Information Technology (IT)

This introduction to the field of information technology is designed to prepare students for a successful career, with an emphasis on developing skills with computers, hardware and software, problem-solving, troubleshooting, studying, and time management. The course also compares information technology with related fields such as computer science, computer engineering and information systems. Topics include networking, databases, computing systems and platforms, cybersecurity, web and mobile systems, and application programming.

This course covers applied data structures, introductory algorithm analysis and advanced programming techniques in the Python programming language. Topics include dictionaries, objects, sets, multisets, stacks, queues and priority queues, as well as their applications in the information technology discipline.

This course introduces discrete mathematical concepts and their applications within the IT discipline. The structures studied may include functions, relations, sets, logic, matrices, elementary number theory, basics of counting, graph theory, discrete probability and digital logic. Students will explore the fundamental principles, theorems and techniques related to these structures and apply them to practical applications in the field of IT.

This course teaches computer security principles and incident prevention and management. It covers the information assurance dimensions of availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality and non-repudiations to ensure secure transmission, storage and processing of information.

This course introduces students to digital systems, logic design and the underlying hardware of computer systems. Topics include number systems and binary representations, digital logic gates, various combinational logic blocks, and sequential circuits as well as an introduction to programmable logic devices and basic computer architecture. Design and analysis of circuits will be covered in theory as well as practiced in the laboratory using appropriate industry tools and equipment.

This course introduces students to telecommunications and computer networking concepts. Students learn interactively and collaboratively how networked applications and services are implemented and secured using wireless and wired networks, network services, and protocols. Topics include command-line administration, virtualization, packet analysis, physical/network/transport addresses, the internet, network services and network applications. Students will perform hands-on exercises integrating and troubleshooting networked applications, network techniques, methods and services.

This course provides an introduction to database administration focused on securing and maintaining modern database systems in various hosting environments. Through hands-on exercises, students gain knowledge of database deployment and administration, including backup and recovery.

This course will cover new topics in Information Technology that are of interest to students but not otherwise covered in the curriculum. May be repeated for credit when the course content changes. This course differs from IT 480 in that it is intended for first year, sophomore and junior level students.

This course provides an introduction to web technologies including languages, the client-server architecture, networking, database concepts and web services. Students learn how to develop web applications that are dynamic, secure and usable.

This course is a survey of professional, societal and ethical issues in information technology. Topics include professional responsibilities, privacy, intellectual property, risk identification and evaluation, IT governance, economic and availability factors of IT work, and environmental issues. Students develop skills in assuming and defending positions on societal and ethical issues through oral presentations and written reports.

This course introduces students to configuring, deploying and administering computer operating systems. Topics include system configuration, file systems, security, administration, network interfacing, multitasking, multiuser systems, device driver installation and analysis of operating system performance. Students will perform hands-on exercises administering an operating system.

Students will apply information technology to projects from community partners, including education, government, business and industry. Students will use the skills they have developed to address real-world problems requiring technology solutions. Students will be divided into teams and each team will be responsible for one part of the semester-long project.

This course presents a practical study of the underlying principles of networking and how these principles are deployed to provide efficient and secure networks for providing voice, data, video and mobility applications. Through hands-on exercises, students gain knowledge of network components, network protocols, network interfaces, network architectures/technologies, network facilities (wired and wireless), network services, network analysis and troubleshooting, network management and policies, network security, and networked applications.

This course provides students an introduction to computer crime, relevant laws, agencies and standards. Topics include auditing, logging, forensics and related software, as well as legal principles such as chain of evidence, electronic document discovery, eavesdropping and entrapment. Students will perform hands-on exercises with forensics tools.

This course provides an overview of data science and machine learning for the Information Technology field. Students will learn how to extract data from sensing devices and use machine learning techniques for data analysis. Students will also learn about skills and tools available for data science.

This course is a project-based introduction to fundamental principles of application development for the mobile device environment, emphasizing design and programming paradigms that stem from the use of mobile devices. Topics include user interfaces, event-based programming, inter-process communications, networking, mobile-specific capabilities and performance in a resource-restricted environment. Students will perform hands-on exercises to develop and deploy a mobile application.

This course will introduce students to the management of web servers. Topics include administration activities and domains for computing systems, including configuration, deployment, performance analysis, backup and recovery. Students will perform hands-on exercises administering a web server.

This course examines design and evaluation of effective user interfaces of a computing system, beginning with principles for designing an IT product for user interaction separate from interactive software development. The development process includes iterative life cycle management, systems analysis, design, usability specifications, design representation techniques, prototyping, formative user-based evaluation and connectivity with other IT designs. The course emphasizes an integrative and cross-disciplinary approach with a primary emphasis on usability methods and the user interaction development process.

This course provides an introductory examination of data visualization through lectures, applied learning activities, readings and hands-on experience with current visualization tools. It also introduces a theoretical framework that covers different types of data, including temporal, geospatial, topical and network data, and their analysis and visualization. Students will improve their data and information literacy, strengthen data visualization skills and build analytic abilities relevant to visualization problems. They will also gain an overview of various data types and examine visualizations and workflows that aim to answer "when" (temporal data), "where" (geospatial data), "what" (topical data) and "with whom" (trees and networks) questions. The course is intended for students with little or no prior background in data visualization and is targeted to those interested in using visualization in their own work and future academic studies.

Students participate in an internship related to information technology outside of the university.

This course presents techniques in cryptography with analysis of its historical and societal consequences and an emphasis on meeting the needs of the information technology field. Topics include elementary combinatorics and number theory such as modular arithmetic and prime numbers, classical ciphers and accompanying attacks, and rotary machines as well as modern encryption schemes including public channel cryptography, secret-key ciphers, hash functions, side-channel attacks and post-quantum cryptography.

This course provides an introduction to the network architectures of cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT). Topics include software and hardware components including sensors and detectors for cloud and IoT computing as well as their applications. Students will perform hands-on exercises using IoT applications.

This is the first course in a two-course sequence. Students will work in groups to propose an IT-based solution to address a problem or need in the community.

In this second course in a two-course sequence, students will work in groups to implement and integrate their design, manage the project as a team, and prepare an oral and written report on the work.

This course focuses on the underlying principles of cybersecurity as applied to information and infrastructure network systems and services. Emphasis is placed on gaining hands-on knowledge in network access control, user authentication and authorization, intrusion and prevention systems, and network boundary protection. The course provides a hands-on introduction to the principles of cybersecurity penetration testing.

This course will introduce students to technologies and protocols typically used for interconnection of networks. Interconnections of networks deals with routing and establishing an end-to-end information transfer path among end nodes (clients and servers).

In this course, students will learn about the design and implementation of network-based applications, focusing on both the application layer and the transport layer of the TCP/IP protocol stack. Students will learn about the design and implementation of network-based applications using languages and architectures such as sockets, Java and Python. Students learn concepts in distributed processing, including synchronization of interprocess communication and management of replicated data. Students analyze performance issues related to distributed applications.

This course provides an introduction to wireless networking and wireless LAN security and forensics. Radio frequency fundamentals are introduced with emphasis on applications and services. Hands-on network configurations and analysis tools for wireless LAN are introduced and exercised with emphasis on network performance, security and forensic applications.

This course will cover topics in information technology that are of interest but not otherwise covered in the regular information technology offerings of the department. May be repeated for credit when course content changes.

This is an advanced course to give independent study experience under faculty supervision. May be taken multiple times for credit, but no more than three credits may count toward the Information Technology major requirements.

This is the third course in a three-course sequence including IT 444 and IT 445. Students are divided into several groups or work individually; each group solves an IT-related problem or builds an IT application that help to solve a certain problem in the IT community.