The Vision and Graphics Track

The Vision and Graphics track is intended for students who wish to develop their knowledge of Computer Vision and Computer Graphics. The track also includes courses in related fields, such as Robotics, Machine Learning, and User Interfaces. Many of the courses are taught by faculty in the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center.

1. Overall Requirements

Students must complete at least 30 graduate points:

  • Vision and Graphics track requires:

    - Breadth courses
    - Required Track courses (6pts)
    - Track Electives (6pts)
    - General Electives (6pts)

  • 2 Required Track courses (6 points), selected from the Required Track Course list

  • 2 Elective Track courses (6 points), selected from the Elective Track Course list; at least one of these courses must be 6000-level

  • Six points of appropriate General Elective graduate courses, three at the 6000 level and three at the 4000 level or above

  • Students using waivers complete the 30 graduate points by expanding their electives beyond the base track requirements above

2. Breadth Requirements

Students are required to satisfy Breadth Requirements by taking 1 course from Group 1, 1 course from Group 2, 1 course from Group 3, and 1 more course from any of the three groups.

Group
 Courses
Group 1 (Systems)

All CS 41xx courses except CS 416x and CS 417x
All CS 48xx courses, and CS 4340, 4444, and 4460

Group 2 (Theory)
All CS 42xx courses and COSR 42xx
Group 3 (AI and Apps)
All CS 47xx courses, and CS 416x and CS 417x

3. Required Track Courses

Students are required to complete two (2) of the following seven courses:

Course ID

Title

COMS W4160

Computer Graphics

COMS W4167
Computer Animation

COMS W4170

User Interface Design

COMS W4731

Computer Vision

COMS W4733

Computational Aspects of Robotics

COMS W4735

Visual Interfaces to Computers

COMS W4771

Machine Learning

COMS W4737 (E6737)

Biometrics 


Students who have completed equivalent courses with grades of at least 3.0/4.0 may apply these courses to satisfy these requirements and devote more points to pursue elective courses.

4. Elective Track Courses

Students are required to complete two (2) courses from the following list*. At least one of these courses must be a 6000-level CS course.

Course ID

Title

COMS W4160

Computer Graphics

COMS W4162

Advanced Computer Graphics

COMS W4165

Computational Techniques in Pixel Processing

COMS W4167

Computer Animation

COMS W4170

User Interface Design

COMS W4172

3D User Interfaces and Augmented Reality

COMS W4731

Computer Vision

COMS W4733

Computational Aspects of Robotics

COMS W4735

Visual Interfaces to Computers

COMS W4737 

Biometrics

COMS W4771

Machine Learning

COMS W4772

Advanced Machine Learning and Perception

COMS W4995

Video Game Technology (Production) and Design

COMS W4995

Video Game Development

COMS E6160

Topics in Computer Graphics

COMS E6161

Rendering

COMS E6174

Interaction Design: A Perceptual Approach

COMS E6176

User Interfaces for Mobile & Wearable Computing

COMS E6732

Computational Imaging

COMS E6733

3-D Photography

COMS E6734
Computational Photography

COMS E6735

Visual Databases

COMS E6737

Biometrics

 COMS E6901

Projects in Computer Science

COMS E6998

Topics in Computer Vision

COMS E6998
Mobile HCI

COMS E6998

Advanced Image-Based Vision and Rendering

COMS E6998

3D UI Curriculum Design

COMS E6998

Computational Aspects of Geometrical Design

COMS E6998

Advanced Video Game Development

COMS E6998
Humanoid Robotics
COMS E6998 
Geometry Processing and Animation

5. General Elective Courses

Remaining credits from any qualifying Computer Science graduate course (4000 and 6000 level). At least three of these points must be at the 6000 level. Students may take up to 3 points of non-CS/non-tech course approved by the advisor. Please complete a non-tech approval form, and once it is signed, forward it to Janine Maslov or Remi Moss.

6. Track Planning

Please visit the Directory of Classes to get the updated course listings.

Please also note that not all courses are offered every semester, or even every year. A few courses are offered only once every two or three years or even less frequently. For more information, please see the SEAS Bulletin CS course-offering schedule (This schedule can change due to unforeseeable circumstances; thus, it should only be used as a reference).

7. Contact

Please direct all questions concerning the Vision and Graphics Track to and .

8. Graduation

Candidates preparing for graduation should submit a completed application for degree to the Registrar's Office and submit a track graduation form to CS Student Services (an example of a completed form is available here).