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Undergraduate

Program Details

The documents in the table below provide the following information for each of the degree programs offered by the college:

• Degree Requirements (Reqts)
• Specimen Schedules (Specs)

In Fall 2007, the university instituted general education requirements known as the NU Core. All degree programs across the university have been modified to take into account these new requirements. That is why Before 2007 is set apart from later curricula.

In Fall 2007, the college introduced 1 new dual major:

• CS & Digital Art

In Fall 2009, the university instituted a new course numbering system. To make it easy for CCIS students, faculty, and advisors to work from the old system to the new system, the 2009 documents show the new course number followed by the old course number in parenthesis.

At the moment, only the Requirements documents are posted for 2009. Individual Specimens will be posted as soon as they are ready.

Please note that the CS & Biology dual has been changed to add certain elective options and to remove two options which had never been utilized.

In Fall 2009, the college introduced 4 new dual majors:

• CS & Environmental Science
• IS & Environmental Science
• CS & Interactive Media
• CS & Game Design

The duals with Environmental Science complete our effort to create appropriate dual majors with the sciences.

The duals with Interactive Media and Game Design represent the Computer Science component of the interdisciplinary program known as Creative Industies. This program has 5 related dual majors with Art+Design.

The dual with Interactive Media will replace the current dual with Multimedia Studies. However, students who entered Northeastern prior to Fall 2009 should continue to follow the CS & Multimedia Studies curriculum.

Most Recent Modification: July 7, 2009

Combined BS & MS in Computer Science

The combined BS & MS in Computer Science is designed to use 4 Master's level courses (16 SH) to substitute for corresponding undergraduate courses and then to use 4 additional Master's level electives (16 more SH) to complete the BS & MS requirements. This enables a strong student to get both a BS & MS degree in 6 years and have a full co-op experience. Because this program is quite demanding, it has strong academic requirements.

Information Science

An additional booklet is available that discusses the Information Science program philosophy in more detail: (ISBooklet).

CS & Music Technology

The dual of CS & Music Technology requires a special application process that includes a portfolio and an interview with Music Technology faculty. Students should contact the Music Technology faculty at the beginning of their freshman semester for more details.

You may wish to look at the Music Technology website. Read about the program and listen to the student works in the jukebox to make sure that it is something that you are interested in. This is a composition program (not production) that focuses almost entirely on contemporary concert music (not pop or commercial music). The student works are a good indication of what you would be doing in the program.

Writing Intensive Requirement

For students entering in Fall 2007 and after, the NU Core requirements include a requirement for a writing intensive course in the discipline. The courses offered in CCIS that meet this requirement are:

• CS U670 Software Development
• IS U470 Information System Design and Development

As of Fall 2007, every degree program in CCIS requires at least one of the above courses so the writing intensive requirement is automatically satisfied.

Capstone Requirement

For students entering in Fall 2007 and after, the NU Core requirements include a requirement for a capstone. The courses offered in CCIS that meet this requirement are:

• CS U520 Artificial Intelligence
• CS U540 Computer Graphics
• CS U610 Honors Senior Seminar
• CS U647 Secure Wireless Ad-hoc Robots on Mission (SWARM) 1
• CS U648 Secure Wireless Ad-hoc Robots on Mission (SWARM) 2
• CS U665 Compilers
• CS U675 Web Development
• CS U685 Research in High Performance Computing
• IS U692 Information Science Senior Project

Notes for Dual Majors

Dual majors entering in Fall 2007 and after are permitted to meet the university requirements for a writing intensive course and for a capstone course by taking courses in the other major.

In the case of writing intensive, this does not matter since the dual majors all require CS U670 or IS U470 or both as of Fall 2007.

For some duals, a required course in CCIS or in the other major may be a capstone so in such cases the capstone requirement is also automatic. The requirements documents state if a student must explicitly choose a capstone course.

Details about CS/IS Requirements and Policies

• CCIS Policy on Elective Courses
  • Students in CCIS are not permitted to take courses that are too elementary, courses from other departments that overlap CS/IS courses, courses offered in the evening program or the SET program or the Lowell Institute, or courses offered at other colleges and universities. Be sure to read the above policy document and ask for explict permission in questionable cases.
  • The above document also discusses policy on pass/fail and on 1 SH courses.
• Science Requirements
  • For students entering before Fall 2007, see the document:
    
    Science Requirements
    
  • For students entering in Fall 2007 and later, the science requirements are included in the requirements documents in the above table.
• Diversity or Comparative Cultures Requirement
  • For students entering before Fall 2007, see the document:
    
    Diversity Requirement
    
  • For students entering in Fall 2007 or later, the Diversity Requirement was replaced by the Comparative Cultures Requirement that is included in the NU Core. The Comparative Cultures Requirement may be satisfied by taking an appropriate course. See:
    
    NU Core Master List
    
    The Comparative Cultures Requirement may also be satisfied if the student has lived for an extended period in another culture or if the student pursues an appropriate activity. See:
    
    Comparative Cultures Alternatives
• CCIS Progression Standards
  • The progression document above discusses minimum grade requirements as you pass through your degree program as well as for graduation.
  • You must receive a grade of C- or better in the following courses:
    CS U200 Discrete Structures
    CS U211 Fundamentals of Computer Science 1
    CS U213 Fundamentals of Computer Science 2
    CS U290 Logic & Computation
    MTH U241 Calculus 1 for Science and Engineering
    MTH U242 Calculus 2 for Science and Engineering
    PHL U215 Symbolic Logic (before Fall 2007)
  • In a few dual majors, alternate calculus courses are permitted. The C- requirement applies to these courses as well.

Details about Related Requirements

Go to Helpful Links for direct access to the online university catalogs and for further information on the NU Core and the older Arts and Sciences Core.