Department of Computer Science

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Location: Griffin Hall 400
Telephone: 859-572-6930
Email Address: cs@nku.edu
Web Address: http://cs.nku.edu
Department Chair: Maureen Doyle
Program Director(s):

Undergraduate Computer Science Director: Richard Fox
Undergraduate Computer Information Technology Director: Yi Hu
Undergraduate Data Science Director: Maureen Doyle
Cybersecurity Certificate Director: James Walden
Geographic Information Systems Certificate Director: Hongmei Wang
Software Development Certificate Director: Timothy McCord

Other Key Personnel:

Senior Operations Coordinator: Sue Murphy-Angel
Academic Coordinator: Christa Witt
Academic Specialist: Aaron Zlatkin

Full-Time Faculty: Alina Campan, Samuel Cho, Scot Cunningham, Maureen Doyle, Richard Fox, Charles Frank, Wei Hao, Yi Hu, Rasib Khan, Qi Li, Timothy McCord, Gary Newell, Emily Taylor, Cynthia Thomas, Marius Truta, Anthony Tsetse, James Walden, Hongmei Wang, Jeff Ward, Gail Wells

Thinking about the discipline: We offer three undergraduate major and minors: computer information technology, computer science and data science as well as multiple certificates. By majoring in one of the computing fields, a student gets a behind-the-scenes look at the digital world, moving from being a user of information technology to being a creator and/or administrator. Students with degrees in computer science often become software engineers; students with degrees in computer information technology often run large networks or complex websites; students with degrees in data science often use software to model and visualize information.

Special opportunities for our students: Students in the computing majors have many opportunities to engage with projects and activities outside the classroom. Each fall, NKU sends teams of computer science majors to the regional Association for Computing Machinery programming competition. Each spring it sends a team of computer information technology majors to the regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Students interested in research work can get paid to work on projects with faculty members in a variety of areas, from web security to data mining. These student researchers often travel to conferences to present their work. Many students in the department work part time for NKU’s Center for Applied Informatics, developing mobile applications and websites for local companies and nonprofit organizations. Students often earn cooperative education credit for this work. The student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), runs both social and educational events. Placement testing information for mathematics courses can be obtained from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Mathematics-Education-Psychology Center 401).

Special admission requirements: There are no specific admission requirements for the programs in this department.

Special graduation requirements: Students must earn a grade of C- or better in each course that counts as part of a major or minor for all programs offered by the department. Placement testing is available for some computer information technology, computer science and informatics courses.

You should also know: More information is available from the College of Informatics advising center (Griffin Hall 404).

Programs

• Computer Information Technology, B.S.
• Computer Science, B.S.
• Data Science, B.S.

• Computer Forensics Minor
• Computer Information Technology Minor
• Computer Science Minor
• Data Science Minor
• Information Security Minor

• Cybersecurity Certificate
• Software Development Certificate

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