Master of Science in Information Systems

Why study Information Systems at ? 

Our Master of Science in Information Systems program prepares students to meet the growing demand for professionals skilled in data mining and analysis, and in creating and configuring systems to process vast quantities of information. 

The program curriculum is designed for students who have an interest in computer systems strictly from the user/application perspective and whose career paths are focused on computer hardware and software systems operations and maintenance. This differs from computer science programs, which tend to emphasize software and hardware theoretical foundations; design; and formal analysis techniques for assessment of performance, cost and functional tradeoffs. 

Students will develop the skills for: 

  • Configuring and integrating various IS components, such as networking and software systems, databases, data analytics and web-based systems and software packages. 
  • Programming and scripting, including software testing skills, starting from basic programming principles to the use of packages and utilities for larger applications. 

Admission requirements 

Applicants to this program need to complete an undergraduate education with good standing by the time of enrollment into this program and have adequate programming skills (programming experience in one programming language). Applicants who do not have adequate prerequisites in programming for the proposed program may be admitted on the condition of completing certain preparatory courses before they start the program. View the . 

Curriculum 

All MSIS students must complete 31 credits — 9 credits from three required courses, 21 credits from seven elective courses and a 1-credit Termination Project — and maintain a “B” average throughout their academic work. 

Students can elect to complete an applied data science track to prepare for careers in data science or analytics. 

Core courses

Student should complete the three core courses in their first two semesters. 

  • INFO 501 Information Systems I
  • INFO 502 Information Systems II
  • INFO 532 Database Systems

Elective courses 

Students may choose electives from this list.

  • INFO 505 Software Project Management
  • INFO 531 Enterprise Network Security
  • INFO 533 Web Based Information Retrieval and Search
  • INFO 535 Applied Data Mining
  • INFO 536 Applied Machine Learning
  • INFO 537 Tools for Data Science
  • INFO 541 Mobile Applications for Social Networks
  • INFO 542 OO Design in Java + Design Patterns
  • INFO 544 Web-based Programming
  • INFO 553 Blockchain and Beyond
  • INFO 554 Data Analytics for Security
  • INFO 558 Web and Database Security
  • INFO 559 Information Systems Security
  • INFO 561 Large Language Models: Foundations & Applications
  • INFO 562 AI-Driven Decision Support Systems
  • CS 515 Social Media Data Science Pipeline
  • CS 527X Mobile Systems Security
  • CS 558 Introduction to Computer Security
  • CS 580P Introduction to Natural Language Processing 

Elective courses may be taken from other departments at Watson College or from other schools within the University, subject to approval by the director of the MSIS program.