Computer Science MSCS

Major: Computer Science
Degree Awarded: Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 45.0 
Co-op Option: Available for full-time, on-campus master's-level students
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 11.0701
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-3021; 15-1111; 15-1131; 15-1132; 15-1199

About the Program

The Department of Computer Science in the College of Computing & Informatics houses research groups actively conducting research on a wide range of topics in Computer Science including artificial intelligence, machine learning, algorithms, theory, computer vision and graphics, programming languages, networks, privacy and security, high-performance computing, software engineering, and computer algebra. The department emphasizes both interdisciplinary and applied research and is supported by major federal research grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as well as by private sources.

The Master of Science in Computer Science program is designed to provide breadth of understanding in the core topics of computer science, in-depth advanced material, and a range of topics in the research areas of the faculty. A balance of theory and practice is presented, preparing students to perform cutting-edge research, as well as training students to become practicing computer scientists or software engineers in business, industry, or government. A thesis option is available to prepare students for doctoral studies or other research-oriented career paths.

The program provides room for electives outside of Computer Science in an area which the student wishes to apply their computing skills and from the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Computer Science Foundations (for those with an insufficient Computer Science background).

A graduate co-op is available; for more information, visit the Steinbright Career Development Center's website.

Additional Information

For more information about the Master of Science in Computer Science degree program, including admission requirements, visit the College of Computing & Informatics website.

Master of Science in Computer Science

Students must complete a minimum of 45.0 graduate credits for the MS degree. 

*

Co-op is an option for this degree for full-time on-campus students. To prepare for the 6-month co-op experience, students will complete: COOP 500. The total credits required for this degree with the co-op experience is 46.0

Students not participating in the co-op experience will need 45.0 credits to graduate.

**

Except CS 501CS 502, CS 503, CS 504

Sample Plan of Study (MSCS)

Part-Time, no co-op

Note: Second Year Summer is less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.

Full-Time, with co-op

Note: Second Year Summer is less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.

Dual Degree Opportunities

Graduate students already enrolled in a master's degree program at Drexel have the opportunity, through the dual master's program, to work simultaneously on two CCI master's degrees and to receive both upon graduation. To be eligible, graduate students must be currently working on their first CCI master's degree when requesting admission to the second CCI master's degree. They must obtain approval from the graduate advisors of both programs and work out a plan of study encompassing coursework and/or research (thesis) credits for both degrees.

Some courses may be used to satisfy requirements in both degrees, reducing the total number of courses taken, according to Drexel’s Dual MS Degree Policy. The dual degree for MSCS students is only available to on-campus students. Please contact your advisor for more information on program requirements as some CCI master's degree combinations may require additional prerequisites.

The dual master's student must complete the Change of Curriculum and Status form and obtain approvals from both graduate advisors. Final approval is granted by the the Office of Graduate Studies. The student is then registered in both majors simultaneously. Upon graduation, the student must file two Application for Degree forms.

3675 Market Street

The College of Computing & Informatics is located at 3675 Market. Occupying three floors in the modern uCity Square building, CCI's home offers state-of-the-art technology in our classrooms, research labs, offices, meeting areas and collaboration spaces. 3675 Market offers Class A laboratory, office, coworking, and convening spaces. Located at the intersection of Market Street and 37th Street, 3675 Market acts as a physical nexus, bridging academic campuses and medical centers to the east and south, the commercial corridors along Market Street and Chestnut Street, and the residential communities to the north and west.

The uCity Square building offers:

• Speculative lab/office space
• World-class facilities operated by CIC
• Café/restaurant on-site
• Quorum, a two-story, 15K SF convening space and conference center
• Adjacent to future public square
• Access to Science Center’s nationally renowned business acceleration and technology commercialization programs

Drexel University Libraries

The Drexel University Libraries is a one-stop resource for all members of the Drexel community, providing access to millions of print and online books, journals, databases and other media, as well as hundreds of online course and research guides, workshops, and tutorials. Expert librarians offer a variety of consultation services virtually or in person, including help with course-related projects, strategies for finding and evaluating authoritative information, and approaches to utilizing, organizing, and presenting scholarship.

Students in the College of Computing & Informatics also have access to the W. W. Hagerty Library where they can take advantage of the Libraries’ various learning environments, including group study rooms, collaborative and silent study areas, and 24/7 study space in the Dragons’ Learning Den. The Libraries also offers a wellness room, printing and scanning services, and laptops, portable power chargers, and other equipment you can borrow for use in the Library.

CCI Commons

Located on the 10th floor of 3675 Market Street, the CCI Commons is an open lab and collaborative work environment for students. It features desktop computers, a wireless/laptop area, free black and white printing, and more collaborative space for its students. Students have access to 3675 Market's fully equipped conference room with 42” displays and videoconferencing capabilities. The CCI Commons provides technical support to students, faculty, and professional staff. In addition, the staff provides audio-visual support for all presentation classrooms within 3675 Market. Use of the CCI Commons is reserved for all students taking CCI courses.

The computers for general use are Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX machines with appropriate applications which include the Microsoft Office suite, various database management systems, modeling tools, and statistical analysis software. Library-related resources may be accessed at the CCI Commons and through the W.W. Hagerty Library. The College is a member of the "Azure Dev Tools for Teaching” platform that allows students free access to a wide array of Microsoft software titles and operating systems.

The CCI Commons, student labs, and classrooms have access to networked databases, print and file resources within the College, and the Internet via the University’s network. Email accounts, Internet and BannerWeb access are available through the Office of Information Resources and Technology.

Computer Support for Teaching

The CCI server room houses a multitude of servers to support faculty research, staff operations, and student learning. Services provided include a Linux compute cluster which is open to all faculty, staff, and students, multiple virtualization environments to meet different needs of faculty, staff, and students, and other single-purpose servers to support various operations throughout the college. The compute cluster provides a common environment for students to develop software, which makes testing easier for the TAs and faculty. Our virtualization environments allow college members the flexibility of a cloud environment with local support and direct cost recovery options. For those who need dedicated hardware, we also support dedicated research systems.

Classrooms are outfitted with laser projectors, 4K displays, class capture hardware, and the Wolfvision Cynap. The Cynap controls the AV distribution throughout the room and can display up to 4 streams simultaneously. These include the local PC, a laptop connected directly to the podium, or up to 4 streaming devices. Windows, macOS, iOS and Android devices can all connect wirelessly to the presentation system, allowing collaboration and freedom to roam the classroom for better interactivity. Wireless networking and outlets are also available for students throughout the classrooms. Laptops are available for checkout from the CCI Commons desk.

Additionally, CCI is hosting and supporting multiple Virtual Computing Lab environments for students to use that mimics the physical computer labs in CCI. This technology allows both online and face to face students to have the same experience when using computing facilities.

CCI Virtual Environments

CCI hosts a variety of virtual environments, which support all levels of research, academics, and administration at CCI. These include OpenStack, Proxmox VE, VMWare, and Xen architectures, backed by storage in CEPH. Multiple environments allow CCI IT to provide researchers with the level of control appropriate for the project at hand and make efficient use of project funding. External cloud vendors such as AWS and Google Cloud Platform are also used when appropriate.

CCI continues to invest in these virtual environments, and explores emerging environments, to continue to best support CCI research and teaching. CPU cores, storage, and memory are added at every opportunity to these flexible, scalable environments. The current capacity of the system includes:

• 1760 CPU Cores
• 6 TB of Memory
• Over 556 TB of HDD-backed storage
• 122 TB of high-performance SSD-backed storage
• 12 GPUs with room for expansion through funded research for high-performance computing needs

CCI Learning Center

The CCI Learning Center (CLC), located in 3675 Market Street's CCI Commons student computer lab, provides consulting and other learning resources for students taking courses offered by the Computer Science Department. The CLC is staffed by graduate and undergraduate computer science students from the College of Computing & Informatics.

The CLC and CCI Commons serve as a central hub for small group work, student meetings, and TA assistance. 

Research Laboratories

The College houses multiple research labs, led by CCI faculty, in 3675 Market Street including: the Metadata Research Center (MRC), Interactive Systems for Healthcare (IS4H) Research, Economics and Computation (EconCS), The TeX-Base Lab, SPiking And Recurrent SoftwarE (SPARSE) Coding, Human-System Evaluation and Analysis Lab (H-SEAL), Applied Symbolic Computation Laboratory (ASYM), Security and Privacy Analytics Lab (SePAL), Software Engineering and Analytics Research (SOAR), Software Engineering Research Group (SERG), Social Computing Research Group, Vision and Cognition Laboratory (VisCog). For more information on these laboratories, please visit the College’s research web page.