2024-2025 Graduate Catalog
Computer Science Department
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Department Chairperson Graduate Program Director: KC Santosh, Ph.D.
Graduate Program Director: Rodrigo Rizk, Ph.D.
Department of Computer Science
Arts & Sciences, Room 201
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
Phone: 605-658-6840
cs@usd.edu | kc.santosh@usd.edu
www.usd.edu/computer-science
FACULTY
Professor:
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.
Associate Professors:
Douglas Goodman, Ph.D., University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Specialization: Algorithms, Simulation, Real-time Systems, Graphics.
Assistant Professors:
Farhad Akhbardeh, Ph.D., Rochester Institute of Technology. Specialization: National language processing and machine learning.
Lina Chato, Ph.D., University of Nevada.
Debesh Jha, Ph.D., UiT The Arctic University of Norway & Simula Research Laboratory.
Rodrigue Rizk, Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Specialization: Artificial Intelligence, Software and Hardware co-design, and High Performance Computing
Longwei Wang, Ph.D., Auburn University (Computer Science) and University of Texas at Arlington (Electrical Engineering). Specialization: Generalized AI, Machine Learning, Statistical Pattern Recognition, and Data Science.
Associate Professor of Practice
Lindsey Schulz, O.T.D., Drake University.
DEGREE
SPECIALIZATION
Artificial Intelligence
Informatics
CERTIFICATE
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.
WICHE Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP) eligible program.
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
- Completed Graduate Application form found at: https://www.usd.edu/grad/how-to-apply 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). Transcripts must be complete (e.g., if currently enrolled, work-in-progress coursework must be included, foreign transcripts must include a grading scale, and for countries that issue, copy of degree certificate/diploma i.e., India, Nepal, etc.). 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 3.0 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 a high school diploma, undergraduate, or graduate degree from an institutionally accredited American college or university or from an accredited institution in the approved list of English-speaking countries are not required to submit an approved English proficiency exam score. For all other applicants with degrees from other countries, a minimum score of 79 on the Internet-Based TOEFL (iBT), 550 on the Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT), 8.5 on the TOEFL Essentials, 6.0 on the IELTS Academic, 53 on the PTE, or 110 on Duolingo is required for graduate admission.
Additional Program Admission Requirements:
- Resume/CV*.
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 2024 and Spring 2025 Start
- Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 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 1)
- The students will demonstrate the ability to organize technical material and communicate it orally. (ABET 3)
Student Learning Outcomes for Artificial Intelligence (M.S.)
- Technical Proficiency. Prepare and transform data into machine-learning representations, encompassing unsupervised, supervised, or reinforcement learning.
- Mastery of AI Systems. Devise and implement intelligent agents and expert systems capable of receiving percepts from the environment and executing actions.
- Ethical AI practices. Analyze the ethical implications of AI technologies and demonstrate a commitment to responsible and unbiased AI.
- Effective communication. Effectively communicate and summarize AI solutions through written, oral, and visual means.
Programs
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