PhD in Computer Science Program Description
PhD in Computer Science Program Description
As described in the catalog page of the program, PhD candidates are required to complete the following program milestones on a timely basis: required coursework completion, dissertation advisor designation, qualifying exam passing, dissertation committee appointment, research proposal defense, and final dissertation defense. A graphical illustration of these milestones and the associated timeline is provided here.
Important Resources:
Students who start the program with a recognized Master’s degree in Computer Science or related areas are required to take six 3-credit courses (18 credits) at either the 600 level or 700 level, of which four 3-credit courses (12 credits) must be at the 700 level.
Students who start the program with a recognized Baccalaureate degree are required to take eight 3-credit courses (24 credits) at either the 600 level or 700 level, as well as four additional 700-level 3-credit courses (12 credits), for a total of twelve 3-credit courses (36 credits).
All students must choose 18 credits of the required courses from sections designated as doctoral sections. A doctoral section is a section of a graduate-level course designated as such by the PhD committee. 700-level courses are always automatically considered doctoral sections.
At most 6 credits can be Independent Study in Computer Science (CS 725 and/or CS 726). If a student takes two Independent Study courses, then they should be done with two different professors. At least 6 credits must be for lecture-based courses at the 700 level. The student’s research advisor and dissertation committee may ask the student to take additional courses, usually before the Qualifying Exam, but possibly also after the Qualifying Exam.
CS 792 (Pre-doctoral Dissertation), CS 790A (Doctoral Dissertation Research), and CS 791 (Doctoral Seminar) do not count towards the 700-level course requirements.
Doctoral Seminar (CS 791)
Full-time students are required to enroll in CS 791 every semester. Full-time PhD students are required to attend 2/3 of the weekly Wednesday departmental seminars. It is strongly recommended that all PhD students (including part-time) attend these seminars in order to benefit from their educational value.
Pre-Doctoral Research (CS 792) and Doctoral Dissertation Research (CS 790A)
The PhD dissertation registration requirements are described in the institute-wide PhD credit requirements.
Qualifying Examination
The Qualifying Examination assesses a student's research potential and must be completed within two years from the time the student starts the Ph.D. program. The examination should be conducted per the rules described in the "Qualifying Examination" section of the CS PhD program catalog description.