Minimum number of credits required to graduate: 32
Minimum Cumulative GPA required to graduate: 3.0
The Online Masters of Science in Computer Science (MSCS), housed in the Department of Computer Science, provides students with a grounded foundation in advanced algorithms and computational ethics, while allowing students to specialize in a variety of concentrations. The online MSCS is designed to cater to professionals looking to fill the gap or shift their career trajectory toward a software development and design career path. Students without a strong background in programming or computational science will be able to take a foundations course sequence as part of their core to be brought up to speed.
The software engineering concentration focuses on advanced programming concepts such as parallel programming, networking and socket programming, advanced object orientation, systems programming, and user interface design principles. Additional coursework focuses on software documentation, software design patterns, project management, and database management. The online MSCS offers an experiential curriculum, with heavy emphasis on hands-on software design and development. All MSCS online concentrations offer, as part of their core curriculum, an 8-credit master’s level project or thesis (student choice), depending on the experience of the student. Additionally, individual courses emphasize a project-heavy curriculum.
Admission Requirements and Prerequisites
Students must hold a bachelor’s degree and meet Merrimack’s general master’s degree admissions requirements. Additionally, students must interview with the department to determine the level of foundational coursework will be required to begin the degree program.
Transfer of Credit from other Institutions
A maximum of two graduate-level electives may be transferred in from other institutions with the approval of the Department Chair. If two elective courses taken at other institutions bearing 3 credits each are accepted for transfer into Merrimack’s MS in Cybersecurity program, then the student may earn their master’s degree with 30 total credits, instead of 32 total credits.
Program Outcomes
Students of the online MSCS with a concentration in Software Engineering will be able to…
- design high level object-oriented software as native applications, smartphone apps, systems-level programs, and web sites.
- develop software using a variety of programming languages and design patterns.
- understand the ethical considerations of data farming, data usage, data storage, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic deployment.
- understand the utility and deployment of high level algorithms, including approximation algorithms, randomized algorithms, flows, and geometric algorithms.
Requirements
For students without industry or academic programming experience or the equivalent of CSC 2820 and CSC 2710 courses (as determined by the department during the application process), students will be expected to begin their degree with the foundations courses, selecting between one and 2-credit course modules to fill in any missing background skills.
Core Courses (four courses):
- Foundations Courses (choose up to 8 credits, based on student experience):
- CSC 6001 - Foundations of Programming 1 (2 credits)
- CSC 6002 - Foundations of Programming 2 (2 credits)
- CSC 6011 - Algorithms and Discrete Structures 1 (2 credits)
- CSC 6012 - Algorithms and Discrete Structures 2 (2 credits)
- CSC 5030 - Advanced Algorithms (4 credits)
- DSA 5300 - Data Governance, Laws and Ethics (4 credits)
- Capstone Project Courses (choose up to 8 credits to fill the 32 for degree):
- CSC 6991 - CSC 6994 Capstone 1 through 4
16 credits (four courses) for the Software Engineering track:
- CSC 6110 - Software Design and Documentation (4 credits)
- CSC 6120 - Database Principles (4 credits)
- CSC 6130 - Systems and Languages Survey (4 credits)
- CSC 6140 - Advanced Programming Concepts (4 credits)