Core Courses

Core courses establish the necessary background and a common competence level in each of the four thematic areas. Students must take at least one core course option from each of the Concentration areas below for a total of forty-eight units minimum.

Data Analytics 

• • Option 1: 05-834 Applied Machine Learning (fall/spring)
    • Note: Students in the Data Analytics Concentration may not take 05-834; Students may not take both 05-834 and 10-601/701. 
  •  Option 2: 17-685/17-801 Dynamic Network Analysis (spring) 
  • Option 3: 10-601/10-701 Introduction to Machine Learning (fall/spring)
    •  10-606 and/or 10-607 recommended prior or concurrent but not required (summer/fall 1st and 2nd half minis)

Politics and Strategy 

• Option 1: 84-605 The Future of Warfare (fall) 
• Option 2: 84-687 Technology and Policy of Cyber War (spring) 

Information Security 

• Option 1: 17-631 Information Security, Privacy, and Policy (fall) 
• Option 2: 18-631/14-741 Introduction to Information Security (fall/spring) 
• Option 3: 18-730 Introduction to Computer Security (fall) 

(Note: Students may not take any of the above options as concentration or elective courses) 

Software and Networked Systems 

• Option 1: 15-640 Distributed Systems (fall/spring, prerequisite 15-513) 
• Option 2: 15-641 Networking and the Internet (fall, prerequisite 15-513) 
• Option 3: 18-741 Computer Networks (spring) 
• Option 4: 17-635 Software Architecture AND 17-632 Software Project Mgmt (spring 1st half minis) 
• Option 5: 17-636 Applied Distributed Systems (fall & spring 1st half mini/summer)
  
  AND
• 17-646 DevOps and Continuous Integration (fall & spring 2nd half mini/summer) 
  
  OR 

• 17-647 Data Intensive and Scalable Systems (spring 2nd half mini) 

(Note: Students in the Software and Network Concentration may not use Options 4 or 5 for their core requirement. The courses may be used toward concentration requirements.)