Florida International University

School of Computer Science School of Computer Science

An OverviewAn Overview

Tim Downey, Advisor & Instructor

www.cs.fiu.edu

My Messages …

• FIU is the right place for you• This is the best time to major in Computer

Science or Information Technology

FIU – A Major Force in US Higher Education

• Characteristics of FIU – CHANGE and MOMENTUM• State University of Florida founded only 30 years ago• Currently in top 25 largest Universities in U.S. with 35,000

students• 200 baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degree programs in

19 colleges and schools• Top 100 national public universities – US News & World

Report• US 18th best value in public higher education - Kiplinger's

Personal Finance Magazine • Doctoral/Research University-Extensive by the Carnegie

Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the highest ranking

• Competitive external research funding grew more than 500% in the last 10 years to ~$80M

FIU Campus and Impact

FIU has two campuses – 344-acre University Park in western Miami-Dade County and the 195-acre Biscayne Bay Campus in northeast Miami-Dade County – and an educational site in Broward County. A major research facility, the 40-acre Center for Engineering and Applied Sciences, is located near University Park

The University has an economic impact of more than $1.4 billion on the South Florida economy

Minority institution serving 54% Hispanic and 14% African American students – one of the largest producers of Hispanic graduates

School of Computer Science – Leading the Charge

• Founded in 1987, named school to reflect its importance to the institution

• Doubled student population in past 10 years

• Largest and arguably the best provider of Hispanic graduates at BS, M.S. and Ph.D. levels

• 1000% increase in external research funding in past 10 years

• 500% growth in technology & laboratory infrastructure for research and education

School of Computer Science Facts

• 1000+ undergraduate students in ABET/CSAB accredited CS BS program & IT BS program

• 70+ MS students, 68 Ph.D. students• BS degree program in Jamaica, MS program in China• 30+ faculty, 35+ research assistants, and 20+ staff members and

associates• Average $2 million competitive research funding annually• 500 servers, workstations and PCs interconnected by high speed

networks• 25 research & education laboratories

Summary of Accomplishments 2002-2004

• Fast growing education programs in scale and quality– 26% increase in annual BS degree production (113)– 79% increase in MS degrees awarded (34)– 300% increase in Ph.D. graduation (6)

• Undergraduate Enrollment – Maintained undergraduate enrollment in the recession years while all major universities reported severe decrease

• Fast expanding faculty team– 6 highly competitive faculty members hired in 2002-04

• Building ACM student organization from ground up into top 10 in 2 years

• Competitive Federal Research Funding: $2.9+M in 2003-04, more than doubling the amount in previous years

• New Degree Programs Created 2002-04:– Single & double major IT BS degrees– Weekend only IT BS degree – Accelerated BS+MS degree in 5 years (Fall 2004).

Broad Coverage of CS and IT Areas

• Major Area of Education and Research:– DBMS, data mining, data visualization, multi-modal information retrieval– Software engineering – modeling, design, verification and testing,

component technology and middleware, architecture– Adaptive and pervasive computing– Computer communication and networking– Software security– Multimedia systems– Internet technology and mobile computing– Real time systems– Multidisciplinary R&D – Bioinformatics, healthcare and medicine,

disaster management, transportation, environment, material science, etc.

• Funded by NSF, NASA, AFOSR, ARO, USAF RL, DOI, USGS, IBM, and other agencies and corporations.

FIU/SCS is the Right Place for You

The FIU/SCS Advantage

• We offer a first class educational and research program in computer science– And we are getting better everyday

• We offer great career & employment opportunities for our graduates– FIU is a key university of recruitment for major IT-related

corporations, e.g. IBM, Microsoft, GE, Goldman Sachs

• We have strong and growing partnership with industry– Intern, co-op, joint R&D and employment opportunities

This Is the Best Time to Major in CS

• On one hand …– The technology recession and concern of outsourcing caused major

decline (20+%) in CS freshmen enrollment in US (FIU is one of the few exceptions)

– Hence significant reduction of supply in CS graduates in coming years

• On the other hand …– CS and IT have emerged as the fundamental enabler and driver for

every existing and emerging industry and discipline– IT occupational growth projected to account for 70% of science and

engineering job openings in the next 10 years (US Department of Commerce, 2003)

– 8 out of 10 job categories slated for the biggest increases in employment demand are computer science related (“The Coming Job Boom,” Business 2.0, 9/2003)

• Reduced Supply + Surging Demand = Great Opportunity• Major Impact to be seen in 4-5 years

School of Computer Science

• Degrees offered– BS in Computer Science

• Accredited by Abet

– BA in Information Technology– BS in Information Technology

– Accelerated BS+MS degree in 5 years– MS in Computer Science– PhD in Computer Science

Undergraduate Degrees

• BS in Computer Science– Concepts and principles of Computer Science

• Theory• Programming• Databases• Operating Systems• Hardware Architectures

Undergraduate Degrees

• BS in Information Technology– Offered as a second major or single major– Practical Side of Computer Science

• Programming• Databases• Operating Systems• Hardware Architectures• Networking• Web technology

– Less theory and concepts than computer science– More practical and hands-on work

BS in CS -- Required Courses

• Programming I• Programming II• Programming III• Data Structures• Fundamentals of CS• Survey of Programming

Languages• Software Engineering• Operating Systems• Computer Organization

• Ethics and Social Issues in CS

• Logic for CS• Report and Technical

Writing• Discrete Mathematics• Theory of Algorithms• Intro to Proby and

Statistics• Business

Communications

BS in CS -- Elective Courses

• Two elective courses from:Data CommunicationsAdvanced UNIX ProgrammingAdvanced Windows ProgrammingComputing and Network SecurityWindows Component TechnologySoftware Engineering II

• One elective course from:Graph TheoryNumerical AnalysisIntroduction to CombinatoricsMathematical Logic

BS in CS – Science Requirement

• A two semester sequence in Physics with Calculus

• Two other courses in science for science majors

BS in IT -- Required Courses

• Programming in Java• Intermediate Java• Microcomputer Organization• Computer Operating Systems• Applied Computer Networking• Web Site Construction and Management• Information Storage and Retrieval • Report & Technical Writing

BS in IT – Elective Courses

• All students must take 5 elective courses. Students must select two areas of concentration and take at least two courses in those two selected areas (4 courses). The fifth course may be selected from any available area of concentration.

• Areas of Concenration:– System Administration– Network Administration– Application Development– Databases

Other Requirements

• 120 total credits (transfer + FIU)• 60 credit maximum from 2-year schools

– All courses can be accepted– 60 credits to be taken at FIU

• Foreign Language Proficiency– 2 semesters of foreign language at University level– CLEP– Second semester of two semester sequence– Any 2000+ foreign language course

IT Transfers

• There are only four classes that are offered at MDC that apply directly to IT requirements. – CGS1060 – PSY2012 – MAC1140 or MAC1147 – A Java programming class

CS Transfers

• The following classes will satisfy CS requirements at FIU– MAC2311, MAC2312– PHY2048, PHY2049 and labs– MAD2104– Any of the following science classes

• BSC2010, BSC2011• BOT1010• ZOO1010• CHM1045, CHM1046

– A Java programming class