Software Engineering
This is an archived copy of the 2021-22 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.ndsu.edu.
Program Description
Software Engineering is focused on the application of systematic, disciplined, and quantifiable approaches to the development, operation, and maintenance of software systems. Inclusive of computer programming but going well beyond, Software Engineering is concerned with methodologies, techniques, and tools to manage the entire software life cycle, including development of requirements, specifications, design, testing, maintenance, and project management. The advent of Software Engineering is a natural result of the continuous quest for software quality and reusability, and the maturing of the software development industry.
The Department of Computer Science offers a Graduate Certificate in Software Engineering, Master of Software Engineering, Master of Science in Software Engineering, and Ph.D. in Software Engineering. The programs are designed to appeal to both full-time students and software professionals who are employed and wish to pursue a program part time. The Master of Software Engineering is a course work only program while the Master of Science in Software Engineering is a course work, comprehensive examination and research program. For additional information, see the Computer Science website or contact the Computer Science Department at (701) 231-8562 or gradinfo@cs.ndsu.edu.
*Spring admissions are given only occasionally, depending on funding and faculty interest. If there are no spring openings, spring applicants are automatically considered for the subsequent fall semester.
In addition to the Graduate School requirements, applicants must fulfill the program requirements listed below:
Certificate
- B.S. or equivalent degree from an educational institution of recognized standing, including 12 semester hours or equivalent of Computer Science or Software Engineering courses from an educational institution of recognized standing, or at least one year full-time professional software engineering experience;
- Programming skill in a modern higher level programming language, preferably C++, C#, or Java;
- A 2.85 (on a 4.0 scale) GPA in previous course work.
Master of Software Engineering
- Bachelor’s level (B.S., B.A., Sc.B., etc.) degree from an educational institution of recognized standing;
- Ability to design and implement a program consisting of several interacting classes that might total approximately 100 executable statements;
- International Students require a minimum TOEFL ibT of 79 or an IELTS of 6.5.
- A 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) GPA in previous coursework. Conditional admission may be given with a 2.7 or higher GPA and professional experience.
Master of Science
- Four year or longer B.S. or equivalent degree from an educational institution of recognized standing with at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 grade point scale. Eighteen semester hours or equivalent in Computer Science from an educational institution of recognized standing, or at least 2 years of full-time professional software engineering experience. Full time professional experience may offset the GPA requirement at the rate of 0.1 in GPA for each 18 months of such experience to a maximum of 0.3 in GPA;
- Programming skill with one modern higher level programming language, preferably C++, C#, or Java.
- A 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) GPA in all previous coursework.
Doctor of Philosophy
- Four year or longer B.S. or equivalent degree from an educational institution of recognized standing with at least a 3.25 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 grade point scale. Eighteen semester hours or equivalent in Computer Science from an educational institution of recognized standing, or at least 3 years of full-time professional software engineering experience. Significant full-time professional software development experience may offset this GPA requirement at the rate of 0.1 in GPA for each 2 years of such experience to a maximum of 0.4 in GPA. If the applicant has an M.S. or equivalent degree from an educational institution of recognized standing, the GPA in that degree should be at least 3.35 on a 4.0 scale.
- Programming skill in at least 1 higher level programming language, preferably C++, C#, or Java.
Graduate Certificate
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CSCI 713 | Software Development Processes | 3 |
| Select two of the following: | 6 | |
| Software Project Planning and Estimation | ||
| Software Requirements Definition and Analysis | ||
| Software Design | ||
| Software Construction | ||
| Software Testing and Debugging | ||
| CSCI 848 | Empirical Methods in Software Engineering | 3 |
| Total Credits | 12 | |
Masters of Software Engineering
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses - 15 Credits | ||
| Software Development Processes | ||
| Software Requirements Definition and Analysis | ||
| Software Design | ||
| Software Testing and Debugging | ||
| Empirical Methods in Software Engineering | ||
| Electives - 15 Credits | ||
| Software Project Planning and Estimation | ||
| Software Construction | ||
| Survey of Artificial Intelligence | ||
| Advanced Intelligent Systems | ||
| Introduction To Database Systems | ||
| Knowledge Based Systems | ||
| Development of Distributed Systems | ||
| Software Complexity Metrics | ||
| Total Credits - 30 | ||
Master of Science
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses | 12 | |
| Software Development Processes | ||
| Software Requirements Definition and Analysis | ||
or CSCI 718 | Software Testing and Debugging | |
| Software Design | ||
| Introduction To Database Systems | ||
| Six credits (not part of the core) from: | 6 | |
| Software Project Planning and Estimation | ||
| Software Requirements Definition and Analysis | ||
| Software Construction | ||
| Software Testing and Debugging | ||
| Formal Methods for Software Development | ||
| Development of Distributed Systems | ||
| Software Complexity Metrics | ||
| Empirical Methods in Software Engineering | ||
| CSCI 790 | Graduate Seminar | 3 |
| Plan A: Master's Thesis | ||
| Other Computer Science or Software Engineering Courses | 3-6 | |
| CSCI 798 | Master's Thesis | 6-9 |
| Plan B: Master's Paper | ||
| Other Computer Science or Software Engineering Courses | 9 | |
| CSCI 797 | Master's Paper | 3 |
| Total Credits | 33 | |
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Students seeking an option in cybersecurity must take 9 credits from the below list. | 9 | |
CSCI 601 | ||
CSCI 602 | ||
| Defensive Network Security | ||
| Ethical Hacking | ||
CSCI 605 | ||
CSCI 606 | ||
CSCI 607 | ||
CSCI 608 | ||
| Cybersecurity Law and Policy | ||
| Computer Crime and Forensics | ||
| Network Security | ||
| Foundations of the Digital Enterprise | ||
Doctor of Philosophy
Bachelor's to Doctor of Philosophy in Software Engineering degree requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Select 5 from the courses listed below: | 15 | |
| Software Development Processes | ||
| Software Project Planning and Estimation | ||
| Software Requirements Definition and Analysis | ||
| Software Design | ||
| Software Construction | ||
| Software Testing and Debugging | ||
| Formal Methods for Software Development | ||
| Development of Distributed Systems | ||
| Software Complexity Metrics | ||
| Empirical Methods in Software Engineering | ||
| CSCI 790 | Graduate Seminar | 3 |
| Courses in Software Engineering approved by the student's Supervisory Committee. | 21-36 | |
| CSCI 899 | Doctoral Dissertation | 36-51 |
| Total Credits | 90 | |
Master's to Doctor of Philosophy in Software Engineering degree requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Select 5 from the courses listed below | 15 | |
| Software Development Processes | ||
| Software Project Planning and Estimation | ||
| Software Requirements Definition and Analysis | ||
| Software Design | ||
| Software Construction | ||
| Software Testing and Debugging | ||
| Formal Methods for Software Development | ||
| Development of Distributed Systems | ||
| Software Complexity Metrics | ||
| Empirical Methods in Software Engineering | ||
| CSCI 790 | Graduate Seminar | 3 |
| Courses in Software Engineering approved by the student's Supervisory Committee. | 6-12 | |
| CSCI 899 | Doctoral Dissertation | 30-36 |
| Total Credits | 60 | |
Students seeking an option in cybersecurity must take 9 credits from the below list.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
Courses numbered CSCI 601-610 | ||
and | ||
| Network Security | ||
| Foundations of the Digital Enterprise | ||
- A minimum of 15 didactic credits numbered 700-789 and/or 800-898.
- Students who applied the listed core courses towards a MS degree obtained from NDSU can take up to 42 research credits.
- Research adviser should be selected by the second semester at NDSU.
- A Plan of Study listing coursework and examination committee members should be completed by the end of the second semester at NDSU.
- Satisfactory completion of the Comprehensive Exam at the PhD level (written exam based on the core courses).
- Research proposal presentation and preliminary oral examination (Qualifying Exam) should be completed by the fourth semester at NDSU after passing the Comprehensive Exam.
- Final Oral Examination on the PhD dissertation.
Zahid Anwar, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008
Research Interests: Cybersecurity Policy and Law, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Anne Denton, Ph.D.
University of Mainz, 1996
Research Interests: Data Mining, Bioinformatics, Scientific Informatics, Databases, Geospatial Data, Cloud Computing
Jun Kong, Ph.D.
University of Texas, Dallas, 2005
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Mobile Computing, Software Engineering
Pratap Kotala, Ph.D.
North Dakota State University, 2015
Research Interests: Software Engineering
Juan (Jen) Li, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia, 2008
Research Interests: Smart and Connected Health, Semantic Web Technologies, Internet of Things (IoT)
Lu Liu, Ph.D.
University of Texas San Antonio, 2017
Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Data Mining, Machine Learning, Data Science
Simone Ludwig, Ph.D.
Brunel University, 2004
Research Interests: Swarm Intelligence, Evolutionary Computation, Deep Neural Networks, Fuzzy Reasoning, Machine Learning
Kenneth Magel, Ph.D.
Brown University, 1977
Research Interests: Software Engineering, Human-Computer Interfaces, Software Complexity, and Software Design
M. Zubair Malik, Ph.D.
University of Texas at Austin, 2014
Research Interests: Program Analysis, Automated Program Repair, Secure Software Development, Software Verification-Validation and Testing, Software Systems (especially large scale Distributed Systems for Data science and Machine Learning), Formal Methods, Application of Artificial Intelligence in Program Analysis
Oksana Myronovych, Ph.D.
North Dakota State University, 2009
Research Interests: Software Engineering
Saeed Salem, Ph.D.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2009
Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Machine Learning and Data Mining
Jeremy Straub, Ph.D.
University of North Dakota, 2015
Research Interests: Multi-tier Mission Architecture & Control, Autonomous Data Link Reduction, Autonomous Vehicle Control, Machine Vision, Super Resolution
Vasant Ubhaya, Ph.D.
University of California-Berkeley, 1971
Research Interests: Algorithm Analysis, Approximation and Optimization
Changhui Yan, Ph.D.
Iowa State University, 2005
Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, Machine Learning, Data Mining, Big Data, Cloud Computing
Affiliate Faculty
Kendall Nygard, Ph.D.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1978
Research Interests: Data Science, Optimization, Cybersecurity, Smart Grid, Sensor Networks, Agents, Simulation, Artificial Intelligence, Adaptive Systems, Swarm Intelligence
Gursimran Walia, Ph.D.
Mississippi State University, 2009
Otto Borchert, Ph.D.
North Dakota State University, 2015
Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Educational Games, STEM Learning