Graduate Programs

Mathematics is one of the oldest and most fundamental sciences. Mathematicians use mathematical theory, computational techniques, algorithms, and the latest computer technology to solve economic, scientific, engineering, financial, and business problems. Mathematical skills are in greater and greater demand in today’s workforce. The government, private industry, health & environmental fields, all areas of engineering, and the academic world all require sophisticated mathematical skills to help solve various problems.

If you decide to pursue Mathematics, you will gain an educational background that many employers seek in job applicants. Your research skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving ability, and general mathematical analysis skills will be sharpened through your mathematics courses, and also through various courses.

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Mathematical skills are in greater and greater demand in today’s workforce. The government, private industry, health, and environmental fields, and the academic world all require sophisticated mathematical skills to help solve various problems. If you decide to pursue Mathematics as a major, you are gaining an educational background that many employers seek in job applications. Moreover, your research skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving ability, and general analysis skills will be sharpened through your mathematics and computer science courses.

You should begin the resume-building process as soon as you can. The Academic & Career Advisement Center can assist you with career planning, while Career Services will help you fine-tune your resume and look for jobs related to your field. In the meantime, the more hands-on experience you have, the better you prepare for employment. Becoming involved in a professional-related internship is a way to develop your professional skills and gain experience. Your academic coursework is important as well, so be sure to maintain a high grade point average.

Starting salaries are contingent upon geographic location and the individual applicant’s work experience and initiative and usually range from $50,000 to $84,000. The employment of mathematicians is expected to increase 7% to 13% over the next ten years.

Government
- FBI
- NSA
Academia
- Teaching college Mathematics
- Ph.D. programs in Mathematics
Industry
- Data Scientist
- Risk Analyst
- Statistician
- Systems analyst
- Operations research
Actuarial Mathematics
- Risk-Officer
- Pricing Actuary
- Reserving Actuary
- Actuarial Partner

Graduates of NMU’s master’s degree in computer science will be well prepared to pursue a job in business or industry, as a postsecondary computer science instructor or as a PhD in a research institute. Students will gain a solid command of advanced concepts and skills in design and analysis of algorithms, considered by most as the backbone of computer science.

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Graduates of NMU’s master’s degree in computer science will be well prepared to pursue a job in business or industry, as a postsecondary computer science instructor, or as a Ph.D. in a research institute. Students will gain a solid command of advanced concepts and skills in the design and analysis of algorithms, considered by most as the backbone of computer science.

Customize your degree

Students will choose three major areas in contemporary computer science as their concentration:

Software
Artificial Intelligence
Programming Languages
Theory
Networking

You can also select to undertake either a thesis based on the research of your choice or a project. The thesis option is best for students planning to pursue a doctorate. The project is ideal for students interested in industry careers; it provides a valuable experience that is extremely useful in job interviews and can be tailored to the arena of computer science which interests you the most.

A master’s degree in computer science is a great way to start a new career or advance an existing one. Code.org reports that there are more than 475,000 open computing jobs nationwide. Having a graduate degree in computer science will increase the career options of the applicants and helps them find higher-level positions, as many organizations are looking for employees with some graduate degree, according to Northeastern.edu and Careerbuilder.com. Salaries for these higher-level positions can be 21 percent higher on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This jump in salary in Computer Science is significantly higher that the jump in other majors. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employer’s web site, computer science is among the top five master’s degrees in demand in the job market:

Business 45%
Engineering 32%
Computer and Information Science 25%
Mathematics and Sciences 14%
Social Sciences 7%

Computer Science is in the Top 5 most in-demand master’s degrees

— National Association of Colleges and Employers

BLS Statistics

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer science-related jobs are expected to grow 12 percent between 2018 and 2028, which is much higher than the average expectation for all occupations (about 7 percent). The following is a list of some of these jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Note that for some of these jobs a master’s degree is not required but more technical positions in each area are available only to those who have a master’s degree.

	Median Pay	Number of Jobs	Job Outlook	Employment Change
Computer and Information Research Scientist	$118,370	31,700	16%	5,200
Computer and Information System Manager	$142,530	414,400	11%	46,800
Computer and Network Architecture	$88,740	633,900	9%	56,000
Database Administrator	$90,070	116,900	9%	10,500
Postsecondary Teacher	$78,470	116,900	9%	10,500
Software Developer	$105,590	1,365,500	21%	284,100

CS Coursework

A Master of Science in Computer Science requires a minimum of 32 credit hours. For plan A students, this consists of 3 credits of the required core course (Advanced Algorithm Design), 12 credits of breadth courses, 1 credits of graduate seminar, 4 credits of Research in Computer Science course, 4 credits of Thesis in Computer Science, and 8 credits of electives. For plan B students, this consists of 3 credits of the required core course (Advanced Algorithm Design), 12 credits of breadth courses, 1 credit of Seminar in Computer Science, 4 credits of Project in Computer Science course, and 12 credits of electives.

CORE COURSE

CS 510 Advance Algorithm Design (3cr)

SEMINAR

CS 500 Seminar in Computer Science (1cr)

BREADTH REQUIREMENT: One course must be taken in 3 out of 5 following areas; at least 8 credits must be at the 500-level. (12 credits total)

SOFTWARE:

CS 514 Software Engineering (4cr)
CS 516 Advanced Operating Systems (4cr)
CS 582 Advanced Database Systems (4cr)

NETWORKING:

CS 444 Parallel and Distributed Processing (4cr)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

CS 470 Artificial Intelligence (4cr)
CS 572 Evolutionary Computation (4cr)
CS 570 Machine Learning (4cr)

THEORY:

CS 520 Computational Complexity (4cr)
CS 522 Formal Languages and Automata Theory (4cr)
CS 526 Randomness in Computation (4cr)

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES:

CS 550 Principles of Programming Languages (4cr)
CS 556 Functional Programming (4cr)
CS 552 Automated Reasoning (4cr)
CS 424 Compilers: Theory and Practice (4cr)

Special topics in Computer Science (CS 495 and CS 595) may be used to satisfy one of the above breadth requirements provided the course is so advertised; the content and credit count may vary. Directed Studies in Computer Science (CS 598) may as well with written permission of the advisor, but no more than 8 credits of CS 598 may be used.

RESEARCH CORE:

CS 589 Research in Computer Science (1-4cr)
CS 599 Thesis in Computer Science (1-4cr)
CS 594 Project in Computer Science (1-4cr)

ELECTIVES: (8 credits for plan A students and 12 credits for plan B students) These may be satisfied by any advisor-approved graduate course at the 400-level or above offered by the university, especially graduate courses in mathematics.