Academic Catalog

2024-2025

Computer Science

Ravi Mukkamala, Chair
Soad Ibrahim, Chief Departmental Advisor
Ayman El Mesalami, Undergraduate Program Director

The Department of Computer Science (CS) offers programs leading to the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS), Master of Science with a concentration in computer science, and Doctor of Philosophy with a concentration in computer science. Students can also earn a degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a major in secondary computer science education (6-12), which is intended for those who wish to pursue a career in teaching computer science at the high school level and leads to teaching licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A linked undergraduate to graduate option is available that leads to a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS) and a Master of Science in computer science, and a linked undergraduate to graduate option is available that leads to a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS) and a Master of Science in data science. The BSCS courses are offered via traditional live lectures and ODUGlobal options.

At the undergraduate level the Department of Computer Science jointly offers a program with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and Technology leading to a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. A linked undergraduate to graduate option is available that leads to Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Master of Business Administration degrees. The CS department supports the electrical engineering technology major of the Engineering Technology bachelor's degree and the modeling and simulation engineering major in the Computer Engineering bachelor's degree.  The CS department also supports the Bachelor of Science degree with majors in cybersecurity and in cyber operations.

Computer science traces its foundation to mathematics, logic and engineering. Students in this program are exposed to the broad theoretical and practical basis of computer science in lectures and laboratory experiences. Through laboratories, students are introduced to both the experimental and the design aspects of computer science.  Students may choose their electives to obtain an emphasis in data science, machine learning, databases, networking, web programming, systems programming, game programming, and cybersecurity.

The CS Department's curriculum applies computer science education to the real world. The Professional Workforce Development courses (CS 410 and CS 411W) expand upon the experimental and design approach of earlier courses by addressing the creativity and productivity required for business and industrial applications today.   Faculty and industry representatives provide project concepts and mentor student teams in design and development of usable products. 

Computing Facilities

The Computer Science Department at Old Dominion University offers a wide array of facilities, resources, and services to our faculty, staff, students and guests.  Assets are distributed between Dragas Hall and the Engineering and Computational Sciences Building (E&CS).  This system architecture enables our services to be configured in a redundant/highly-available manner.  This stability and resiliency is essential to maintaining a high level of service to over 2,300 users.

The E&CS building is home to our primary data-center and main administrative office.  It also houses several of our research labs, a multimedia conference room, and our network operations center. Dragas Hall contains several instructional and research labs, our satellite administrative office, secondary conference room, redundant data-center, extended network operations center, and support staff offices.

The department offers a heterogeneous computing environment that primarily consists of Windows and *nix based workstations and servers. On the Windows domain, users are offered network logons, Exchange email, terminal services via our Virtual Computing Lab (VCLab) where users can have access to our software remotely, roaming profiles, MSSQL database access for research, and Hyper-V virtualization for research/faculty projects. For Unix and Linux users we support Solaris, Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distributions.  Our *nix services include DNS, NIS, Unix mail, access to personal MySQL databases, class and research project Oracle databases, and both Linux and Unix servers  for secure shell sessions.