Mar 29, 2024  
2003-2004 Graduate Catalog 
    
2003-2004 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]


Computer Science



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The Department of Computer Science currently offers the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Its goal is to provide an intensive course of study in the areas of faculty research interests and in so doing support the research efforts of the department.

The program aims to provide its graduates with an excellent understanding of computer science that will provide a solid foundation upon which to perform many advanced jobs in the field as well as a sound foundation for Ph.D. work for those students interested in further study.

Graduates of the Ph.D. program acquire the breadth and depth necessary to build a career in computer science research and/or teaching in both academia and industry. The degree differs from the M.S. in computer science in that students are required to carry out in-depth, independent, publishable research that is an original contribution to the field.

Admission

An undergraduate degree or extensive background in undergraduate computer science is required for admission into both the M.S. program and Ph.D. programs. Highly qualified and motivated candidates whose background is deficient can be admitted on conditional or provisional status and given an opportunity to make up deficiencies before being admitted to the regular program.

Applications to the program should be made as early as possible before the opening of the semester for which the admission is sought. Prospective students should consult the admissions section of this catalog for a complete list of the requirements of the Graduate School. An applicant must present evidence of ability and academic preparation which makes success in graduate work likely. This would include an application form in duplicate, three letters of recommendation, two copies of official transcripts and official GRE scores, including the achievement test in computer science.

The requirements for admission are

  1. A Bachelor’s degree.
  2. A “B” average or better in undergraduate computer science courses.
  3. Submission of all GRE scores required by the Graduate School.
  4. Completion of the computer science and mathematics courses listed below.

People who have not completed the following courses or their equivalents can only be considered for conditional admission. Such people are not eligible for financial aid.

  • COS 220 Introduction to Computer Science I
  • COS 221 Introduction to Computer Science II
  • COS 230 Computer Architecture and Assembly Language
  • COS 250 Discrete Structures
  • One year of calculus or a semester of calculus and a semester of linear algebra.
  • One semester of statistics.

People who have not completed the following courses or their equivalents can only be considered for provisional admission.

  • COS 301 Programming Languages
  • COS 431 Operating Systems
  • COS 350 Data Structures

No credit toward the M.S. or Ph.D. degrees will be given for any of the above courses.

All of the above courses or their equivalents must be completed with a B average before the student can assume regular status in the program. As a general rule, in order to be considered for an assistantship we would expect students to score in the following ranges:

TOEFL: 600+
GRE Verbal: 500+
GRE Quantitative: 750+
Analytical: 700+

We consider only those individuals who have forwarded an application to the Graduate School along with the required fee.

Graduation Requirements for the M.S. Degree

The M.S. degree is offered in both thesis and non-thesis options, with thesis and project topics available in the areas of current faculty research.  Through their thesis work and assistantship responsibilities, graduate students play an integral part in both the research and instructional goals of the department.

In order to graduate with the M.S. degree, a student must do the following:

  1. Pass COS 520 Software Engineering, COS 550 Theoretical Computer Science, and COS 554 Algorithms with a grade of B or better in each.
  2. Earn at least 1 credit every year in the Research Seminar. A maximum of 3 credits can be earned for the Research Seminar which cannot be substituted for any other requirement.
  3. Earn at least 30 credits in approved courses.
  4. Either write a Master’s Thesis for 6 graduate credits and earn at least 12 credits in COS courses numbered 500 or above.
    OR complete a Master’s project for 3 graduate credits and earn at least 15 credits in COS courses numbered 500 or above.
  5. Give a public presentation of the Master’s Thesis or Project.

In each of the degree plans above, up to six hours of approved computer oriented courses in other departments may be substituted for six hours of 400 level computer science courses. The above requirements are in addition to the requirements of the Graduate School. A handbook which lists all details about all requirements and which describes academic policy is available from the Computer Science Department. The above is just a summary of the chief requirements, while the handbook is the official statement of policies.

Graduation Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

The content of the Ph.D. program is designed to prepare the student to conduct research in Computer Science and to take positions in academia and industry. Students are required to carry out in-depth, independent, publishable research that is an original contribution in the field. They will be involved in research as soon as they enter the program.

In order to graduate with the Ph.D. degree, a student must do the following:

  1. Earn at least 60 semester hours in an approved Ph.D. program of graduate work.
  2. Earn at least 36 hours of course credit including at least 27 hours at or above the 500 level.
  3. Pass a 21 credit breadth requirement, including COS 520 Software Engineering, COS 550 Theoretical Computer Science, COS 554 Algorithms, COS 531 Operating Systems, COS 540 Computer Networks, COS 570 Topics in Artificial Intelligence, and COS 515 Topics in Scientific Computation: Simulation and Modeling.
  4. Earn at least 18 hours of thesis credit.
  5. Earn 6 credits of Ph.D. Research Seminar during the first two semesters in the program.
  6. Complete a comprehensive exam in the second year of the program, taken in the form of a mini-thesis over a prescribed three week period.
  7. Complete both a written and oral Ph.D. dissertation proposal and final defense.

Up to 9 credits outside of the department may be substituted with the approval of the student’s advisory committee. The above requirements are in addition to the requirements of the Graduate School. A handbook which lists all details about all requirements and which describes academic policy is available from the Computer Science Department. The above is just a summary of the chief requirements, while the handbook is the official statement of policies.

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is currently available in the form of nine month teaching and research assistantships. Additional funding, related to research grants, as well as summer support is also available.

Computing Facilities

Computing support facilities are substantial. The department runs a network having SUN, and Silicon Graphics workstations, along with miscellaneous PC’s and other hardware. Students also have access to the Computing Center’s dual processor IBM 3090 with a vector processor, and to various supercomputer centers over high speed links.

Interdisciplinary Programs

The Computer Science Department participates in joint projects with the University’s Quaternary Institute, and with the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis.

The Computer Science Department also participates in joint projects with the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. The Jackson Laboratory is a world-class research institute in genetics, and increasingly is integrating computer science and genetics.

Additional Information

Additional information is available from the individual faculty members who can be reached through the E-mail addresses listed below. Alternatively, the department can be reached through ordinary mail, telephone (207) 581-3941 or FAX (207) 581-4977.

Graduate Faculty

George Markowsky, Ph.D. (Harvard, 1973), Professor and Chair. Theoretical computer science, discrete structures, lattice theory, algorithms, devices for the handicapped, PC applications, applications of computer science in biology. (markov@maine.edu)

Max J. Egenhofer, Ph.D. (Maine, 1989) Associate Professor of Survey Engineering. Associate Director of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. Cooperating Associate Professor of Computer Science. Information systems, geographic databases, spatial reasoning, human-computer interaction, digital libraries, computational geometry.  (max@mecan1.maine.edu)

James L. Fastook, Ph.D. (Maine, 1975), Associate Professor. Glacial modelling, finite elements, non-linear differential equations, vector and parallel processing, supercomputers.  (fastook@maine.edu)

James A. Kadin, Ph.D., (Cornell University, 1988). Research interests: Software/database development to support genome and biological research, computational complexity theory, theoretical computer science, software engineering and quality assurance, programming language design and implementation. (jak@jax.org)

Laurence J. Latour, Ph.D. (Stevens Institute of Technology, 1985), Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator. Database systems, software engineering, programming languages and environments, software reusability, software specification techniques, concurrency reliability.   ( (larry@gandalf.umcs.maine.edu)

Seymour Papert, Ph.D. (Cambridge University, England, 1988; Ph.D. University of Witwaters Rand, South Africa, 1988), Distinguished Visiting Professor of Computer Science. Child learning and thinking, K – 12 computing, artificial intelligence. (papert@media.mit.edu)

Elise H. Turner, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 1989), Assistant Professor. Artificial intelligence, natural language processing, interaction of problem solving and communication, cooperative distributed problem solving. (eht@cdps.umcs.maine.edu)

Roy M. Turner, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 1989), Assistant Professor. Artificial intelligence (problem solving, planning, context-sensitive reasoning), cooperative distributed problem solving, control of autonomous underwater vehicles, biological modeling, applications of AI to biology. (rmt@umcs.maine.edu)

Thomas Wagner, Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2000), Assistant Professor, Member of MaineSail (Software agents and AI Laboratory), Director of The University of Maine Agent Institute. Research interests: intelligent software agents, agent control technologies, information-centric domain technologies for agents, control for agents situated in multi-agent environments, agent applications, general AI and information retrieval/processing. (wagner@umcs.maine.edu)

Thomas Wheeler, Ph.D. (Stevens Institute of Technology, 1988), Assistant Professor. Programming methodology, software engineering, software design, operating system design, distributed system design, formal aspects of systems. (twheeler@gandalf.umes.maine.edu)

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