B.S. in Computer and Information Science

Bachelor of Science Degree

The Bachelor of Science program in computer and information science provides a broad education in major areas of the field. The program, which closely follows the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) recommendations, gives students the flexibility to concentrate studies according to their interests.

The general educative goal of the undergraduate program is to ensure that each graduate has a solid background in all the fundamental areas of computer science and to provide a sufficiently wide spectrum of advanced electives to allow each student to fashion a specialization (or concentration) suited to their strengths and interests. Some concentrations that could be constructed from current and recent offerings are:

  • Information Assurance/Data Security
  • Entertainment Computing (including game design and game programming)
  • System Administration
  • Scientific and Engineering Computing
  • Network and Grid Programming
  • System Modelling and Simulation
  • Information Technology

Computer and Information Science (CS) — 124 total credits
Students shall satisfy the requirements listed below.

I. SUNY General Education Requirements (30 credits)

All SUNY students must satisfy the following requirements.

No fewer than 30 credits must be attained from the SUNY approved General Education Course List with the following provisions:

  • Mathematics (met by CS program requirements)
  • Basic Communication (ENG 101 or equivalent)

At least five (5) out of the following eight (8) SUNY General Education categories:

  • Natural Science (met by program requirements)
  • Social Science
  • American History
  • Western Civilization
  • Other World Civilization
  • Humanities
  • The Arts
  • Foreign Language

NOTE: You may take more than one course in a given category to complete this 30 credit hour requirement, but you must also satisfy the appropriate number of categories.

II. Liberal Arts/Sciences Requirements (30 credits)

The New York State Education Department (SED) requires a student earning a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree to attain no fewer than 60 credits of combined SUNY General Education and Liberal Arts/Sciences courses. There may be overlap between courses meeting both the SUNY General Education Requirements and Liberal Arts/Sciences Requirements, but a student may receive course credits only once even if multiple requirements are satisfied by a single course. The total number of combined credit hours must be no fewer than 60 credits.

SUNY Poly degree requirements:

Natural Sciences

  • One General Education Natural Science course.

Upper-Division Writing Course

  • See the Catalog descriptions of COM and ENG courses to find specific courses that satisfy this requirement.

Specific requirements for CS majors include:

Mathematics

  • Minimum of four courses: one course shall be either Finite or Discrete Mathematics (MAT 115 or MAT 413) with a grade of C or better, Calculus I (MAT 151), and at least two courses from the following list: Calculus II, Linear Algebra, Statistics, Numerical Methods, Probability, Number Theory, Geometry, Symbolic Logic, Mathematical Modeling, or Calculus III.  Student who aspire to enter the CS Master’s Degree program shall take MAT 413.

Natural Sciences

  • Minimum of two courses required by science and/or engineering majors.

III. CS Program Requirements

CS Core and Intermediate Coursework
All Computer and Information Science majors must complete the following courses:

  • CS 108 Computing Fundamentals (Minimum grade of “C” required)
  • CS 220 Computer Organization
  • CS 240 Data Structures & Algorithms (Minimum grade of “C” required)
  • CS 249 Object-Oriented Programming
  • CS 330 Operating Systems & Networking
  • CS 350 Information & Knowledge Management
  • CS 370 Software Engineering
  • CS 431 Principles of Programming Languages

CS Advanced Electives
Three courses to be selected from electives listed below or from graduate courses. Courses must be taken at SUNY Poly.

  • CS 345 Logic Design
  • CS 351 Web Development and Internet Programming
  • CS 371 Software Engineering Projects
  • CS 377 Introduction to the Theory of Computing
  • CS 381 Principles of Computer Security and Cryptography
  • CS 407 UNIX System Administration
  • CS 409 Software Project Management
  • CS 420 Numerical Computing
  • CS 421 Computational Linear Algebra
  • CS 441 Computer Architecture
  • CS 445 UNIX Network Programming
  • CS 446 Local Area Network Architecture
  • CS 450 Computer Graphics
  • CS 451 Distributed Systems
  • CS 454 System Simulation
  • CS 477 Algorithms
  • CS 480 Compiler Design
  • CS 490 Special Topics in Computer Science*
  • CS 491 Independent Study
  • CS 495 Artificial Intelligence
  • CS 5xx Graduate Computer Science Courses**

This list is not all inclusive; consult with your advisor and submit petitions for other courses.

*May be repeated with different topics.

**Up to two graduate CS courses (other than bridge courses) may be used to fulfill this requirement.

Enrollment in graduate courses is restricted by grade point average. See the graduate catalog for descriptions of graduate courses.

CS Capstone

  • CS 498 Project in Computer Science

IV. Open Electives

Additional coursework as required totaling 124 credits.