Spring 2024 New Course Showcase

  • A graphic of a blue composition book, with multicolored skinny sticky notes on the right side. Office supplies are scattered along the graphic; a pair of red scissors, two blue pens, a yellow and pink manilla folder, a green paper clip, and a yellow binder clip. The text in the center reads, "New Course Showcase"

Spring 2024 New Course Showcase

New Course Showcase

Change is the only constant in life, and nowhere is that more truthful than the computer science industry. Whether you’re working within more tech-specific industries, or applying computer science knowledge in broader fields, it’s crucial for all programmers to keep up with emerging fields of research and new technologies. The Rowan Computer Science Department prepares students for our changing world by constantly evolving our courses. A showcase, hosted by the department, was recently held, detailing all the new classes available this upcoming registration period. This fall, there’s a number of new experiences coming to Rowan that students won’t want to miss. 

Jack Myers, a professor and our curriculum coordinator, presented a new CUGS (Certificate of Undergraduate Studies), as well as several noteworthy courses within the new Computer Systems Technology (CST) degree. 

Born from a partnership with the Rowan College of Engineering, Internet of Things is a CUGS focused on embedded systems technologies, cloud computing, and more from this emerging field.“The Internet of Things is often characterized by a lower stack which involves connected device hardware and software and an upper stack which contains the cloud platform and applications,” states Myers. Courses include: 

  • CS 04113 Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
  • CS 06440 Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things
  • CS 96447 Introduction to IoT Upper Stack
  • Computer organization? 
  • Principles of Digital Computing? 
  • CS 06420 Embedded Systems Programming

… plus two electives from the bank below: 

  • CS 02516 Big Data Tools and Techniques 
  • CS 04403 Database Systems: Theory and Programming
  • CS 04440 Data Warehousing
  • CS 06415 Wireless Networks, Protocols and Apps or ECE 09432 Wireless Communications
  • CS 06417 Principles of Network Security
  • CS 07480 Introduction to Data Mining
  • ECE 09455 Machine Learning
  • ECE 09495 Emerging Topics in Computations Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Mining

Featured was CST degree coursework. The degree has created many new CUGS, aimed at training students for hardware or other computer science related certifications. To read more about this new degree, click here.

Dr. Silvija Kokalj-Filipovic spoke next on a hot-button field of tech—machine learning. Our machine learning courses are designed for any and all students interested in the exploding area of research, even if students have no knowledge of machine learning before taking the course. The two new deep-learning courses offered this fall are: 

  • CS 07459 Models of Deep Learning 
  • CS 07559 Advanced Models of Deep Learning

Students dive deep into deep learning, studying how AI models like ChatGPT and Mamba operate. Through the machine learning library Pytorch, students will cover the following: 

  • Convolutional networks and applications
  • Recurrent neural nets (RNN) and applications
  • Transformers and applications
  • Generative models (GANs/VAEs) and applications

For more information, contact Dr. Kokalj-Filipovic via email: kokaljfilipovic@rowan.edu.

Professor Fred Stinchcombe then detailed the several cybersecurity related CUGS introduced under CST. “Students interested in working in cybersecurity should go for certain certifications, like Secruity+,” Stinchcombe states. The cybersecurity specific CUGS are as follows: 

For more information, you can read more here or contact Professor Stinchcombe at stinchcombe@rowan.edu.

Professor Richard Rabbitz then presented the new computer graphics related courses. Computer graphics can be a vital skill for students, even outside of art—it teaches programmers to visualize data. Create dynamic 3D models, mold detailed environments, code interactive games, simulations, or virtual reality experiences— the possibilities are endless.

The new Graphics, Visualization, and Gaming concentration includes the following courses (pick four to complete the concentration): 

  • CS 02730 Intro to Info Visualization
  • CS 06390 Intro to Systems Simulations and Modeling
  • CS 07450 Artificial Intelligence
  • CS 07460 Computer Vision
  • CS 08360 Intro to Computer Graphics
  • CS 08380 Intro to Computer Animation
  • CS 08390 Intro to Computer Game Design and Development

For more information on the concentration, read more here, or contact Professor Rabbitz here: rabbitz@rowan.edu. 

Professor Patrick McKee next gave a brief overview of the new operating system courses coming in the fall. The CUGS, Operating Systems Fundamentals, another part of CST. The course is designed to help students prepare for the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) certification. The related courses include:

  • CST 06220 Linux/Unix Essentials 
  • CST 06225 Linux/Unix Administration 
  • CST 09210 Microcomputer Operating System 1: Workstation 
  • CST 06240 Microcomputer Operating Systems II: Server Systems

For more information, read here, or contact Professor McKee at mckeep82@rowan.edu.

Last but not least, Dr. Anthony Brietzman discussed all the possibilities students can pursue within the Data Science degree. Data science is a massively growing field, with job opportunities around the globe. Data science is multidisciplinary, covering a wide range of interests such as statistics, visualizations, data mining, AI, machine learning, and many more. Data science focuses on machine and deep learning, so these courses pair nicely with Dr. Kokalj-Filipovic’s models of deep learning classes. 

Students enrolled in data science courses will learn how to use big data techniques to mine data about public information.

The required courses for those carrying a BC-CS major for a data science concentration include: 

  • CS 04403 Database Systems: Theory and Programming
  • CS 07480 Introduction to Data Mining
  • CS 07030 Introduction to Information Visualization

…as well as one of the following courses from the following bank: 

  • CS 07455 Machine Learning
  • CS 04440 Data Warehousing
  • CS 07485 Web and Text Mining
  • CS 02516 Big Data Tools and Techniques

Computing and Informatics students who wish to minor in Data science need to complete the following courses: 

  • CS 04403 Database Systems: Theory and Programming (Databases)
  • CS 07030 Introduction to Information Visualization (Data Visualization) 
  • CS 04103 Computer Science and Programming or CS 0411 Introduction to Object Oriented Programming (Programming) 
  • CS 04225 Principles of Data Structures or  CS 04222 Data Structures and Algorithms (Data Structures) 
  • CS 07480 Introduction to Data Mining or STAT 02340 Elements of Statistical Learning (Data Mining) 

… as well as one course from the following bank: (Probability/Statistics)

  • STAT 04225 Statistics for Biomedical Science
  • STAT 02320 Concepts in Statistical Data Analysis 
  • STAT 02290 Probability & Statistical Inference for Computing Systems
  • STAT 02280 Biometry 
  • STAT 02360 Probability/Random Variables

…and two electives from the following bank: 

  • CS 02420 Big Data Tools and Techniques
  • CS 04440 Data Warehousing
  • CS 07455 Machine Learning
  • CS 07485 Web and Text Mining
  • MATH 03411 Deterministic Models in Operations Research or  MATH 03411 Stochastic Models in Operations Research
  • STAT 02371 Design of Experiments: ANOVA
  • STAT 02361 Mathematical Statistics Ⅲ

Students who want to go above and beyond with data science are encouraged to take the new Masters in Data Science. The required courses for the master's are: 

  • CS 02505 Data Mining I
  • STAT 02515 Applied Multivariate Data Analysis

… and students must complete three of the following core courses: 

  • CS 02516 Big Data Tools and Techniques 
  • CS 02620 Data Warehousing
  • CS 07556 Machine Learning I 
  • DS 02510 Visual Analytics 
  • ECE 09555 Advanced Topics in Pattern Recognition
  • ENGR 01511 Engineering Optimization
  • MATH 01505 Probability and Mathematical Statistics I
  • MATH 03511 Operations Research I
  • STAT 02509 Probability and Statistics for Data Science

The MS in DS offers a variety of courses beyond what’s written here, and students are able to tailor their degrees to specific fields of interest, such as health data analytics or business analytics. For more information on the degree coursework, read more here. 

If you’re interested in pursuing the master's, students are encouraged to look at the 4+1 Accelerated Degree program– in which students earn their bachelor's in four years and stay one extra year to get their master's. For the data science masters in particular, Dr. Brietzman gave students two words of advice: One, if you’re a C&I major interested in the masters, it’s highly encouraged to take Linear Algebra I. Two, students in the program in their senior year will take four graduate Data Science courses, which will count for both the MS-DS and as restricted electives for your BS-CS or BA-CI. For more information on the masters, read more here.

You can find registration information for Fall 2024 here. Schedule an appointment with your advisor, and see how many of these new courses you can fit! 

Written by Kiley Parker | Posted 3.22.24