Online Graduate Certificate in Cloud Computing and Machine Learning

Total credit hours per program: 12 credit hours

Cost per credit hour: $862

Total cost with fees: $10,344

Course Listings and Software Used by Faculty

• CSC 7510 Cloud & Enterprise Systems | 3 Credit Hours (Prerequisite: CSC 4103 or equivalent)

  • Students will learn to use Amazon EC2 platform for web application development and Hadoop platform for data analytics. The software package includes JQuery, Ajax, Apache, Tomcat,MySQL, VMware workstation, and pre-configured Virtual Machine images.

• CSC 7740 Big Data Sys & Application Development | 3 Credit Hours (Prerequisite: CSC 4103 & 4402 or equivalent)

  • Students can use any distributed big data platforms for their course projects including, but not limited to, Spark (DataFrame, SQL, RDD), Hadoop (HDFS, MapReduce), Hive, NoSQL (HBase, MongoDB), Amazon EMR, and Databricks.

• CSC 7333 Machine Learning | 3 Credit Hours ( Prerequisite: CSC 4444 or equivalent)
  • Students use Matlab, Anaconda system, which includes Python, Jupyter interactive Python notebook, ML package scikit-learn, etc.
• CSC 4762 Blockchain and Cryptocurrency | 3 Credit Hours (Prerequisite: CSC 3102 or equivalent)
  • Students use blockchain platforms including Ethereum, Hyperledger, and IBM platform.

Applicants must be admitted by both the LSU Graduate School and the Division of Computer Science and Engineering. Admission to the graduate certificate program will be considered on the following requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree from a regionally-accredited college or university or the equivalent from a foreign institution with 3.0 grade point average (also for graduate courses completed if applicable). A lower GPA of 2.75 may be accepted with relevant work experience.
• Acceptable GRE score of 300 minimum. The GRE may be waived for applicants with relevant work experience.
• Acceptable TOEFL scores of at least 213 (computer-based test) or 79 (internet-based test) or acceptable IELTS scores of minimum 6.5 or PTE scores of minimum 59 for foreign students only (unless they have completed one year of full-time study at a university in the United States or where English is the primary language of instruction).
• Statement of purpose explaining the applicant’s career goals and work experience in the IT field. A comprehensive computer science background should include course work or training on data structures, algorithms, programming, and operating systems.
• Students without an undergraduate BS degree in computer science or computer engineering are allowed to enroll in the graduate certificate program.
  • However, to satisfy requirements, those students should complete two leveling courses:
    1. CSC 3102 (Advanced Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis) and
    2. CSC 4103 (Operating Systems) at LSU or
    3. Equivalent courses elsewhere or have sufficient work experience in the field.
• Students are expected to possess strong programming skills.
• Two letters of recommendation are required, which should also endorse programming skills.

Additional information about LSU Graduate admission requirements are located here.

• Software engineer
• Full-stack architect
• Network architect
• Network administrator
• Cloud engineer
• Cloud architect
• Cloud analyst
• Java developer

Students who earn an online certificate in cloud computing and machine learning can expect to learn how to solve business challenges using emerging technologies.

Topics covered in the program include:

• Advanced problems and challenges in defining, developing, and building cloud systems; virtualization; open-source computing; cloud scalability, provisioning, fairness, reliability, security, and monitoring
• Principles, techniques, and systems for big data processing; Hadoop, Spark, and NoSQL ecosystems; application development using big data systems
• Fundamental principles of machine learning; inductive learning; explanation-based learning; computational approach to Boolean function learning
• An in-depth exploration of various consensus, hashing, and cryptography algorithms, as well as the development of decentralized applications (Dapps) over blockchains and cryptocurrencies

Why choose LSU’s online Graduate Certificate in Cloud Computing and Machine Learning?

The tech industry is a fast-paced, high-growth field with plenty of opportunities for ambitious professionals. With the online certificate in cloud computing and machine learning from LSU, you can gain the skills and knowledge needed to stand out in the technology workforce and advance your career.