Computer Science Department

Department Chairperson and Graduate Program Director: KC Santosh, Ph.D.

Department of Computer Science
Arts & Sciences, Room 201
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
Phone: 605-677-5388
cs@usd.edu
www.usd.edu/csci

FACULTY

Associate Professors:

Douglas Goodman, Ph.D., University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Specialization: Simulation, Real-time Systems, Graphics.
KC Santosh, Ph.D., INRIA - Universite de Lorraine, France. Specialization: Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition, Image Processing, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Data Mining, Information Retrieval, Big Data.

Assistant Professors:

Vijayalakshmi Saravanan, Ph.D.,Vellore Institute of Technology, India. Specialization: Data visualization, Big Data, IoT, Computer Architecture and High Performance of Computing.

DEGREE

Master of Science, Plan A and Plan B
Accelerated Master of Science

SPECIALIZATION

Artificial Intelligence
Informatics

CERTIFICATE

Artificial Intelligence

Program Description

All graduate programs are designed to produce individuals with a strong, broad-based core of advanced computer science knowledge. These programs are recommended for students with professional goals in Computer Science such as continuing education, working for national laboratories and other federal or state agencies, securing employment in private industry, or post-secondary education. Graduates of the programs are well prepared to accept the current and future challenges of the field.

The Department of Computer Science offers the only graduate “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Certificate program” in the state of South Dakota. It focuses on the development of AI tools for different purposes, including machine vision (e.g., robotics), machine learning for big data, data analytics, the internet of things, and information retrieval, in which data may include images, sensor-based signals, web-based medical texts, cultural heritage documents, news, etc. These courses take advantage of USD’s high-performance computing capacity. In addition to students with Computer Science (CS) backgrounds, non-CS majors can benefit from this certificate program.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Completed Graduate Application form found at: https://www.usd.edu/graduate-school/apply-now and a non-refundable application fee of $35.
Official transcript(s) verifying receipt of an undergraduate degree and previous graduate credit (in English or with translation) must accompany an application. Official transcripts of all academic work at the undergraduate and graduate levels are required for international students. The USD Graduate School and/or academic units retain the right to require credential evaluations from organizations, such as Educational Credential Evaluators/World Education Services (ECE/WES), for a student if such an evaluation is deemed necessary.
A minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 2.7 on conferred degree and/or graduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, based on a 4.0 scale, on all graduate coursework is required for full admission. Each graduate program may admit students on provisional status per university policy.
Applicants with degrees from countries other than the United States who have obtained an undergraduate or graduate degree from an institutionally accredited American college or university or from an accredited institution in the following English-speaking countries: United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Canada (Excluding Quebec), Australia, and New Zealand are not required to submit an approved English proficiency exam score. For all other applicants, a minimum score of 79 on the Internet-Based TOEFL (iBT) or 550 on the Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT), a minimum IELTS Academic score of 6.0, or a minimum PTE score of 53 is required for graduate admission.
Applicants are required to submit a statement of purpose or goal statement.

Additional Program Admission Requirements:

Official GRE test scores are required for the M.S. program. The minimum desirable GRE for admission is 292 (v>= 140 and q>=150) on the new scale. *GRE is temporarily not required for admission through spring 2023.
Two (2) professional letters of recommendation are required.

Subject to faculty approval, those who do not meet all of the criteria above may be admitted on a provisional basis to any departmental graduate program.

Application Deadlines

Two weeks before the start of the semester
- Fall and Spring Start

Student Learning Outcomes for Computer Science (M.S.)

The students  will demonstrate the ability to research a topic of substantial complexity, and evaluate currently known approaches.  (ABET a,b,c,j,k)
The students will demonstrate the ability to organize technical material and communicate it orally. (ABET f)