School of Information Sciences—Telecommunications Program
The School of Information Sciences offers a Master of Science in Telecommunications (MST) degree through a program based in the School of Information Science and jointly sponsored with the Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Communication, and the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. This program prepares students for careers in a variety of arenas including industry, business, government, health care, education, and the nonprofit sector in positions such as network engineers or analysts, network administrators or managers, consultants, systems engineers, research and development engineers (with appropriate undergraduate education), and sales or customer-support engineers. A Certificate of Advanced Study in Telecommunications and a PhD in Information Science with a Concentration in Telecommunications are also offered.
Research Focus
Members of the faculty are active researchers with funding from
governmental and/or private sources. Both master's and doctoral
students have an opportunity to work with faculty on research projects,
and doctoral students conduct independent research for their dissertations. Faculty members and students participate conduct research on a wide variety of topics including (but not limited to) Voice over IP, sensor networks and ad hoc networks, wireless networks and security, network design and fault tolerant networking, computer networks, network policy, and economics of the telecommunication industry.
Areas of Focus
Students may choose to focus their studies on Telecommunications specializations including:
-
Telecommunications Systems
- Computer Networks
- Policy and Management
- Wireless
- Security
Contact Information
- Telecommunications Program
- School of Information Sciences
- 135 North Bellefield Avenue
- 412-624-3988 or 800-672-9435
- Fax: 412-624-5231
- E-mail: teleing@mail.sis.pitt.edu
- www.ischool.pitt.edu
Master of Science in Telecommunications Degree Program
To qualify for admission, an applicant must be a graduate of an
accredited college or university. Preference will be given to candidates with better than
a B average. The scholastic average of the final 50 percent of
a student's undergraduate course work, as well as of graduate courses
that may have been taken, shall be examined in determining achievement
of this requirement.
All MST applicants are required to submit a recent score
(within three years of the date of application) on the Graduate
Record Examination as part of their admission credentials. Scores
on all three sections (verbal, quantitative, and analytical) of
the General Section should be submitted.
MST Admission Prerequisites
Prerequisites for admission to the MST program an applicant must be a graduate of an accredited college or university. The student must have completed the following course work (at the undergraduate or graduate level) , with a grade of B or better, prior to admission to the MST program:
- Computer programming skill in at least one scientific programming language (C, Pascal, JAVA, Fortran, etc).
- Statistics or Probability (a 3-credit course)
- Calculus (a 3-credit course).
The following courses, while not counting towards the 36-credit degree, may be required depending upon previous educational background:
- Introduction to Telecom (Tel 2000)
- Electronic Communications I (Tel 2200)
- Software Tools and Techniques (Tel 2300)
MST Degree Requirements
Completion of the Master of Science in Telecommunications degree requires a minimum of 36 credits. Three credits may be in practicum (a structured supervised employment situation) or a thesis. For research-oriented students, the faculty strongly recommends a 3-credit thesis in lieu of course work.
The 36-credit minimum of course work should include the following:
Academic Advising
Each student is assigned an academic advisor at the time of admission
to graduate study. These assignments are made primarily on the
basis of the student’s background and interests as shown
in the application. The student may at any time elect to change
advisors—any such change requires the consent of the new
advisor and must be reported to the Program Chair.
In consultation with the advisor, the student must complete a
Plan of Study at the time of registration. The Plan of Study
forms are available from the advisor. A Plan of Studies is a series
of courses designed to meet the minimum exit competences judged
by the faculty to be necessary for employment as an information
professional. All Plans of Study must have the approval of the
advisor and will be used to ensure that the student has met all
requirements for graduation.
Statute of Limitations
The Master’s Degree program must be completed within four
years of the first term in which courses were taken after admission.
The normal full-time course load is 9 to 12 credits per term; thus,
a full-time student will complete the program in three or four
terms. The normal part-time course load is 6 credits per term,
which permits the part-time students to complete the program in
six terms. The faculty, in response to a student petition, must
approve exceptions to the four-year limit if extenuating circumstances
exist.
Registration and Residence Requirements
To maintain active student status, students must register for
at least 3 credits during one of the three terms of the calendar
year. It is recommended, however, that part-time students register
for at least 6 credits during two of the three terms of the academic
year to maintain reasonable progress through the program.
Certificates—Information Science and Telecommunications
Students who have graduated from a master's program
may pursue a certificate in Telecommunications.
In consultation with an advisor, students project a Plan of Studies
to meet their specific interests or needs, and these plans may
change as the program proceeds. Students may select graduate-level
courses in other departments within the University as well as at
Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education-cooperating institutions.
Admission to all courses is contingent upon meeting course prerequisites
and is subject to the advisor's approval.
Candidates for the Telecommunications certificate must complete the
following requirements:
- A total of 24 credits in graduate-level courses acceptable to
the advisor and passed with a grade point average of at least
B (3.00 on a 4.00 scale)
- Fifteen of the 24 credits must be taken from among
the approved courses for the MSIS degree program.
Course work must be completed within a period of four calendar
years from the student's initial registration in the certificate
program.
The PhD in Information Science with a Concentration in Telecommunications
The Doctor of Philosophy degree program provides research-oriented
graduate study and professional specialization in the science of
information. The candidate must give evidence of superior scholarship,
mastery of a specialized field of knowledge, and demonstration
of ability to do significant and relevant research. Students interested
in the PhD degree should consult the Web site, PhD
Program in Information Science with a Concentration in Telecommunications. The School of Information Sciences also offers a Doctor of Philosophy degree program in Information Sciences.
Admission Requirements
Students seeking admission to the PhD program with a Concentration
in Telecommunications must:
- Hold a master’s degree in Telecommunications or a related field from an accredited university,
a recognized international program, or the equivalent.
- Have maintained in graduate work of a minimum grade point average of 3.3 (on a scale with A having a value of 4 points
per credit). An international student’s grade point average
will be calculated on the basis of equivalency from universities
that use a different scale.
- Submit scores from a predictor test (if not taken previously) such as the Graduate Record
Examination (GRE) or equivalent examination. Scores on all three
sections (verbal, quantitative, and analytical) of the GRE must
be submitted.
- Provide evidence of the ability to undertake doctoral work,
an essay (not exceeding 1,000 words) indicating, as specifically
as possible, the student’s academic and professional goals
in relation to the Telecommunications doctoral program and identifying
potential areas and/or topics in which the student expects to
pursue dissertation research.
- Have successfully completed:
- Two different scientific computer programming language classes
- Introductory class in probability and statistics
- Differential and integral calculus classes
PhD Degree Requirements
The Telecommunications PhD program requires a minimum of 72
credits beyond the Bachelor’s degree. The 72 credits must
include the required courses (or their equivalent) for the MST
degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Also included in the 72
credits are:
- Six credits of probability and research design
- Six credits of minor courses
- Nine credits of doctoral level seminars in relevant topics
Thirty-six of the 72 credits must be advanced coursework beyond
the MST degree (or its equivalent). In addition to the advanced
coursework in telecommunications, doctoral students must take at
least 18 credits of dissertation research and writing; however,
regardless of the number of credits taken, no more than 18 credits
for dissertation research and writing may be applied toward graduation.
The grade for these credits will appear as an “S” on
the student’s transcript.
Graduation depends upon meeting the minimum credit requirements
and all other requirements. Graduate degrees are conferred only
on those students who have completed all courses required for the
degree with at least a 3.0 GPA. Grades of C or lower are unacceptable
for graduation credit.
All students who are candidates for doctoral degrees are governed
by the regulations of the University Council on Graduate Study,
which establishes minimum standards for graduate work throughout
the University as well as by those regulations established by the
SIS faculty.
Probability/Research Design Requirement
The probability/research design requirement (6 credits) is fulfilled
by either two graduate level probability courses beyond the admissions pre-requisite
or a 3-credit probability and 3-credit research design course.
Preliminary Examination Requirement
The preliminary examination, according to Regulations Governing
Graduate Study at the University of Pittsburgh, is held:
...to assess the breadth of the student’s
knowledge of the discipline, the student’s achievement
during the first year of graduate study, and the potential to
apply research methods independently.... The evaluation is
used to identify those students who may be expected to complete
a doctoral program successfully and also to reveal areas of weakness
in the student’s preparation.
The TPC has clarified further that the overall objectives of the
preliminary examination are:
- To test the PhD students for breadth of knowledge
- To evaluate their skills, and their ability to apply them
- To evaluate their ability to do research, and
- Provide a set of integrative experiences that differentiate
telecommunications from other fields (e.g. EE, CS, and IS)
This examination and preparation for it should enable the student
to review all areas of Telecommunications relevant to his/her research,
present all the material ”in the front” of the student’s
brain at the same time, and improve the ability to see relationships
among various parts and to see gaps or cracks that exist between
these areas in Telecommunications. A research paper/masters thesis
is not required for completing the preliminary exam. However, individual
faculty members before accepting a student as an advisee may require
the student to write a Masters thesis to evaluate her/his interest
and ability in research. For more details, see www.tele.pitt.edu/academics/overview.htm.
With the successful completion of the preliminary examination,
the student is fully admitted to doctoral study in telecommunications.
The Director of the Telecommunications program will notify the
student, in writing, of admission to doctoral study. After admission,
the student must complete the remaining coursework including doctoral
level seminars; the probability, research design, and information
science course requirements; and the residency requirement.
Comprehensive Exam
The student must satisfactorily pass a comprehensive examination
designed to assess mastery of the general field of telecommunications,
acquisition of both depth and breadth in the area of specialization
within the field, and ability to use the research methods of the
discipline. The purpose of the comprehensive examination is to
assess the student’s ability to understand a sub-area of
telecommunications in depth. In order to do research, a student
must be able to read, understand, present, and criticize research
papers in the field. It is also important that the student be able
to explain it in depth to someone who is unfamiliar with that area.
Thus, this examination centers on the development of a tutorial
as well as a lecture in which the student must explain the subject
to the satisfaction of the entire telecommunications faculty. From
a learning perspective, this provides the student with an experience
of structuring and explaining a technical topic in detail. It is
expected that a student has completed the minimum 36 credits of
coursework before taking the comprehensive exam.
Candidacy and Dissertation Requirements
Doctoral students are required to take a minimum of 18 dissertation credits as part of their study. After successfully completing the comprehensive examination, the
student will select a dissertation advisor and a committee. Then,
the student in consultation with the dissertation advisor, must
prepare a dissertation proposal which is then presented to the
committee in a public session. The dissertation committee must
unanimously approve the dissertation topic and research plan before
the student may be admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree.
When the proposal has been successfully defended, the chair of
the student’s dissertation committee shall notify the Chair
of the PhD Committee, the director of the Telecommunications
Program Committee, and the Dean of SIS that the student has achieved
formal candidacy.
Journal Requirement
All PhD students are mandatorily required to submit an article
of publishable quality to a journal before the degree is awarded.
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