Computer Science

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

Options

Capstone

A culminating experience selected from one of the two categories below (note that the P/NC option cannot be used for any of the courses below):

1. The research-focused capstone consists of a 4-credit Undergraduate Research Project (URP) supervised by a CSCI (or CSCI-affiliated) faculty member. Students must register for these credits (i.e., CSCI 4941) in one of their final two undergraduate semesters (not including co-op). Further, the student is required to have either taken a 4000-level course or an earlier 4000-level URP with the faculty supervisor. For the URP, the student must either (a) complete a formal written research project report or paper or (b) write and present a conference-quality presentation/poster approved by the faculty supervisor. If students meet the above requirements, they are also encouraged to consider participating in the Honors Research Thesis Program for Undergraduates.
   Students must address the following information in their URP proposal:
   1. ​Description of the research project.
   2. Relevance and significance of the research.
   3. Milestones and timelines of the research, with contigency plans if milestones are not met.
   4. Description of the project deliverables (e.g., a written document, program developed, etc.).
2. The coursework concentration capstone consists of three 4000- or 6000-level CSCI (or CSCI cross listed) courses in one of the following topic areas: (a) Theory and Algorithms; (b) Systems and Software; (c) Artificial Intelligence and Data; and (d) Vision, Graphics, Robotics, and Games. All 4000- and 6000-level CSCI catalog courses that are not part of the required undergraduate core are assigned to one or more topic areas. Similarly, all 4000- and 6000-level special topics courses are assigned to one or more topic areas when the given course is listed. Note that the courses taken also count as Computer Science Option courses.

Transfer Credit Policy

To ensure computer science majors take a majority of their named required courses at RPI, the following items describe the transfer credit policy:

• All computer science majors must take five of their eight named required CSCI courses at RPI. Regardless, the total required CSCI credits earned at RPI must be 32.
• If more than three named required CSCI courses are transferred in or the total required CSCI credits earned is less than 32, the difference in credits must be made up by taking additional CSCI credits.  These additional CSCI credits must be at the 2000-level or higher and consist of a combination of CSCI courses, CSCI independent study credits, and/or CSCI mentoring credits.
• Transfer students and students participating in a Study Abroad program can seek approval for exceptions via the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC) or at Student Orientation (SO).
• If a course transfers in as a non-CSCI course, it might still count as a named required CSCI course (e.g., ECSE 2660 CANOS counts as CSCI 2500 Computer Organization).

Footnotes

1. Students with sufficient background in computer science may skip CSCI 1100 and replace it with 4 credits of other CSCI course(s) at the 2000 level or above.
2. If no prior experience in MATH 1010, taking BIOL 1010 and BIOL 1015 in the fall semester of the first year is recommended; otherwise, taking PHYS 1100 in the fall semester of the first year is recommended.
3. Students may not receive credit for both CSCI 2200 and MATH 2800.
4. Dual majors may replace CSCI 2500 with ECSE 2660; students should take only one of these courses.
5. Pending availability of instructors.
6. CSCI 4430 is only offered in fall semesters; CSCI 4210 is only offered in spring and summer semesters.