Master of Science - Software Engineering

Program Description

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Master of Science in Software Engineering (MSSE) degree program is designed to give recent college graduates, or college graduates who have had several years of professional life, an opportunity to enhance their careers and work on the leading-edge of modern software development. Software engineers who complete this program can rapidly assume positions of substantial responsibility in a software development organization.

The degree program achieves its purpose by providing students not only with the technical tools and techniques of the field but also with skills in communication, group interaction, management, and planning. The program emphasizes a process-centered quantitative approach to the engineering of software systems. The goal of the program is to give graduates an in-depth understanding of the tools, techniques, and appropriate processes for the management of software development, elicitation and analysis of requirements, architecture and design, implementation, and verification and validation of software systems. In addition, the program pays special attention to the issues related to communication and teamwork.

The program emphasizes real-time embedded software systems such as encountered in the FAA’s air traffic control computer systems, aircraft avionics, spacecraft electronics, and other safety-critical systems such as medical devices and automotive control. The MSSE curriculum incorporates key practices from the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM) throughout the program.