University of Pisa

Master of Science in Computer Science and Networking

The 2-year Master Programme in Computer Science and Networking (entirely given in English) has been designed to meet the growing demand for an emerging kind of professionals in the ICT domain with high-level expertise in both a) computer and information science and technologies, b) communication networking science and technologies particularly in the data center “continuum” domain (from huge/massive data centers to edge & micro data centers).

This expertise is needed in the recent development of the Future Internet domain were parallel and distributed processing is integrated with communication, caching and storage functions. The Master is a “full stack” proposal covering recent development such as Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization that are characterizing deployments such as the “5G” cellular network, the Industrial Internet of Things, Tactile Internet or the Internet of Vehicles and Drones. The combined expertise in networking and advanced computer science topics is needed as well to master nowadays ubiquitous parallel and distributed architectures, from small scale multiprocessors to HPC architectures (even at the edge).

The program will presents courses related to the design and implementation of both innovative software-hardware distributed infrastructures, service-based distributed applications and new in-network processing architectures characterizing future networking infrastructures. The program includes courses related to the design and usage of both parallel and distributed systems as well.

The two year master degree program in Computer Science and Networking (LM-CSN) has been designed to meet the growing demand for an emerging kind of professionals with expertise in both the information and the networking technologies in a strongly integrated manner. These expertise is needed in the design and implementation of both innovative hardware-software distributed infrastructures and service-based distributed applications in several areas of industry, e-business, research, social and citizen services, public administration. A professional with strong expertise in both information and networking sciences and technologies is without precedence in the current scenario of national master programs, and few are the examples at the international level. In the last twenty years Internet has radically transformed the approach to realizing many activities in the industrial, social and scientific world, as well as in everyday life.

Recently, the ICT scientific and industrial community has shown how further drastic evolutions and changes in infrastructures will be needed in the next 10-15 years to meet new and pressing requirements by the applications were the Moore law is applied to the number of core on systems on a chip and to the number of storage, networking and processing devices in the data centers. Among them: industrial automation, e-business, real-time and mission-critical systems, emergency Public Protection and Disaster Relief, ubiquitous health care, intelligent urban sensors, remote presence and remote control, energy source management, vehicular networks, and many others.

The foreseen, and partially current, evolutions and changes (Future Internet) must allow new applications to be developed in hours, instead of several months as traditionally, thus granting a much more efficient and secure utilization of networks and distributed systems by the industry and society in a world-wide scale. This professional in CS&N will be able to perform activities requiring advanced methodologies in design , development, direction, evaluation, testing and management of distributed infrastructures and networked applications.

With this goal in mind, they will possess a deep knowledge of Computer Science and Networking fundamentals and specialized knowledge in ICT aspects:

distributed systems and enabling platforms, service oriented architectures, high-performance computing, pervasive & mobile computing, access networks at various scale levels, wireless & wireline communications, traffic modelling and measurement techniques, programming models and tools for QoS-driven design methods and techniques in analysis, design, implementation, evaluation and verification of secure and reliable complex infrastructures.

The professional in Computer Science and Networking has a strong capability to designing, prototyping, experimenting, optimizing and evaluation. To achieve this goal, some courses will be supported by advanced laboratories in architecture, programming and communication in complex centralized, parallel and distributed configurations and within the Data Center. The master degree program in Computer Science and Networking will have an international character, based on courses in English language, in order to attract students from various parts of the world. This is feasible owing to the prestige of the partner institutions and to their high quality of research well recognized at the international level.

The Department of Information Engineering of the University of Pisa will contribute to the LM-C&SN, with professors in the area of Networking and Communications and this partnership will be extended also at the International level


The University of Pisa (Università di Pisa)

The University of Pisa was founded in 1343; it is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Italy. It reflects a historical and cultural heritage of great value, which Pisa and Italy are very proud of. Galileo Galilei, considered the father of modern science, studied and taught at the University of Pisa.

The University is also famous for having three Nobel prize winners amongst its professors: Giosuè Carducci (Literature, 1906), Enrico Fermi (Physics, 1938) and Carlo Rubbia (Physics, 1984). The territory is also hosting the CNRS/INFN Gravitational Waves observatory EGO/VIRGO which will be part of the future Einsten gravitational Telescope.

The University of Pisa Campus Networks is completely private and realized on 7000 Km of Monomode optical fiber backbones; more that 800 Access point are available in the Campus; Pisa was the first Arpanet node in Italy, the first WWW Node and the place were the first Italian computer was designed and realized. 3 Da Vinci Robots are used in the Hospital (one of the largest in Italy) and its 7 Tesla Magnetic resonance is unique in Italy.

Due to the quality of the teaching and the excellence of the research, a degree from the University of Pisa is a strong point in the curriculum of many professionals, including scientists, intellectuals and leading politicians in Italy and Europe.

The Department of Computer Science, hosting the Master degree in Computer Science and Networking with the cooperation of the Department of Information Engineering, is the oldest department in Computer Science in Italy, since 1969.

But Pisa can offer even more: famous across the world for the Leaning Tower and its enchanting historical centre, this beautiful Tuscan city with a pleasant climate is located just a few kilometres from the sea and is in fact perfect for students with many sports and cultural initiatives. The “Azienda Autonoma per il Diritto allo Studio” is contributing in Tuscany for the support of needy students.

The city has a lively cultural side. This culminates in the “Giugno pisano” in which throughout the month of June there are important events and traditional festivals that attract many visitors and tourists. We know however that you will need a bit of time and help to adjust.