Last updated: July 19, 2010 @ 10:17AM
Computer Science
Master of Science in Computer Science
Interim Dean
Rick Cheel
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Associate Dean
Joffre Mercier
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Core Faculty
Professors
Ivo Duntsch (Computer Science), Frank Fueten (Earth Sciences), Brian Ross (Computer Science), Michael Winter (Computer Science), Thomas Wolf (Mathematics)
Associate Professors
Jerzy Barchanski (Computer Science), Sheridan Houghten (Computer Science), David Hughes (Computer Science), Omar Kihel (Mathematics), David McCarthy (Computer Science), Beatrice Ombuki-Berman (Computer Science), Ke Qiu (Computer Science), Jon Radue (Computer Science), Vladimir Wojcik (Computer Science)
Adjunct Professors
Gunther Gediga (Institut fur Evaluation & Marktanalysen Jeggen, Germany and Psychologisches Institut IV Universitä`t Münster, Münster, Germany)
Graduate Program Director
Sheridan Houghten
houghten@brocku.ca
Administrative Assistant
Donna Phelps
905-688-5550, extension 3513
Mackenzie Chown J314
donna.phelps@brocku.ca
http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/graduate
Graduate Program Officer
Beulah Alexander
905-688-5550, extension 3115
Mackenzie Chown F204
http://www.brocku.ca/biotechnology
balexander@brocku.ca
Program Description
The Department of Computer Science offers a program leading to the Master of Science (MSc) degree. Graduate research topics may be conducted in the broad areas of computational logic and algebra, data mining, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence, algorithms, parallelism, and combinatorics. Please see the department web page for a listing of faculty and their specific research interests (http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/graduate).
Admission Requirements
Successful completion of an Honours Bachelor's degree, or equivalent, in Computer Science, with at least a minimum average of 75 (B). In some circumstances, exceptional applicants with an Honours Bachelor's degree in a related discipline (e.g. mathematics, computer engineering) who have met the minimum average of 75 (B), and have a demonstrated proficiency in fundamental computer science topics (see list below), may be considered. Such applicants may consider submitting a result from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) subject test in computer science to strengthen their application. Agreement from a faculty advisor to supervise the student is also required for admission to the program.
Applicants are expected to have completed courses in the following areas: computer organization, operating systems, file structures and data management, principles of programming languages, data structures, software analysis and design, formal languages and automata, calculus, linear algebra, statistics and/or probability, discrete mathematics, and additional four upper level (third or fourth year) half courses in other topics in computer science. Candidates lacking sufficient background in the area of the intended Master's degree may be required to complete additional preparatory courses in consultation with their supervisor.
Those applicants holding a three or four year Bachelor's degree and who meet academic requirements of an overall B average may be asked to complete a qualifying term/year to upgrade their application. Completion of a qualifying term/year does not guarantee acceptance into the program.
The Graduate Admissions Committee will review all applications and recommend admission for a limited number of suitable candidates.
Part-time study is available.
Degree Requirements
For full-time students, the MSc is normally a six term or two year program. Every MSc candidate must prepare and defend a thesis, which demonstrates a capacity for independent work of high scientific calibre. A supervisory graduate committee will guide the student in all aspects of the student's graduate program. Students normally take four half-credit courses in the first year. Courses are selected in consultation with their assigned supervisor.
Degree requirements must include COSC 5F90 (Thesis) and four 5(alpha)00 or above level COSC half-credits, or three such COSC half-credits and one COSC 4(alpha)00 or above level half credit with the approval of the graduate committee. At most one of the graduate level courses may be a directed reading course. All candidates are required to present seminars on their background research and thesis topics as part of the COSC 5F90 thesis course, attend all the seminars of fellow graduate students and departmental seminars.
Facilities
A campus-wide fiber optic network links all of the university's academic computing facilities. The department's computers form an integral part of this resource. All faculty and graduate students are provided with an account on the departmental server. Most computers on campus can be accessed from microcomputers in any of the laboratories.
Brock is also a full member of the SHARCnet consortium with access to all its high performance clusters of powerful workstations.
In addition to three servers, the department also maintains several PC based labs and UNIX workstations for teaching and research.
Course Descriptions
Students must check to ensure that prerequisites are met. Students may be deregistered, at the request of the instructor, from any course for which prerequisites and/or restrictions have not been met.
COSC 5F90
MSc Thesis
The preparation and defence of a thesis demonstrating the candidate's ability for independent and original research.
COSC 5P01
Coding Theory
The main concepts, problems and applications related to error-correcting codes. Different classes of codes and their properties. Emphasis on algorithms relating to codes, examination of algorithms for encoding and decoding, together with algorithms that may be used in computer searches for specific classes of codes.
COSC 5P02
Logic in Computer Science
A thorough introduction to mathematical logic, covering the following topics: propositional and first-order logic; soundness, completeness, and compactness of first-order logic; first-order theories; undecidability and Gödel's incompleteness theorem; and an introduction to other logics such as intuitionistic and modal logics. Furthermore, the course stresses the application of logic to various areas of computer science such as computability, programming languages, program specification and verification.
COSC 5P03
Universal Algebra for Computer Science
The study of the concepts and constructs of Universal Algebra, such as products, subalgebras, homomorphic images and congruences, term algebras, free algebras, its connections with Logic and Model Theory, decidability issues, lattices and relation algebras, and applications in Computer Science such as Type Theory, Specification, Complexity Theory, Uncertainty Management and others.
COSC 5P04
Parallel Algorithms
Introduction to parallel processing, various parallel computational models including both shared-memory and distributed-memory models, speed-up, cost, design and analysis of parallel algorithms and data structures for a variety of problems in searching, sorting, graph theory, computational geometry, strings, and numerical computation; brief introduction to parallel complexity.
COSC 5P05
Introduction to Lambda Calculus
Introduction to typed and untyped lambda calculi and their semantics. Syntax of the lambda calculus, conversion, fixed points, reduction, Church-Rosser theorem, representation of recursive functions, lambda models. Category theory, cartesian closed categories and categorical models of lambda calculus.
COSC 5P71
Genetic Programming
The synthesis of computer programs using evolutionary computation. The study of different representations, including tree, linear, grammatical. Theoretical analyses, including the effects of operators, representations, fitness landscapes. Practical applications in problem solving, decision making, classification, computer vision, design.
COSC 5P72
Robot Control Architectures
Survey of approaches to control in single and multi-robot systems. Examination and study of different mobile robot control architectures, including deliberative, reactive and hybrid with focus on the issues of resolving the fundamental conflict between thinking and acting, i.e., high-level deliberation and real-time control. Other relevant topics including communication techniques in multirobot systems and safety characteristics of the studied control architectures.
COSC 5P73
Computer Vision and Visual Computer Learning
Introduction to computer vision and pattern classification. The problems of WHAT and WHERE. The issue of knowledge representation and performance. Knowledge consolidation models. The concept of recursive (i.e. evolutionary) computer learning. Visual learning. Guided learning from infallible and fallible experts. Autonomous learning and experimentation. Analysis of HPC architectures conducive to visual computer learning.
COSC 5P74
Evolutionary Computation
Study of evolutionary computation techniques and applications. Focus on genetic algorithms, evolutionary strategies and related sub-areas including ant colony systems and swarm intelligence. How these paradigms exploit biological processes in nature to solve problems. Exposure to a wide range of practical applications including scheduling, optimization, logistics, evolving neural networks, classification and image analysis.
COSC 5P75
Directed Reading
A reading course designed for the individual student and subject to final approval by the department graduate committee. Usually offered by the student's thesis supervisor but may also be offered by other faculty members after consultation with the supervisor.
COSC 5P76
Non-invasive Data Analysis
A study of data analysis using information from the given data based on the rough set data model. Includes an overview of the data modeling process, principles of probability, non-parametric significance testing, data filtering and discretization, model selection, rule validation, case studies.
COSC 5V90-5V99
Selected Topics in Computer Science
Various advanced topics in computer science offered by faculty members.