Mar 28, 2024  
2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Computer Science Major, BS in Computer Science


Students may choose from a wide spectrum of courses covering various aspects of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields. Students must meet the design, depth, and breadth requirements in the department in their selection of these courses. Students are encouraged to discuss an appropriate program with their advisors.

uTrack Requirements (for first-year students)

Universal Tracking (uTrack) is an academic monitoring system designed to help students stay on track for timely graduation. In order to remain on track, students must complete the minimum requirements for each tracking semester known as milestones. Milestones may include successful completion of specified courses and/or attainment of a minimum GPA. uTrack requirements only affect first-time, first-year, full-time, degree-seeking students entering Fall 2013.

Progression Policies and Requirements

The department requires at least a C in every computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics course used for the undergraduate degrees. Students taking ECE 201  must also have a C or better in EF 152  or EF 158 .

Progression of departmental undergraduate students to the upper-division programs of the department is competitive and is based on the space available in the department. Factors considered in the decision include overall grade point average, grades earned in courses required in the lower division curricula of the department and College of Engineering, and seriousness of purpose and interest in departmental programs as exemplified by regular and orderly progress through the prescribed curriculum without abuse of withdrawal and course repeat privileges.

Students who take ECE 202  will be evaluated during the semester they are registered for it. Transfer students for whom ECE 202  transfer credit is given may take 9 semester hours in departmental courses before progression evaluation. All students, whether or not they transfer in, who are not accepted into the upper-division program of the department will be put in either a temporary probationary status or a non-progressed status and will not be permitted to register for any upper division courses within the department.

Requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science


Term 1 Hours Milestone Notes
COSC 102 * 4 MATH 130  or higher or one Arts and Humanities*, Cultures and Civilizations*, or Social Sciences* Elective
ENGL 101 * or ENGL 118 * 3  
MATH 141 * or MATH 147 * 4  
PHYS 135 * or PHYS 137 * 4-5  
Term 2
COSC 160  4 MATH 130  or higher
ENGL 102 * 3  
MATH 142 * or MATH 148 * 4  
PHYS 136 * or PHYS 138 * 4-5  
Term 3
BIOL 101 *, BIOL 130 *, BIOL 138 *, CHEM 100 *, CHEM 120 *, CHEM 128 * or PHYS 231 * 3-4 EF 151 * or PHYS 135 *
COSC 140   4  
COSC 311  or COSC 317  3  
MATH 241  or MATH 247  4  
Term 4
1Arts and Humanities Elective * 3 EF 152 * or PHYS 136 *
COSC 312  3  
COSC 302  or COSC 307  4  
MATH 251  or MATH 257  3  
Term 5
COSC 360  or COSC 367  4 CBE 201  or COSC 102 * or ME 202  or MSE 201 
2Computer Science Upper Division Elective 3  
1Cultures and Civilizations Elective * 3  
ECE 313  3  
1Social Sciences Elective * 3  
Term 6
COSC 361 , COSC 365  6 No milestones
2Computer Science Upper Division Elective 3  
1Cultures and Civilizations Elective * 3  
3Unrestricted Elective 3  
Term 7
1Arts and Humanities Elective * 3 No milestones
COSC 401 * 2  
2Computer Science Upper Division Electives 9  
ENGL 355 * or ENGL 360 * 3  
Term 8
COSC 402 * 3 No milestones
2Computer Science Upper Division Electives 6  
1Social Sciences Elective * 3  
3Unrestricted Elective 3  
     
TOTAL 120  

* Meets University General Education Requirements .
1 Chosen from University General Education list .
2 The following table lists the acceptable set of electives that may be taken to satisfy the upper division electives for the CS major. The electives have been grouped into 6 suggested tracks. The tracks group related electives that a student may wish to take in order to achieve a level of expertise in the indicated area. However, it is not mandatory to take any track and students are free to mix and match courses from different tracks to fit their specific interests.
3 Any courses not already required for the major.

Theory Systems
COSC 440 - Formal Foundations of Software Engineering 
COSC 482 - Theory of Computation 
COSC 456 - Computer Graphics 
COSC 462 - Parallel Programming 
ECE 453 - Introduction to Computer Networks 
ECE 454 - Computer and Network Security 
   
Software Hardware
COSC 340 - Software Engineering 
COSC 461 - Compilers 
COSC 465 - Databases and Scripting Languages 
ECE 451 - Computer Systems Architecture 
ECE 455 - Embedded Systems Design 
   
Scientific Computing Artificial Intelligence
COSC 370 - Introduction to Scientific Computing  or
COSC 377 - Honors Introduction to Scientific Computing 

COSC 471 - Numerical Analysis 
COSC 472 - Numerical Algebra 
MATH 231 - Differential Equations I 
COSC 420 - Biologically-Inspired Computation  or
COSC 427 - Honors Biologically-Inspired Computation 

COSC 425 - Introduction to Machine Learning 
ECE 471 - Introduction to Pattern Recognition 

 

Five-Year BS/MS Program


The department offers a 5 year BS-MS program for qualified students. The primary component of the program is that qualified students may take up to 6 hours of approved graduate courses for their senior undergraduate electives and have them count toward both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Tennessee. This program is designed for students attending the University of Tennessee for their Master of Science degree because other universities may not accept these courses for graduate credit since they were used to satisfy requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree. Significant components of the program are: 

  • Students must have an overall GPA of at least 3.4 to be admitted to the program. Conditional admission may be granted after completing 64 hours of required course work while full admission is granted after completing 96 hours of required course work with a minimum overall GPA of 3.4.
  • Students must at least have conditional admission before taking graduate courses for both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. All courses taken for graduate credit must be approved by the departmental chair of the program. Students admitted to the program must request permission from the Graduate School to take approved courses for graduate credit. 
  • Students admitted to the program must also follow the normal procedure for admission to the Graduate School. Admission of students into this program must be approved by the department and the Graduate School.
  • Students will not be eligible for graduate assistantships until they are enrolled as graduate-level students in the Graduate School.

Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering Honors Concentrations


Students who wish to pursue the honors electrical engineering concentration, honors computer engineering concentration, and honors computer science concentration will normally be part of the Chancellor’s Honors Program.

Candidates for the honors electrical engineering concentration and honors computer engineering concentration must complete the first year courses for honors concentration in the engineering majors. Candidates for the honors computer science concentration must meet the first year requirements for the Chancellor’s Honors Program.

In addition to satisfying the requirements described above, candidates for these three honors concentrations must also satisfy the following requirements.

  • Two upper-division honors courses in computer science or electrical and computer engineering via Honors-by-Contract or Honors Independent study, or equivalent.
  • If participating in only the Chancellor’s Honors Program, the Honors-by-Contract paperwork goes to the Chancellor’s Honors Office on campus during the first 10 days of the semester. If participating in Engineering Honors and not Chancellor’s Honors, the Honors-by-Contract paperwork is submitted the first 10 days of the semester to the engineering major department. If participating in both Chancellor’s and Engineering Honors, the Honors-by-Contract paperwork is submitted to both areas.
  • Complete a 3-credit hour senior project course. This can normally be completed as part of the capstone design course, ECE 402 * for computer engineering majors and electrical engineering majors or COSC 402 * for computer science majors.