Focus Areas
The CIS Program offers eight interdisciplinary focus areas: Biomedical Informatics, Communication & Information Theories, Communication Policy & Planning, Data Communications, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Storage & Retrieval, Management Information Systems, and Organizational Communication. CIS PhD candidates must choose one primary focus area and two secondary focus areas in which they will be given comprehensive exams.
Biomedical Informatics
Biomedical Informatics, an emerging new interdisciplinary field, is comprised of Bioinformatics (which finds itself at the intersection of Biology and Computer Science and includes Genomics, Proteomics and related fields), and Medical Informatics (which finds itself at the intersection of Medicine, Public Health and Computer Science).
Communication & Information Theories
Comm Theory is concerned with historical and current theories about the role of communication and information in personal, cultural, social regulation, political, and economic realms.
Communication Policy & Planning
Com Policy/Planning is concerned with models for the formation and implementation of communication policy and planning in world, national, and local arenas that bring about or inhibit social, economic, and technical development in communication systems and their environments.
Data Communications
This area is generally concerned with computer networking and telecommunication, focusing on the fundamental design principles of networks, network architectures and layers, communication protocols and security issues, network management and design, and specific network services, applications, and types of networks of practical importance, including the web, e-commerce, the Internet, TCP/IP, Ethernet and wireless networking.
Human-Computer Interaction
HCI is concerned with the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding their use.
Information Storage & Retrieval
The ISR focus addresses all aspects of organizing, retaining and retrieving information, including file storage and indexing methods; information retrieval and search strategies using controlled subject vocabulary queries, free text searching, citation indexes and impact factors, and page rank algorithms; personalized information systems including user modeling and user profiles; and information filtering systems.
Management Information Systems
Management and Information Systems addresses the technical and social dimensions of emerging information technologies (IT) in business contexts, including organizational and social aspects of IT, IT architecture and business alignment, information security, systems development, governance of global outsourcing, and electronic commerce over the Internet.
Organizational Communication
Theory and research in the Organizational Communication focus area is concerned with communication as a central process in organizations, including the strengths and weaknesses of communications systems, the use of information technologies in organizational contexts, and the interaction of communication with organizational cultures.
Special Areas
Special secondary exams are sometimes offered in areas being developed or, by petition, of current interest to students. Recently, we have offered a focus in biomedical informatics for several years before adopting it as a primary focus area beginning in 2009.