Department of Computer Science

List of programs

Location: Griffin Hall 400
Telephone: 859-572-6930
Email Address: cs@nku.edu
Web Address: http://cs.nku.edu
Department Chair: James McGuffee
Other Key Personnel:

Undergraduate Curriculum Director: Richard Fox
Program Director for Master of Science in Computer Information Technology: Marius Truta
Program Director for Master of Science in Computer Science: Wei Hao
Department Coordinator: A.J. Miller

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

Thinking about the discipline: 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 and apply in appropriate ways.

These fields are not only exciting but are in great demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects software engineering to experience “much faster than average growth” through 2022, and it reports that network systems and data communications analyst is the second-fastest growing job in the United States. Much of this growth is driven by interest in mobile application development and cyber security, two key areas featured in NKU’s computing programs. The demand for data science graduates is expected to grow even faster. McKinsey & Co. forecasts that the United States will face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with data science skills by 2018.

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: Although there are no specific admission requirements for the programs in this department, prospective students should have an appropriate background in high school mathematics to increase their chances of success. In practice, this means a mathematics ACT score of at least 23 for computer information technology majors, a mathematics ACT score of at least 25 for computer science majors, and a mathematics ACT score of at least 25 for data science majors.

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

You should also know: For more information contact an advisor in the College of Informatics advising center (Griffin Hall 404).

Programs

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Minor

Certificate

inside NKU

Department of Computer Science

Programs