Philosophy

Computer Science is a dynamic field where the fast pace of innovation leads to a need for continuous actualization of knowledge. The emphasis on standard practices, tools and methodologies will provide graduates with empirical knowledge. The program seeks to develop skills in decision-making, leadership, and collaboration. Graduates will posses in-depth engineering and technological knowledge that will allow them to further develop these skills while performing successfully at strategic levels. This know-how is obtained through the development of technical, analytical, and project management/leadership skills and initiatives, acquired throughout the program. The program also prepares graduates for academic careers that can fill the demand for professors in related areas of instruction

The main objective of the program is to prepare students for a professional career that broadly spans industrial, governmental and academic settings. The program is committed to impart to students the leadership and professional requirements needed in the computer science environment (in all sectors), enabling them to participate in research, and in the development of new systems and components. The program aims to prepare graduates with a desire and capacity for life-long learning and self-development.

Graduate Profile

Students completing the Master in Computer Science degrees will be professionally prepared and qualified to: apply knowledge of mathematics and computer science to identify, formulate and solve scientific problems, manage capital and intellectual property assets, implement computer security, understand ethical and legal aspects of computing, participate as a team member/leader or project manager. Additionally, provide technical direction in the development of high-level architectural specifications, understand human factors that impact human computer interaction, analyze and interpret data for decision-making, integrate computer systems from components that perform a wide range of tasks and meet user needs, perform as entrepreneurs and consultants, understand the impact of scientific solutions in a global/societal context, and recognize the need to engage in life-long learning.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet the general requirements for admission to the graduate program outlined by the Graduate School. In addition, applicants are expected to have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, a minimum general GPA of 2.8.

The student is normally admitted to the master‟s degree program in the field in which his or her undergraduate degree was conferred. When the student decides to do graduate work but his background is from a different field, the department, at his discretion, may require him/her to establish additional background by taking a number of undergraduate courses. The student has to earn a grade of C or better in his undergraduate work. These requirements must be fulfilled as early as possible in the student‟s program. Courses taken to remedy deficiencies can not be used to fulfill course requirements for the master‟s degree. The program adopts the Polytechnic University guidelines for Combined Bachelor‟s Master‟s Degree Program by allowing students who have accumulated a minimum of 85% from their total credit-hours towards the Bachelor degree to begin taking graduate courses from the Master in Computer Science (MSCS/MCS) programs.

Degree Offered

The two main areas to be offered in this program are: Cybersecurity (CySec) and Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDDM).

Thesis Option Degree Requirements (for a total of 33 credit-hours)

The thesis option requires a minimum GPA of 2.8 from baccalaureate studies in Computer Science or related fields. Degree requirements for this option include the completion of twenty-seven (27) credit-hours of coursework and six (6) credits of approved thesis work. Fifteen (15) credit-hours of core courses at the 6000-6900 are required for the degree. Twelve (12) credit-hours of 6000-7900 level elective courses must be approved. Six (6) additional credit-hours must be completed through the development of a thesis in a subject related to the MS in Comp. Science program. The thesis subject matter is to be approved by the student‟s graduate advisor and the thesis committee. The total of thirty-three (33) credit-hours is required for the thesis option.

Non-Thesis Option Degree Requirements (for a total of 39 credit-hours)

The non-thesis option requires a minimum GPA of 2.8 from baccalaureate studies in Computer Science or related fields. Degree requirements for this option total thirty-nine (39) credit-hours that include thirty-six (36) credit-hours of coursework and three (3) credits of project courses. Fifteen (15) credit-hours of core courses at the 6000-6900 level are required for the degree. Twenty (21) credit-hours of 6000-7900 level elective courses must be approved and three (3) credit-hours of project courses. The project subject matter is to be approved by the student‟s graduate advisor. The program encourages, promotes and will give preference to projects with an entrepreneurial scope. The entrepreneurial focus derives from the desire to meet the goals advanced by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Corporation (PRIDCO) who funded the startup of this program.

Curricular Sequence

Faculty

• Cruz Triana, Alfredo – Professor; Graduate Program Director; Ph.D. Computer Information Systems, Nova Southeastern University, Florida, 2002;Ph.D., Computer Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1992; B.A. Mathematics and Computer Science, University of North Carolina, NC, 1984;B.E.T Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of North Carolina, 1984; A.A.S. Electrical Engineering, Fayetteville, Technical Institute, NC, 1982. Research Interests: Parallel Processing, Genetic Algorithms, Fault Tolerant Computing, e-commerce, Artificial Intelligence.
• Duffany, Jeffrey – Professor, Ph.D., Computer and Information Engineering, Stevens Institute; MS Electrical Engineering, Columbia University.
• González Lizardo, Ángel – Associate Professor; Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 2003; M.S.E.E., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, 1994; B.S.E.E., Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1984. Research Interests: Nonlinear Adaptive Control, Programmable Logic Devices, Power Systems and Machinery.
• Riera Ayala, Guillermo M. – Associate Professor; Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, George Washington University, Washington D.C., 2000; M.S.E.E., George Washington University, Washington D.C., 1996; B.S.E.E., University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus, Mayagüez, PR, 1994. Registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) Puerto Rico; Certified PV Installer (AAE)                      from Puerto Rico; Energy Auditor (AAE) from Puerto Rico; Certified Energy Manager Association of Energy Engineers; Green Building Engineer Association of Energy Engineers;                       Certified Power Quality Prof. Association of Energy                     Engineers.  Research Interests: Energy Conversion, Power and Transmission,  Energy Management and Conservation,      Renewable Energy Systems, Distributed Generation, Green Electrical Systems, Power Quality and Traditional Power Systems.
• Rodríguez Jiménez, Othoniel – Professor; Ph.D., Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia Missouri, 2003; M.S.E.E. and C.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1978; B.S.E.E., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, 1975. Registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) Puerto Rico. Research Interests: Data Mining, Reconfigurable Hardware, e-Learning, Entrepreneurship.
• Sarmiento Fernández, Jorge – Lecturer III; D.A. Mathematics, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1982; M.A. Mathematics, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, 1979; B.S. Mathematics, IIA-World University, Hato Rey, PR, 1975; B.E.E.  Power, University of Gijon, Spain, 1971; A.A.S.Computer Science, College of Morris, New Jersey, 1995. Research Interests: Applied Mathematics, Combinatorial Analysis, Graph Theory.
• Solá Sloan, Juan – Lecturer III; Ph.D., Computing and Information Science and Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, 2009. M.S.E.E., University of Puerto Rico, 1998; B.S.E.E.,  University of Puerto Rico, 1996. Research Interests: developing Linux applications, BSD socket API and protocol development, High Performance Computing environments, wireless networks, SAMBA, Netbeui,TCP/IP connectivity in UNIX to Windows environments.
• Teixeira Abarno, Marvi – Professor;  Ph.D., Physical Oceanography, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, 1999; M.S.E.E., University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, 1994; B.S.E.E., Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, 1989. Registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) Puerto Rico. Research Interests: Fast Algorithms for Digital Signal Processing, Time Series Analysis and Prediction Applied to the Geosciences, Analysis of Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar Images Applied to the Study of the Oceans.
• Torres Batista, Nelliud D. – Associate Professor; DBA, Management Information Systems, Turabo University, 2011; MS Information System, EDP College of Puerto Rico, 1995; B.S. Computer Science, University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón Campus, 1984.
• Vicente López, Luis M. – Associate Professor; Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 2009. M.S.E.E., Florida International University, 1996; B.S.E.E., Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 1990. Research Interests: beamforming, array processing, statistical signal processing, and adaptive filters.
• Zaharov Vasilevich, Viktor – Associate Professor; Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Odessa Polytechnic State University, Ukraine, 1993; M.S.Electrical Engineering, Odessa Polytechnic State University, Ukraine, 1983; A.S. Control System and Automatics. College of Industry Automatics. Odessa, Ukraine, 1975. Research Interests:  2G and 3G Communications, Mobile and Satellite Communication Systems, Radio Communications, Smart Antenna and its Application for Wireless Communications and Radar, Communications Standards IS-95, UMTS, IMT-2000, GSM, Signal and Image Processing Algorithms and Processors, Wavelets Transform and its Applications in Communication Systems, Kalman Filtering, Spectral and Time Series Analysis, Antennas and Wave Propagation. 

Contact Information

Alfredo Cruz, Ph.D.
Graduate Program Director
Email: alcruz@pupr.edu
Phone: 787-622-8000 x. 316

Laboratories

Computer and Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science Laboratories

· Networking Laboratory – This laboratory is equipped with a broad variety of networking appliances including repeaters, switches, routers, firewalls, and servers, plus wireless access points, and wired interconnection panels housed in various cabinets and racks. There are also twenty (20) dual-processor hyper-threading workstations, where the student can configure a variety of protocol stacks and network management software.

· Configurable Hardware Laboratory – This laboratory has 15 ML-5001 Evaluation Platform boards for Xilinx Virtex-5 reconfigurable gate arrays. These are connected to PC workstations that are configured with the Xilinx Integrated Software Environment which allow the creation of VHDL models for hardware-implemented functionality of substantial complexity. These models and other intellectual property modules are then compiled, simulated, debugged, synthesized and downloaded into the Evaluation Platform boards, where they can be embedded into the application environment.

· Learning Objects Research Collaborative Atelier (LORCA) eLearning Research Laboratory – This laboratory provides space, laptop computers, and several servers to support the development of eLearning and educational support tools. This laboratory is available to students conducting work on eLearning as part of their undergraduate research course, capstone course, graduate thesis course, or graduate project course.

· High Performance Computing Center – This laboratory provides a high performance, loosely coupled, parallel computing facility that was established with a grant provided by the Air Force Office of Research of the Department of Defense in 2004 for $101,089. This lab has two Beowulf PC Clusters with 64 processors each and one SGI PC Cluster with 256 processors from a grant from the NSF for $160,000. It also houses an Altix 350 supercomputer with four processors from a grant by PRIDCO. All are used to support scientific and engineering research for graduate and undergraduate students.

· Turing Laboratory for Graduate Studies – This laboratory provides faculty members and graduate students state-of-the-art equipment to support their research. The PUPR was recently awarded a grant from PRIDCO for the establishment of the Master in Computer Science (first in Puerto Rico) of $450,000 and for the acquisition, installation, and maintenance of the PCs and workstations, housed in the Turing lab. It includes 24 state of the art Dell Pc‟s, 10 SGI power workstations, 4 Apple G5 and 4 50” Plasma Monitors.

· “Window to the Caribbean” Laboratory – This laboratory creates a virtual environment that connects Puerto Rico to the rest of the world. Its main function will be to participate in collaborative academic and research projects with students, professors, industries and others entities from around the globe. The lab was financed by a grant from the Air Force Office of Research Science of the Department of Defense (AFORS DoD) in 2005 for $181,000.

· Virtual Wireless Lab for Information Security – In September 2007 the Army Research Office of the Department of Defense (ARO DoD) awarded a grant for $193,800 for a virtual wireless lab for information security.

· Signal Processing Laboratory – This laboratory is equipped with high performance Workstations with 1 GByte of RAM, flat panel monitors and a heavy duty HP Color Laser Printer. All workstations have a research license of MATLAB and Internet access.