PhD Program

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering administers a program leading towards the Ph.D. degree. The requirements include three years of resident study, successful completion of the Ph.D. qualifying and candidacy examinations, a dissertation, and the dissertation defense. Doctoral students normally are required to accumulate 36 credit hours of graduate coursework beyond the bachelor's degree, plus two semesters of research seminar. Included in the course work must be the 9 hours of department core courses or the equivalent. A Master's degree earned at another university may count up to a maximum of 24 credit hours towards coursework requirements. Students are encouraged to pursue coursework, especially mathematics, outside the department whenever such studies support their program in the major field.

• Candidacy Exam
• Dissertation Defense

Candidacy Exam

The Ph.D. Candidacy exam, which consists of a written and an oral component, is administered to determine if the student has depth in his or her research area and has identified a viable dissertation topic. After passing this exam, which typically takes place after the completion of the formal coursework, the student devotes essentially all eforts to completing the dissertation research.

Dissertation Defense

At the dissertation defense, the student defends the dissertation before an oral examining board.


Further information can be found in the Graduate Handbook.