Engineering Science (Cybersecurity) MS

The Engineering Science MS with a course focus in Cybersecurity is an interdisciplinary program jointly offered by the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Management. It is intended for graduates and IT professionals who want to upskill their cybersecurity knowledge and background, or for those seeking positions as cybersecurity analysts, cybersecurity engineers, cybersecurity administrators, or cybersecurity consultants in industry or local and federal government.

The program is designed to cover the foundational concepts of cybersecurity, teach cybersecurity principles, and provide hands-on experience applying security solutions and tools to protect cyber infrastructures in areas such as health care, manufacturing, and transportation systems.

This program is composed of core, focus area, and elective courses that characterize and underscore the educational and research goals of the Center of Academic Excellence in Information Systems Assurance Research and Education (CEISARE), which is concerned with cybersecurity workforce development in government, industry, and academia. The program also prepares students for various industry certifications.

Amazon, Booz Allen Hamilton, Boeing, Cisco, Citigroup, Dell, Deloitte, General Dynamics, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, Northrup Grumman, and Wells Fargo are just a subset of companies that are aggressively seeking employees trained in cybersecurity. In fact, demand in this job market is expected to grow 28% over the next ten years.

This program is distinct from UB's Computer Science and Engineering MS or Management Information Systems MS programs, which attract students primarily with computer science and business administration degrees, respectively.

We seek to admit students with backgrounds or related coursework in electrical, mechanical, information technology or any associated engineering field, information systems, or mathematics. This program is also open to students with an undergraduate minor in computer science or computer security.

Our flexible curriculum enables students to focus on the core competencies that align with their own personal training goals in order to prepare them for careers in the field of information security and computer security.

The program is 10 courses for a total of 30 credits and culminates with an integrated project experience either through an independent study, internship or as part of an experience-based course. It is designed to be completed in three semesters but can be completed in one calendar year, subject to the availability of courses in the appropriate semesters and completing the final culminating experience requirement in the summer.  

While the core courses provide a consistent body of core knowledge, the focus area courses provide breadth, and the electives (with a major term project) provide depth and hands-on experience. 

Take five courses to earn 15 credits:

• CSE 503 – Computer Science for Non-Majors (3 credits)
• CDA 535  Introduction to Cryptography 
• MGS 650 – Information Assurance (3 credits)
  
• CDA 551/MGS 639 – Cybersecurity and Privacy (3 credits)
  
• CSE 569 – Network Security (3 credits)
  

Choose three courses to earn 9 credits:

• CSE 518 – Software Security (3 credits)
  
• EAS 595 – Systems Security (3 credits)
  
• CSE 5XX – AI/ML and Security* (3 credits)
  
• MGS 610 – Digital Forensics (3 credits)
  

Choose two 3-credit electives, one of which must include a major project as indicated in the notes below to earn 6 credits.

• CSE 510 – Hardware Trust and Security^§ (3 credits)
• CSE 526 – Blockchain Application Development^§ (3 credits)
• CSE 529 – Algorithms for Modern Computing Systems (3 credits)
• CSE 535 – Information Retrieval^§ (3 credits)
• CDA 502/MGS 613 – Database Management Systems (3 credits)
  
• MGS 638 – Cybersecurity Analytics^§ ** (3 credits)
• MGS 637 – Cloud Computing Security Concepts^§ ** (3 credits)
• EAS 599 – Cybersecurity Project^§ ** (3 credits)

* Indicates a new course and/or course under development. 

** The culminating experience requirement can be completed as a part of a pre-approved experience-based elective course or through a pre-approved internship or industry certification audit and review, or as supervised work with a faculty member.

^§ Qualifies as an experience-based elective with a significant project.

• Undergrad applicants must be juniors (senior in their BS/MS program), graduate students must be in their first year of MS program
• Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• Must be able to obtain security clearance and be eligible for federal employment
• If not a UB student, must be eligible for admission to the MS/MBA program at UB in the Engineering, Business, Law, Math, Communication disciplines