Information Science

Courses

Candidates for the Information Science certificate must complete the following requirements:

• A total of 24 credits in graduate-level courses acceptable to the advisor and passed with a grade point average of at least B (3.00 on a 4.00 scale)
• Fifteen of the 24 credits must be taken from among the approved courses for the MSIS degree program.

Course work must be completed within a period of four calendar years from the student’s initial registration in the certificate program.

Admissions Requirements

The following are requirements and prerequisites for admission to the certificate program.

An MS degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Science, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better

All applicants must submit:

• Official transcript
• Two letters of recommendation that attest to the applicant’s aptitude and motivation to pursue studies at a level beyond the bachelor’s or master’s degree
• Personal statement
• Resume

Applicants must have successfully completed at least one three-credit college course with a grade of B or better in each of the following:

• Structured programming language. A course on structured programming using Java, C# or C++ is required. Either  INFSCI 0017 - FUNDAMENTALS OF OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING  or  CS 0401 - INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMING USING JAVA  is recommended to meet this requirement.
• Statistics. A course covering data collection, descriptive and inferential statistics is optimal. It should cover measures of central tendency and variability, regression, correlation, non-parametric analysis, probability and sampling, Bayesian analysis, significance tests, and hypothesis testing. Either  STAT 0200 - BASIC APPLIED STATISTICS  or  STAT 1000 - APPLIED STATISTICAL METHODS  is recommended to meet this requirement.
• Mathematics. A college-level mathematics course, in discrete mathematics or calculus, is required. Any of the following Pitt courses are recommended to meet the requirement:  MATH 0120 - BUSINESS CALCULUS ,  MATH 0220 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 1 , or  MATH 0400 - FINITE MATHEMATICS .