Information Assurance, MEIA

Network and system security has become very critical and increasingly urgent in today’s network and information systems. Information Assurance deals with operations that protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non repudiation. The Information Assurance curriculum includes courses designed to prepare individuals who engineer computer/network systems or develop policy for these systems with knowledge of methods, techniques, and tools used in information assurance.

These courses are regularly offered in the late afternoon and evening to provide a more ideal time slot for the working professional.

The MEIA degree program and curriculum are certified by the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS and meet the Information Assurance Professional (4011) Training Standards).

Admission Requirements

A Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics, computer science, engineering information systems, or equivalent.
An overall undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0; awarded within the past five years). Applicants with a grade point average of less than 3.0 or with degrees awarded greater than five years ago may be required to take the GRE or may be admitted on a case-by-case basis. Applicants with a grade point average between 2.75 and 3.0 awarded within the past five years may be admitted provisionally.
It is recommended the applicant have two years experience with commercial, industrial or government software development or system/network administration.
A completed online application, two copies of official transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a concise statement of experience and career goals sent to the Department of Computer Science.

Program Prerequisites

Knowledge of a modern programming language, e.g., Java, C++, C#

Degree Requirements (30 credit hours total)

Required Core Courses (15 credit hours, common to all options)

Degree Completion Courses (15 credit hours)

Three options are available: Thesis, Non-Thesis or Portfolio.

1. Thesis Option

Complete CS 7000 Master Thesis (6 credit hours)
Complete three courses from the approved list of courses. The Graduate Studies Committee must approve the courses selected.

2. Non-Thesis Option

Complete CS 7010 Master Project (3 credit hours).
Complete four courses from the approved list of courses. The Graduate Studies Committee must approve the courses selected.

3. Portfolio Option

Submit a 5-8 page paper that describes at least one, and at most four, projects in which the student has been engaged. For each project it will describe the overall project objectives, the team, the students’ role on the team, the formal information assurance/development methodology used, and the lifecycle stages in which the student was engaged. It should explicitly relate the project(s) to at least 2 of the MEIA courses which the student has completed. It should also include examples - at least one example work artifact from the information assurance process, with the artifact not counting toward the 5 page minimum length. The document should be a formal technical paper. It is recommended that students include appropriate references to relevant information assurance sources, such as books, papers and blogs.
Complete either CS 6910, Advanced System Security Design or CS 6930, Advanced Topics in Web Security and Privacy, and four courses from the approved list of courses. The Graduate Studies Committee must approve the courses selected.

Transfer Credit

Up to 9 hours of graduate work may be transferred from an accredited graduate program, provided:

The course work has not been used for any other degree.
Grade earned for the course(s) is B or better.
The course work has been taken within the past six years.
The course coverage is equal in level, content, and depth to the course for which it is being substituted.