Master of Science in Computer Networking

The Master of Science degree program in Computer Networking is intended for students with Computer Science or Electrical and Computer Engineering undergraduate degrees who wish to pursue careers in operations, services, development, and research in the networking and IT industry. This is an exciting program that offers a wide variety of technical courses in computer networking, and optionally management courses, for a truly unique educational opportunity.

Admission

The MSCN program is jointly managed by the Computer Science Department and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Admissions are handled separately by the two departments. In order to allow the corresponding admission committees to better appreciate the qualifications of the applicants, we strongly encourage the students to apply to the department closest to their undergraduate degree. For example, if your undergraduate degree is Electrical Engineering, apply through the ECE Department. For details and deadlines please check Department of Computer Science if you plan to apply through the Computer Science Department or Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering if you plan to apply through the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Admission Criteria

Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or (Tele)communications Engineering and GRE general test.

Students who do not have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or (Tele)communications Engineering are required to take the following courses before they apply:

• Τhree semesters of calculus (MA 141, MA 241, and MA 242)
• One semester of probability/statistics (ST 370, or MA 421 (preferred))
• Two semesters of an object-oriented language (CSC 116 and CSC 216)
• Data structures (CSC 316)
• One semester of computer organization (CSC 236)
• One semester of signals and systems or discrete mathematics. (ECE 200 or CSC 226)

Visit the desired department website for full application procedure details.

Degree requirements

A minimum of 31 credit hours is required for all students. A minimum of 9 credits should be taken from a group of Core Networking courses, and a minimum of 3 credit hours should be taken from a group of Theory courses. Also, a 1-credit hour graduate orientation course is required of all students.

The remaining 18 credits could be taken from a list of courses which have been grouped into the following four tracks:

• Networking Design
• Network Hardware
• Network Software
• Networking Services
• Internet of Things

These tracks are for guidance purposes and students may choose to focus in one of these tracks or may take courses from one or more tracks.

At least 3 credits of the minimum 31 credits required for graduation should be 700-level courses.

Subject to approval by the student’s advisor, other courses from the pool of CSC and ECE courses not listed in the four tracks and also courses from other departments can be taken. Also, up to 3 credits can be taken from a list of Business courses, and up to 6 credits of additional Business courses can also be taken with approval by the student’s advisor.

For the non-thesis option, take a minimum of 18 credits as described above. You may substitute up to 3 credits with an independent study (CSC 630 for CNC students, and ECE 634 for CNE students).

For the thesis option, you may substitute up to six credits with thesis work (CSC 695 for CNC students, and ECE 695 for CNE students).

Special topics

For the MSCN students admitted through the ECE department (CNE students) prior approval from Dr. Sichitiu is required if you plan to take an ECE special topics (ECE 592/792) course or a CSC special topics (CSC 591/791) course and have it counted towards graduation.

For the MSCN students admitted through the CSC department (CNC students) , prior approval from Dr. Dutta is required if you plan to take an ECE special topics (ECE 592/792) course and have it counted towards graduation.

Advising

If you are admitted through the Computer Science program, your advisor is Dr. Dutta (hp@ncsu.edu) and if you are admitted through the Electrical and Computer Engineering, your advisor is Dr. Sichitiu (mlsichit@ncsu.edu).