Master of Science in Computer Science

at Arkansas State University USA

The finance major prepares students for positions in banks, investment companies, insurance firms, real estate companies, credit unions, government, and major corporations. Finance major graduates serve as loan officers in banks, manage individual or corporate investment portfolios, or supervise commercial credit departments.

Degree Emphasis
Finance majors choose between two emphases of study:

• Financial Management
• Banking

The Masters of Science in Environmental Sciences (Non-Thesis, Practicum) is designed to provide all students with a cross-disciplinary introduction to environmental science. Students are required to complete an Internship external to the university. Students are also required to complete all MS core course requirements which include taking one class in each of three categories: Environmental Chemistry/Soil and Water Science, Environmental Policy, Law & Economics, and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies.

Each student will also take 1 credit hour of Ethics, 2 credit hours of Seminar, 6 credit hours of Statistics and 6 credit hours of Internship. In addition, each student will normally take courses in their specialty area sufficient to bring the total number of credits to the minimum of 30 required for the MS in Environmental Sciences beyond the Bachelor of Science Degree.  Any additional course work requirements will be determined by the MS Practicum Advisory Committee to meet the student's specific program needs.

MS Practicum students are required to take a Qualifying Examination, complete a final Practicum Report and publicly defend their completed Practicum Report. Passing all requirements implies that the student has the necessary knowledge and sufficient critical thinking skills to advance toward completion of the Masters of Science Degree (Non-Thesis) in Environmental Sciences.

The Civil Engineering Programs at Arkansas State University are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.  Civil engineering is the application of math, science, and engineering fundamentals for the benefit of society and the supporting infrastructure systems.

Civil engineers are involved in the following areas:

• Environmental Engineering (pollution control including the design of water and waste water facilities)
• Water Resources (study of the flow of water over land, under ground and storage)
• Transportation Engineering (design of highways and studies of traffic flow)
• Structural Engineering (design of building, bridges and other related structures)
• Geotechnical Engineering (study of soil behaviors, land slides and other topics)

Civil Engineering at A-State
The civil engineering program of ASU offers courses in all areas of civil engineering with a strong general education component. The faculty is involved in research, solving engineering problems in the community, consulting work. These experiences are brought into the classroom so students receive a well-rounded educational experience. This includes learning the engineering theory as well as the practical application of the theory to real world problems.

Program Educational Objectives

The program educational objectives for the civil engineering program, which pertain to program graduates 3 to 5 years after completing the program, are:

• Graduates have successfully advanced in civil engineering practice as evidenced by their achievements and contributions to their employers and the greater engineering community.
• Graduates have pursued graduate degrees, obtained professional licensure, and/or completed professional development activities in continuing to advance their knowledge base in civil engineering or related professional fields.
• Graduates are actively working to improve their community and society in general by utilizing and sharing their engineering expertise.

Student Outcomes
The Student Outcomes for each of the undergraduate engineering programs are:

• An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics;
• An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors;
• An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences;
• An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts;
• An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives;
• An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions; and
• An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Agricultural Education Emphasis
The focus of the program is to prepare outstanding future educators and leaders in the public and private sectors.  The Agricultural Education program is structured around the needs of students and their career goals.  Students in the program are required to take personal responsibility for their education to include involvement and participation in courses and extracurricular activities which are essential to learning and future career success. Formal and informal learning experiences are designed to enable students to successfully progress through the program encouraging academic and professional development as well as personal growth.

Agricultural Science Emphasis
The Agricultural Science emphasis at A-State offers students access to a broad array of agriculture discipline areas.  This emphasis allows the student to develop a diverse knowledge within five major agriculture areas, Agricultural Business, Agricultural Studies, Animal Science, Plant and Soil Science, and Technology.  In addition to our Agriculture core classes, the student selects twelve hours in each of the discipline areas.  An additional 18 hours minor is required and can be used to enhance a specialized area of study which will serve the student’s specific needs or interests.  Many graduates become involved with agriculture business and production entities.

Agricultural Systems Technology Emphasis
The Agricultural Systems Technology Science emphasis at A-State offers students access to a broad array of agriculture and technology discipline areas.  This emphasis allows the student to develop a diverse knowledge of agriculture and technology.

Agricultural Communications Emphasis
Agricultural Communications emphasis is also available.

The Department of Biological Sciences serves students desiring to gain a broad background in biology, botany, environmental biology, zoology, or wildlife ecology and management. This preparation qualifies students for professional work in health professions, teaching, research, industry, or for graduate study.

Emphasis Areas:

• Biology
• Botany
• Pre-professional Studies
• Zoology

Mass Communication is the study of sharing information through media outlets to reach large population segments. The primary focus of the M.S. in Mass Communications is on the fundamentals of communication theories enabling students to acquire the ability to understand and use basic methods of communication research.

You can emphasize your studies in one of these areas:

• Journalism
• Radio/TV

The Master of Science in Engineering (MSEng) program provides a research thesis based, advanced education in engineering. The program of study leading to the MSEng degree presents an advanced cross-disciplinary understanding of engineering sciences, experimental methods, modeling, and fabrication techniques. The goal of the MSEng program is to provide an educational experience focusing on the integration of research and technology development that allows graduates to be successful in deriving solutions to society’s most challenging technical problems. The program culminates in the defense of an original research thesis.
Specific program outcomes are listed below. Program graduates will have:

• Knowledge of advanced experimental methods and the ability to design experiments and collect data
• A good understanding of statistical concepts and an ability to apply this knowledge to achieve engineering solutions that most efficiently use information and resources
• A practical knowledge of fabrication and manufacturing techniques, specifically at the micro- and nano-scales
• An ability to apply advanced mathematical concepts to model physical systems and engineering processes to drive knowledge based design
• An advanced, cross-disciplinary understanding of engineering sciences, and an ability to relate physical concepts from multiple engineering disciplines
• An ability to identify critical issues, formulate realistic solutions, evaluate alternatives, and carry out independent research to provide novel solutions to technical problems
• A demonstrated ability to make novel, significant contributions to the scientific and engineering body of knowledge.

The Arkansas State University MBA Program is a professional degree program designed to prepare students of all educational and professional backgrounds for management positions in all types of organizations. As such, the program stresses the development of analytical, problem-solving and decision making competencies for the dynamic, complex global organizational and social environments.

Healthcare Management - Concentration
The MBA with a Concentration in Healthcare Management is designed to allow students to complement their studies in business administration with in-depth coverage of the core components of the healthcare administration arena and the unique issues and challenges facing healthcare organizations in the dynamic healthcare industry. Students will complete the 24 hours of the MBA core and 15 hours of graduate level courses in Healthcare Administration.

This MSW offers a concentration in rural based clinical social work practice. Students learn the fundamental knowledge, skills, and ethics that guide social work practice and the populations traditionally served by the profession.

Graduates of this program are:

• Prepared to acknowledge and utilize the less formal social exchange between people and systems that exist in rural communities.
• Educated on how to identify and develop resources, and how to use natural helping networks.
• Expected to employ a broad range of approaches, theories and models in their practice and to develop skills that enable them to perform multiple roles in the helping process.
• Aware of the importance of examining issues of diversity; social work values and ethics; how to identify, prevent and interrupt social and economic injustice; and the importance of community empowerment.

The major in economics provides an excellent background for a wide variety of careers in business and government. In addition to acceptance into their management training programs, many businesses employ the economics major to forecast economic trends and to relate changes in economic activity to the individual business. Economists are employed by various governmental bodies to conduct research into all phases of the economy.