The department provides an environment that gives students the background and skills necessary for entry into today's workplace. This is achieved through team research in state-of-the-art facilities; a faculty that works steadily in the forefront of many research areas; interaction with industry and experts; and an administration focused on research and student services. As a result, the department attracts the largest student population for computer and information science in the greater New York/New Jersey area.

The computer and information science department maintains and offers computing facilities for its students, faculty, and staff. The computing facilities include research laboratories housing research in areas of computer science such as: networking, real-time systems, hypermedia, parallel processing, and collaborative systems. Users have access to the state-of-the-art software and hardware including Oracle database, UNIX-based workstations and Microsoft Windows PCs supported by several file and compute servers. Internet access, departmental intranets, and conferencing systems provide an integrated infrastructure for supporting teaching and research.

Admission Requirements:

• GPA
  - 3.0 out of 4.0 required for students with a computer science background.
  - 3.0 out of 4.0 required for students without a computer science background who may be required to enroll in bridge courses.
• International students TOEFL score: the Institute requires a minimum score of 213.
• International students: GRE required.
• Students with a US or Canadian degree in computer science or engineering: GRE recommended but not required.
• Students with a US or Canadian degree not in computer science or engineering: GRE required.

Students who lack a comprehensive computer science background will be required to take appropriate bridge courses and attain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 in the bridge courses.

Students are expected to have good programming skills, and a grasp of the fundamentals of computer science (students should have acquired this knowledge in the undergraduate degree Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or equivalent degree). To ensure that students have the background to do well and succeed in doing the MS in Computer Science at NJIT, they will be required to take a short answer exam to demonstrate that they have good programming skills (in C++ or Java) and that they know the basic concepts of operating systems, networking, and databases. Students who do not pass the programming part of this exam will be required to take a programming bridge course, CS 505 Programming and Data Structures and Algorithms. Students who do not pass the basic concepts part of the exam will be required to take a concepts course, CS 507 Principles of Computer Science.

Note that credits earned in the bridge program cannot count towards the MS program. However, grades of 500-level bridge courses contribute towards the graduate GPA. Students must maintain a cumulative graduate GPA of 3.0 or better.

If a student satisfies a bridge requirement before matriculation, the student can request a bridge course waiver which must be filed no later than the end of the first semester of studies and accompanied by all relevant documentation as required by University regulations. See Academic Policies and Procedures in the NJIT Graduate Catalog at catalog.njit.edu/graduate/frontmatter/AcademicPolicy.php.

PASS/FAIL courses, professional development courses, work experience, or a course with a grade less than B (or equivalent) cannot be used to satisfy a bridge course requirement. Grades in the bridge program (500-level courses or higher) contribute to the cumulative graduate GPA. However, these courses do not count toward the MS program credit requirements. The undergraduate catalog, catalog.njit.edu/courses/cs.php, contains descriptions of undergraduate courses included in the bridge program.

Application Processing:

The Computer Science Department reviews only completed applications submitted to the Office of Graduate Admissions. Applicants are advised to request status information on their application directly from the Graduate Admissions Office, not the Computer Science Department. Graduate Admissions can be reached at admissions@njit.edu or www.njit.edu/gadmission or by mail at NJIT, Graduate Admissions Office, University Heights, Newark NJ 07102.

Degree Options:

Students can pick from one of three options for the MS degree:

    1. Course only (with optional specialization - 33 credits.
    2. Project - 30 credits
    3. Thesis (specialization required) - 30 credits.

Students will be assigned a graduate advisor to assist them in formulating a program of study and selecting a specialization or degree option.

1. Course Only Option (33 credits)

The courses required for this option are:

a) Four courses:
    - Either CS 610 Data Structures and Algorithms or CS 667 Design Techniques for
       Algorithms.
    - Three of the following four course choices:
                CS 631 Database Systems Design.
                CS 656 Internet and Higher Layer Protocols.
                CS 650 Computer Architecture.
                CS 630 Operating Systems.
b) 5 courses from the Computer Science graduate catalog. Two of these five must be
     from an approved list of advanced courses.
c) Two (2) courses either from the Computer Science graduate catalog or from another
    department's graduate catalog. Courses from outside the Computer Science
    Department must be relevant to the Computer Science program and require prior
    approval.

Total number of credits required for graduation is 33.

Specializations:

Students can optionally specialize in a specific area (see below) by taking a minimum of four (4) courses listed in the specialization in accordance with requirements (b) and (c). Note that some specialization courses have prerequisites that must be fulfilled before enrolling in these courses.

Computer Networking and Security

Choose three (3) courses from the following table:

Databases and Data Mining

Choose three (3) courses from the following table:

Image Processing and Pattern Recognition

Choose three (3) courses from the following table:

Software Engineering

Choose three (3) courses from the following table:

Choose three (3) courses from the following table:

Bioinformatics

Choose three (3) courses from the following table:

Note: Taking CS 700 level courses require permission of the graduate advisor.

2. Project Option (30 credits)

Students must

•     Enroll in the Masters Project course CS 700B.

In the semester prior to enrolling in CS 700B, the student must prepare and submit a project proposal to the Department no later than the last weekday class day of the 8th week of the

•     Fall semester for a spring project, or
•     Spring semester for a summer or fall project.

The student must have an advisor in the Computer Science Department who is a tenure- track faculty member or who holds a joint appointment in the department.

With the exception of the project, the Project Option is similar to the Course Only Option with a specialization. The 3-credit project is considered equivalent to two (2) courses of requirement (1.b).

Project Requirements

• Before a student pursues a Master's Project, the following requirements must be fully satisfied:
  - All bridge courses must be completed.
  - In the semester prior to the project, a student prepares and submits a project proposal to the Department no later than the last weekday class day of the 8th week of the Fall semester for a spring project and no later than the last weekday class day of the 8th week of the Spring semester for a summer or fall project. The preparatory work for the proposal may be accomplished within the framework of a required course or an independent study course offered by the prospective advisor. Therefore, such a course must be taken in the semester prior to the project.
• A CS Department tenure-track faculty member or a faculty member who holds a joint appointment in the computer science department can advise an MS project.
• Proposal preparation must adhere to the existing departmental guidelines; the information and templates are available online.

Thesis Option (30 credits)

Students must

• select a specialization, and
• enroll in the Thesis CS 701 course for two (2) semesters (Thesis must match specialization).

A student can enroll in CS 701 during the second semester of full time study.

Normally the student enrolls for two semesters of CS 701 to prepare the thesis proposal, perform the research, and prepare the thesis. The thesis must be orally defended and follow the style set forth by the Graduate School at NJIT. The thesis committee is composed of a Computer Science tenure-track committee chair and two other tenure-track members of the Computer Science Department or Faculty holding a joint appointment to the department.

With the exception of the thesis, the thesis option is similar to the Course Only Option with a specialization. The six (6) credit thesis is considered equivalent to three (3) courses of requirement (1.b).

Thesis Requirements

• Before a student pursues a Master's Thesis, the following requirements must be fully satisfied:
  - All bridge courses must be completed.
  - In the semester prior to the thesis, a student prepares and submits a thesis proposal to the department no later than week 8 of the Fall semester for a spring thesis and week 8 of the Spring semester for a summer of fall thesis. The preparatory work for the proposal may be accomplished within the framework of a required course or an independent study course offered by the prospective advisor. Therefore, such a course must be taken in the semester prior to the thesis.
• A CS department tenure-track faculty member or a faculty member who holds a joint appointment in the Computer Science Department can advise an MS thesis.
• A thesis must adhere to the style requirements set forth by the Graduate School:
              www.njit.edu/v2/Directory/Admin/Graduate_Studies/thesis.php.
• An oral defense is required. The defense must take place between one week prior to the Reading Day of the semester and the last day of the Examination period. A committee of at least three tenure-track faculty members from the CS Department, including the thesis advisor, collectively determines the grade for CS 701 at the conclusion of the oral defense.

Other Policies

• Transfer: Transfer of computer science courses from other US/Canada institutions is allowed as per university regulations provided that these courses are related to the program. Graduate Advisor and Graduate Studies Office approvals are required.
• MS/MS Program:  Under the University MS/MS program, up to six credits of courses taken in other departments can be used for graduate credits toward the degree as long as these courses are related to computer science. Graduate advisor and Graduate Studies Office approvals are required.
• Co-op Program: Before a student applies for CS 590/591/592 registration, the successful completion of the bridge program, all ESL requirements, and at least four graduate courses is required.
• The same course cannot satisfy two or more requirements.

CS Advanced Courses

Bridge Courses

Students who intend to pursue an MS degree in Computer Science are expected to have a certain background in Computer Science and Mathematics. A student who does not have this background will be expected to take bridge courses in the beginning before taking graduate level Computer Science courses. These students will be notified in their acceptance letter that bridge courses are a condition of their acceptance into the Master's Program. If a student's acceptance letter indicates bridge courses are required, they must contact the Graduate Advisor. If the acceptance letter does not indicate bridge courses, none are required and the student may immediately begin taking graduate courses. A student must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in bridge courses. Bridge courses do not count towards MS degree requirements; however, they count toward the cumulative graduate GPA

Bridge Program:

Applicants are expected to have backgrounds in computer science and mathematics equivalent to the bridge program courses listed below. Students who lack this background may be admitted and required to take these courses and attain a cumulative GPA of 3.0.

Concentration Areas:

A PhD. student within the program is required to pick an area of concentration. While the areas of concentrations change according to faculty research interests, here are examples of possible concentrations with possible courses taken within those concentrations..