Computer Science Graduate Major (MEng, MS, PhD)
This program is available at the following locations:
- Corvallis (MEng, MS, PhD)
- Ecampus (MEng, MS Project)
The master's program provides advanced instruction beyond the undergraduate degree. It prepares students for careers in which a higher level of experience is required. The PhD program prepares students for work in government or industry research laboratories or in academia.
Additional areas of concentration may be arranged with other departments, for example, numerical analysis or computer algebra with the Department of Mathematics.
Major Code: 3070
Upon successful completion of the program, students will meet the following learning outcomes:
MEng
- Conduct research or produce some other form of creative work.
- Demonstrate mastery of subject material.
- Conduct scholarly or professional activities in an ethical manner.
MS
- Conduct research or produce some other form of creative work.
- Demonstrate mastery of subject material.
- Conduct scholarly or professional activities in an ethical manner.
- Communicate thesis clearly and professionally in written form.
- Communicate thesis clearly and professionally in oral form.
- Demonstrate the potential value of the proposed solution to the research problem in advancing knowledge within the area of study.
- Analyzed and interpreted research results/data effectively.
- Demonstrate capability for independent research in the area of study, preparedness in core disciplines relevant to research, and ability to complete the proposed research.
PhD
- Produce and defend an original significant contribution to knowledge.
- Demonstrate mastery of subject material.
- Conduct scholarly activities in an ethical manner.
- Communicate thesis clearly and professionally in written form.
- Communicate thesis clearly and professionally in oral form.
- Demonstrate the potential value of the proposed solution to the research problem in advancing knowledge within the area of study.
- Analyzed and interpreted research results/data effectively.
- Demonstrate capability for independent research in the area of study, preparedness in core disciplines relevant to research, and ability to complete the proposed research.
MEng
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core | ||
| Select at least one course from four separate topic areas 1,2 | 12-16 | |
| Ethics | ||
| BA 550 | LEADERSHIP AND TEAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS | 3 |
| or EMGT 554 | PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS | |
| Technical Writing | ||
| WR 545 | TECHNICAL WRITING FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS 3 | 3 |
| Electives | ||
| Chosen by the student and may include up to 6 credits from the following: 4 | 23-27 | |
| RESEARCH | ||
| READING AND CONFERENCE | ||
| PROJECTS | ||
| OCCUPATIONAL INTERNSHIP 5 | ||
| Total Credits | 45 | |
MS Project
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core | ||
| Select at least one course from four separate topic areas 1,2 | 12-16 | |
| Electives | ||
| Chosen by the student and may include up to 6 credits from the following: | 11-24 | |
| RESEARCH | ||
| READING AND CONFERENCE | ||
| PROJECTS | ||
| OCCUPATIONAL INTERNSHIP 5 | ||
| Project Support Courses | ||
| A coherent set of three or more courses giving preparation and support for the student’s project 6 | 3-12 | |
| Project | ||
| CS 506 | PROJECTS | 6 |
| Total Credits | 45 | |
MS Thesis
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core | ||
| Select at least one course from four separate topic areas 1,2 | 12-16 | |
| Electives | ||
| Courses chosen by the student which may include up to 6 credits from the following: | 8-21 | |
| RESEARCH | ||
| READING AND CONFERENCE | ||
| PROJECTS | ||
| OCCUPATIONAL INTERNSHIP 5 | ||
| Thesis Support Courses | ||
| A coherent set of three or more courses giving preparation and support for the student’s thesis 6 | 3-12 | |
| Thesis | ||
| CS 503 | COMPUTER SCIENCE MS THESIS | 9 |
| Total Credits | 45 | |
PhD
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core | ||
| Select at least one course from four separate topic areas 1,2 | 12-16 | |
| Theory | ||
| CS 515 | ALGORITHMS AND DATA STRUCTURES | 4 |
| CS 517 | THEORY OF COMPUTATION | 4 |
| Electives | ||
| Courses chosen by the student which may include up to 15 credits from the following: | 0-36 | |
| RESEARCH | ||
| READING AND CONFERENCE | ||
| PROJECTS | ||
| OCCUPATIONAL INTERNSHIP 5 | ||
| RESEARCH | ||
| READING AND CONFERENCE | ||
| Thesis Support Courses | ||
| A coherent set of four or more courses giving preparation and support for the student’s dissertation 6 | 3-12 | |
| Thesis | ||
| CS 603 | COMPUTER SCIENCE PHD THESIS | 36-81 |
| Total Credits | 108 | |
Topic Areas
A course may only count for one breadth area on the Program of Study. If a course can belong to more than one breadth area, the committee will decide the assignment of the course to the breadth area.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Theoretical Computer Science | ||
| CS 514 | ALGORITHMS: DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND IMPLEMENTATION | 4 |
| CS 515 | ALGORITHMS AND DATA STRUCTURES (required for PhD so not eligible as topic area course) | 4 |
| CS 517 | THEORY OF COMPUTATION (required for PhD so not eligible as topic area course) | 4 |
| CS 520 | GRAPH THEORY WITH APPLICATIONS TO COMPUTER SCIENCE | 3 |
| CS 527 | ERROR-CORRECTING CODES | 4 |
| CS 529 | SELECTED TOPICS IN THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE | 1-5 |
| Artificial Intelligence | ||
| AI 530 | BIG IDEAS IN AI | 3 |
| AI 531 | AGENTS, SEARCH AND REASONING | 4 |
| AI 533 | INTELLIGENT AGENTS AND DECISION MAKING | 4 |
| AI 534 | MACHINE LEARNING | 4 |
| AI 535 | DEEP LEARNING | 4 |
| AI 536 | PROBABILISTIC GRAPHICAL MODELS | 4 |
| AI 537 | COMPUTER VISION I | 3 |
| AI 539 | SELECTED TOPICS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | 5 |
| AI 637 | COMPUTER VISION II | 4 |
| Computer Systems | ||
| CS 570 | HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE | 4 |
| CS 572 | COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE | 4 |
| CS 574 | OPERATING SYSTEMS II | 4 |
| CS 575 | INTRODUCTION TO PARALLEL PROGRAMMING | 4 |
| CS 576 | ADVANCED COMPUTER NETWORKING | 4 |
| ECE 573 | MICROCONTROLLER SYSTEM DESIGN | 4 |
| ECE 574 | VLSI SYSTEM DESIGN | 4 |
| ECE 577 | MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS | 4 |
| Programming Languages | ||
| CS 581 | PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES I | 4 |
| CS 582 | PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES II | 4 |
| CS 583 | ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING | 4 |
| CS 589 | SELECTED TOPICS IN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES | 1-5 |
| Software Engineering | ||
| CS 560 | DATA-DRIVEN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING | 4 |
| CS 561 | SOFTWARE ENGINEERING METHODS | 4 |
| CS 563 | SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION | 4 |
| CS 564 | FIELD STUDIES IN SE AND HCI | 4 |
| CS 567 | LABORATORY STUDIES IN SE AND HCI | 4 |
| CS 569 | SELECTED TOPICS IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING | 1-5 |
| Human Computer Interaction | ||
| CS 564 | FIELD STUDIES IN SE AND HCI | 4 |
| CS 565 | HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION | 4 |
| CS 567 | LABORATORY STUDIES IN SE AND HCI | 4 |
| CS 568 | INCLUSIVE DESIGN (HCI) | 4 |
| ROB 567 | HUMAN ROBOT INTERACTION | 4 |
| Computer Vision and Graphics | ||
| CS 550 | INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER GRAPHICS | 4 |
| CS 551 | COMPUTER GRAPHICS | 4 |
| CS 552 | COMPUTER ANIMATION | 4 |
| CS 553 | SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION | 4 |
| CS 554 | GEOMETRIC MODELING IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS | 4 |
| CS 557 | COMPUTER GRAPHICS SHADERS | 4 |
| CS 559 | SELECTED TOPICS IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND VISION | 1-5 |
| Privacy and Security | ||
| CS 577 | PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE | 4 |
| CS 578 | CYBER-SECURITY | 4 |
| CS 579 | TOPICS IN COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE AND PARALLEL PROCESSING | 0-5 |
| Data Science and Data Systems | ||
| CS 540 | DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS | 4 |
| CS 546 | NETWORKS IN COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY | 3 |
| CS 549 | SELECTED TOPICS ON DATA SCIENCE & SYSTEMS | 1-5 |
Prerequisite and Corequisite Coursework
All graduate students in Computer Science must achieve a B grade (or equivalent) in the following courses, or courses deemed equivalent to these courses by the program director, and must be taken either prior to or during their graduate studies. Total degree credits may increase if additional credits in the Prerequisite or Corequisite Coursework area are needed.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CS 271 | COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE AND ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE | 4 |
| or CS 374 | OPERATING SYSTEMS I | |
| CS 321 | INTRODUCTION TO THEORY OF COMPUTATION | 3 |
| CS 325 | ANALYSIS OF ALGORITHMS | 4 |
- 1
At least a 3.0 GPA must be achieved over these four courses
- 2
500-level versions of slash courses may not be counted towards the degree or placed on the program of study if the 400-level version of the course was previously taken, unless prior approval is granted by the Graduate School
- 3
Before enrolling in the technical writing course, students are required to complete a total of 30 credits that includes the ethics requirement and topic area courses
- 4
Students waive the right to count CS 501, CS 505, CS 506 or CS 510 towards their degree when taking the cybersecurity practicum
- 5
If CS 510 is listed on a student’s Program of Study, the student must address and discuss this experience in their final portfolio or final exam presentation
- 6
The selection of courses will be made in consultation with, and must be approved by, the student’s major professor and committee. Two breadth courses may also be used as depth courses
Major Code: 3070