MS degree information.

Graduate Student Handbook – MS Degrees

The department offers MS in Computer Science and MS in Cyber Criminology.

MS in Computer Science

The MS in Computer Science has three majors: Computer Science Major, Cybersecurity Major, and Computer
and Network and System Administration Major. A student must select one of the three options of thesis, project, or course-based to complete the degree. Each option has a specific number of required courses as well as other requirements, as described below.

Thesis Option

A student under the thesis option must take seven (7) courses (21 semester hours) at or above the 5000 level, plus at least nine (9) hours of CIS 5970r, Thesis. At most nine (9) hours of CIS 5970r can be counted toward the required 30 hours for the MS degree. The seven courses must include at least one course from each area as described above. Approved offerings of CIS 5930/6930 Special Topics are counted towards the 7 courses, but supervised teaching, supervised research, seminars, DIS and CIS 5915 (project hours) cannot be included. The thesis is defended by registering for CIS 8976 Master’s Thesis Defense (0).

The student in the thesis option is required to propose and create an individual thesis topic of appropriate focus, size and complexity and to write a document discussing it. The thesis proposal must be approved by the supervisory committee. The thesis is to be written in accordance with the University standards. Upon completion, a thesis must be successfully defended to the department in an open forum, and be unanimously approved by the major professor and supervisory committee. An electronic version of the thesis must be submitted to the university as well as the CS webmaster, and CS graduate coordinator.

Project Option

A student under the project option must take eight (8) courses (24 semester hours) at or above the 5000 level, plus at least six (6) hours of CIS 5915r Graduate Software Project. At most six (6) hours of CIS 5915 can be counted toward the required 30 hours for the MS degree. The eight courses must include at least one from each of the areas described above. Approved offerings of CIS 5930/6930 Special Topics are counted towards the 8 courses, but supervised teaching, supervised research, seminars, DIS, and CIS 5970 (thesis hours) cannot be included. The student must also register for CIS 8974(0) to defend the project.

The student in the project option is required to propose and create an individual project of appropriate focus, size, and complexity and to write a document discussing it. The project proposal must be approved by the major professor and supervisory committee. The project document should be written with direction from the major professor and supervisory committee and in accordance with the description given at Master’s Project. Upon completion, both the project and the document must be successfully defended to the department in an open forum with unanimous approval from the major professor and supervisory committee. An electronic version of the project must be submitted to the CS webmaster, and CS graduate coordinator.

Course-based Option

A student under the course-based option must take ten (10) courses (30 semester hours) at or above the 5000 level, including at least one course from each of the three core areas described above. Approved CIS 5930/6930 Special Topics are counted towards the 10 courses, but supervised teaching, supervised research, seminars, DIS, CIS 5970 and CIS 5915 cannot be included. A student must earn a grade of B+ or higher for at least 6 of the 10 courses in order to graduate in the course-based option. The student must also register for CIS 8966, Master’s Comprehensive Exam (0) the semester of graduation (effective Spring 2005).

Supervisory Committee

For the thesis and project options, it is the student’s responsibility to form a supervisory committee regardless of his or her selected major. No later than the start of work on the thesis or project, the student will secure the consent of an eligible computer science faculty member to serve as the major professor. In consultation with the major professor, the student will secure the consent of at least two additional graduate faculty members to serve as the supervisory committee, chaired by the major professor.

Major requirements

In all majors, a student must complete thirty semester hours in computer science courses numbered 5000 or above, including approved CIS 5930 and CIS 6930. At most, one course outside the department at the 5000 or 6000 level can also count towards the 30 hours if approved by the department chair after the major professor justifies why the outside course is important for the student’s research. Supervised teaching, supervised research, seminars, directed individual study, internship, and courses with prefix CGS are excluded.

For the Computer Science and Cybersecurity majors, at least one course from each of the following three core areas must be taken to satisfy the area requirements:

 

Software

  • COP 5570 Concurrent, Parallel, and Distributed Programming (3)
  • COP 5621 Compiler Construction (3)
  • COP 5725 Database Systems (3)

Systems

  • CDA 5155 Computer Architecture (3)
  • CNT 5505 Data and Computer Communications (3)
  • COP 5611 Advanced Operating Systems (3)

Theory

  • COT 5310 Theory of Automata and Formal Languages (3)
  • COT 5405 Advanced Algorithms (3)
  • COT 5507 Analytical Methods (3)

 

Computer Science Major

MS CS students must complete the undergraduate prerequisites in the following page before graduating, and will likely have to complete a subset of these courses before being admitted to the program.

Undergraduate Pre-requisites for MS CS degree.

 

Cybersecurity Major

Cybersecurity students must complete the undergraduate prerequisites on the following page before graduating, and will likely have to complete a subset of these courses before being admitted to the MS Cybersecurity major.

Undergraduate Pre-requisites for MS Cybersecurity degree.

A student in the Cybersecurity major is required to take the following courses:

  • CIS 5370 Computer Security (3)
  • CIS 5371 Cryptography (3)
  • CNT 5412 Network Security, Active and Passive Defenses (3)
  • CNT 5505 Data and Computer Communications (3)
  • CNT 5605 Computer and Network Administration (3)
  • CIS 5627 Offensive Computer Security (3)
  • CAP 5137 Software Reverse Engineering and Malware Analysis (3))

This major also includes the award of the Information Security Specialist Certificate. Students are not required to apply to the general CS MS degree beforehand and are allowed to directly apply to the Cybersecurity Major MS program.

 

Computer Network and System Administration Major

CNSA students must complete the undergraduate prerequisites in the following page before graduating, and will likely have to complete a subset of these courses before being admitted to the MS CNSA major.

Undergraduate Prerequisites for the MS CNSA Degree Program
The following courses are the core requirements for the MS CNSA degree.

Required Computer Science Courses for the MS CNSA Degree Program

  • CDA 5155 Computer Architecture (3)
  • CNT 5412 Network Security, Active and Passive Defenses (3)
  • CNT 5505 Data and Computer Communications (3)
  • CNT 5605 Computer and Network Administration (3)
  • COP 5611 Advanced Operating Systems (3)
  • COP 5570 Concurrent, Parallel, and Distributed Programming (3)

In addition to the required courses, the CNSA program has an experience requirement, and students are required to complete system administration intern-ship(s) to complete this requirement. The CNSA program works with various departments and colleges on the FSU campus to provide local system administration intern-ships for students.

It is possible for the MS CNSA students to obtain an NSA-approved training certificate, which facilitates graduates from the program in getting employment with a federal government agency or a government contractor after they graduate. The MS CNSA student can use two of the available elective courses to take COP 5725, Database Systems and CIS 5370, Computer Security to fulfil the requirements. However, this certificate is limited to U.S. citizens only. A description of the training certificate is available at http://www.cs.fsu.edu/academics/certificate and in the section of Requirements for NSA Training Certificate below.

 

Masters in Cyber Criminology

Admissions Requirements

Students pursuing the MS in Cyber Criminology (MS CC) degree will be admitted to and graduate from the Computer Science Department. Thus, the minimal admissions requirements are (1) an undergraduate GPA of no less than 3.0 and (2) a score of 1000 or greater on the combined verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE.

Degree Requirements

The initial track for the MS CC degree will be coursework only. The general degree requirements will include 3 graduate criminology courses, 6 graduate computer science (CS) courses related to information assurance and computer security and 1 additional criminology or CS course for a total of 30 hours.

In addition, MS CC students will have to complete certain undergraduate prerequisites, shown below, before graduating, and will likely have to complete a subset of these courses before being admitted to the MS CC degree program. Note that CIS 4385 is required for the FSU BS in Cyber Criminology and the other four courses are required for the FSU BS in Computer Science and BA in Computer Science degrees.

Undergraduate Prerequisites for the MS CC Degree Program:

  • CDA 3101 Computer Organization II (3)
  • CIS 4385 Cybercrime Detection and Forensics (3)
  • COP 4530 Data Structures, Algorithms, and Generic Programming (3)
  • COP 4610 Operating Systems and Concurrent Programming (3)
  • COP 4710 Theory and Structure of Databases (3)

The graduation requirements include completing all of the undergraduate prerequisites, completing 3 graduate criminology courses, and completing 6 graduate computer science courses. The graduate courses for the MS CC degree are listed below:

Criminology Courses from Which MS CC Students Are Required to Take at Least Three:

  • CCJ 5016 Crimes of the Powerful (3)
  • CCJ 5285 Survey of Criminal Justice Theory and Research (3)
  • CCJ 5606 Survey of Criminological Theories (3)
  • CCJ 5607 History of Criminological Thought (3)
  • CCJ 5636 Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice (3)

Up to date course descriptions for the above criminology courses can be found at: http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/p/academic-syllabi.php.

Computer Science Courses Required for MS CC Students:

  • CIS 5370 Computer Security (3)
  • CNT 5412 Network Security, Active and Passive Defenses (3)
  • CNT 5505 Data and Computer Communications (3)
  • CNT 5605 Computer and Network Administration (3)
  • COP 5611 Advanced Operating Systems (3)
  • COP 5725 Database Systems (3)

The one additional criminology or CS course will be a graduate elective. The criminology courses can be taken in any order as none of these courses are prerequisites for any of the other courses. However, the 6 required graduate computer science courses each have undergraduate prerequisites that must be completed before the student will be allowed to take these courses.