The program introduces students to current and best practices in the engineering of software systems. A distinguishing feature is its emphasis on the architecture, design, quality, management, and economics aspects of software engineering. Students take a project from start to completion, learning the requirements of specific deliverables and the development life cycle. Critical management issues, such as risk assessment, project planning, and market analysis, are also covered. The program exposes students to new technological developments in an advancing field and how to apply their knowledge in the workplace. Graduates meet the demands of industry and address the needs of information technology professionals, in general, and software
engineers, in particular.

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department recently commissioned a new state-of-theart Software Engineering instructional laboratory, fully equipped with hardware and software required to meet the needs of all courses in the curriculum. The department also maintains the Software Engineering Research Laboratory to support research. The lab is equipped with desktop computers and servers connected via a LAN. Students have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research in Software Engineering.

Two major computer facilities are used by the Department of Computer and Information Science to support teaching and research: a networked laboratory of basic and advanced personal computers; and clusters of UNIX workstations, including HP Itanium, Sun Sparc/Ultra, SGI Indy/O2, IBM RS/6000, and Dell Linux workstations. These machines are connected to Fast Ethernet, ATM, and/or FDDI LANs. All laboratories are available to students for both course work and research. The networks are connected to the University fiber backbone which, in turn, is linked to national networks.