This program seeks high-performing, qualified computer science professional students. Information about applying to the MSE program can be found at http://www.fullerton.edu/ecs/admissions/graduate.htm for domestic students or http://www.fullerton.edu/ecs/admissions/international.htm for international students. In addition, MSE applicants are required to submit a resume in order to assess their prior work experience and the equivalence of CPSC 362 Software Engineering (Course Description: Basic concepts, principles, methods, techniques and practices of software engineering. All aspects of software engineering fields will be covered briefly. Software engineering tools are recommended to use.). Please send your resume to csoffice@ecs.fullerton.edu or

Graduate and International Admissions
College of Engineering and Computer Science
California State University, Fullerton
P.O. Box 6870
Fullerton, CA 92834-6870

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Schedule of Courses for Cohort 3, entered Fall 2006

Schedule of Courses for Cohort 4, entering Fall 2007

The program requires 10 courses (30 units) of online instruction to be completed over a 22-month-long, year around program with students taking two courses per semester. Students are grouped in cohorts that follow the same class schedule throughout the program. The courses are paired both theoretically and practically with learning goals integrated throughout the entire program.

In addition to the course requirements, students will be required to complete an orientation seminar prior to the beginning of the program. Students will also participate in a midpoint symposium to authenticate and assess their progress in the program. The orientation and midpoint symposium will be held at CSUF, but those students who are not able to physically attend will be able to participate online.

STUDY PLAN REQUIREMENTS

Attendance of the initial orientation.
Attendance of the midpoint symposium.

Core courses (12 units total)

Advanced Software Process Evaluation Courses (6 units total)

Advanced Software Engineering Management Courses (6 units total)

Capstone Experience (6 units)

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
CPSC 541 - Systems and Software Standards and Requirements (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
This class serves as the foundation for other process-oriented classes by outlining the benefits of Software Engineering Standards. The students will be introduced to the SESC framework and the IEEE Software Engineering Standards. The course will cover establishing of the following standards: Software Life Cycle Processes, Work Product Standards, Process Standards, Requirement Analysis and Management, and System Integration. Additionally, the framework of CMMI will be introduced, and a number of practical lessons discussed.

CPSC 542 - Software Verification and Validation (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
The students will learn how to ensure that a high quality software product is developed. The course will cover the theory and practice of V&V methods such as walkthroughs, inspections, and CleanRoom. It will show how to create functional test cases, using boundary value analysis and equivalence classes, and how to create structural test cases, determine degrees of coverage, and perform data flow analysis.

CPSC 543 - Software Maintenance (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
The Student will learn the principles of generating maintainable software. The course will also cover Theory and practice of maintaining large scale software and application of maintenance metrics In this course, we will cover the problems in maintaining software systems, building software in view of the maintenance problems, the activity of maintenance and some management issues in maintenance.

CPSC 544 - Software Process Definition (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
This course provides practical guidance for improving the software development and maintenance process. We focus on understanding and managing the software process because this is where software organizations encounter the most serious problems. In the class, students will learn how to establish an effective software process for an organization, and how to make existing process better.

CPSC 545 - Software Design and Architecture (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
The students will learn how to analyze and design large scale software and apply different architecture styles to software design. Case studies and projects are assigned as a practical component of the course.

CPSC 546 - Software Project Management (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
The students will learn how to plan and control the development activities of a project. The course will cover schedule and cost (staffing) estimation. It will show how to develop a master program plan, define task interrelationships, identify the critical path, and track the progress of a project using methods such as Earned Value Analysis.

CPSC 547 - Software Measurement (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
This course explores current software measurement practices. Topics include measuring software specifications and designs; measuring software code and implementation; measuring software testing and evaluation. The course stresses a practitioner-based approach to systematic measurement process model and outlines major paradigms for selecting measures.

CPSC 548 - Professional, Ethical and Legal Issues for Software Engineers (3 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
This course explores professional, legal and ethical issues pertaining to software engineering. Topics include professional codes of ethics, intellectual property laws, computer privacy, and human-computer interaction. The course presents relevant regulatory documents and their applications in analyzing case studies.

CPSC 597 - Project (6 units)
Prerequisite: CPSC 362 or equivalent work experience.
The on-line version of CPSC 597, offered to MSE students only, will have the "repeat for credit (up to 6 units)" option.