The doctoral program leads to a PhD in computer science.
Students admitted into the program typically have a master's degree in computer science or a closely related discipline. In rare cases, an exceptional student with a bachelor's degree and a strong academic record may also be directly admitted.
PhD students are required to:
- complete a minimum of 30 credits beyond the master’s degree (students without a prior master’s degree must complete a minimum of 60 credits)
- pass the qualifying examination covering algorithms, architecture, operating systems and programming languages
- pass the research proficiency examination (RPE) with a written RPE report and a presentation
- present and defend a prospectus that describes the intended research topic
- successfully defend a dissertation
PhD students must, at an early stage, identify a dissertation advisor from one of the full-time CS faculty members who shares their research interests.
Detailed requirements are provided in the PhD student handbook. Please contact the director of graduate studies for a copy of the handbook.
