CS Curriculum Revisions 2019-2020

Below are proposed revisions to the CS BS and MS degrees. A few guiding principals...

• BS - widen the split between the computing science and information science concentrations - making the IS concentration more doable/attractive to more students, and firming up the foundations in the CS concentration.
• MS - new Data Science concentration, streamline academic concentration
• BS and MS - shift some key courses to be 4-5 hour courses

Undergraduate Degree - CS BS

Note that the current major includes 10 courses required of all majors, 5 additional courses required for information science, 3 CS courses required of computing science, and 2 math courses required for computing science.

Required for all CS Majors

• CS 151 - Introduction to Computer Science 3 credits
• CS 201 - Computer Science I 4 credits
• CS 202 - Computer Science II 4 credits
• CS 303 - Discrete Structures 3 credits CS 203 - Intro to Theory of Computation 4 credits - focus more on fundamentals, reduce total number of different topics (some topics are moved to CS 201, 202, 458 instead)
• CS 451 - Computer Architecture 3 credits CS 351 - Intro to Systems 5 credits - programming, a bit of architecture and assembly language
• CS 452 - Software Engineering 3 credits
• CS 456 - Systems Programming 3 credits
• CS 470 - Programming Languages 3 credits
• CS 471 - Operating Systems 3 credits
• CS 499 - Senior Seminar 1 4 credits (2 credits/term last 2 terms)
• 6 credits of CS electives
• New requirements
  • CS 260 Object-Oriented Programming - focus on important OO concepts, program design
  • MATH 241 or 341 Statistics
  • Pass Comprehensive Exam
• Total - 25 credits

Information Science Concentration

• CS 170 - Web Programming 3 credits
• CS 457 - Data Base Processing 3 credits
• CS 469 - Unix/Linux Administration and Networking 3 credits
• CS 473 - Computer Networks 3 credits
• CS 479 - Web Programming II 3 credits
• 6 credits of electives in CS courses
• New requirements
  • CS 101 Fundamentals of Computing
  • CSS 211 Intro to Computer Security
  • CSS 331 Files and Database Systems
  • CSS 210 Intro to Networking
• Total - 27 credits

Computing Science Concentration

• MATH 131 - Calculus I 4 credits
• MATH 132 - Calculus II 4 credits
• CS 420 - Theory of Computation 3 credits
• CS 421 - Formal Methods 3 credits
• CS 458 - Algorithms 3 5 credits - some of the content that was in 303 and 420 is put into 458 instead
• Moved from "required for all CS majors" to required for CS concentration
  • CS 201 Computer Science I 4 credits
  • CS 202 Computer Science II 4 credits
  • CS 456 Systems Programming 3 4 credits - some of the content that was in 471, 473 is put into 456
• New requirements
  • Math 313 Elementary Linear Algebra
• Total - 28 credits

Data Science

New concentration

• Current courses
  • CS 457 Database Processing
  • CS 475 Aritificial Intelligence
  • MATH 313 Elementary Linear Algebra
  • MATH 131 Calculus I 4 credits
  • MATH 132 Calculus II 4 credits
  • MATH 231 Calculus III 4 credits
• New courses
  • CS 401 Programming for Data Science I
  • MATH 403 Linear Algebra and Modeling for Data Science and Analytics
  • MATH 440 Statistics for Data Science & Analytics
• Total - 30 credits

Course sequencing for starting in the fall

• Fall 1 -
• Spring 1 - MATH 131
• Fall 2 - MATH 132
• Spring 2 - MATH 313, MATH 403
• Fall 3 - CS 401, CS 457, MATH 440
• Spring 3 - CS 475

No Longer Required

Courses that are no longer required in any concentration. Can be banked if we don't plan to offer, or offered as electives

• CS 452 Software Engineering, CS 471 Operating Systems, CS 420 Theory of Computation, CS 421 Formal Methods, CS 473 Computer Networks
• Total - 5 courses, 15 credits

Minor/Certificate

current minor, current certificate

CS Minor

• Existing requirements
  • CS 151 - Introduction to Computer Science 3 credits
  • CS 201 - Computer Science I 4 credits
  • CS 202 - Computer Science II 4 credits
  • 6 credits of CS electives
• New requirements
  • CS 260 Object Oriented Programming
  • CS 203 Intro to Theory of Computation 4 credits
  • CS 351 Intro to Systems 5 credits
• Total - 15 credits

CS Certificate

• Existing requirements
  • CS 151 - Introduction to Computer Science 3 credits
  • CS 170 - Web Programming 3 credits
  • CS 201 - Computer Science I 4 credits
  • 6 credits of CS electives
• New Requirements
  • CS 260 Object Oriented Programming 3 credits

Graduate Degree - CS MS

Current requirements are at - [1]

Required for all CS Majors

• Retain from current requirements
  • Culminating Experience - CS 685, 695, 699 (or BIO options for bioinformatics concentration)
  • Note - give incomplete in 685, 695 if they haven't done enough yet.
• New Requirement
  • Pass Comprehensive Exam

Academic Concentration

• Modifications of current requirements
  • CS 658 Algorithms II (5) (revised 658) - includes some of the content that was in 620, offer 658 once per year, stop offering 620
  • CS 671 Systems II (5) (revised 671) - includes some of the content that was in 670/673, offer 671 once per year, stop offering 670/673
  • No longer require third systems/theory course
• New Requirements
  • CS 558 (4) Algorithms and Theory of Computation - required if 458 not taken as undergrad
  • CS 556 (4) Systems Programming - required if 456 not taken as undergrad

Professional Concentration

• Retain from current requirements - just about everything
• New requirements
  • CS 501 Programming for Data Science & Analytics- required

Bioinformatics Concentration

• Retain from current requirements - just about everything
• Modifications of current requirements
  • CS 500 Programming Fundamentals - allow either CS 500 or CS 501 to count

Data Science - New Concentration

• Required Coursework
  • CS 501 Programming for Data Science & Analytics I
  • CS 557 Database Processing (if 457 not taken as undergrad)
  • CS 575 Artificial Intelligence (if 475 not taken as undergrad)
  • CS 601 Programming for Data Science & Analytics II
  • CS 617 Databases, Data Mining, and Big Data
  • MATH 503 Linear Algebra and Modeling for Data Science and Analytics
  • MATH 540 Statistics for Data Science & Analytics

This is 7 required courses. Adding the 3 credit culminating experience then gives 8 courses, and 3 courses of 600-level electives (need all 3 to be 600 level so the total is 18 credits of 600 level).

Accelerated MS Program

policies, accelerated Math MS

• Students must have 3.0 GPA and have completed 80% of their required credits by the start of their 4th year.
• Students must finish their BS with 3.0 GPA.
• Can take up to 9 credits of 500 level courses and 6 credits of 600 level courses in final year of BS. Up to 9 credits of 500 level can count for both BS and MS. Note that 600 level courses don't count towards being full time for financial aid.
•  ??

Teaching Schedule

When these changes are in effect (2020-2021), the CS teaching schedule could be ...

• Fall and Spring (52) - 101, 151, 151, 151, 170, 201 (4), 202 (4), 203 (4), 256, 256, 260, 351 (5), 499 (2), 500, 401/501, 685/695/699
• Fall (30) - 479, CSS 210, CSS 331, 458 (4), 457, 470, 671 (5), 600, 603/611, 617
• Spring (30) - 469, CSS 211, 456 (4), 475, 658 (5), 601, 602/610, 618/619, 609
• Total - 52*2+30+30 - 164 credit hours,

And taught by ...

• Abhyankar - fall CSS 210, 603/611, 470, 256 | spring 256, 256, CSS 211, 602/610
• Baker - fall 457, 479, 351(5) | spring 351(5), 456(4), 469
• Exoo - fall 617, 401/501, 671(5) | spring 475, 601, 401/501
• Kinne - fall 151, GH 101 | spring 151, BD4ISU
• Rafiey - fall 458(4), 600, 256 | spring 658(5), 618/619
• Sternfeld - fall 500, 499(2), 170, 203(4) | spring 203(4), 500, 609, 499(2)
• New CS Faculty Member - fall 202(4), 685, CSS 331 | spring 202(4), 685, 170
• Boulware - fall 260 | spring 260
• May - fall 101, 201(4) | spring 101, 201(4)
• GAs - fall 151, 151, 260 | spring 151, 151, 260
• not offered with current staffing - [420], [473], [452], [421], [471]

Note - this assumes that Math is able to offer MATH 403/503, 440/540