Plan of Study
Introduction of Academic Program
Applied Information Technology is a science that aims to provide strategies, solution and security of the system or network by using information technology. It is not only requires people to have ability to solve computer problems but also asks for many different skills such as design, development, management and optimization of mega-system. The MS in AIT provides various curricula including Cyber Security, Big Data Analytics, Knowledge Mining, Data Analytics in Social Media and Cyber-Human Interaction(https://catalog.gmu.edu/colleges-schools/engineering/information-sciences-technology/applied-information-technology-ms/#text). Because the diversification of Applied Information Technology, I chose it to be my graduated degree. I believe that studying in George Mason, professors and guest lecturers from different areas, abundant resources on campus and classmates from different countries would offer me a lot of help and opportunities to improve myself.
Academic Goals
The first academic goal of mine is to pass the matriculation from INTO Mason at the end of this semester and could get no less than B+ grade in my major classes after I become a full time graduate student. I am studying in the INTO George Mason University Pathway Program now. The requirement that I can officially enter Mason as a graduate student this fall is every course I take this semester must higher than B grade. I have four courses including two pathway classes and two major classes. It’s a little bit hard for me because as an international student, everything is totally different and I need to try my best to get used to the new life as soon as possible and ensure to complete the arduous tasks of study. I know that it will be more difficult to get B+ grade of all my major classes during my full time graduate academic life and it almost seems like impossible. In order to achieve this goal, the first step is that I need to finish all assignments seriously and participate the class actively due to these accounts for a large proportion of total grade. What’s more, I need to contact with professor and classmate as much often as I can and discuss with them about the questions I have because participation means make connection with the class not just show up. I also should spend time on practicing my writing and speaking skills which are crucial for my project reports and presentations. After my pathway, I should make good use of summer vacation to learn something about my major classes that I will study in the following semesters. In a word, I need to maintain my good study habits such as managing time efficiency and working hard to complete my first academic goals.
Moreover, I wish I could participate more group projects. There has not much opportunities for me to be a member of a big group project during pathway program. I think learn how to work with a team is very important for a graduate student. Because during the graduate academic life we can’t entirely rely on the knowledge from professor, self-study and collaboration are more important. I will engage myself in the group discussion actively and try my best to talk with different people who could inspire me no matter professors or classmates. I believe that could be an effective way for me to achieve my second academic goal.
At last, learning database management well is my third academic goal. AIT 524 is one of the major classes I have learned this semester which is talked about Fundamentals of Database Systems and I am interested in it particularly. Database has become a basic tool that could help people solve various data problems. I have learnt database before during my undergraduate study and obtained the relevant qualification certificate. I want to explore it more due to its extensive use and increasingly powerful features. Thus, I need to keep contact with professor Rykitova who taught the AIT 524 and make good use of the materials she provided for me. Additionally, I should also use spare time to do more exercises in order to complete my third academic goal.
Disciplinary Resources List
- Ramez Elmasri, Shamkant B. Navathe (2015). Fundamentals of Database Systems, 7th Edition, Pearson. This book introduces the essential concepts of database including designing, implementation, management and optimizing the database system. It emphasizes the relational database system, providing the fundamentals of database modeling and design, the languages and models provided by the database management systems, and database system implementation techniques.
- Joan Casteel (2016). Oracle 12c: SQL, 3rd Edition ©2016 Cengage Learning.The Oracle 12c: SQL introduces the way to interact with databases. SQL is a basic tool that could help people manage the database. This book focuses on the way to using SQL into database system including creating, updating, filtering and deleting data from the database system and it also provides a lot of exercises to readers that could make them familiar with SQL.
- Sedgewick, R., & Wayne, K. D. (2016). Algorithms (Fourth edition deluxe). Boston: Addison-Wesley. This book introduces the most essential algorithms which could help readers learn how to use algorithms to solve problems. In this deluxe edition, the author provided a new accessible modular programming style of Java implementations. It shows all the available code directly to the reader and makes the code usable.
- Stallings, W. (2018). Operating systems: internals and design principles (Ninth edition). New York, NY: Pearson. This book introduces the topic of operating system for readers in a comprehensive and detailed way. It stresses both design issues and fundamental principles in contemporary systems, while providing readers who studying computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering with a solid understanding of the key structures and mechanisms of operating systems.
- Tanenbaum, A. S., & Wetherall, D. (2011). Computer networks (5th ed). Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall. This book introduces the way the Internet works from inside to outside. It provides readers explanations of physical layer of networking, computer hardware and transmission systems. And then the author turns to network applications which includes email; the domain name system; the World Wide Web (both client- and server-side); and multimedia (including voice over IP, Internet radio video on demand, video conferencing, and streaming media.
- Tecuci, G., Schum, D. A., Marcu, D., & Boicu, M. (2016). Intelligence analysis as discovery of evidence, hypotheses, and arguments: connecting the dots. New York NY: Cambridge University. The author introduces an intelligent analytical tool for readers which called Disciple-CD. This book provides a way for readers to practice with Disciple-CD and learn how to formulate hypotheses; develop arguments that reduce complex hypotheses to simpler ones; collect evidence to evaluate the simplest hypotheses; and assess the relevance and the believability of evidence, which combine in complex ways to determine its inferential force and the probabilities of the hypotheses.
- Kim, G. J. (2015). Human-computer interaction: fundamentals and practice. Boca Raton: CRC Press. This book covers the forming of HCI requirements, modeling the interaction process, designing the interface, implementing the resulting design, and evaluating the implemented product. It provides readers with a firm foundation in the main HCI principles and a working knowledge of HCI-oriented software development.
Course Plan
| 2018 Spring | 2018 Fall | 2019 Spring | 2019 Fall |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAP 508 | AIT 542 | AIT 582 | AIT 716 |
| INYO 504 | AIT 664 | AIT 677 | AIT 711 |
| AIT 512 | AIT 614 | AIT 624 | AIT 724 |
| AIT 524 | |||
| 13 credits | 9 credits | 9 credits | 9 credits |
Please pick option of show 25 entries and you can see complete…
| Prefix | Number | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIT | 512 | Algorithms and Data Structures Essentials | 3 |
| AIT | 524 | Database Management Systems | 3 |
| AIT | 542 | Fundamentals of Computing Platforms | 3 |
| AIT | 664 | Information: Representation, Processing and Visualization | 3 |
| AIT | 614 | Big Data Essentials | 3 |
| AIT | 582 | Application of Metadata in Complex Big Data Problem | 3 |
| AIT | 677 | Intelligence Analysis Methods | 3 |
| AIT | 624 | Knowledge Mining from Big Data | 3 |
| AIT | 716 | Human Computer Interaction | 3 |
| AIT | 711 | Rapid Development of Scalable Applications | 3 |
| AIT | 724 | Data Analysis in Social Media | 3 |
| Total: 30 credits |