students learn how to assess and manage security risks and how to present recommendations to management.

The highly qualified faculty members include Themis Papageorge, former VP of services at Guardium, a leading database security firm; Kyle Courtney, an attorney from Harvard Law School; and Michael Higgins, a veteran in the field with 20 years of experience in government and private industry who founded the Department of Defense Computer Emergency Response team.

This interdisciplinary program explores relevant topics not only in information science, but also in law, criminology, management, and the social sciences. Students customize the program to meet their professional needs.

Graduate students in the master's program can complete the degree full-time within 4-semesters, or they may opt for part-time study. In addition, students can complete the program entirely online.

Doctoral Program in Information Assurance

The doctoral program in information assurance at Northeastern University prepares students to become researchers and policy advisers in information security in industry, academia, and government. Students study how policy, law, and human behavior impact the design implementation of security systems.

Northeastern University has been designated by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Excellence in the research and education of information assurance. NU's Institute of Information Assurance (IIA) is an interdisciplinary research collaboration between CCIS and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Master of Science in Computer Science

The MS in Computer Science at the College of Computer and Information Science provides a broad education in the field of computer science. The master's program equips students to design, develop, implement, and market information systems. This degree can be accomplished on either a full-time or part-time basis.

PhD in Computer Science

The doctoral program in computer science provides students with a broad background in computer science as well as extensive research experience. Students may pursue research in numerous subfields including networks, security, software development, algorithms and theory, data mining, formal methods, systems, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.

Graduate Cooperative Education

Northeastern University is acclaimed for its experiential educational approach that revolves around its co-op program. This program is available to CSIS master's degree level students. Students complete a sequence of courses that include a co-op seminar. Graduate students spend 6 to 8 months working for an industry in software development, project management, network administration, or a field of specialization, such as bioinformatics or game design. Most jobs are located in the Boston area, but some students have traveled Hong Kong, China, Australia, Ireland, and many other countries to complete their co-op training.

Northeastern -- A Top Experiential Research University

Northeastern University is located in Boston, Massachusetts, a center of for the high tech and medical industries and leading academic institutions. The university offers 165 graduate programs. Many Northeastern graduate programs are ranked among the top 100 in their fields in the country.

• Health Informatics Program
• Information Assurance Program

• Degrees Offered
• Major Degree Levels Offered
• Health Informatics Master of Science (MS)
• Computer And Information Science Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Information Assurance Master of Science (MS)
• Computer Science Master of Science (MS)

• Degrees Awarded
• Master's Degrees 88
• Doctoral Degrees 7
• 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? Yes

• Degree Requirements
• Master's Degrees Optional
• Doctoral Degrees Required and Required
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported

• Acceptance Rate
• Applied1,045
• Accepted580
• Acceptance Rate55%
• Enrolled150
• Applying
• Application Fee - Domestic $50
• Application Fee - International $50
• Electronic applications accepted? Yes
• Applications processed on a rolling basis? Yes
• Application Deadlines
• Type Domestic International Priority Date
• Fall deadline July 15th May 1st Not Reported
• Winter deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Spring deadline October 15th September 1st Not Reported
• Entrance Requirements
• Master's DegreesGRE General Test
• Doctoral's DegreesGRE General Test
• First-Professional's DegreesNot Reported
• Other Advanced DegreesNot Reported
• International DegreesTOEFL or IELTS

• Tuition & Fees
• In-state tuition *Not Reported
• Out-of-state tuition *Not Reported
• 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 submitNot Reported
• Application deadlines for financial awardsJanuary 15
• Types of financial support availableFellowships, Research Assitantships, Teaching Assistantships, Career or Field-Related Internships, Federal Work-Study, Institutionally-sponsored Loans, Scholarship and/or loans, Graduate Assistantships

• Gender
• Total Graduate Students427
• Female Percentage33%
• Male Percentage67%
• Participation
• Total Graduate Students427
• Part-time Percentage21%
• Full-time Percentage79%
• Ethnicity
• Hispanic / LatinoNot Reported
• Black / African AmericanNot Reported
• White / CaucasianNot Reported
• American Indian / Alaskan NativeNot Reported
• AsianNot Reported
• Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific IslanderNot Reported
• Two or more racesNot Reported
• UnknownNot Reported

• Existing Research
• Focus of faculty researchProgramming languages, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, database management, network security
• Externally sponsored research expenditures last yearNot Reported