Graduate Catalog 2024-2025

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Department website: https://www.wku.edu/seas/

Mark Cambron, Interim Co-Director
Guangming Xing, Interim Co-Director
COHH 2114
270-745-3251
seas@wku.edu

The focus of the new WKU School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is to educate students to be leaders in a changing technical landscape, to provide solutions to the problems facing the modern high tech society, and to provide a workforce to support the technological complexity of industry.  

In order to provide students with the necessary skills, the programs in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are project-based which means that students have opportunities to engage in project activities throughout the curricula to support design, development, implementation, and troubleshooting.

Faculty

Professor

Shahnaz Aly MARCH (Architecture), Texas A & M University, 1999

Gregory K. Arbuckle PhD (Technology Management (Quality Systems)), Indiana State University, 2004

Farhad Ashrafzadeh PhD (Electrical and Computer Engineering), The University of Calgary, 1997

Mustafa Atici PhD (Computer Science), University of Nebraska, 1996

Mark E. Cambron PhD (Electrical Engineering), Vanderbilt University, 2001

Warren Campbell PhD (Civil Engineering), Colorado State University, 1984

Anthony M. Doggett PhD (Education and Human Resource Studies), Colorado State University, 2003

Hanna A. Khouryieh PhD (Food Science), Kansas State University, 2006

Qi Li PhD (Computer Science), University of Delaware, 2006

Shane M. Palmquist PhD (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Tufts University, 2003

Huanjing Wang PhD (Computer Science), The University of Alabama, 2005

Zhonghang Xia PhD (Computer Science), University of Texas at Dallas, 2004

Guangming Xing PhD (Computer Science), University of Georgia, 2001

Associate Professor

Jeffrey M. Galloway PhD (Computer Science), The University of Alabama, 2013

Kirolos M. Haleem Mesiha PhD (Civil Engineering), University of Central Florida, 2009

Osama E. Mansour PhD (Environmental Design), The University of Calgary, 2015

Yaser A. Mowafi PhD (Information Systems), University of Maryland Baltimore Co, 2009

Morteza Nurcheshmeh PhD (Mechanical Engineering), University of Windsor, 2011

Rong Yang PhD (Computer Science and Engineering), University of Louisville, 2007

Instructor I

Brian M. Janes MS (Management of Technology), Murray State University, 2003

Engineering Management Courses

EGMT 510    Emerging Technologies    3 Hours

Discovery of powerfully disruptive technologies, evaluating them accurately and implementing change for profitability.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; summer 2024

EGMT 520    Resource Management    3 Hours

A comprehensive study of efficient allocation of materials and money. Includes a review of basic decision-making techniques, cost-benefit ratio analysis, depreciation, salvage value of equipment, and time value of money.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; fall 2023

EGMT 530    Automated Data Collection Systems    3 Hours

Information systems for industry; collecting and analyzing real time data to make production decisions regarding profitability and quality.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

EGMT 535    Workforce Development    3 Hours

Strategies for developing educational opportunities for personnel in industry and appropriate appraisal techniques for program improvement. Includes those topics crucial to developing the nation's workforce, including sociological foundations of workforce education, career development theory, needs assessment, developing objectives, performance assessment and private sector providers of workforce education programs.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

EGMT 540    Theory of Constraints    3 Hours

Concepts of theory of constraints (TOC) pertaining to drum-buffer-rope, operations analysis, cost management, decision making and related areas. TOC management strategies and thinking processes applied to business problems.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2023; spring 2024

EGMT 571    Research Methods in Technology Management    3 Hours

A comprehensive study of research methods and experimental design applicable to industrial and technical operations. This course includes a review of basic statistics, quality control techniques, and quality assurance.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; fall 2023; fall 2024

EGMT 580    Six Sigma Quality    3 Hours

Management and application of six sigma methodologies including the DMAIC process and data-driven decision making. Advanced quality concepts and statistical process control.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2023; spring 2024

EGMT 588    Product Development    3 Hours

Basic elements of marketing, design, and prototyping for innovation. Study of the multidisciplinary interrelationships involved in the development of commercial products.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: winter 2023

EGMT 590    Operations Leadership    3 Hours

Provides technical professionals with leadership and management skills needed to be effective throughout their career.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; fall 2024

EGMT 594    Lean Systems    3 Hours

Analysis of lean concepts and process improvement in business value streams, production, and distribution. Pull systems, flow control, inventory reduction, waste elimination, and value creation.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; fall 2023; fall 2024

EGMT 599    Thesis Research and Writing    1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

Thesis research and writing directed by faculty committee.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2022; spring 2023; spring 2024

EGMT 600    Maintaining Matriculation    1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

Continued enrollment for thesis completion.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; summer 2022; fall 2022; summer 2023; fall 2023; spring 2024; fall 2024

EGMT 630    Legal and Ethical Issues in Technology    3 Hours

A study of ethics and social responsibility, international and contemporary legal issues in business and industry, and e-commerce.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: summer 2022; summer 2023

EGMT 650    Supply Chain Management    3 Hours

An integrated and comprehensive treatment of operations and supply chain issues. Students study how firms link with their supply chain partners to gain a market advantage and competitiveness.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023; fall 2024

EGMT 655    Project Management    3 Hours

Concepts of project management as applicable to a wide range of business and technical situations. Focus on behavioral organizational aspects, quantitative methods, and automated tools.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2024

EGMT 671    Quality Management    3 Hours

An examination of philosophies, concepts, tools and techniques used in continuous quality improvement programs.

Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Engineering Management (0447) or Lean Sigma (0452)

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2023

EGMT 690    Graduate Project    1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

An applied research project, using standard procedures of problem identification, possible solutions, and a final report. Can be either field or laboratory based and must be approved by a graduate faculty committee.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023; spring 2024

Computer Science Courses

CS 405G    Numerical Analysis I    3 Hours

Computer arithmetic, roots of equations, polynomial approximation and interpolation, numerical differentiation and integration. Computer solutions of problems will be required.

Prerequisite(s): (MATH 307 or MATH 310 or MATH 237) and (CS 180 or CS 146) or permission of instructor

Equivalent(s): MATH 405G

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; fall 2024

CS 443G    Database Management Systems    3 Hours

Organization and management of large data files, various database paradigms, database design theory, query optimization, physical database design, database security, distributed databases. Note: Credit will not be given for CS 443 or CS 443G once credit has been received for CS 543.

Prerequisite(s): CS 360 or permission of instructor

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; fall 2023; fall 2024

CS 445G    Operating Systems II    3 Hours

Advanced study of modern operating system theory and practice. Topics include distributed system structures and coordination, distributed file systems, and protection and security.

Prerequisite(s): CS 425

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2023; spring 2024

CS 446G    Interactive Computer Graphics    3 Hours

Elementary topics in interactive computer graphics. Includes both input and display devices and techniques for 2-D and 3-D transformations, as well as difficulties encountered in these areas. Computing assignments will emphasize interaction, data structures, and applications to various disciplines.

Prerequisite(s): MATH 307

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 450G    Computer Networks    3 Hours

An advanced study of the design and implementation of computer networks. Topics include network topologies, switching techniques, routing, end-to-end protocols, quality of service, and other advanced topics, e.g. wireless networks and multimedia networks. Note: Credit will not be given for CS 450 or CS 450G once credit has been received for CS 550.

Prerequisite(s): CS 425 or permission of instructor

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 456G    Artificial Intelligence    3 Hours

Problems having no plausible algorithmic solution, their computer representations and solutions which usually involve heuristics.

Prerequisite(s): CS 360

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2023

CS 475G    Topics/Computer Science    1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

Significant problems and developments in computer science. Note: Permission of instructor required.

Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 500    Research Methods and Projects    3 Hours

A graduate level overview of problem-solving techniques and skills for computer-based systems including solution design and implementation. Topics include a team project to develop practical skills in documentation, communication, and module interfacing. The course may be used only in fulfilling the research tool requirement and may not be used toward an undergraduate degree in computer science.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2023

CS 530    Automata Theory and Compiler Construction    3 Hours

The basic theoretical concepts of the computer viewed as an automaton. Automated tools for scanning and parsing will be studied to show how regular expressions and BNF languages are used in compiler construction and other computer applications.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2023

CS 535    Cloud Computing    3 Hours

This course will provide insight on the current trends of local and public cloud computing systems. Three distinct design layers will be covered: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Topics include, but are not limited to, cloud computing architectures, virtual resource management, green clouds, data management, and user interface.

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2024

CS 541    Theory of Computation    3 Hours

An advanced study of the theory of computing, including languages, finite automata, grammars, Turing machines, complexity and computability.

Prerequisite(s): CS 530

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 543    Advanced Database Systems    3 Hours

An advanced study of data and information management. Topics include database application development, XML data management, data storage and indexing, transaction management, parallel and distributed databases, data warehousing and decision support.

Prerequisite(s): CS 443 or equivalent

Recent Term(s) Offered: summer 2023; fall 2024

CS 544    Compiler Theory/Design    3 Hours

Formal properties of programming languages and the techniques used to construct compilers for these languages. Topics include lexical analysis, syntax analysis, symbol table construction, semantic analysis, code generation, and optimization. Students will complete a programming project.

Prerequisite(s): CS 500 and CS 530

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 545    Systems Programming    3 Hours

A study of the system call interface of operating systems. Topics include low level file I/O, signal handling, interprocess communication, distributed communication, and process management. Students will write several systems level programs. The student develops a small operating system.

Prerequisite(s): CS 445

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 549    Analysis of Algorithms    3 Hours

Methods (algorithms) for solving a variety of problems on computers and the relative efficiency of these algorithms.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023; fall 2024

CS 555    Data Science    3 Hours

An introduction to concepts and methods in the emerging field of data science. Agorithms and tools to support problem-focused data-analytic thinking.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2023; spring 2024

CS 560    Software Engineering and Project Management    3 Hours

Survey of modern software development techniques, including traditional and agile approaches. Topics include requirement definition, process modeling, design methods, human factor issues, and an introduction to software project management. Student will be required to model a project using Unified Modeling Language.

Prerequisite(s): CS 360

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; spring 2024

CS 562    Parallel and Distributed Computing    3 Hours

An introduction to parallel and distributed computing. The development, implementation, and analysis of parallel algorithms will be studied.

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2023

CS 565    Data Mining Techniques and Tools    3 Hours

The theory and application of data mining, roots of data mining, preprocessing techniques for raw data, classification algorithms and techniques, clustering algorithms and techniques, association rule mining algorithms and techniques.

Prerequisite(s): CS 443G or equivalent

Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022

CS 568    Computer Vision    3 Hours

A study of the techniques and applications of computer vision. Topics include pattern recognition, filtering, texture, segmentation, recognition, 3D vision and case studies. Important algorithms will be implemented by students.

Prerequisite(s): CS 500

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023

CS 570    Security in Computing    3 Hours

Essential techniques in cryptography and computer security. Privacy issues in a broad range of computing contexts. Topics include program security, trusted operating systems, database/data mining security, and network security.

Prerequisite(s): CS 445G or CS 450G or equivalent

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2024

CS 595    Advanced Topics/Computer Science    1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

Significant problems and current developments in computer science. Note: 9 hours of CS required.

Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor

Recent Term(s) Offered: None

CS 599    Thesis Research/Writing    1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

Thesis research and writing directed by faculty committee.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2022; summer 2024; fall 2024

CS 600    Maintain Matriculation    1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)

Continued enrollment for thesis completion.

Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2022; spring 2023; summer 2023; fall 2023; fall 2024