Computer Science

Return to: USC Viterbi School of Engineering  

Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center 104
(213) 740-4494
FAX: (213) 740-7285
Email: csdept@usc.edu
Chair: Gaurav Sukhatme, PhD

Faculty

Chan Soon-Shiong Chair: Maja Matarić, PhD (Neuroscience Center)

Dean’s Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science: Priya Vashishta, PhD (Computer Science, Physics)

Fletcher Jones Chair in Computer Science: Michael A. Arbib, PhD

Viterbi Early Career Chair: Jernej Barbic, PhD

Gordon S. Marshall Chair in Engineering: Aristides A.G. Requicha, PhD

Jack Munishian Early Career Chair: Fei Sha, PhD

Northrup Grumman Chair in Engineering: Ramesh Govindan, PhD

David Packard Chair in Manufacturing Engineering: Stephen C-Y Lu, PhD (Mechanical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering)

Charles Lee Powell Chair in Engineering: Viktor Prasanna, PhD (Electrical Engineering)

Charles Lee Powell Chair in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science: Melvin Breuer, PhD (Electrical Engineering)

Henry Salvatori Chair in Computer Science: Leonard M. Adleman, PhD

Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair: Hao Li, PhD

Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair: Minlan Yu, PhD

Dean’s Professor of Computer Science: Kevin Knight, PhD

Dean’s Professor of Computer Science: Gaurav Sukhatme, PhD

Helen N. & Emmett H. Jones Professorship in Engineering: Milind Tambe, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering)

Seeley G. Mudd Professor of Engineering: Shanghua Teng, PhD

TRW Professor of Software Engineering: Barry Boehm, PhD

Viterbi Professor in Engineering: Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan, PhD

WISE Jr. Gabilan Chair in Computer Science: Nora Ayanian, PhD

WISE Jr. Gabilan Chair in Computer Science: Aleksandra Korolova, PhD

Professors: Leonard Adleman, PhD (Molecular Biology); Michael Arbib, PhD (Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering); Barry Boehm, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Leana Golubchik, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Ramesh Govindan, PhD; Ellis Horowitz, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Ming-Deh Huang, PhD; Laurent Itti, PhD (Neuroscience Center); Sven Koenig, PhD; Kevin Knight, PhD; Maja Matarić, PhD (Neuroscience Center); Dennis McLeod, PhD; Gerard Medioni, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Neno Medvidovic, PhD; Aiichiro Nakano, PhD (Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics); Ulrich Neumann, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Ramakant Nevatia, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Aristides Requicha, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Paul Rosenbloom, PhD; Stefan Schaal, PhD (Neuroscience Center); Cyrus Shahabi, PhD; Gaurav Sukhatme, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Milind Tambe, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Shanghua Teng, PhD

Associate Professors: Shahram Ghandeharizadeh, PhD; David Kempe, PhD; Fei Sha, PhD

Assistant Professors: Nora Ayanian, PhD; Jernej Barbic, PhD; Shaddin Dughmi, PhD; William GJ Halfond, PhD; Aleksandra Korolova, PhD; Hao Li, PhD; Wyatt Lloyd, PhD; Ethan Katz-Bassett, PhD; Yan Liu, PhD; Minlan Yu, PhD

Joint Professors: Murali Annavaram, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Melvin Breuer, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Todd Brun, PhD; Tim Ting Chen, PhD (Biological Sciences); Michael Crowley, PhD (Information Technology Program); Kai Hwang, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Rajiv Kalia, PhD (Physics); Carl Kesselman, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Bhaskar Krishnamachari, PhD (Electrical Engineering); C-C Jay Kuo, PhD (Signal and Image Processing); Stephen Lu, PhD (Industrial and Systems Engineering); Urbashi Mitra, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Hamid Nazerzadeh, PhD (Data Sciences and Operations); Viktor Prasanna, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Konstantinos Psounis, PhD; C.S. Raghavendra, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Benjamin Reichardt, PhD (Electrical Engineering); Remo Rohs, PhD (Computational Biology); Nicolas Schweighofer, PhD (Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy); Francisco Valero-Cuevas (Biomedial Engineering); Priya Vashishta, PhD (Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Physics); Michael Waterman, PhD (Mathematics, Biological Sciences); Richard Weinberg, PhD (Cinematic Arts); John Wilson, PhD (Geography); Xianghong Zhou, PhD (Biological Sciences)

Adjunct Professors: Danny Cohen, PhD; Rick Selby, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professors: David Chiang, PhD; Mary Hall, PhD; Eduard Hovy, PhD; Stacy Marsella, PhD; Larry Matthies, PhD; Chris Mattmann, PhD; Zhengyou Zhang, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professors: Aude Billard, PhD; Auke Ijspeert, PhD; Louis-Phillippe Morency, PhD; Marco Papa, PhD; Sethu Vijayakumar, PhD; Roger Zimmermann, PhD

Research Professors: Paul Debevec, PhD; Yolanda Gil, PhD; Jonathan Gratch, PhD; John Heidemann, PhD; Randall Hill, PhD; Jerry Hobbs, PhD; Craig Knoblock, PhD; Premkumar Natarajan, PhD; Herbert Schorr, PhD; William Swartout, PhD

Research Associate Professors: Ann L. Chervenak, PhD; Ewa Deelman, PhD; Andrew Gordon, PhD; Eduard Hovy, PhD; Kristina Lerman, PhD; Robert Lucas, PhD; Daniel Marcu, PhD; Stacey Marsella, PhD; Robert Neches, PhD; Clifford Neuman, PhD; Wei-Min Shen, PhD; Pedro Szekely, PhD; Joseph Touch, PhD

Research Assistant Professors: Jose Luis Ambite, PhD; Ron Artstein PhD; Yu-Han Chang, PhD; Young Cho, PhD; Morteza Dehghani, PhD; David DeVault, PhD; Pedro Diniz, PhD; Aram Galstyan, PhD; Kallirroi Georgila, PhD; Jihie Kim, PhD; Anton Leuski, PhD; Rajiv Maheswaran, PhD; Jelena Mirkovic, PhD; Kenji Sagae, PhD; Stefan Scherer, PhD; Evan Suma, PhD; David Traum, PhD; Greg Ver Steeg, PhD

Professor of Engineering Practice: Michael Zyda, PhD

Associate Professor of Engineering Practice: Jeffrey Miller, PhD

Lecturers: Claire Bono; William Cheng, PhD; Aaron Cote, PhD; Scott Easley, BA; Massoud Ghyám-Khah, EdD; Saty Raghavachary, PhD; Shawn Shamsian, PhD; Michael Shindler, PhD; Sheila Tejada, PhD (Senior Lecturer)

Emeritus Professor: George Bekey, PhD (Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering)

Bachelor of Science

Undergraduate Program Educational Objectives

Graduates of the undergraduate program in Computer Science are expected to attain the following objectives within a few years of graduation:

1. Graduates apply the computational and analytical approaches of computer science to their chosen professions.
2. Graduates successfully engage in life-long learning to continue to be contributing members of their communities in fields within and outside the traditional scope of computer science.
3. Graduates exhibit high professional and ethical standards to become productive leaders in society.

Undergraduate Program Criteria

The program leading to a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science includes at least one and one-third years of computer science that covers the fundamentals of algorithms, data structures, software design, concepts of programming languages and computer organization and software; provides an exposure to a variety of programming languages and systems, including at least one higher-level language; and includes advanced course work that builds on the fundamental course work to provide depth.

The program includes at least one year of science and mathematics, including at least one-half year of mathematics, including discrete mathematics. Additional mathematics might consist of calculus, linear algebra, numerical methods, probability, statistics, number theory, geometry, or symbolic logic. The science component develops an understanding of the scientific method and provides an opportunity to experience this mode of inquiry in courses for science or engineering majors that provide some exposure to laboratory work.

Physics/Computer Science Major Requirements for the Bachelor of Science

This program is intended for students with dual interests in physics and computer science who wish to complete the essential courses for both majors within their normal four year career. See the Physics and Astronomy  Department section for course requirements.

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Computer Science

See the listing under Computer Engineering .

Minor in 2-D Art for Games

This interdisciplinary minor integrates three major disciplines (fine arts, computer science and interactive media) to develop the 2-D visual skills necessary to conceptualize and illustrate images for games. For more information, see USC Roski School of Art and Design .

Minor in 3-D Art for Games

The focus of the 3-D Art for Games minor is a trans-disciplinary approach that incorporates the creative, technological and team-based communication skills necessary to develop 3-D art skills for video games. For more information, see USC Roski School of Art and Design .

Graduate Degrees

The requirements listed below are special to this department and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements  of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering for master’s degrees and the general requirements  of the USC Graduate School for Ph.D. degrees. The graduate program in computer science provides intensive preparation in the basic concepts and techniques related to the design, programming and application of digital computers. Both the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees are offered.

A Master of Science degree with specialization in software engineering is also offered. The program seeks to prepare students for an industrial leadership career in software engineering. It also serves as an introduction to this area for students who wish to pursue advanced studies and research leading to a Ph.D.

A Master of Science degree with specialization in intelligent robotics is also offered. This program seeks to prepare students for an industrial career in the development of computer systems for CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing) and robotics. It also serves as an introduction to this area for students who wish to pursue advanced studies and research leading to a Ph.D. The emphasis is on the domain of mechanical, electromechanical and mechatronic products. (CAD for digital systems is covered by a separate program offered by the Electrical Engineering-Systems department.)

A Master of Science degree with a specialization in computer networks is offered. This specialization prepares students in the areas of computer communications, networks and distributed processing.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (Multimedia and Creative Technologies) is also offered.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (High Performance Computing and Simulations) is also offered.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (Data Science) is also offered.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (Game Development) is also offered.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (Computer Security) is also offered.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (Technical Professionals) is also offered for students with three to five years of work experience.

A Master of Science in Computer Science Dual Degree with Tsinghua University School of Information Science and Technology – China is also offered.

A Master of Science in Computer Science (Scientists and Engineers) is also offered for students with limited background in computer science.

Admission and Prerequisites

Admission is determined by the Office of Admission and the Viterbi School of Engineering, in consultation with the Computer Science Department. The applicant is required to have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from an accredited college or university; satisfactory scores on the verbal and quantitative portions of the aptitude test of the Graduate Record Examinations (one advanced test from computer science, mathematics or engineering is recommended); and a substantial background in computing constitutes a minimum requirement. Foreign students must earn a satisfactory score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

• •  Computer Science (BS)
• •  Computer Science (Games) (BS)
• •  Computer Science/Business Administration (BS)

Minor

• •  Computer Science Minor

Joint Degree

• •  Master of Science in Computer Science Dual Degree with Tsinghua University School of Information Science and Technology – China

Master’s Degree

• •  Computer Science (Computer Networks) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Computer Security) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Data Science) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Game Development) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (High Performance Computing and Simulations) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Intelligent Robotics) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Multimedia and Creative Technologies) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Scientists and Engineers) (MS)
• •  Computer Science (Software Engineering) (MS)

University Certificate

• •  Software Architecture Graduate Certificate

Doctoral Degree

• •  Computer Science (PhD)

Courses

Computer Science

• •  CSCI 568 Requirements Engineering
• •  CSCI 570 Analysis of Algorithms
• •  CSCI 571 Web Technologies
• •  CSCI 572 Information Retrieval and Web Search Engines
• •  CSCI 573 Probabilistic Reasoning
• •  CSCI 574 Computer Vision
• •  CSCI 575 Wireless and Mobile Networks Design and Library
• •  CSCI 576 Multimedia Systems Design
• •  CSCI 577a Software Engineering
• •  CSCI 577b Software Engineering
• •  CSCI 578 Software Architectures
• •  CSCI 579a Computational Molecular Biology
• •  CSCI 579b Computational Molecular Biology
• •  CSCI 580 3-D Graphics and Rendering
• •  CSCI 581 Logic and its Applications
• •  CSCI 582 Geometric Modeling
• •  CSCI 584 Control and Learning in Mobile Robots and Multi-Robot Systems
• •  CSCI 585 Database Systems
• •  CSCI 586 Database Systems Interoperability
• •  CSCI 587 Geospatial Information Management
• •  CSCI 588 Specification and Design of User Interface Software
• •  CSCI 589 Software Engineering for Embedded Systems
• •  CSCI 590 Directed Research
• •  CSCI 591 Computer Science Research Colloquium
• •  CSCI 593 Mathematical Foundations for Computer-Aided Design of VLSI Circuits
• •  CSCI 594a Master’s Thesis
• •  CSCI 594b Master’s Thesis
• •  CSCI 594z Master’s Thesis
• •  CSCI 595 Advanced Compiler Design
• •  CSCI 596 Scientific Computing and Visualization
• •  CSCI 598 Professional Writing and Communication for Computer Scientists
• •  CSCI 599 Special Topics
• •  CSCI 620 Computer Animation and Simulation
• •  CSCI 621 Digital Geometry Processing
• •  CSCI 646 Coordinated Mobile Robotics
• •  CSCI 648 Advanced Information Integration
• •  CSCI 651 Advanced Computer Communications
• •  CSCI 652 Low-Power Wireless Networks
• •  CSCI 653 High Performance Computing and Simulations
• •  CSCI 657 Advanced Distributed Systems
• •  CSCI 658 Diagnosis and Design of Reliable Digital Systems
• •  CSCI 662 Advanced Natural Language Processing
• •  CSCI 664 From Action to Language
• •  CSCI 668 Search and Planning
• •  CSCI 670x Advanced Analysis of Algorithms
• •  CSCI 671 Randomized Algorithms
• •  CSCI 672 Approximation Algorithms
• •  CSCI 673 Structure and Dynamics of Networked Information
• •  CSCI 674a Advanced Topics in Computer Vision
• •  CSCI 674b Advanced Topics in Computer Vision
• •  CSCI 675 Convex and Combinatorial Optimization
• •  CSCI 676 Multimodal Probabilistic Learning of Human Communication
• •  CSCI 685 Advanced Topics in Database Systems
• •  CSCI 686 Advanced Big Data Analytics
• •  CSCI 694a Topics in Computer Networks and Distributed Systems
• •  CSCI 694b Topics in Computer Networks and Distributed Systems
• •  CSCI 697 Seminar in Computer Science Research
• •  CSCI 698 Practicum in Teaching Computer Science
• •  CSCI 790 Research
• •  CSCI 794a Doctoral Dissertation
• •  CSCI 794b Doctoral Dissertation
• •  CSCI 794c Doctoral Dissertation
• •  CSCI 794d Doctoral Dissertation
• •  CSCI 794z Doctoral Dissertation