RELATED INFORMATION EECS Web site Hurricane Ike blows work north to WSU Cisco lab WSU College of Engineering gets reaccreditation

The Kansas Board of Regents has approved a new Master of Science in Computer Networking degree in the electrical engineering and computer science department at Wichita State University.

New students will begin being admitted for fall 2009. Current WSU graduate students may transfer to the new program beginning in the spring 2009 semester.

Edwin Sawan

Demand for networking experts to design, deploy, support and maintain computer networks is expected to multiply exponentially as more small businesses and individual citizens "go online," said Edwin Sawan, interim chair of the department.

 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the computer networking area is projected to increase by 27 percent in the next 10 years.

Graduates of the new program at WSU will have expertise in hardware and software technologies, which will prepare them for a career to meet the growing demand for networking experts.

Program structure, requirements
The Master of Science in Computer Networking is a comprehensive degree program. The curriculum structure provides the students with an integrated experience in system engineering, economics, architecture and policies of computer communication networks. These topics are covered in the required core courses.

The program encompasses courses offered by departments in several colleges, including the College of Engineering, the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Barton School of Business.

The comprehensive nature of the program aims at enhancing the strong ties that WSU has with various companies, including Cisco Systems and LSI, among others.

To fulfill the degree requirements, a student must complete the courses on an individual plan of study to be approved by an adviser, the graduate coordinator and the dean of the Graduate School.

The program is intended for graduate students with a bachelor's degree majoring in engineering or an area related to information technology. Students from other areas may be admitted conditionally and will be required to complete some undergraduate courses to be prescribed by the graduate coordinator at the time of admission.

To qualify for admission, a student must have a GPA of at least 3.0 in the past 60 hours of undergraduate study.