The student must select the thesis option or the professional option by the time of completion of 30 credit hours of the graduate course of study.

All course work applied to the student's program of study must be completed with grades of B or better. The overall graduate average at UNF must be 3.0 or higher for the degree to be awarded. The course CEN 6016: Engineering of Software I must be included on the program of study if the student's undergraduate coursework does not include a course equivalent to CIS 4251: Software Development.

Breadth Requirement: (0-12 hours)

Any of the following courses must be taken if its equivalent was not covered in undergraduate studies: CDA 5505: Networks and Distributed Processing COP 5615: Operating Systems COP 5716: Data Modeling and Performance COT 5405: Algorithms and Complexity

Depth Requirement: (12 hours)

Select 1 of CAP 6100: Interface Design and Implementation CAP 6400: Graphics Image Recognition and Manipulation Select 1 of CDA 6506: Network Architecture & Client/Server Computing CIS 6302: Distributed and Internet Systems Select 1 of COP 6611: Advanced Operating Systems COP 6616: Parallel Computing Select 1 of COP 6735: Developments in Database Structures COP 6557: Programming Language Design Paradigms

Major: (0-12 hours)

combined Breadth + Major must be at least 12 hours select 0-4 from among: CAP 6671: Intelligent Systems CDA 6011: Web Engineering Any course listed for the Depth Requirement, but not taken for that purpose

Elective:

select 2 (thesis option students - 6-8 hours) or select 3 (professional option students - 8-10 hours) Chosen from among 5000/6000-level Computer and Information Sciences courses (subject to restrictions); with approval, up to 2 graduate courses supportive of the degree program may be transferred from elsewhere. Note: CEN 6016: Engineering of Software I must be elected if the student's undergraduate coursework does not include a course equivalent to CIS 4251: Software Development.

Student selects one of the following 2 options:

Thesis Option: (6 hours) The thesis option requires that the student work under the direction of a thesis advisor drawn from the CIS graduate faculty. Normally, the student approaches a faculty member who has research interests in an area that the student is interested in. If the faculty member is willing to work with the student as thesis advisor, then the student and advisor identify a problem with research elements suitable for a Masters thesis and the student enrolls in the thesis course CIS 6970: Thesis (3) to develop the problem. The student reviews the work of others who have addressed elements of the thesis topic, preparing a short thesis prospectus which reviews this work and which describes the thesis problem. When the work has progressed sufficiently, the student and advisor identify two additional graduate faculty members to form a thesis committee. The student presents the prospectus to the thesis committee, which reviews the scope of the material and suggests ways to both focus and improve the thesis work. This may require 1 or more iterations before the thesis committee is satisfied. The student must prepare the thesis in accord with the CIS Thesis Guidelines and defend the thesis in a presentation attended by at least 5 members of the CIS graduate faculty. The student must enroll for at least 6 hours of CIS 6970, and must enroll for any term in which actively working with the thesis advisor (including the term that the thesis is defended). Since thesis work is research-oriented, no set time for completion is stipulated, so students pursuing this option must discipline themselves to make proress without the help of defined milestones. Thesis work orients towards "proof of concept" software development rather than a defined deliverable, and is expected to advance the state of the discipline. Professional Option: (4 hours) The professional option requires that the student work under the direction of a member of the CIS graduate faculty on a well-defined term project that delineates an objective worthy of graduate credit. Normally, the student develops an idea for a project and approaches a faculty member who has an academic interest in the topic area. If the faculty member is willing to work with the student, the faculty member helps the student shape the idea into a project proposal. The student must prepare and present the proposal to the CIS Graduate Committee specifying the problem, the deliverable, the resource needs, and project time line (the time line must specify project milestones). Project proposals are presented to the CIS Graduate Committee at a specified time and date prior to the term of the project. If the Graduate Committee is satisfied that the proposed work is both feasible and substantive, then the student must enroll in the graduate project course CIS 6910: Project (4) for the term specified in the project time line. Only students with approved project proposals are permitted to enroll in this course. At the end of the term, the student must present the results of the project to the CIS Graduate Committee and submit a write-up of the project suitable for the library archives (see Guidelines for Graduate Projects for more information).