Computer Science and Engineering

Curriculum Requirements(PDF) Download

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

395 Dreese Labs
2015 Neil Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1210
614-292-5813
http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/

Degrees offered

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering
Master of Science
Doctor of Philosophy

Undergraduate program

This program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012; - telephone: 410-347-7700.

This program is also accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012; - telephone 410-347-7700

Program educational objectives

Graduates of the program will be employed in the computing profession, and will be engaged in learning, understanding, and applying new ideas and technologies as the field evolves.
Graduates with an interest in, and aptitude for, advanced studies in computing will have completed, or be actively pursuing, graduate studies in computing.
Graduates will be informed and involved members of their communities, and responsible engineering and computing professionals.

The undergraduate program in the College of Engineering leads to the degree Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering. It is designed for the student who seeks a strong program in computer science and engineering which is based on a solid foundation in science and engineering plus computer-related mathematics. By appropriate choice of technical electives, the student may specialize in one of the following fields: software systems, hardware-software systems, or information systems.

The degree program in engineering is designed to prepare students for careers as practicing engineers in industry. Students with other objectives may wish to consider the department's programs in the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences. The Fisher College of Business also offers an information system concentration. All CSE students take basic courses in mathematics, science, and engineering. Core courses in computer science and engineering include programming and software development, computer architecture, data structures, operating systems, programming languages, theory of computation, databases and file design, and numerical methods. Several options are available to allow a student to choose an appropriate area of specialization:

Software systems

This option provides a general, broad-based overview of the computing field. The electives within this option may also be tailored to emphasize computer graphics, artificial intelligence, distributed computing, operating systems, databases, software design, etc. The software systems option prepares students for positions as general applications programmers and systems analysts.

Hardware-software systems

This option includes courses from electrical engineering as well as from computer science. This option emphasizes computer architecture, providing the student with a letter understanding of the interface between a system's software and the hardware that it controls. It prepares students for positions as systems programmers and applications programmers for embedded systems (i.e., computers that control or provide intelligence in larger systems, such as aircraft navigation systems, robotics, etc.).

Information systems

This option combines a rigorous curriculum in computer science with a general introduction to business topics. It places particular emphasis upon database systems and the design and implementation of information processing systems. The information systems option prepares students for positions as applications programmers and systems analysts in a business environment.

Information and Computation Assurance

Over the last few years, issues related to information and computation assurance have become increasingly important. These issues are related to privacy concerns of individuals, national security considerations, as well as private businesses concerned with protecting trade and other secrets. The ICA option is well suited for students interested in this topic.

Individualized Option

This option is intended to allow students to tailor their tech electives in such a manner as to enable them to study, in depth, a particular area of computer science such as AI, networking, etc., or possibly explore the applications of computing to other areas such as linguistics or visualization of large amounts of scientific data, etc. Students interested in this option are urged to consult with their advisors early in their program, so that they can get approval of the courses they propose to take including non-CSE courses or the minor, whichever applies.

Technical Electives

The technical electives are to be chosen from one of the above options. They must be approved by a faculty adviser.

Computing facilities

In the OSU Department of Computer Science and Engineering the students, faculty and staff enjoy some of the best computing facilities available at OSU. These facilities consist of general-purpose instructional computers and specialized research laboratories. The Department uses a variety of operating systems with the primary ones being Windows and Solaris. The Windows environment consists of Dell workstations and servers; these are used by all courses. The UNIX environment consists of Sun servers running Solaris as well as some Linux servers; these are used by the intermediate and advanced courses. The Department also has access to other University computing resources such as large IBM mainframes and Cray supercomputers.

Acceptance to major

Entry courses: CSE 321 and 360

Acceptance to the computer science and engineering major is competitive and by formal application to students who have a minimum of 25 credit hours at Ohio State and the competitive cumulative point hour at the time of admissions. The following coursework must be satisfied as well as having satisfied the cumulative point hour requirement: Math 151, 152; CSE 221,222 (C- or better required); Chemistry 121 and Physics 131 or Physics 131 and 132; English 110.

Other programs

The undergraduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences lead to the degree Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts with a major in computer and information science. Details of these programs can be found at the College of the Arts and Sciences web site. The Fisher College of Business offers a concentration in information systems which lead to the degree Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Details of this program are at the Fisher College of Business web site.