African and African-American Studies Program

We encourage Dartmouth undergraduates to consider staying on for a Computer Science M.S. degree with a concentration in Digital Arts.
Objective and Overview: A 4+1 program to provide Dartmouth undergraduate students an opportunity to acquire a broader and deeper education in Digital Arts through a combination of coursework and independent research under the direction of one of the program faculty. With integration of the courses and a substantial effort in the independent research carried out during the senior year, the M.S. can be obtained in one year directly after completing the A.B. at Dartmouth.

Prerequisite Courses: Students wishing to enter the program must demonstrate proficiency in each of the following areas: Computer Science and Digital Arts. Such proficiency will normally be demonstrated by completing the following Dartmouth College courses with at least a B grade prior to entering the Master’s Program: COSC 1 (Introduction to Programming and Computation), COSC 10 (Problem Solving via Object-Oriented Programming), COSC 22 (3D Digital Modeling), COSC 24 (Computer Animation: The State of the Art), COSC 27 (Projects in Digital Arts).  These five courses are the three that comprise the core of the Digital Arts Minor plus COSC 1 and COSC 10.

An interim evaluation will be made after each term and continuation within the Master’s Program will be recommended for those students whose work demonstrates the capacity for satisfactory independent research.

Specific Requirements for the Master’s in Computer Science with a Concentration in Digital Arts are as follows:

1. Course Distribution Requirements: This is a four-term program (fall, winter, spring, summer). In addition to the prerequisite courses described above, each student must pass with a grade of P or better six courses in the following distribution:
   • Two of the courses must be COSC 165 (Smartphone Programming), COSC 177 (Computer Graphics), or COSC 50 (Software Design and Implementation).
   • At least two of the following: COSC 183 (Computer Vision), COSC 31 (Algorithms), COSC 61 (Database Systems), COSC 76 (Artificial Intelligence), COSC 81 (Principles of Robot Design and Programming), COSC 170 (Numerical and Computational Tools for Applied Science), COSC 30 (Discrete Mathematics in Computer Science), or COSC 189 (Topics in Applied Computer Science).
   • At least one of the following: COSC 129 (Topics in Digital Arts), COSC 56 (Digital Electronics), ENGS 21 (Introduction to Engineering), COSC 73 (Computational Linguistics), MUS 102 (Music, Information and Neuroscience), or MUS 103 (Sound Analysis, Synthesis, and Digital Signal Processing).
   • Courses not listed may be approved by the program advisor as substitutes for courses above.

   It is expected that the six courses be completed as early in the program as possible, with at least two courses per term.

2. Students must complete six research credits by passing a combination of COSC 297, COSC 298, and COSC 299 (Graduate Research, Thesis Research, Full-Time Thesis Research).
3. Thesis Requirement: Each student must complete a research project based on independent, original research.  Students can work in a team as long as their work is easily identified and with the permission of the graduate advisor.  The research project will result in a written thesis.  The research/thesis must be approved by the graduate advisor and successfully defended in an oral presentation, according to the following guidelines:
   1. The student must prepare a thesis acceptable to a faculty committee and give a public defense of this thesis.
   2. The research/thesis should be of sufficient quality to merit publication or exhibition (with suitable revision) in a refereed venue. Projects will be suitable for distribution, use and/or exhibition.
   3. The committee shall be formed for the purpose of guiding the student’s research. The chair of this committee, who is the student’s primary research advisor, must be a tenure-track or research-track faculty member in the Computer Science department. In addition to the chair, the committee must include at least one other tenure-track or research-track Computer Science faculty member. The committee must comprise at least three members, one of whom may be from outside the Computer Science department or outside Dartmouth, though an outside member is not required. This committee must be approved by the departmental advisor to M.S. students and by the Dean of Graduate Studies.
   4. All members of the committee shall read and sign the thesis in its final form. We expect that the thesis, including a copy of the signature page, shall be published as a departmental Technical Report.

A complete application includes the following: i. A current transcript; ii. Three letters of recommendation; iii. The name of the research advisor and a brief description of the area of interest for a research project.  A fuller description of the research project is due by the end of the second term of the M.S. degree program.

Students are encouraged to contact the Program Director in the spring term of their junior year for advice on prerequisites, the program requirements, and application process, and they must apply for admission to the program no later than May 1 of their senior year. Having explored research opportunities with members of the faculty, the applicant is expected to reach an agreement on a specific project with one of the faculty. The program Admissions Committee will be responsible for reviewing applications and making offers of admission, to be completed by June 30.

Full scholarships are available to qualifying students.