USC Center for Software Engineering
Advanced Degrees
Last updated 9/02/2000
Tremendous career opportunities await graduates of
advanced-degree programs in modern, systems-oriented software engineering.
You'll be able to create the applications generators used by tens of
millions of user-programmers. Or rapidly compose unprecedented new
applications. Or architect and integrate information megasystems or
software-intensive consumer products. Or build the corporate, national, and
international information infrastructures required to support all those
applications. Or teach and do research for the next generation of software
engineers and their products.
Led by Professors Barry Boehm
and Ellis Horowitz,
the USC Computer Science
Department's program in Software Engineering offers an exciting set of
graduate research and educational opportunities. Supplemented by contracts
and grants from ARPA, Army Research Laboratories, Air Force Rome
Laboratories, and the world's largest Industrial Affiliates' program in
software engineering, USC is pursuing advanced research in such areas as
software requirements engineering, architectures, process modeling, cost
modeling, environments, groupware, and knowledge-based software
engineering.
The resulting state-of-the-art research and its context are transitioned
into the USC Master of Science in Computer Science with specialization in
Software Engineering (MSCS-SE) degree program. Its courses provide
students with a mastery of the USC WinWin Spiral Model; the USC WinWin
groupware environment for collaborative requirements engineering and
related CASE tools; the SEI Capability Maturity Model; leading industry and
university tools and research in software architectures; software metrics,
planning, and control based on the USC COCOMO® family of models and tools;
Mills' Cleanroom approach; and team development of production-grade
software packages.
The MSCS-SE degree program also includes elective courses, enabling students
to integrate the software engineering specialization with the Department's
other software strengths in user/multimedia engineering, operating systems,
database systems, networking, high performance computing, and artificial
intelligence.
Degree requirements include core courses in Software Engineering I and II,
Computer Systems Architecture, and an Advanced Software Engineering Project
course; three additional courses selected from six other mainstream
software courses; plus the general master's requirements. A total of 27
semester units is required (normally 9 courses). There are no thesis or
comprehensive exam requirements for the degree.
Two continuing Ph.D. research fellowships in Software Engineering are
available each year for particularly outstanding applicants. The
Ph.D. application requirements are similar to those for the MSCSSE.
- Robert Balzer, Research Professor:
- Automatic Programming, AI & Program Specification
- Barry Boehm, TRW Professor:
- Software Engineering: Software Processes, Metrics, & Architectures
- Prasanta Bose, Research Assistant Professor:
- Requirements, Architecture, Groupware, Knowledge-Based Software Engineering
- Peter Danzig, Associate Professor:
- Operating Systems, Computer Networks, Distributed Systems & Performance Analysis
- Alvin Despain, Charles Lee Powell Professor:
- AI: Architecture, Machine
Organization & Design Automation
- Deborah Estrin, Associate Professor:
- Computer Networks, Internetwork Routing & Multimedia Communication
- Shahram Ghandeharizadeh, Associate Professor:
- Database Management Systems, Multiprocessor Database Machines, & Multimedia Information Systems
- Ellis Horowitz, Professor:
- Software Engineering, Programming Environments & Computer-Based Instruction
- Lewis Johnson, Research Associate Professor:
- AI: Tutoring & Explanation Systems, & Knowledge-Based Software
Engineering
- Raymond Madachy, Adjunct Assistant Professor:
- Software Metrics, Models, and Processes
- Dennis McLeod, Professor:
- Data- and Knowledge-Based Systems
- Ulrich Neumann, Assistant Professor:
- Computer Graphics, Virtual Environments, Medical Visualization, & Head-Tracking Systems
- Rafael Saavedra, Assistant Professor:
- Parallel Programming & Architecture, & Performance Analysis
- David Wile, Research Professor:
- Programming Languages & Environments
Admissions decisions are based on the applicant's submission of academic
transcripts, GRE results, TOEFL results (for international students),
letters of recommendation, and an essay on the applicant's scholarly and
professional ambitions. A BA/BS degree with substantial background in
computing is required. Industrial experience in software engineering is
preferred but not required.
Applications should be received by June 1 and
October 1 for admission to
the next Fall or Spring semesters, respectively.
For further information or to obtain application material
about our
Master's Program, please email
or write to:
Master of Science in Computer Science-SE
Computer Science Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0781
(213) 740-4496
Copyright 1995-2000 The University of Southern California
The written material, text, graphics, and software available on this page and all related pages may be copied, used, and distributed freely as long as the University of Southern California as the source of the material, text, graphics or software is always clearly indicated and such acknowledgement always accompanies any reuse or redistribution of the material, text, graphics or software; also permission to use the material, text, graphics or software on these pages does not include the right to repackage the material, text, graphics or software in any form or manner and then claim exclusive proprietary ownership of it as part of a commercial offering of services or as part of a commercially offered product.
