Overview
The Master of Science in Systems Technology is an interdisciplinary program with components from the areas of computer science, management, and psychology. It is administered by the Computer Science Department within the College of Sciences and Continuing Education. An interdisciplinary steering committee composed of faculty from the Departments of Computer Science and Psychology and from the College of Business Administration recommends policy and curriculum for the program. Classes are conducted at Barksdale Air Force Base and on the LSU in Shreveport campus. A more technical computer science concentration is available. Contact the director of the MSST program for more details.
Entrance Requirements
The M.S. in Systems Technology assumes baccalaureate preparation that has included courses in calculus and statistics. Further, a course in programming in a high-level computing language (such as PASCAL) is assumed. Prerequisite courses are held to a minimum. Students who possess an undergraduate degree in computer science will bypass CST 701 and CST 703 and substitute more advanced work. All applicants must have an admission interview before being allowed to enter the program. They must also take the Graduate Record Examination by the end of the first regular semester and achieve a total score on the three parts of the general portion of at least 1,400.
Degree Requirements
This is a non-thesis degree requiring the successful completion of 30 semester hours (a five-course core and five elective courses) and a comprehensive examination. Six hours of approved graduate courses may be transferred.
| Core Courses |
| CST 701 - Computer Systems Organization
CST 703 - Data Models CST 717 - Decision Support Tools CST 730 - Systems Administration CST 741 - Models in Decision Making |
| Sequences - Choose one of the following sequences: |
| database:
CST 707 - Data Modeling and Database Design CST 715 - Concurrency, Recovery & Security in Database Systems software engineering: CST 711 - Information Systems Analysis CST 713 - Information Systems Implementation |
| Electives - Choose remaining courses from the following list or from the sequences listed above: |
| CST 721 - Data Communications & Computer Networks
CST 723 - Expert Systems CST 725 - Simulation Modeling CST 745 - Systems Reliability & Failure Analysis CST 760 - Computer Graphics Applications CST 790 - Selected Topics CSC 600-level courses (CSC 600-level courses can be used to satisfy program requirements; however, at least one-half of the requirements toward the degree must be at the 700-level) |
| Comprehensive Written Exam (Core and Sequence) |
| Each student must pass a comprehensive written exam which covers the core courses and the student's chosen sequence. |
As an alternative to the program above, students who desire a program with a stronger computer science orientation can choose the Technical Concentration.
CORE (21 hours):
CST 701 Computer System Organization
CST 703 Data Models
CST 707 or CSC 615 Data Modeling and Database Design
CST 715 Concurrency, Recovery and Security
CST 711 or CSC 680 Information Systems Analysis and Design of Software Engineering Concepts
CST 713 or CSC 681 Information Systems Implementation or Software Engineering Project
CST 721 or CSC 630 Data Communications and Computer Networks
ELECTIVES (9 hours):
CSC 605 Programming Languages
CSC 642 Operating Systems
CSC 650 Computer Graphics
CSC 660 Rapid Application Development (RAD)
CST 717 Decision Support Tools
CST 723 or CSC 670 Expert Systems of Artificial Intelligence
CST 725 Simulation Modeling
CST 741 Models in Decision Making
CST 745 System Reliability and Failure Analysis
CST 760 or CSC 655 Computer Graphics Applications or CAD
CST 790 Selected Topics
Approved elective graduate systems science courses from LSU-BR.
COMPREHENSIVE WRITTEN EXAM:
Each student in this concentration must pass a comprehensive written exam on the core courses listed above.