Information Technology and Communications

Key Faculty: Peter Beling, Don Brown

Area Description: Information technology (IT) is a broad field that includes both the software and hardware to accomplish the communication and reception of knowledge or intelligence. In Systems Engineering, IT is studied for its potential to re-engineer the workplace and aid the decision-maker. The right software package, custom or the off-the-shelf, may not provide the sole solution. The underlying network to deliver data for the software and send results to the decision-maker must also be considered to ensure accurate and timely results.
     Because IT encompasses software, hardware and communication networks, the Systems Engineering student typically chooses to specialize in one of four areas: Communication Systems, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or Intelligent Machine Systems. In communication systems, the student researches the hardware and software necessary for computers to communicate information. In Management Information Systems, the student is primarily exposed to software systems to re-engineer the workplace. In Computer Science, the student studies the theory of various software and operating systems for its potential to send and retrieve information reliably. In intelligent machine systems, the student studies the potential of machine intelligence to aid or even replace the decision-maker. Potential courses are categorized according to each field. Due to the overlapping nature of these fields, courses may appear in more than one area.
Potential Courses: partial listing, see Key Faculty for details
SYS 550Object Modeling and Simulation
SYS 582Information Systems Architecture
SYS 716Artificial Intelligence
SYS 742Heuristic Search
SYS 755Forecast Decision Systems
SYS/CS 616Knowledge Based Systems
COMM 767Management of Information Systems
COMM 768Advanced Database Management Systems
COMM 769Advanced Systems Design
COMM 780Data Communication and Networking
COMM 781Distributed Systems Application
CS 644Introduction to Parallel Computing
CS 654Computer Organization
CS 655Programming Languages
CS 656Operating Systems
CS 661Design & Analysis of Algorithms
CS 662Database Systems
CS 685Software Engineering
CS 756Models of Computer Systems
CS/EE 715Performance Analysis of Communication Networks
CS/EE 757Computer Networks
EE 613Communication Systems Engineering
EE 712Digital Communications
EE 717Information Theory and Coding
EE 781Pattern Recognition
EE 884Neural Networks
Example Concentration Areas

A student interested in any area has the ability to customize his course selection to fit his concentration. Possible concentrations within information technology and communications include:

Management Information Systems

SYS 582
SYS 616
COMM 767
COMM 768
COMM 769
CS 662
CS 685
Communication Systems

SYS 582
EE 613
EE 712
EE 717
CS/EE 715
CS/EE 757
COMM 780

Job Opportunities

Information technology and other business computing consulting firms, telecommunication firms, software development companies, governmental agencies.