The Volgenau School of Engineeringhttp://volgenau.gmu.edu is located in the Fairfax campus of George Mason University

George Mason University

George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...

 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Volgenau

Ernst Volgenau

Ernst Volgenau is the chairman and founder of SRA International.After serving in the United States Air Force, he managed 700 engineers for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission....

 School offers programs at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. levels. The school will move in the first semester of 2009 to a new 180000 sq ft (16,722.5 m²) building, which is a LEED

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....

 certified green building.

The Dean of the School is Dr. Lloyd Griffiths, its Senior Associate Dean is Dr. Daniel A. Menasce, and its Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies is Dr. Sharon Caraballo.

Research

The Volgenau School has an active research program that currently brings around $20 million a year in research expenditures. The school's faculty members published over 70 books and generated over 30 patents. Through the school's research and education in Information Assurance, Mason has been designated by the NSA

National Security Agency

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...

 and by the DHS as a Center of Excellence in Research in Information Security and Assurance and as a Center of Excellence in Education in Information Security and Assurance.http://www.nsa.gov/ia/academic_outreach/nat_cae/index.shtml

Nine of the school's junior faculty members received the prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

.

Undergraduate programs

The school offers the following undergraduate degree programs:

• Applied Computer Science,
• Bioengineering,
• Civil and Infrastructure Engineering,
• Computer Engineering,
• Computer Science,
• Electrical & Telecommunications Engineering,
• Information Technology,
• System Engineering and Operation Research.

Information Technology

The program is run by the Department of Applied Information Technology (AIT). The BS degree in Information Technology aims to meet the existing and emerging needs of the information technology industry by educating new IT workers in current principles and practices in information technology and its applications. With a strong focus on the application of IT in an increasing number of emerging sub-disciplines including web development, computer graphics, information systems, telecommunications, event-driven programming, network administration, and information security. There are currently five areas of Concentrations within the AIT Department: Information Security, Database Mining and Programming, Networking and Telecommunications, and Web Development and Multimedia.

Postgraduate programs

The Volgenau School offers 13 MS degree programs , close to thirty focused 15-credit certificates , and six post-master degree programs including five Ph.D. programs and an Engineer in IT degree program.

Master of Science

Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

Programs

The school offers the following MS degree programs:

• Applied Information Technology,
• Civil and Infrastructure Engineering,
• Computer Science,
• Computer Engineering,
• Computer Forensics,
• Electrical Engineering,
• Information Security & Assurance,
• Information Systems,
• Operations Research,
• Software Engineering,
• Statistical Science,
• Systems Engineering,
• Telecommunications.

Doctorate Programs

The five PhD programs and the Engineer in IT degree programs are briefly described below.

Ph.D. in Computer Science

This nationally ranked program is run by the Computer Science department and offers research opportunities in many different areas including Algorithms and Theory of Computation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Vision, Computer Science Education, Databases, Data Mining, Graphics and Image Processing, Information Systems, Languages, Parallel and Distributed Computing, Software Engineering, Security, and Systems and Networking.

Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering

This program is run by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The goal of the program is to prepare students to perform independent and original research in their areas of interest. There are currently five areas of active research in the ECE Department: communications and computer networks, computer engineering, control systems and robotics, signal processing, and microelectronics.

Ph.D. in Information Technology

This program is run by the office of the Senior Associate Dean. Students may conduct their doctoral research under the supervision of any eligible faculty member of any of the school's departments. A student may select to obtain this degree without a specific concentration or in one of the following concentrations: Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Information Security, Information Systems, and Software Engineering. Choosing a concentration may impose additional requirements and may reduce the program flexibility.

Ph.D. in Statistical Science

This program is run by the Department of Statistics. Research areas of key departmental faculty in the program include statistical signal processing, biostatistics, statistical genetics, statistical graphics, and data exploration. The Department has had a history of producing top quality Ph.D. students from the former Information Technology program; many of them are employed in academia, the federal government, and technology firms. The terminal degree “Ph.D. in Statistical Science” represents the highest academic attainment for a statistician, and as such, requires in-depth knowledge of modern statistical theory and practice.

Ph.D. in Systems Engineering and Operations Research

This newly approved program is offered by the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research. The PhD in SEOR curriculum offers a unique integration of systems engineering and operations research. This integration affords students a strong analytical and computational capability on the one hand and an overarching systems perspective that is well-grounded in application of the other.

Engineer degree in information technology

This program is run by the office of the Senior Associate Dean. This is not a doctoral degree, but it allows students to combine advanced course work of the Ph.D. degree in Information Technology with an applied project. Students may conduct their project under the supervision of any eligible faculty member of any of the school's departments.

External links

• The Volgenau School of Engineering
• George Mason University