The M.S. degree in Computer and Information Technology is designed to be very flexible. This allows each student to tailor his or her degree to their own professional and research interests.
There are multiple degree options, the requirements for which are described in the sections below.
Each degree option is divided into areas. The Primary Area is for foundation courses. The Related Area is for specialized courses. Most plans of study also include a required Thesis or Directed Project.
Each student must file a specific plan of study with his or her Graduate Committee by the end of the second semester of graduate study. Each student's approved plan of study MUST fulfill the degree requirements for one of the options described below. Mixing and matching degree requirements is NOT permitted.
Overarching Rules for all CIT Masters Degrees
All of the M.S. in CIT degree options are subject to the following rules:
- Every student must assemble a committee of certified graduate faculty to approve their plan of study. The minimum size for the committee is three faculty, of which the major professor is the chair. A student may elect to exceed three members if s/he determines that additional faculty expertise is needed for the thesis research or the directed project.
- At least 51 percent of courses in your plan of study must be CNIT or TECH courses. Under no circumstances can the number of credits in CS courses equal or exceed those of CNIT+TECH.
- At least 51 percent of all credits must be earned while registered at the Purdue University, West Lafayette campus. In other words, you can transfer some credits from other universities, subject to relevance and non-overlap with Purdue courses taken.
- All courses taken to fulfill the primary and related areas must be taken for an regular A-F grade.
- Courses taken to fulfill the directed project or thesis development (CNIT 59800 or CNIT 69800, respectively) must be taken for a S/NS (satisfactory or non-satisfactory) grade. Students must take at least 1 credit during each semster they work on the directed project or thesis, but there is no limit to number of credits because some students require more than the typical two semesters to complete their project or thesis.
- No more than 12 credits of Purdue courses taken as a non-degree (or TEMP) student may be applied to any Purdue graduate degree, even if those specific courses are required or relevant to your Purdue graduate degree. In other words, a non-degree student must be officially admitted to a graduate program before they have completed more than 12 credit hours.
- No more than 6 credits of independent study courses may be applied to the M.S. degree requirements. Independent study credits must be approved by the student's committee BEFORE enrolling in those courses.
- No more than 6 credits of undergraduate courses (at the 30000- or 40000-level) may be applied to any Purdue M.S. degree requirement. Any approved undergraduate coursework MUST provide prerequisite knowledge or expertise needed for a subsequent graduate-level course (50000- or 60000-level, inclusive of thesis and directed project work). A minimum grade of B- is required to apply an undergraduate course to any Purdue graduate degree. It should be noted that some graduate faculty will not approve any undergraduate coursework in a graduate degree plan of study.
- No course can fulfill both an undergraduate degree requirement and a graduate degree requirement. In other words, a student who took a graduate-level course to fulfill an undergraduate degree requirement cannot subsequently use those same credits to fulfill a graduate degree requirement. There is a prescribed university process and form for requesting future application of excess undergraduate credits to a graduate degree.
- A cumulative Grade Point Average > 3.00 (out of 4.00) is required for all courses applied to any Purdue M.S. degree. Additionally, a CIT student cannot have more than 6 credits of courses in the with a grade lower than B- in the plan of study.
Degree Requirements for the M.S. in CIT with Thesis
(all students are admitted to this option)
The thesis option is the default plan of study for all M.S. CIT students with the exception of our online, distance program. The program culminates in a research thesis that contributes new knowledge to the discipline of information technology. The resulting degree will be posted to the transcript as a “thesis” degree.
This degree allows for the possibility of eventually continuing to a Ph.D. degree.
| Credits | Area | Degree Requirement |
Click to see Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| (3) | Primary | Graduate level statistics or quantitative methods course | 1 |
| (3) | Primary | Graduate level research methods and writing course | 2 |
| (3-15) | Primary |
CNIT foundation courses (selected from approved courses) Students may elect to complete more than 3 credit hours. If so, that reduces the number of required credit hours in the Related Area. |
3 |
| (6-18) | Related |
Electives (approved by student's Graduate Committee) Students are NOT allowed to take elective credit hours as a substitute for approved courses in the Primary Area. |
4 |
| (6) | Research | CNIT 69800 Research M.S.Thesis (includes proposal, written thesis, and oral defenses; requires a minimum of two or semesters) | 5 |
| (0) | Publication | The thesis option also includes the expectation that the student successfully publish a paper, abstract, poster, or book chapter in an academic conference proceedings, journal, periodical or similar venue or channel. The publication may be co-authored with other students and/or professors. | |
| (33) | TOTAL | Total credits must add up to at least 33 credit hours |
Degree Requirements for the M.S. in CIT
with a Specialization in Cyberforensics with Thesis
This is a thesis option specifically tailored to the discipline of cyberforensics. A thesis is required, meaning that directed projects cannot substitute for the thesis, and students are not allowed to complete this degree as coursework only. The resulting degree will be posted to the transcript as a “thesis” degree, with area of specialization listed as cyberforensics. Also see overarching rules at the top of this page.
This degree allows for the possibility of eventually continuing to a Ph.D. degree.
| Credits | Area | Degree Requirement |
Click to see Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| (3) | Primary (required) |
Graduate level statistics or quantitative methods course |
1 |
| (3) | Primary (required) | Graduate level research methods course (Note. TECH 64600 is not an approved course). | 2 |
| (6) | Primary (required) |
CNIT Cyberforensics foundation courses: CNIT 55600: Basic Cyberforensics CNIT 52500: Mobile Forensics |
|
| (12) |
Related (AOS) |
CNIT cyberforensics courses as approved by the student's graduate committee. |
8 |
| (3) | Related |
Electives (approved by student's Graduate Committee) |
4 |
| (6) |
Research |
CNIT 69800 Research M.S. Thesis (includes proposal, written thesis, and oral defenses; requires a minimum of 2 semesters) | 5 |
| (0) | Publication |
The thesis option also includes the expectation that the student successfully publish at least 1 paper, abstract, poster, or book chapter in an academic conference proceeding, journal, periodical or similar venue or channel. The publication may be co-authored with other students and/or professors. |
|
| (33) | TOTAL |
Total credits must add up to at least 33 credit hours |
Degree Requirements for the M.S. in CIT with Directed Project
The directed project option is an alternative plan of study for M.S. CIT students. The program culminates in the application of existing research to develop a new product or process within the discipline of information technology. Some students prefer this application-oriented option to the more research-focused thesis. The resulting degree will be posted to the transcript as a “non-thesis” degree.
As a non-thesis degree, this option may NOT allow for the possibility of eventually continuing to a Ph.D. degree.
| Credits | Area | Degree Requirement |
Click to see Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| (3) | Primary | Graduate level statistics or quantitative methods course | 1 |
| (3) | Primary | Graduate level research methods and writing course | 2 |
| (3-15) | Primary |
CNIT foundation courses (selected from approved courses) Students may elect to complete more than 3 credit hours. If so, that reduces the number of required credit hours in the Related Area. |
3 |
| (6-21) | Related |
Electives (approved by student's Graduate Committee) Students are NOT allowed to take elective credit hours as a substitute for approved courses in the Primary Area. |
4 |
| (3) | Project | CNIT 59800 Directed Project (includes proposal, written thesis, and oral defenses; requires a minimum of two semesters) | 6 |
| (0) | Publication | Depending on the major professor, there may or may not be a publication requirement for the directed project option. If required, the target publisher may either be academic or trade professional. | |
| (33) | TOTAL | Total credits must add up to at least 33 credit hours |
Degree Requirements for the M.S. in CIT
(coursework only EXIT option)
The coursework-only option is an exit alternative for students who cannot complete a thesis or directed project. IMPORTANT NOTE: Not all credits already earned can be applied to this option. The program requires more credit hours, offers less flexibility in course choices, and excludes any credits established for the thesis or directed project (e.g., CNIT 59800, CNIT 62300, TECH 64600, CNIT 69800).
Students who transfer into this option become ineligible for CIT funded graduate teaching or research assistantships in any future semester.
The coursework-only option is a last-resort option. Transfer into this option requires approval from the Program Chair. As a non-thesis degree, this option does not allow for the possibility of eventually continuing to a Ph.D. degree.
| Credits | Area | Degree Requirement |
Click to" see Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| (3) | Primary | Graduate level statistics or quantitative methods course | 1 |
| (9) | Primary |
CNIT foundation courses Students may elect to complete more than 9 credit hours. If so, that reduces the number of required credit hours in the Related Area. |
3 |
| (24) | Related |
Electives (approved by student's graduate committee) Students are NOT allowed to take elective credit hours as a substitute for approved courses in the Primary Area. |
4 |
| (0) | Research | Credits earned toward a thesis (e.g., CNIT 69800 or TECH 69800) cannot be counted in either the Primary or Related Areas | 7 |
| (0) | Project | Credits earned toward a directed project cannot be counted in the Primary or Related Areas | 7 |
| (36) | TOTAL | Total applicable credits must add up to at least 36 credit hours |
Notes applicable to the above M.S. Degree Requirements
These notes are indexed to the Notes columns in the above tables.
| Note # | Description of Allowable Courses |
|---|---|
| 1 |
The graduate level statistics or quantitative methods requirement can be filled by one of the following approved courses:
|
| 2 |
The graduate level research methods and writing requirement can be filled by one of the following approved courses:
|
| 3 |
Courses approved for inclusion as CNIT foundation selectives in the Primary Area include:
|
| 4 |
Electives are recorded in the Related Area of the plan of study, and are specific to the student's areas of specialization and research. These electives require approval of the student’s entire Graduate Committee. If completed prior to filing a plan of study, the credits may not be approved for your graduate degree. The related area electives may include:
Remediation courses do NOT carry credit toward any M.S. degree requirement, and must NOT be included in a plan of study. Some students with insufficient undergraduate computing backgrounds may have been granted conditional admission to the program and required to complete specific undergraduate remediation course requirements. Remediation may also be prescribed after admittance to the CIT graduate program based upon the initial academic advisor's review of the student's academic and professional background and proficiencies. |
| 5 |
The thesis course, CNIT 69800, must be completed over two oe more semesters.
|
| 6 |
The directed project course, CNIT 59800, must be completed over two semesters.
|
| 7 |
When a student transfers into the coursework-only option, he or she is NOT allowed to apply any thesis or directed project course credits already earned to fulfill a degree requirement for the coursework-only option. This means you cannot use TECH 64600, CNIT 59800, CNIT 62300, or CNIT 69800 to fulfill any degree requirement, even if those courses have been completed. In other words, you cannot exit the thesis option but still apply thesis-related course credits. |
| 8 |
Courses approved for inclusion as cyberforensics selectives in the Related Area include:
For course descriptions of the above, see Cyberforensics Courses. Other proposed courses must be pre-approved by the Chair of your thesis or dissertation committee. |