Informatics

Informatics
Academic Bulletin

Area of Study: Interdisciplinary Studies
Programs: Major and Minor
Department: Department of Computer and Information Science
Major/Minor Exclusions:
A student majoring in Informatics may not double major or minor in Computer Science, Data Science or Software Engineering.
A student minoring in Data Science may not major in Computer Science, Data Science or Software Engineering.

Description
A program emphasizing critical and interdisciplinary approaches to information and technology. Students develop ethical and technical frameworks to address culturally relevant problems, enriching public understanding of the relationship between information and culture.

Careers

• Campaign Strategist
• Information Architect
• Digital Librarian
• Health Information Technologist
• Geospatial Analyst

Graduate Programs

• MIS (Management Information Systems)
• MPH (Master of Public Health)
• MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science)
• MS (Master of Science)

Cooperative Programs

Our students have the opportunity to participate in one of the cooperative opportunities, including Carnegie Mellon’s (CMU’s) Accelerated Master’s Program in Information Systems Management or in Information Security Policy & Management, one of the 3-2 engineering programs and Health Informatics program at Chatham, and 4-1 program in Business Data Analytics with CMU’s Tepper School of Business. Participation in such academic programs will likely require more careful planning of the student’s program of study at Allegheny College, and students should work with their academic advisor to carefully craft their academic plan. More information about these programs is available at https://www.cis.allegheny.edu/teaching/cmu/

Finding an Academic Advisor

Students can approach any CIS faculty member to serve as their academic advisor.

Laptop Use in CIS Courses
All students are expected to use their own laptops during class and lab sessions in CIS courses. This setup reflects real-world practice and supports flexible classroom use.

To ensure your laptop meets course requirements, please review the department’s approved laptop guidelines here: https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/resources/laptops

Students enrolled in any CIS course (regardless of major/minor status) may request a loaner laptop at any time during the semester using the Laptop Loan Request Form at the same link. A configured laptop will be prepared and made available for pick-up at the library.

Introductory Courses (CMPSC 100, 101, and 105)
All three introductory courses are required for a data science major. CMPSC 100 and CMPSC 101 are offered every semester. CMPSC 105 is offered every spring semester. Students with prior programming experience, specifically in Python, may reach out to the chair (jjumandinova@allegheny.edu) to discuss the possibility of bypassing CMPSC 100 and enrolling in CMPSC 101.

Core Courses
A number of Core courses offered through various departments are available every semester. While some of them do not have prereequisites, others do have prerequisites. The courses with prerequisites are unlikely to be suitable for incoming first-year students, but may be appropriate for some incoming transfer students.

Applications Modules
Students should consult with an advisor about their interests, questions, and goals as they design their module coursework. In their first year, students should consider taking introductory courses related to their module(s) of interest.

Junior Seminar and Senior Project courses

Junior Seminar, CMPSC 580, is always offered in the spring semester. Students must receive the instructor’s permission to take the course before they can register for it directly on Self-Service. This course must be completed before students take the Senior Comprehensive Project course in their major. The first and second reader selection process for the Senior Comprehensive Project occurs in CMPSC 580. Students who plan to study away during the Spring semester of their Junior year should take CMPSC 580 in the spring semester of their Sophomore year.

Comprehensive Senior Project in all CIS majors is a two-semester project with INFM 600 course taken in the Fall semester and INFM 610 course taken in the Spring semester. In rare circumstances, faculty will consider an exception to the semesters in which these courses are taken, but no exception can be made to it being a two-semester project. Students who are double majoring should consider completing a joint, single comprehensive senior project by registering for DOUBL 600 and 610. Students completing a double project will work with their first reader to ensure their proposed project satisfies all requirements of their major in the CIS department.

Important Notes About the Major in Informatics

• The major in Informatics requires the successful completion of at least 48 semester hours. To graduate with a major in Informatics, a student must have an earned GPA of at least 2.0 in the required courses presented for the major. For the Informatics major, at most one of CMPSC 100, 101 or 105 may be presented for the major on a Credit/No Credit grade basis. 
• With approval from an academic advisor, students may substitute a Junior Seminar in another department for CMPSC 580.

Additional, regularly updated, details about the Informatics major are always available at: https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/teaching/bulletin/

Suggested Schedule for a Major in Informatics

We do not recommend taking more than two CMPSC courses with a lab (with an exception of the Junior seminar) in one semester.

Students who declare an Informatics major are encouraged to regularly meet with their academic adviser to verify that they are making suitable progress towards the completion of their degree requirements. 

Minors in Informatics

The minor in Informatics requires the completion of at least 24 semester hours of coursework including:

• CMPSC 100 - Computational Expression AND
• CMPSC 101 - Data Structures 

A minor must also take two Core courses (CMPSC 350 and COMM 342) and two courses from one Applications Module. Please remember that at most one of CMPSC 100 or 101 may be presented for the minor on a Credit/No Credit grade basis. 

Information for Transfer Students

A maximum of 16 transfer credits may be counted toward the major. A maximum of 8 transfer credits may be counted toward the minor.

Three Year Informatics Academic Plan

Two Year Informatics Academic Plan

Issues to consider for transfer credits:

• It is common for the similar sounding CMPSC courses to have varying degrees of “depth” across different institutions as evident by the varying or lack of prerequisites and topics covered. Transfer credit is accepted only for courses at approximately the same level of topic “depth” as the Allegheny College courses.
• All CMPSC courses use version control software (Git), continuous integration (GitHub Actions) and some courses beyond CMPSC 100 use a container-based system (Docker). Transfer students unfamiliar with these technologies should reach out to the Chair of the department to be placed in a short tutoring program with the department’s Technical Leaders.
• All CMPSC introductory courses at Allegheny College are taught in Python programming languages. Transfer students unfamiliar with Python should reach out to the Chair of the department to receive adequate support.