Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Main Departmental Office
Discovery Park, Room F201
3940 N. Elm

Mailing address:
1155 Union Circle #311366
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-565-2767

Barrett Bryant, Chair

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering offers the Master of Science with majors in computer engineering and in computer science and the Doctor of Philosophy with a major in computer science and engineering.

The objective of the master’s degree is to produce professional computer scientists capable of contributing technically to the basic core areas of computer science and computer engineering as well as to application areas. The objective of the doctoral degree is to produce professionals capable of conducting and directing research within the discipline of computer science and engineering.

The department is committed to overall excellence in graduate education. Consequently, the programs of study for these degrees include a mixture of course, laboratory and research work designed to place graduates at the forefront of technical excellence.

The department also supports an interdisciplinary doctorate with a major in information science. See the Department of Information Science section of this catalog for more information.

Research

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering has a comprehensive research program that focuses on algorithms and computational science, artificial intelligence and data science, computer systems and networks, cybersecurity, and software engineering. These are organized into the following research laboratories.

Algorithms and computational science

The Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Graph Theory Laboratory (ACG) improves the theoretical/practical efficiency of algorithms. We aim at developing new branches of graph theory/combinatorics that can aid in modeling, and effectively solving (exactly or approximately), a wide range of computationally difficult problems.

The Computational Epidemiology Research Laboratory (CERL) applies computational science paradigms to the domain of public health, thereby providing tools for epidemiologists and public health researchers. CERL is part of CeCERA (the UNT Center for Computational Epidemiology and Response Analysis).

Artificial intelligence and data science

The Computer Vision and Intelligent Systems (CoVIS) Laboratory works to advance the understanding of the theories of machine learning for processing complex data and to develop applications in areas such as medicine and geo-information. The research focuses on both algorithm innovation and hardware integration, which includes computer vision, pattern recognition, data mining and artificial intelligence. The CoVIS lab is facilitated with state-of-the-art computing resources and various imaging technologies. The lab provides both graduate and undergraduate students a unique, collaborative research cohort to further their career goals.

The Data Mining and Information Retrieval Lab (DMIR) focuses on data mining for emerging applications (e.g., spatial, spatio-temporal, streaming, web and sensor databases) and on developing a variety of general techniques for representing, searching, filtering, organizing, and mining text information, with applications in multiple domains, including the Web, homeland security, and biomedical and health informatics. The lab conducts both fundamental and applied research and development to enable the use of information technology for many application domains, such as environmental monitoring, transportation and social networking.

The Human Intelligence and Language Technologies (HILT) Lab focuses on research on natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML), and cognitive science, with an emphasis on computational semantics and applications in spoken-dialogue educational health and wellbeing companion robots (companionbots), educational technology, health and clinical informatics, and end-user software engineering.

The Multimedia Information Laboratory conducts research on multimedia big data computing, multimedia material (videos and images) processing, multimedia information extraction, and multimedia information modeling and retrieval, which include video and image segmentation, motion and color analysis, image quality analysis, image texture analysis, and object recognition and detection by clustering and classification.

Computer systems and networks

The Computer Systems Research Laboratory focuses its work on next-generation processors and memory technologies including 3D stacked DRAMs, Phase Change Memories, Near Data Processing, dataflow and other innovative processor architectures. Research includes work on software tools and simulation environments that aid in developing both hardware and software solutions to improve performance, reduce energy consumption and prevent security breaches. Research also includes the analysis of security vulnerabilities and approaches to improve the security of computer systems.

The Dependable Computing Systems Lab conducts research on system resilience, anomaly detection, fault tolerance and prevention, soft errors, power management, heterogeneous high-performance computing, and power-aware dependable computing. The lab conducts both fundamental and applied research to develop highly resilient and energy-efficient parallel and distributed computing systems.

The Energy-Efficient High Performance Computing Laboratory (EEHPC) focuses on designing computer systems that achieve high performance with limited power budgets. Our research spans across multiple areas of micro architecture design, which includes embedded systems, multi-core processors, memory hierarchies, on-chip interconnections and accelerators.

The Smart Electronic Systems Laboratory (SESL) conducts research in Smart Electronics for the efficient realization of Internet-of-Things (IoT) based components for Smart Cities. The key aspects of the smart electronics are envisioned to be Energy-Smart, Security-Smart, and Response-Smart. Energy-Smart ensures that energy consumption of electronics is minimal for longer battery life. Security-Smart deals with the security/protection of electronics as well as that of the information/media that these systems capture, process, or store. Response-Smart refers to accurate sensing, intelligent processing, and fast actuation/response. Smart Electronics in the framework of IoT can provide 3Is (Instrumentation, Interconnection, and Intelligence) to the Smart Cities. Optimal combinations of hardware and software modules are explored for ESR-smartness of electronic systems.

The Wireless Sensor Laboratory (WiSL) was established with the following mission: to increase general wireless communications awareness among computer science and engineering graduates, produce skilled wireless specialists, and conduct research and development activities to advance the state-of-the-art in wireless sensors.

Cybersecurity

The Information Security and Privacy: Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) Lab conducts research on various aspects of security and privacy in computer and information systems.

The Network Security Laboratory was established to increase general wireline and wireless security awareness of computer science and engineering graduates, to produce skilled security specialists, and to conduct research and development activities to advance the state-of-the-art in wireline and wireless security and communication.

Software engineering

The Laboratory for Recreational Computing (LARC) serves as a center for research, education and development in the field of video game programming.

The Research Innovation in Software Engineering (RISE) laboratory explores advances in software engineering through the areas of compiler design, domain-specific programming languages, human-computer interaction, logic programming, model-driven engineering, and software testing.

Research centers

Research centers housed within the department include:

The Center for Computational Epidemiology and Response Analysis (CeCERA) is a UNT center that operates under the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering’s Computational Epidemiology Research Laboratory (CERL) is part of CeCERA. CERL applies computational science paradigms to the domain of public health researchers.

The Center for Information and Cyber Security (CICS) has helped UNT earn the designations of “Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education” and “Center of Academic Excellence in Cyberdefense Research” from the National Security Agency for its strong information and cyber security program. This designation places UNT among the top institutions in the country in the field of cyber security.

The Net-centric and Cloud Software and Systems Center (NCSS) is an NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center that focuses on a collaborative approach of research and development in net-centric and cloud computing systems. This allows us to draw on the expertise of industry and academia. The center explores the development, verification, validation of applications and systems for net-centric and cloud environments, such that the applications and services meet service level agreements (SLAs) including response time, reliability and security.

Faculty research has been supported through grants from federal and state institutions and private industry including the Army Research Office, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Institutes of Health, National Institute for Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The department enjoys a friendly working relationship with local and national companies. The department’s Industrial Advisory Board is composed of representatives from high-tech firms. During the past few years they have helped obtain research funding, fellowships and internships for students in the department.

Admission to degree programs

Admission to graduate degree programs in computer science and computer engineering is competitive. Applications, complete with transcripts, GRE scores (UNT computer science and engineering graduates are exempt.) and TOEFL scores, must reach the Department of Computer Science and Engineering by the following dates to be given priority consideration for the term/semester indicated.

September 15 — spring term/semester
January 15 — fall term/semester

Assistantships

In addition to completing an application for admission, students who wish to be considered for an assistantship must complete an assistantship application by January 15 for the fall semester and by September 15 for the spring semester. Assistantship applications are available on the department’s web site.

Additional information

Programs are listed below. Information regarding the department’s degree programs, including admission requirements and degree requirements, can be obtained from the department’s web site.

Programs

Master’s Degree

Doctorate

Computer Science and Engineering, PhD

Graduate Minor

Computer Science minor

Courses

Computer Science and Engineering

Quicklinks

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