New UCF Engineering Graduate Certificate to Strengthen Industry Professionals’ Skills in Verification and Validation

Engineers know how to bring imaginative and innovative designs to life. But in order an idea to succeed, it needs to be tested, validated and verified.

Industry professionals who want to sharpen their skills in this area can now enroll in the graduate certificate in systems verification, validation and test, offered through the UCF Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The certificate teaches students to ensure that complex hardware and software systems are reliable, robust and accurate for the end user.

This certificate is the first of its kind in the state and was developed at the behest of industry partners like AMD, Intel and Lockheed Martin that have a strong demand for professionals who are skilled in testing and validation.

"Our industry partners gave us feedback that it was hard to find students who are skilled in this area," says College of Engineering and Computer Science Associate Professor Mike Borowczak, the coordinator of the graduate certificate program. "It's one of those cases where we listened to industry and now it's producing results."

Students who enroll in the program will take four core courses in topics related to Very-Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design, testing and verification. They will have the chance to use industry tools in every courses as well as real-world scenarios from industry partners that they must test, validate and resolve. There are no capstone, internship or portfolio requirements. The program is offered both in person and online, providing flexibility for working professionals.

"The rough estimate is that for every one person working on one design, they need two to four other people who can verify that what's designed meets the specification and what's built meets the design."

Borowczak says that graduate programs in verification, validation and test are rare - particularly with the breadth of verification coursework that UCF offers - with only a handful of institutions nationwide offering comparable options. Because of the lack of academic programs nationwide, the skills earned from this certificate will put students in demand.

"There's a huge emphasis on the development of complex systems," Borowczak says. "The rough estimate is that for every one person working on one design, they need two to four other people who can verify that what's designed meets the specification and what's built meets the design."

Another benefit for students who gain skills in validation and testing is that the jobs they pursue won't be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). While AI does enhance the validation process, the core problem of detecting mismatches between specification, design and implementation still require creative and independent arbiters.

"When you entrust someone or something to verify, you have to trust that they know how to verify and that you can follow a logical, explainable argument," Borowczak says. "Explainable AI is not there yet. We still need humans in the loop, because the hardest bugs are the ones AI still misses."

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