Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences

Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences

The Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences(GSCIS) provides educational programs of distinction to prepare students for leadership roles in information technology.

Its strengths include a distinguished faculty, a cutting edge curriculum, and flexible online and campus-based formats for its five M.S. and four Ph.D. programs as well as for its graduate certificate programs in information security. All programs enable working professionals to earn degrees without interrupting their careers. The school also welcomes full-time students, whether on-campus or online. On-campus evening master’s degree programs are tailored to meet the needs of South Florida residents. Online master’s degree programs require no campus attendance and are available to part-time or full-time students worldwide. A unique online Ph.D. program requires only four weekend or two week-long campus visits each year. The school has online students living in almost every state in the United States and in 20 foreign countries.

Contents

  • 1 Programs Offered
    • 1.1 Graduate Certificate Programs in Information Security
    • 1.2 Master of Science Degree Programs
    • 1.3 Doctoral Degree Programs
  • 2 Student Organizations
    • 2.1 NSU IEEE student chapter
    • 2.2 NSU ACM student chapter
    • 2.3 NSU Upsilon Pi Epsilon
  • 3 National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education
  • 4 External links

Programs Offered

Graduate Certificate Programs in Information Security

The Graduate Certificate in Information Security program requires a total of 15 credit-hours (five courses).The graduate certificate are recognized by the National Security Agency (NSA) based on its certification of the school’s curriculum for compliance with the requirements of NSA national training standards NSTISSI No. 4011 (Information Systems Security Professionals) and CNSSI No. 4013 (System Administrators). As a result of this certification, Federal civilian and military personnel will be permitted to take the school’s certified graduate courses under government sponsorship, and the school is authorized to issue certificates to students who complete such courses. Individuals may apply to take one or more certified information security courses as non-degree students. This program is available online or on-campus.

  • Information Security
  • Administration of Information Security

Master of Science Degree Programs

The M.S. requires 36 credit hours. It may be completed in 12–18 months. Several of the M.S. programs offer concentrations or graduate certificate options which may require additional courses. Terms are 12 weeks long, and there are four terms each year. They start in September, January, April, and June. The school’s M.S. students may apply for early admission into the Ph.D. program, which provides the opportunity to earn the doctorate in a shorter time.

  • M.S. in Computer Information Systems (includes an optional concentration in information security)
  • M.S. in Computer Science
  • M.S. in Computing Technology in Education (includes an optional concentration in information security)
  • M.S. in Information Security
  • M.S. in Management Information Systems (includes an optional concentration in information security)

Doctoral Degree Programs

Depending on the program, Ph.D. students may take one of two formats: cluster or institute. Clusters and institutes bring together students and faculty members for participation in courses, seminars, and dissertation counseling. Between meetings, students work on assignments and projects, and participate in online activities that facilitate frequent interaction with the faculty and with other students. Cluster students, while taking courses, attend four cluster sessions per year, held quarterly over an extended weekend (Friday, Saturday, and half-day Sunday) at the university. Cluster terms start in September and March. Institute students, while taking courses, attend week long sessions at the university twice a year at the start of each term. Institute terms start in January and July. All Ph.D. terms are five months long.

  • Ph.D. in Computer Information Systems (Optional Concentration in Information Security)
  • Ph.D. in Computer Science
  • Ph.D. in Computing Technology in Education
  • Ph.D. in Information Systems (Optional Concentration in Information Security, Optional Concentration in Information Science)

Student Organizations

NSU IEEE student chapter

The IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. ("eye-triple-E" ) helps advance global prosperity by promoting the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing, and applying knowledge about electrical and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession. The IEEE promotes the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing, and applying knowledge about electro and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession. Joining IEEE as a student is one of the best financial decisions you will make. IEEE Student Membership includes all the benefits that a regular, full-paying member enjoys, at a fraction of the cost. Through its technical publishing, conferences and consensus-based standards activities, the IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's published literature in electrical engineering, computers and control technology, holds annually more than 300 major conferences and has nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development.

NSU ACM student chapter

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. ACM is the world's oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. Since 1947 ACM has provided a vital forum for the exchange of information, ideas, and discoveries. ACM is a major force in advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students worldwide. Today, our 75,000 members and the public turn to ACM for the industry's leading Portal to Computing Literature, authoritative publications and pioneering conferences, providing leadership for the 21st century.

NSU Upsilon Pi Epsilon

Upsilon Pi Epsilon is an honorary society whose membership consists of outstanding graduate students in Computing Sciences and Computer Information Systems. UPE was first organized at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, in 1967. The international organization now consists of chapters in various colleges and universities in North America and overseas. The mission of UPE is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the Computing and Information Disciplines. UPE is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS). UPE is the first and only, existing international honor society in the Computing and Information Disciplines. It has received endorsements from the two largest computer organizations in the world, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS).

National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education

In March 2005, the U.S. National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security designated Nova Southeastern University a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education for the academic years 2005-2008. Official letters of notification from NSA were sent to NSU’s President Ray Ferrero, Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Members of Congress, and appropriate Congressional Committees. NSA’s goal in establishing centers of academic excellence is to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education in information assurance and producing more professionals with IA expertise in various disciplines. This designation applies to the entire university, although the degrees under this program are graduate degrees that are primarily issued through the Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences.
Benefits and features of the program are:

  1. Prestige: national recognition for NSU in information assurance/security
  2. NSU will be expected to serve as a regional center of expertise in IA
  3. NSU students will be eligible for scholarships and grants under two programs:
    DoD Information Assurance Scholarship Program
    Federal Cyber Service Scholarship for Service Program (SFS)
  4. Eligibility of NSU faculty/staff for grants and contracts from NSA and DoD

At the date of NSU’s designation NSA has established 55 such national centers of excellence in the U.S. The only other university with that distinction in Florida is Florida State University. In order to apply, institutions must first obtain certification by NSA of their curriculum in information security – for NSU this was accomplished in April 2004. The benefits of such certification:

  1. NSU was added to NSA's list of referrals for students who seek training in the information security.
  2. Federal civilian and military personnel are able to take NSU’s security courses under government sponsorship and obtain special recognition under the certification.
  3. NSU is authorized to issue certificates using NSA’s logo to students who complete its certified courses.

NSU’s proposal for the National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education had to satisfy ten NSA major criteria (including 32 sub-criteria). The major criteria are listed below:

  1. Partnerships in IA Education
  2. IA treated as a Multidisciplinary Science (taught within existing courses in other programs)
  3. University Encourages the Practice of Information Assurance (NSU security policy, appointed Information Systems Security Officer)
  4. Academic Program Encourages Research in IA (more than 15 ongoing dissertations in IA; six already completed)
  5. IA Curriculum Reaches Beyond Geographic Borders
  6. Faculty Active in IA Practice and Research and Contribute to IA Literature (over 30 paper in last 2 years)
  7. State-of the-Art IA Resources (new security laboratory (SARDIS); state-of-the-art library in IA)
  8. Declared concentrations (e.g., B.S., M.S., PhD)
  9. Declared center (focus) for IA education/research (SCIS)
  10. Full-time IA Faculty

Below is a very brief summary of NSU's capabilities and recent accomplishments in IA:

  1. Academic Programs: NSU offers a master of science degree in information security, three master's degree concentrations in IA, two graduate certificate programs in IA, two Ph.D. concentrations in IA, and a range of IA courses in non-IA graduate programs (law, business, criminal justice, and medical informatics).
  2. Research: Over the last few years, NSU faculty authored 16 papers in IA that were published in journals or presented at major technical conferences. Currently, 15 Ph.D. students are writing dissertations in IA, and graduate students have completed more than 30 IA research projects.
  3. State-of-the-Art Resources: NSU recently created an IA laboratory to be a significant research and teaching facility. Its advanced computer system facilitates research in new IA technologies. In mid-2005, it will be connected to the Florida Lambda Rail. The laboratory is also dedicated for use in partnerships with other institutions. NSU has established an online IA repository that provides access to both historical IA material and current research material from NSU and other academic IA research centers. It also provides access to seminal IA-related documents collected at other centers of excellence and IA papers presented at major conferences.

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