The Information Technology Engineering (ITE) concentration in Engineering Science offers a rigorous engineering-based curriculum for graduate students interested in technical careers in the field of information technology. The concentration draws together cross-disciplinary coursework and research in:
eBusiness Architecture and Technologies, including the design, synthesis, and operation of distributed databases and information systems, data
warehouses, multi-dimensional data stores, middleware, client server and n-tier architectures, web services, messaging systems, workflow systems, collaborative computing systems, enterprise system architectures, and e-commerce systems; concepts and use of authentication and encryption, biometrics, privacy, and computer security.
eManufacturing, covering the use of information technologies in production control,
monitoring, integration, and collaboration, including process control, plant instrumentation, logic controllers, SCADA and HMI/MMI systems, intelligent devices and plant equipment, plant networks, eMaintenance, and Manufacturing Enterprise Systems (MES).
Knowledge Management, covering the theory and concepts of data/text mining, intelligent systems, document management, information search and retrieval, supply chain management, and logistics optimization.
Telecommunications and Networking, covering analog and digital communications, network system design, network reliability analysis, and in-depth analysis of specific network technologies such as wireless, broadband, optical networks, and many others.
Software Engineering, including software engineering theory and techniques, requirements analysis and definition, business process reengineering, rapid application development (RAD) and computer aided software engineering (CASE), theory and methodology for effective design of software systems, operating systems, and embedded systems, and generative (automated) software / database development.
Systems Engineering, providing the skills needed to engineer information technology systems. including system modeling and simulation, software quality control and assurance, software and network reliability analysis, human computer interface design, queuing analysis, project management, and network systems management. 
High Performance Computing Applications that push the limits of information technology and demand development of new tools and techniques, including applications such as remote imaging and sensing, large-scale modeling and simulation, geographic information systems, and CAD modeling and visualization.
All students pursuing the ITE concentration must take the following three core engineering courses and obtain a grade of “B” or higher in each:
-
Databases: IE7425 Advanced Information Systems Design
-
Networking: EE7770 Internetworking Principles, or EE4710 Communications in Computing. Students who have had a basic networking course in their undergraduate curriculum may substitute a 7000 level advanced networking course with approval of the ITE Coordinator.
- Software Design: EE7780 Software Design Principles, or IE4426 Dist Info Sys Eng, or CSC 4330 Software Systems Development, or CSC 7135 Software Engineering
Beyond these core courses, the ITE student has considerable flexibility in tailoring their program. MS students pursuing a thesis option must complete 9 additional credit hours of coursework selected from the table below (most courses are 3 credit hours). These courses do not need to all be from the same category (categories are for informational purposes only). MS students pursuing a non-thesis (project) option, and PhD. students must complete 12 additional credit hours of coursework beyond the core selected from the table below. In addition, M.S. and Ph.D. students must meet the basic requirements of the engineering science program. Students work with their Major Advisor and Advisory Committee to develop a satisfactory course plan to meet their objectives.
ITE Elective Courses * |
E-Business Systems - Architectures and Technologies |
IE4425 Information Systems Engineering
IE4426 Dist. Information Systems Engineering
ISDS7545 Collaborative Computing
ISDS7550 Enterprise Information Systems
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course relating to E-Business Systems Architectures and Technologies |
Manufacturing Information & Control Systems |
BE7350 Adv Instrumentation & Control for Biol. Eng
ChE4198 Process Dynamics
ChE7572 Adv Automatic Process Control
ChE7574 Digital Control of Processes
EE7580 Computer Process Control
EE7585 Adv Digital Control Systems
IE4485 Manufacturing Systems Integration
IE7485 Systems Integration
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course relating to Systems Integration / Manufacturing Information or Control Systems |
Knowledge Management |
CE7580 Expert Systems in Civil Eng
CSC7333 Machine Learning
CSC7446 Soft Computing
EE4745 Neural Computing
EE4785 Introduction to Expert Systems
EE7745 Neural Networks & Iterative Maps
EE7750 Machine Recognition of Patterns
IE4470 Knowledge-Based Systems
IE7470 Knowledge Management
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course on Knowledge Management / AI |
Vision / Multimedia Systems |
CSC7481 Information Retrieval Systems
EE4780 Introduction to Computer Vision
EE7730 Image Analysis I
EE7740 Image Analysis II
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course on Vision or Multimedia topics |
Telecommunications and Networks |
EE4610 Analog Communication
EE4625 Digital Communication
EE4710 Communications in Computing
EE7110 Network Analysis & Synthesis
EE7120Linear Active Network Analysis & Synthesis
EE7130 Computer-Aided Network Analysis
EE7610 Analog Communications
EE7620 Digital Communications
EE7640 Information Theory, Coding, & Cryptography
EE7670 Communications Networks
EE7672 Switched Broadband Networks
EE7674 Wireless Communications Networks
EE7725 Interconnection Networks
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course on Networking and Security |
Software & Computer Architecture |
CSC4103 Operating Systems
CSC4330 Software Systems Development
CSC7235 Advanced Software Engineering
EE4760 Intro to Compiler Optimization
EE4770 Real Time Computing Systems
EE7715 Computer Arithmetic
EE7720 Advanced Computer Architecture
EE7785 Program Parallelization
EE7790 Structure of Computers and Computation
EE7795 Models and Methods of Parallel Computation
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course on Software / Computer Engineering |
Human Computer Interaction |
IE4466 Human Computer Interaction
IE7466 Adv Human Computer Interaction
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course on HCI |
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Remote Sensing |
CE7500 Remote Sensing
GEOG4019 Aerial Photo Interpretation
GEOG4020 Aerial Photo Interpretation
GEOG4045 Environmental Remote Sensing
GEOG4047 Geographic Information Systems
GEOG4048 Methods of Spatial Analysis
GEOG7943 Adv. Geographic Info.Systems
Any graduate-credit College of Engineering Special Topics Course relating to GIS or remote sensing |
High Performance Computing Applications |
BE4345 Models, Simulation and Visualization in B.E..
CE4450 Finite Element Methods
CE7455 Finite Element Method in Engineering
CE7180 Water Quality Simulations
CE7275 Groundwater Modeling
CE7672 Pavement Management Systems
ChE7594 Advanced Computer-Aided Process Design
IE4511 Simulation
IE7408 Systems Simulation
IE7762 Supply Chain Systems
ME4573 Interactive Computer Graphics
ME4583 Applied Interactive Graphics & CAD
ME7253 Advanced CAD
ME7263 Computer Aided Geometric Modeling
ME7533 Numerical Methods
ME7633 Adv Eng System Dynamics
PETE4056 Numerical Simulation of Recovery Process.
PETE7280 Simulation of Pete. Reservoir Performance |
Systems Engineering |
BE7306 Agricultural Systems Engineering
CE7305 Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Eng.
CE7720 Numerical & Matrix Methods in C.E
ChE7314 Optimization
EE7660 Random Processes
EE7765 Dist. Comp. System Reliability
IE7211 Project Engineering
IE7382 Stochastic Processes
IE7453 Quality Control
IE7540 Advanced Reliability Engineering
IE7541 Linear Programming Methods
IE7551 Queuing Theory
IE7561 Programming Methods in Operations Research |
*Additional courses may be eligible for elective credit. For instance, Computer Science (CSC) and Geography (GEOG) IT courses on current IT topics and which are not similar to coursework in Engineering may be considered for elective credit. Approval of the ITE Graduate Coordinator is required prior to taking such courses for elective credit.
In addition to the course requirements, the student’s project or thesis (M.S.) or dissertation (Ph.D.) must relate to information technology. In all cases, a formal proposal is required and must be approved by the students full committee. The students major advisor must be a member of the College of Engineering graduate faculty, and thesis credit/project independent study credit must be conducted in the major advisors home department under the advisors direction.
Summary of ITE requirements:
| Requirement |
MS Project Option |
MS Thesis Option |
Ph.D. |
| Core Courses* |
IE7425, (EE7770 or EE4710),
and (EE7780 or IE4426 or CSC4330 or CSC7135) (9ch) |
| Elective Courses* |
4 from elective list (12ch) |
3 from elective list (9ch) |
4 from elective list (12ch) |
| Project/Thesis/Diss** |
1 independent study under major advisor (3ch) |
6ch thesis under major advisor (6ch) |
6ch dissertation under major advisor (6ch) |
| Other Courses*** |
4 (12ch) |
2 (6ch) |
11 (33ch) |
| Total Credit Hours |
36 |
30 |
60 |
| Major Advisor |
Must be member of graduate faculty in the College of Engineering |
| Engineering Requirement |
At least 18ch of coursework must be from College of Engineering |
At least 15ch of coursework must be from College of Engineering |
At least 18ch of coursework must be from College of Engineering |
| 7000 or higher requirement |
At least 18ch of coursework must be from College of Engineering |
At least 15ch of coursework must be at 7000 level or higher |
At least 27ch of coursework must be from College of Engineering |
| Ph.D. Minor Requirements |
- |
- |
See Degree Requirements Checklist and Distribution of Coursework Hours for additional details |
* Prior approval (before course is taken) is required from the ITE Coordinator to accept courses for core or elective credit which are not in the core or elective course lists respectively. This approval is not given lightly and a strong rationale must be presented. Requests to accept courses already taken as substitutes for core or elective courses will generally not be granted.
** The project, thesis, or dissertation credit must be either in the major advisor's home department or under ENGR, and must be under the major advisors direction. The project, thesis, or dissertation must relate to ITE.
*** "Other courses" are determined by the major advisor in discussion with the student. These courses do not have to relate directly to ITE.
Admission Requirements
To be accepted into the concentration, students must meet general admission requirements of the Graduate School and the Engineering Science program. In addition ITE applicants must meet the following requirements:
-
Hold a baccalaureate in any field of engineering or related sciences (e.g., computer science, mathematics, physics, etc).
-
Have at least 1 year of engineering level mathematics,
-
Have at least 1 year of Engineering level physics,
-
Have at least one undergraduate course in probability,
-
Have at least two undergraduate courses in programming, or programming proficiency demonstrated through documented work experience.
Students coming from undergraduate programs in engineering, computer science, math, or physics will generally meet these requirements. Students from other backgrounds are encouraged to contact the ITE coordinator (see "Contacting Us" below) to determine eligibility.
For students transferring from other programs, the ITE concentration requires a minimum of one academic year full-time residency after admission to the ITE concentration.
Contacting Us
Contact Dr. Gerry Knapp (ITE Graduate Coordinator) with any questions concerning the ITE concentration - Email: gknapp@lsu.edu; Ph: 225-578-5374; Fax: 225-578-5112.
