Jun 05, 2026  
2026-2027 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2026-2027 Undergraduate Catalog

Computer Science and Electrical Engineering



Faculty

Chair

Mohamed Younis

Tenure-Track Faculty

Tulay Adali
B.S., Middle East Technical University (Turkey), 1987; M.S., North Carolina State University, Raleigh, 1988; Ph.D., 1992

Rajasekhar Anguluri
B.Tech. National Institute of Technology Warangal (India), 2013; M.S. University of California, Riverside, 2019; Ph.D. 2019

Nilanjan Banerjee
B. Tech, Indian Institute of Technology (India), 2004; M.S., University of Massachusetts, 2007; Ph.D., 2009

Adam Bargteil
B.S., B.S., University of Maryland, College Park, 2000; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2006

Justin Brooks
B.S. University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 2004; Ph.D. Washington University in Saint Louis, 2012; M.D., 2012

Gary M. Carter
B.S., University of Washington, 1967; M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1969; Ph.D., 1975

Chein-I Chang
B.S., Soochow University (Taiwan), 1973; M.S., National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan), 1975; M.A., State University of New York, 1977; M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980; M.S., 1982; Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 1986

Richard Chang
B.S., Clarkson University, 1986; M.S., Cornell University, 1989; Ph.D., 1991

Fow-Sen Choa
B.S., National Taiwan University (Taiwan), 1980; M.S., State University of New York at Buffalo, 1985; Ph.D., 1988

Sanorita Dey
Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020

Don Engel
B.S., Brown University, 2000; M.S., 2001; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2006

Frank Ferraro
B.S., Univeuniversity of rochestorsity of Rochester, 2011; M.S.E, Johns Hopkins University, 2013; Ph.D., 2017

Manas Gaur
B.Tech., Netaji Subhas University of Technology, East Campus (India), 2013; M.Tech., Delhi Technological University (India), 2015; Ph.D., University of South Carolina, 2022

Tejas Gokhale
B.E., Birla Institute of Technology and Science (India), Pilani, 2015; M.S., Carnegie Mellon University, 2017; Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2023

Yiwen Hu
B.S. Zhejiang University (China), 2018; Ph.D. Michigan State University, 2025

Riadul Islam
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, 2017

Anthony M. Johnson
B.S., Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1975; Ph.D., City College of New York, 1981

Anupam Joshi
B. Tech, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (India), 1989; M.S., Purdue University, 1991; Ph.D., 1993

Kostantinos Kalpakis
B.S., University of Patras (Greece), 1989; M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1992; Ph.D., 1994

Naghmeh Karimi
B.Sc., University of Tehran (Iran), 1997; M.Sc., 2002; Ph.D., 2010

Mehdi Kiani
M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012; Ph.D., 2013

Seung-Jun Kim
B.S., Seoul National University (South Korea), 1996; M.S., 1998; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2005

Dong Li
B.S., University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (China), 2015; M.Eng., Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), 2018; Ph.D. University of Massachesetts Amherst, 2024

Samuel Lomonaco
B.S., Saint Louis University, 1961; Ph.D., Princeton University, 1964

Lara Martin
B.S., Rutgers University, 2013; M.S., Carnegie Mellon University, 2015; Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020

Cynthia Matuszek
B.S., The University of Texas at Austin, 2000; M.S, University of Washington, 2010; Ph.D., 2014

Curtis R. Menyuk
B.S., M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1981

Charles Nicholas
B.S., University of Michigan-Flint, 1979; M.S., Ohio State University, 1982; Ph.D., 1988

Tim Oates
B.S., B.S., North Carolina State University, 1989; M.S., University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1997; Ph.D., 2000

Marc Olano
B.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1990; Ph.D., University of North Carolina, 1998

Dmitri Perkins
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2002

Dhananjay Phatak
B. Tech, Indian Institute of Technology (India), 1985; M.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1990; Ph.D., 1994

Ryan Robucci
B.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2002; M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004; Ph.D., 2009

Alan T. Sherman
B.Sc., Brown University, 1978; S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981; Ph.D., 1987

Deepinder Sidhu
B.S., University of Kansas, 1966; M.S., State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1973; Ph.D., 1979

Ergun Simsek
B.S., Bilkent University (Turkey), 2001; M.s., University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 2003; Ph.D., Duke University, 2006

Ramana Vinjamuri
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, 2008

Rebecca Williams
B.S., University of Illinois Chicago, 2008; Ph.D., Dartmouth College, 2013

Mohamed Younis
B.S., Alexandria University (Egypt), 1987; M.S., 1992; Ph.D., New Jersey Institute of Technology, 1997

Roberto Yus
Ph.D., University of Zaragoza (Spain), 2016

Teaching Professor

Jeremy Dixon
B.A., Catawba College, 1997; M.S., Shippensburg University, 1999; M.B.A., M.S., Johns Hopkins University, 2009; D.Sc. Towson University, 2016

Richard Forno
A.A., Valley Forge Military College, 1992; B.A., American University, 1994; M.A., Salve Regina University, 2002; Ph.D., Curtin University of Technology (Australia), 2010

Associate Teaching Professor

Mohammad ‘Khash’ Donyaee 
B.Sc., Kerman University, 1988; M.Sc., Concordia University, Montreal, 2001; Ph.D., 2008

Jeannette Kartchner
B.S., Brigham Young University, 1984; M.S., University of Southern California, 1993

Masoud Soroush
M.Sc., Sharif University of Technology (Iran), 2004; Ph.D., Stanford University, 2009

Assistant Teaching Professor

Muhammad Ali Yousuf
DICTP, Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (Italy), 1991; Ph.D., Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad (Pakistan), 1997; Certificate of Business Administration and Management, John Hopkins University, 2020

Nicholas Allgood
B.S., Robert Morris University, 2006; M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2020; Ph.D., 2023

Ajinkya Borle
B.Eng., Savitribai Phule Pune University, 2012; M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2016; Ph.D., 2022

Shane Donahue
B.S., Dakota State University, 2022; M.S., 2023

Enis Golaszewski
B.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2015; Ph.D., 2024

Eric Hamilton
B.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2007; M.S., University of Maryland, College Park, 2009

Robert J. Joyce
B.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County; M.S.; Ph.D.

Zeynap Kacar
B.S., Gebze Technical University, 2012; M.S., Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi, 2015; M.S., University of Georgia, 2017; Ph.D.. University of Maryland, College Park, 2023

Michael J. Miller
B.A., Temple University; M.A., University of Wisconsin Madison; M.S., University of Maryland, College Park; Ph.D., 

Sanaa Mironov
B.S. University of Baltimore; BS. University of Maryland, Baltimore County; M.S.

Ben Shariati
Ph.D., George Washington University, 2016

Samit Shivadekar
Ph.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2023

KMA Solaiman
B.Sc., Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Bangladesh), 2014; M.S., Purdue University, 2022; Ph.D., 2023

Mark Woodcock
M.S., Case Western Reserve University, 1986

Zelalem Yalew
B.Sc., Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), 2007; M.Sc., Ajou University (South Korea), 2012; Ph.D., 2017

Affiliate Faculty

James Foulds
B.C.M.S., University of Waikato (New Zealand), 2006; M.S., 2008; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2014

Andrea Kleinsmith
B.A., University of Oregon, 1995; M.S., University of Aizu (Japan), 2004; Ph.D., University College London (UK), 2010

Ravi Kuber
B.Sc., University College London (UK), 1999; M.Sc., 2004; Ph.D., Queen’s University Belfast (UK), 2008

Sanjay Purushotham
B.Tech., National Institute of Technology Karnataka (India), 2007; M.S., University of Southern California, 2014; Ph.D., 2015

Nirmalya Roy
B.E., Jadavpur University (India), 2001; M.S., The University of Texas at Arlington, 2004; Ph.D., 2008

Sreedevi Sampath
B.S., Osmania University (India), 2000; M.S., University of Delaware, 2002; Ph.D., 2006

Houbing Herbert Song
B.S., Xi’an Polytechnic University (China), 2001; M.S., Xi’an Jiaotong University (China), 2004; M.S., The University of Texas at El Paso, 2006; Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2012

John Fritz
B.A., Columbia Union College, 1985; M.A., University of Maryland, College Park, 1989; P.M.C., University of Baltimore, 2002; P.M.C., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2009; Ph.D., 2016

Md. Osman Gani
B.Sc., Military Institute of Science and Technology (Bangladesh), 2009; M.Sc., Marquette University, 2013; Ph.D., 2017

Foad Hamidi
M.Sc., York University (Canada), 2007; Ph.D., 2016

Fei Han
B.S., China University of Geosciences (China), 2000; M.S., Huaqiao University (China), 2006; M.S., Louisiana Tech University, 2012; M.S., University of Maryland, Global Campus, 2023; Ph.D., Louisiana Tech University, 2014

Yasmine Kotturi
B.S., University of California, San Diego, 2014; M.S., Carnegie Mellon University, 2020; Ph.D., 2022

Kaur Kullman
B.A., University of Tartu (Estonia), 2007; M.A., 2012; Ph.D., Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), 2023

Tera Reynolds
B.A., Lawrence University, 2007; M.P.H., Boston University, 2011; M.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2016; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2021

Alexey Sukhinin
B.S., Taurida National University (Ukraine), 2002; Ph.D., University of New Mexico, 2011

Lei Zhang
B.S., Zhejiang University (China), 2004; M.S., The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR), 2008; Ph.D., McMaster University (Canada), 2015

Sebastian Deffner
M.S., University of Augsburg (Germany), 2008; D.S., 2011

Edward Dillon
B.A., University of Mississippi, 2007; M.S., University of Alabama, 2009; Ph.D., 2012

Christina Hedges
M.Sci., Uiversity of Birmingham, 2013; Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 2017

Maricel Kann
B.S., Universidad de la República (Uruguay), 1991; M.S., 1994; Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2001

Rozalina McCoy
B.A., Harvard University, 2004; M.D., John Hopkins University, 2009; M.S., Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, 2015

Patricia Ordonez
B.A., John Hopkins University, 2019; M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2010; Ph.D., 2012

Shimei Pan
B.Sc., Tsinghua University (China),1991; M.Phil., Columbia University, 1998; Ph.D., 2002

Aryya Gangopadhyay
B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology (India), 1984; M.B.A., Rutgers University, 1991; M.S., New Jersey Institute of Technology, 1992; Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1993

Vandana Janeja
Diploma, National Institute of Information Technology (India), 1997; B.S., Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (India), 1997; M.S., 1999; M.S., New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2001; M.B.A., Rutgers University, 2007; Ph.D., 2007

Karuna Joshi
B.Eng., University of Bombay (India), 1993; M.S., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1999; Ph.D., 2012

Carolyn Seaman
B.A., College of Wooster, 1986; M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1987; Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 1996

Jianwu Wang
B.A., Tianjin University (China), 2001; Ph.D., Chinese Academy of Scineces (China), 2007; Post-doc, Polytechnic University of Turin, 2008; Post-doc, University of California, San Diego

Professor of the Practice

Abhijit Dutt
B.Sc., St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata (India), 1980; M.Sc., University of Calcutta (India), 1983; M.S., University of Tulsa, 1992; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013

Prasanna Joeg
B. Tech, Indian Institute of Technology, 1982; M.S., 1984; Ph.D., Indiana University, 1989

Taylor Kidd
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

E.F. Charles LaBerge
B.E.S, Johns Hopkins University, 1974; M.S.E., 1975; Ph.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2003

Maya Larson
Ph.D., George Washington University, 2013

Christopher Marron
B.S., Mary Washington College, 1987; M.S., University of Virginia, 1990; Ph.D., 1994

Ram Rustagi
M.Tech., Indian Institute of Science (India), 1981; Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology (India), 1998

Professor Emeritus

Ray Chen
B.S., National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan), 1969; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1976

Timothy Finin
S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1971; Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1980

Joel Morris
B.S., Howard University, 1966; M.S., Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, 1970; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1975

Yun Peng
B.S., Harbin Engineering Institute (China), 1970; M.S., Wayne State University, 1981; Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 1985

John Pinkston
B.S.E., Princeton University, 1964; M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1966; Ph.D.,1967

Senior Lecturer Emeritus

Susan Mitchell
B.A., University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1979; M.S., 2009; Ph.D., 2012; M.S., Johns Hopkins University, 1983

 

The Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering offers two programs of undergraduate study: one leading to a Computer Science, B.S. , and the other leading to a Computer Engineering, B.S.  Both programs provide a balanced, practical, and theoretical approach to the study of software and hardware that includes the latest advances in these two areas.

These programs emphasize the development of problem-solving skills applied to the analysis and design of real-world problems. Students in these programs are also given a broad background in the fundamentals of mathematics and the physical sciences. Because of the similarities of the two programs, students cannot double major in computer science and computer engineering, nor can they major in computer engineering and minor in computer science.

The two programs differ in emphasis. Computer engineering focuses upon problems that arise from hardware and hardware development, whereas computer science concentrates on issues in computer applications and software development. Students are encouraged to develop hybrid programs of study that combine computer science/computer engineering with other disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, economics, geography, management science, mathematics, physics, or visual arts.

Graduates of the computer science program are well prepared for advanced studies and for problem-solving across the breadth of the discipline—the theory, design, development, and applications of computers and computer systems. Major areas within the computer science program include programming languages, algorithms, operating systems, computer architecture, database systems, artificial intelligence, graphics, and the theory of computation. The program is designed to provide students with a firm grounding in the basics in each of these areas and deeper understanding in several of them.

Computer science is a rich and diverse discipline. Areas of interest to computer scientists range from theoretical studies to software engineering (performance analysis, human factors, software development tools) to the very practical development of software for business and industry.

Computer scientists find that their skills have wide applicability in academic and industrial settings.

Computer engineering is a field that combines training in classical electrical engineering disciplines with in-depth preparation in computer science topics. The result is a trained problem solver who understands both the hardware and software aspects of computers and who can design and implement solutions on both sides of the hardware/software interface. Computer engineers are employed across the wide range of growing industries associated with communications, control, and signal processing and microelectronic fabrication: from the “smart grid” to “software defined radios”; from intelligent vehicle systems to information security for national and commercial customers; from telecommunications to medical instrumentation; from consumer electronics to space-based systems; from microprocessors to supercomputers to MP3 players; from the design of integrated circuits to development of computer-vision capabilities. A significant portion of graduates pursue advanced study, primarily in computer engineering, electrical engineering or computer science.

The department has close ties with nearby centers of research and development, such as NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Defense, the Center for Computing Sciences, Northrop Grumman, and Verizon.

Career and Academic Paths

Graduates of the computer science and computer engineering programs at UMBC find employment in government, industry, and business. They are well prepared for careers in software and hardware development. Graduates have been admitted to some of the top graduate programs in the nation. Others have found jobs with such employers as the Department of Defense, IBM, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Verizon, and many local industries, including numerous exciting startup companies. The department’s M.S. and Ph.D. programs in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering provide advanced training in their respective areas. Each of these programs provides students with additional marketable skills for career opportunities in business, industry, government agencies, and academic environments. Outstanding undergraduate students are encouraged to enroll in graduate-level courses. The department also offers a combined B.S./M.S. program for talented students.

Academic Advising

Students majoring in computer science are advised by Undergraduate Student Services in the College of Engineering and Information Technology until they are eligible to register for CMSC 341 . Once a student registers for CMSC 341 , they will be assigned an individual faculty advisor. Students majoring in computer engineering are assigned individual faculty advisors after they pass the gateway.

Evening Option

Evening sections of many computer science courses are offered. Many of the requirements for the computer science major can be fulfilled by attending evening courses. However, some required courses for the computer engineering major are offered only in daytime sections.

Special Opportunities

Students may elect to participate in internship or co-op programs during their undergraduate studies. For several reasons, the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering recommends that every student seriously consider at least one tour of professional practice during their undergraduate program. The experience may clarify and help determine succeeding semester course choices. Those who co-op may earn enough money to pay tuition expenses for a subsequent semester. Additionally, a co-op experience can be used to earn up to three credits of upper-level academic elective credit. Finally, both internships and co-op tours arm the new college graduate with what most employers are looking for: experience. Co-op positions that extend beyond a single semester are normally full-time, paid experiences. Internships are part-time, professional, on-the-job positions that are completed within a semester. Eligibility is based upon the completion of 30 credits, 15 of which must be from a full-time semester on a University System of Maryland campus. The student must have at least a 2.5 GPA. Interested students should contact UMBC’s Shriver Center.

Student Organizations

Student Councils

Two student-led councils of majors provide students the opportunity to meet and work with fellow computer science and computer engineering students on various projects.

Programs

    MajorMinor

    Courses

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