Computer and Information Technology, MS

Required Courses (6 credits)

Choose one course from each sub-category. Other courses to fulfill the requirements below must be pre-approved by the CIT Graduate Program Chair.

• Statistics/Quantitative Methods
  (Choose one.)

• CNIT 60100 - Applied Statistics In Information Technology Credits: 3.00
• STAT 50100 - Experimental Statistics I Credits: 3.00
• STAT 51100 - Statistical Methods Credits: 3.00

•  

• Research Methods and Writing:
  (Choose one.)

• EDPS 53300 - Introduction To Educational Research I: Methodology Credits: 3.00
• CNIT 62300 - Contemporary Computer Technology Problems Credits: 1.00 to 8.00 Title: Research Methods for Computing (Credits: 3.00)
• TECH 64600 - Analysis Of Research In Industry And Technology Credits: 3.00 (Commonly taken. Should be taken concurrently with 1 credit hour of CNIT 69800.)
• TECH 69700 - Qualitative Research Methods In Technology Studies Credits: 3.00

Foundation Courses (3-15 credits)

Choose one to five courses. Other courses must be pre-approved by the CIT Graduate Program Chair.

• CNIT 55000 - Organizational Impact Of Information Technology Credits: 3.00
• CNIT 55100 - Information Technology Economics Credits: 3.00
• CNIT 55200 - Information Technology Project Management Credits: 3.00
• CNIT 55300 - Quality Management In Information Technology Credits: 3.00

•  

• CNIT 55500 - Advanced Network Security Credits: 3.00 or
• CNIT 55600 - Basic Computer Forensics Credits: 3.00

•  

• CS 50100 - Computing For Science And Engineering Credits: 3.00 (For students who need a refresher course in programming)

Electives (6-18 credits)

Electives are recorded in the Related Area of the plan of study, and are specific to the student’s areas of specialization and research. These electives require approval of the student’s entire Graduate Committee. If completed prior to filing a plan of study, the credits may not be approved for the graduate degree. The related area electives may include:

• CNIT graduate level catalog courses numbered 50000 and higher (except for CNIT 59800 and CNIT 69800) as deemed appropriate by the student’s entire graduate committee.
• Other graduate level catalog courses numbered 50000 and higher from any college or school within Purdue University, and as deemed appropriate by the student’s entire graduate committee. This allows students to build interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary depth, as needed, in their plans of study.
• Graduate level prototype courses numbered 50000 and higher. These are courses that are being developed and prototyped by faculty members with an expectation that some will eventually become permanent catalog course numbers. In CIT, these courses are numbered CNIT 58100-xxx, where xxx is an alphanumeric suffix used to differentiate different courses. Other programs may use different numbers for their prototype courses.
• Graduate level independent study courses allow students to study appropriate subjects for which no established course exists, under the direct supervision of a qualified faculty member. A maximum of six credit hours of independent study may be included in a plan of study. Courses must be unanimously approved by the student’s graduate committee. In Computer and Information Technology, these courses are numbered CNIT 59000. Requests for independent study must be proposed and approved before the student registers for the course.
• Undergraduate courses numbered 30000 and above may be included in a graduate plan of study if unanimously approved by the student’s Graduate Committee. The courses must contain subject matter necessary to the student’s subsequent graduate courses or research. It should be noted that some faculty refuse to approve undergraduate courses in a graduate plan of study. 

Remediation courses do NOT carry credit toward any M.S. degree requirement, and must NOT be included in a plan of study. Some students with insufficient undergraduate computing backgrounds may have been granted conditional admission to the program and required to complete specific undergraduate remediation course requirements. Remediation may also be prescribed after admittance to the CIT graduate program based upon the initial academic advisor’s review of the student’s academic and professional background and proficiencies.  

Thesis Research (6-8 credits)

The thesis course must be completed over two or more semesters. The first semester (1-2 credits) requires the student to write a thesis proposal and then defend that proposal to his or her Graduate Committee. The second semester (5-6 credits) requires the student to complete the thesis as successfully proposed, and defend the thesis to his or her committee. The defense is called a final exam. If the research extends longer than two semesters, students must register for at least one additional credit in each subsequent semester. It is NOT allowed to combine the proposal, thesis, and defense into a single semester.

• CNIT 69800 - Research MS Thesis Credits: 1.00 to 18.00 (First semester: 1-2 credits; Second semester: 5-6 credits)

Additional Requirements

Publication: the thesis option also includes the expectation that the student successfully publish a paper, abstract, poster, or book chapter in an academic conference proceedings, journal, periodical or similar venue or channel. The publication may be co-authored with other students and/or professors. 

Required Courses (6 credits)

See the list of required courses under Program Requirements - Thesis. Other courses to fulfill the Statistics/Quantitative Methods and Research Methods/Writing requirements must be pre-approved by the CIT Graduate Program Chair.

Foundation Courses (3-15 credits)

See the list of courses under Program Requirements - Thesis. Other courses must be pre-approved by the CIT Graduate Program Chair.

Electives (6-21 credits)

See the parameters for electives described under the Program Requirement - Thesis. Please note that students can take an additional course (3 credits) for their electives requirement in lieu of thesis research credits if pursuing a non-thesis/directed project option, bringing the maximum requirement for electives to 21 credits.

Additional Requirements

Publication: Depending on the major professor, there may or may not be a publication requirement for the directed project option. If required, the target publisher may either be academic or trade professional.

Required Courses (3 credits)

Choose one. Other courses to fulfill the requirements below must be pre-approved by the CIT Graduate Program Chair.

Foundation Courses (9 credits)

See the list of courses under Program Requirements - Thesis. Other courses must be pre-approved by the CIT Graduate Program Chair. For the 9 credit hours, students must take the two foundation courses, as well as choose one course from the Cyberforensics selectives list. Students may elect to choose more than one course from the selectives list, and complete more than 9 credit hours. If so, that reduces the number of required credit hours in electives.

Electives (24 credits)

See the parameters for electives described under the Program Requirement - Thesis. Please note that students will take an additional two courses (4 credits) for their electives requirement, for a total of 24 credits.

Additional Requirements

When transferring into the coursework-only option, students are NOT allowed to apply any thesis or directed project course credits already earned to fulfill a degree requirement for the coursework-only option. This means students cannot use TECH 64600, CNIT 59800, CNIT 62300, or CNIT 69800 to fulfill any degree requirement, even if those courses have been completed. In other words, students cannot exit the thesis option but still apply thesis-related course credits.