For Students Entering in Fall 2004

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

MSIS Program Web Site: http://is.njit.edu/msis/
please check this site for any updates and additional information.

The field of Information Systems (IS) concerns the effective design and use of information technologies by individuals, groups and organizations. IS can be applied to many different areas, including support of business, science, engineering, community, social and education activities, both in the public and private sectors. Across all these areas, IS is broadly concerned with the effective use and integration of computing technologies into human endeavors; that is, with human-centered computing.

The study of Information Systems is based upon the concept that there is a growing body of knowledge on the relationships between people and computers that is independent of any specific application. Understanding of the total system involves both the human and the computing environment as an integrated whole. Students will master both the technology and the understanding of human behavior in the computing environment.

The MSIS program provides solid grounding in three principal areas, all of which are applicable to the areas described above:

The program emphasizes the planning, investigation, design, development, application, management and evaluation of Information Systems. The program trains students to be integral members of application design and development teams.

The program also provides exposure to the state-of-the-art in IS research, so that students will be prepared to work with both emerging concepts and technologies. For students wishing to become directly involved in research, there are ample opportunities to participate in ongoing projects, as well as to write a master's thesis under faculty supervision. A number of master's-level courses are also included in the Ph.D. curriculum. The MSIS program is designed as a subset of the Ph.D. program in IS. The description here includes several notes for students considering continuing on with the Ph.D. program.

The program is offered both face-to-face and in a distance learning mode employing collaborative learning methods including team and project activities.

Admission Requirements

The field of IS is broadly interdisciplinary. Applicants with degrees in any field are therefore welcome to apply for the MSIS program. A series of "bridge courses" are used to develop the required skills of incoming students who may not have been exposed to some parts of the IS curriculum.

Applicants with undergraduate degrees in Information Systems, Management Information Systems, Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer Engineering and similar areas usually are sufficiently prepared for entry. Requirements for entry include a working knowledge of the C++ programming language, at least one year of calculus, one course in calculus-based probability and statistics, and finally a course in financial accounting at any level.

Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in their prior academic work. (Applicants not meeting this requirement, but who have significant work experience since their last degree may be considered on an individual basis.)

Applicants without a prior undergraduate or masters degree from the United States must submit GRE, GMAT or MCAT scores for admission.

Bridge Program

Computer and Information Systems Technology
* CIS 505 Programming, Data Structures, and Algorithms
(teaches C language programming; required for remaining bridge courses)

CIS 332 Principles of Operating Systems

Mathematics

Math 111 Calculus I

Math 112 Calculus II

Math 333 Probability and Statistics

Management

Acct 115 Financial Accounting

Students may substitute Math 226, Discrete Analysis, for Math 112, Calculus II. Students must get a B in all CIS bridge courses, and no grade lower than a C in the others. Students without an excellent command of English may be required to take specific written and spoken English courses. Final determination of bridge requirements can only be made from the examination of a completed formal application folder. Applicants with prior coursework covering the bridge topics should attach a note to their application clearly showing which courses correspond to these bridge requirements, if possible.

Off-Campus Programs: At the NJIT extension and corporate sites, NJIT offers sufficient courses to fulfill all degree requirements. NJIT faculty teach all courses. For locations, see Extension Programs in this catalog. The university's distance learning arm, ACCESS/NJIT, offers this program (as well as part of the bridge program described above) to qualified students who have access to the Internet and a computer with a CD player. In addition, distance-based, 12-credit graduate certificates are available as a step toward this degree. See Graduate Certificates in this catalog. For further information about extension programs, ACCESS/NJIT programs, and graduate certificates, call the associate vice president of continuing and distance education, Division of Continuing Professional Education, 1 (800) 624-9850 or (973) 596-3060; email cpe@njit.edu.

Important Note: Students assigned to bridge courses or English courses must take these courses before taking before taking 600- and 700-level graduate courses. It is possible, however, to sign up for graduate courses (i) in the final semester in which bridge courses are taken and (ii) when prerequisites delay taking of a particular bridge course.

* Note that CIS 505 is a concentrated, advanced level programming course. It is equivalent to CIS 113 and CIS 114, and students may choose to take these two courses instead.

Degree Requirements

The student is required to take 36 credits (12 courses).
The course planning form, posted on the MSIS Web site, lays out much of the information in this program description. Students should use it to plan out their courses for the MSIS degree. They should bring this (or email it) to the Program Director whenever they wish to discuss their progress.

The required courses are:

IS Core Courses (6 courses/18 credits)

All six IS core courses are required:

CIS 677 Information Systems Principles

CIS 663 Systems Analysis and Design

CIS 631 Data Management System Design
** CIS 679 Management of Information Systems

CIS 652 Network-Architecture & Protocols

HRM 601 Organizational Behavior

We recommend that students start taking the core courses immediately. Note that one must take CIS 677 before CIS 679.

Electives (6 courses/18 credits):

The remaining six courses are to be chosen from several tracks listed below. Students must choose at least 2 tracks and a minimum of 2 courses from each track. Students may also customize one track with approval from the Director of the MSIS program. Students must have written approval from the IS Advisor to elective courses outside CCS.

We encourage Masters students doing well in the program to take electives at the 700-level.

Students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program should take the research track. They also should check the Ph.D. program requirements and consider taking specific required courses as MS IS elective. They are advised to take as many 700-level courses as possible.

Master's Project and Master's Thesis
We strongly encourage students to consider a 3 credit Master's Project, CIS 700 or a 6 credit Master's Thesis, CIS 701. The Master's Project provides the opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to develop an application system or solve a complex problem. The thesis option extends the project by conducting publishable research in the project area. Both courses count as IS electives, and are not mandatory for graduation.

While we encourage people to participate in NJIT's Cooperative Program, it does not count as IS elective credit.

For further details, please see http://is.njit.edu/msis/

** Students who have taken CIS 455 as an undergraduate are not required to take CIS 679 and may substitute an elective CIS course.

Elective Tracks:

Select two of the following tracks and choose two of the courses listed in that area. The student is responsible for checking with the program director to determine if the necessary course prerequisites have been met. Note: students must select at least 2 tracks and may with the approval of the program director design a coherent set of courses to be used as one of the two required tracks. The second and subsequent tracks must be from the list below.

Research

CIS 675 Information Systems Evaluation

CIS 735 Computer Mediated Communication Systems

CIS 623 Qualitative Research on Information Systems

Data Management

CIS 632 Advanced Database System Design

CIS 634 Information Retrieval

CIS 731 Applications of Database Systems

CIS 734 Data Mining

CIS 744 Data Mining & Mgmt in Bioinfomatics

Mgmt 635 Data Mining & Analysis for Managers

Decision Making & Knowledge Management

MIS 648 Decision Support Systems

CIS 661 Systems Simulation

CIS 762 Computerized Information Systems for Planning and Forecasting

CIS 767 Decision Support Systems

Mgmt 630 Decision Analysis

Mgmt 650 Knowledge Management

Electronic Commerce

CIS 684 Business Process Innovation

MIS 625 Management Strategies for E-Commerce

Mgmt 690 Electronic Communities in Organizations

Mgmt 676 Managing the Digital Firm

Mrkt 645 Internet Marketing Strategy

Emerging Technologies

CIS 658 Multimedia Systems

CIS 6xx Pervasive Computing

CIS 6yy Collaborative Work Systems and Workflow Design

CIS 732 Design of Interactive Systems

Security

CIS 608 Cryptography and Security

CIS 680 Information Systems Auditing

CIS 681 Computer Security Auditing

CIS 696 Network Security

Networking

CIS 604 Client/Server Computing

CIS 651 Multimedia Telecommunications

CIS 656 Internetworking and Higher Layer Protocols

CIS 696 Network Security

CIS 697 Principles of Broadband ISDN and ATM

ECE 645 Wireless Networks

MIS 635 Management of Telecom

Software Systems

CIS 601 Object-Oriented Programming

CIS 610 Data Structures and Algorithms

CIS 630 Operating Systems Design

CIS 635 Computer Programming Languages

CIS 650 Computer Architecture

Systems Analysis and Design

CIS 6zz Advanced Systems Analysis and Design

CIS 683 Object-Oriented Software Development

CIS 676 Requirement Engineering

EM 636 Project Management

This page was last modified on January 14, 2005
Address of this page: msis-descriptionf04.html
Comments: please contact the degree coordinator at (msis@oak.njit.edu)