Department of Computer Science

Stephen L. Bloom, Ph.D. (1968), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A. Satyanarayana, Ph.D. (1981), Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University

Adriana Compagnoni, Ph.D. (1995), Katholieke University, Nijmegen
Dominic Duggan, Ph.D. (1990), University of Maryland, College Park
George Kamberov, Ph.D. (1990), University of Pennsylvania
Aaron David Klappholz, Ph.D. (1974), University of Pennsylvania
David A. Naumann, Ph.D. (1992), University of Texas at Austin
John Oliensis, Ph.D. (1981), University of Chicago

Elli Angelopoulou, Ph.D. (1997), Johns Hopkins University
Sven Dietrich, Doctor of Arts (1997), Adelphi University
H. Quynh Dinh, Ph.D. (2002), Georgia Institute of Technology
Antonio Nicolosi, PhD (2007), Stanford University
Hui Wang, Ph.D. (2007), University of British Columbia
Susanne Wetzel, Ph.D. (1998), Saarland University

     Stevens' undergraduate majors in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, and Service-Oriented Computing are specifically designed to train the high-end IT professionals who can take advantage of trends in the IT industry and gain entry into a challenging and rewarding career path in software development and systems analysis. It is widely recognized that the most important skills in software development and systems analysis combine a strong background in information technology, particularly creativity and problem-solving, with personal and business skills, such as client-facing, business case considerations, and project management. The four majors emphasize both a strong grounding in IT and the development of the business abilities required of a modern IT professional. Stevens is one of the few undergraduate computer science programs in the country to require a two-semester senior project course that emphasizes these skills.

    The spine of the four majors is a two-year sequence of courses developing basic software engineering skills, including algorithmic problem-solving, design, coding, and testing. This is supplemented by a mathematical sequence including discrete mathematics, probability, and statistics. This sequence provides both rigor and the mathematical maturity that the modern IT professional is expected to be able to draw upon. Subsequent courses build on this spine to provide a background in advanced concepts relevant to the major. A two-semester sequence in science, including laboratories as required for accreditation of computer science programs, develops skills in formulating and testing hypotheses.

    A senior-year two-semester capstone senior project course teaches the principles and theory of programming-in-the-large, including teamwork, problem solving, and agile software development methods in the context of two projects. The course is modeled on business software development practices, so that students experience a transition from academia to business. Students produce useful, well-engineered software products, applying software engineering techniques, ethical principles, and generally accepted software practices. Many projects are sponsored by companies or government agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Siemens, and Citicorp. Cybersecurity majors choose a project with an emphasis on computer systems security. Information systems majors choose a project with a specific information management emphasis.

Majors in the Computer Science department share a common freshman year, and there is a great deal of commonality in the sophomore year. This is designed to give students the maximum flexibility in determining what major they wish to pursue in the Computer Science department. All majors pursue a science sequence consisting of two science courses and a science laboratory, taken from the following list of sequences:

Besides its technical rigor and its development of important personal and business skills, the Stevens Computer Science undergraduate major is distinguished by its flexibility. In senior year, a student in Computer Science can choose from a large number of elective courses. Concentration areas are suggested groups of Computer Science courses for those that want to “drill down” on specific topics. Some example concentration areas are distributed systems, networks, graphics, design and implementation of games, and cybersecurity. Application areas are groups of courses that include courses outside Computer Science. Approved application areas include financial systems, computer engineering and embedded systems, wireless networks, and mathematics.

The software development elective (“SD elective”) in Term VI is taken from a list of courses that involve programming assignments, and that are not already required core courses:

Stevens' Computer Science Department is also the home to world-class research in areas such as computer security, computer graphics, vision and visualization, software engineering, and networks. The quality of this research is demonstrated by the publication and funding records of the faculty of the department. Stevens undergraduate students are encouraged to get involved with faculty in their research. Indeed, while graduate students come from all over the world to be involved with Stevens research, some Stevens undergraduates choose to stay at Stevens for their graduate work, pursuing Ph.D. research with the faculty they came to know during their undergraduate studies.

	Freshman Year
Term I
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
MA 115	Calculus I	3	0	3
CS 115**	Intro. to Computer Science	3	2	4
	Science I	3	0	3
CS 146	Web Fundamentals	3	0	3
PE 200	Physical Education I	0	2	1

TOTAL		12	4	14

Term II
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
MA 116	Calculus II	3	0	3
CS 284	Data Structures	3	1	4
MA 134	Discrete Mathematics	3	0	3
	Science II	3	0	3
	Science Lab	0	3	1
HUM	Humanities	3	0	3
PE 200	Physical Education II	0	2	1

TOTAL		15	6	18

	Sophomore Year
Term III
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
CS 383	Comp. Org. & Prog.	3	0	3
CS 385	Algorithms	3	1	4
CS 334	Automata and Computation	3	0	3
MGT 111	Org. Behavior and Social Psychology	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities*	3	0	3
PE 200	Physical Education III	0	2	1

TOTAL		15	3	17

Term IV
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
CS 392	Systems Programming	3	0	3
CS 496	Principles or Programming Languages	3	0	3
CS 347	Software Development Process	3	0	3
MA 222	Probability & Statistics	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities*	3	0	3
PE 200	Physical Education IV	0	2	1

TOTAL		15	2	16

	Junior Year
Term V
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
CS 442	Database Management Systems	3	0	3
CS 511	Concurrent Programming	3	0	3
MA 331	Statistical Methods	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities*	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities*	3	0	3
PE 200	Physical Education V	0	2	1

	TOTAL	15	2	16

Term VI
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
CS 492	Operating Systems	3	0	3
CS 488	Computer Architecture	3	0	3
	Science/Math Elective	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities	3	0	3
CS	SD Elective	3	0	3
PE 200	Physical Education VI	0	2	1

TOTAL		15	2	16

	Senior Year
Term VII
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
CS 551	Software Eng. & Pract. I	3	0	3
CS 573	Fundamentals of Cybersecurity	3	0	3
	Science/Math. Elective	3	0	3
	Tech. Elective**	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities*	3	0	3

TOTAL		15	0	15

Term VIII
		Hrs. Per Wk.
		Class	Lab	Sem.
				Cred.
CS 552	Software Eng. & Pract. II	3	0	3
	Tech. Elective**	3	0	3
	Free Elective**	3	0	3
	Free Elective*	3	0	3
HUM	Humanities	3	0	3

TOTAL		15	0	15

Total Credits: 117-19-127

* Humanities requirements: two Group A courses at the 100 level, two Group B courses at the 100 level, and four courses at the 300/400 level that must include HSS 371.
** If the technical electives and the free electives do not constitute a department approved application area, then the two technical electives must be Computer Science courses (identified by the CS prefix).

Curriculum Summary

The program requires the following courses:

Science

Science I
Science II
Science Lab

Mathematics and Statistics

MA 115 Calculus I
MA 116 Calculus II
MA 134 Discrete Mathematics
MA 222 Probability and Statistics
MA 331 Statistical Methods

Core Computer Science

CS 115 Introduction to Computer Science
CS 146 Web Fundamentals
CS 284 Data Structures
CS 334 Automata and Computation
CS 347 Software Development Process
CS 383 Computer Organization and Programming
CS 385 Algorithms
CS 392 Systems Programming
CS 488 Computer Architecture
CS 492 Operating Systems
CS 496 Programming Languages
CS 511 Concurrent Programming
CS 551 Software Engineering and Practice I
CS 552 Software Engineering and Practice II
CS 573 Fundamentals of Cybersecurity

Students who take the Honors sequence CS 181/182 are not required to take CS 115/284/385.

Management

MGT 111 Organizational Behavior and Social Psychology

Humanities

Students must take at least eight humanities courses, following the undergraduate core requirements. Humanities courses must include HSS 371 Computers and Society.

Physical Education

Students must take at least six semesters of physical education.

Technical and Free Electives

The basic study plan is for students with some background in computer science from high school (at least a year of programming in an imperative language such as Java or C). These students take CS 115 in their first term. This basic study plan has two technical electives and two free electives.

Students with little or no background in computer science should take CS 105 in their first term and CS 115 in their second term. Students taking this study plan have one technical elective and two free electives.

Students taking the accelerated introductory sequence CS 181/182 have two technical electives and three free electives.

Application Areas
The Application Areas defined below allow students to devote up to four of their electives (technical and free electives) to disciplines outside computer science. Depending upon the Application Area, the science/math elective and/or the management elective may be chosen to support the course sequence.

You must receive prior departmental approval in order to substitute an Application Area for computer science electives. The Computer Science department works with other departments to develop Application Area sequences in disciplines that are related to computer science. Below are Application Areas that are already approved.

Computer Engineering and Embedded Systems
    CPE 358 Switching Theory and Logical Design
    CPE 390 Microprocessor Systems
    CPE 450 Embedded Systems for Real-Time Applications
        or CPE 555 Real-Time and Embedded Systems
    CPE 487 Digital System Design

Wireless Networks
    CS 521 TCP/IP Networks
    NIS 583 Wireless Communications
    NIS 584 Wireless Systems Security
    NIS 586 Wireless Networking: Architectures, Protocols, and Standards

Financial Systems
    Intended for students who contemplate a career in the financial sector. Those who select this Application Area option should take MGT 243 (Macroeconomics) as their required management elective.
    MGT 244 Microeconomics
    BT 115 Financial Accounting
    BT 215 Cost Accounting
    BT 321 Finance

Mathematics
    This Application Area focuses on topics in mathematics that utilize computing, or mathematics that may be of use to a computer scientist. These foundation courses are required:

    MA 221 Differential Equations
    MA 232 Linear Algebra

Then choose any two of these courses:

    MA 331 Statistics
    MA 335 Number Theory
    MA 336 Modern Algebra
    MA 346 Numerical Methods
    MA 460 Chaotic Dynamics

Computational Chemistry & Biology
    CH 116/118 Chemistry II/Chemistry Lab II
    CH 321 Thermodynamics
    CH 381 Cell Biology
    CH 664 Computer Methods in Chemistry

    In addition, students should take the Chemistry/Biology Lab option (in particular, CH 115/17 Chemistry I and Lab). It is also suggested, but not required, that CH 484 (Introduction to Molecular Genetics) be taken as the free elective.

Concentration Areas Within Computer Science
Below are the suggested course sequences for students who are interested in specific areas within computer science. These sequences are optional; indeed, each student may choose their electives (aside from the science/math elective and the management elective) according to personal interests. A concentration does not appear on the diploma. Students should understand that concentrated electives are merely suggestions. A student may choose to take all, some, or none of the courses in a concentration.

Information Systems
    CS 519 Distributed Commerce
    CS 540 Fundamentals of Quantitative Software Engineering
    CS 546 Web Programming