Graduate Info
Doctoral Program
The Department encourages qualified students to pursue the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Computer Science. Students with strong undergraduate records and training in computer science are admitted directly to the doctoral program. Students without extensive experience in computer science or a closely related field can first pursue the Master's program and then segue into the PhD. Because of the relationship between the two programs, doing so does not delay completion of the PhD, and gives students more opportunity to display their qualifications for doctoral work.
PhD students complete course work, research, and examinations, culminating in the dissertation and its defense. This program is supervised by the student's doctoral committee, made up of three faculty from Computer Science and two from the minor department.
Program of Study
The specific program of study is designed in consultation with the student's research advisor and doctoral committee. The program's content will vary according to the student's preparation and interests. Required course work consists of 66 units divided into the following components:
Major
The Department of Computer Science classifies its courses into five research areas: Computing Systems, Software Systems, Theory and Algorithms, Artificial
Intelligence and Applications. All Ph.D. candidates must complete four courses from three core areas, and another two courses from any core areas, making it six core
courses in total.
Computing Systems
525, Principles of Computer Networking
552, Advanced Operating Systems
553, Principles of Compilation
576, Computer Architecture
Software Systems
520, Principles of Programming Languages
522, Parallel and Distributed Computing
560, Database Systems Implementation
Theory and Algorithms
545, Design and Analysis of Algorithms
573, Theory of Computation
Applications
533, Computer Graphics
537, Computational Geometry
Artificial Intelligence
577, Introduction to Computer Vision
ISTA 521, Introduction to Machine Learning
In addition, students must take two other CS graduate courses, and twelve units of Research Project work (C SC695C taken four times, each time for three units) and 1 colloquium course (C SC695A, one unit). Students are expected to complete the core courses and research project work (CSc695C) by the end of their second year as a Ph.D. candidate.
Minor
A minor program typically consists of 9-12 units of course work. Minor programs are designed by the minor department. The minor area selected and the specific courses must be approved by the doctoral committee. The program also offers an internal minor. The minor courses should be completed before the student takes the Comprehensive Exam.
Examinations
Doctoral students are required to pass the following examinations:
Qualifying Examination (Portfolio)
The Qualifying Exam takes the form of submitting a student portfolio for review. The portfolio should be submitted by the end of the 5th semester after the student
enters the program. The portfolio should contain two reference letters from the CS faulty, evidence on research capability (e.g., a research paper), statement of
purpose, and any other materials that the student deems useful for the Graduate Program Committee in considering his/her case. All course requirements in the major
should be completed before the portfolio is submitted. More details about the portfolio can be found on this page.
Students are also required to pass a qualifying examination in their minor field, with requirements determined by the minor department.
Comprehensive Examination (Thesis proposal)
The Comprehensive Exam takes the form of thesis proposal and consists of written and oral parts in both the major and minor fields. This exam should be taken by the end
of the 7th semester after the students enters the program. The written part is to submit a written proposal on the thesis research activity as well as any preliminary
results. The oral part is to give a presentation on the proposal. This exam is closed to the public, only the student and his/her thesis committee may be in attendance. The
student advances to PhD candidacy after passing this exam.
Dissertation Defense
This is an technical presentation, before the doctoral committee and public, in defense of the completed dissertation.
Dissertation
The dissertation represents an original and scholarly contribution to the discipline, approved by and defended before the doctoral committee. A minimum of eighteen units of dissertation credit are required. Neither The University of Arizona nor the Department of Computer Science has a foreign language requirement for the Ph.D. degree.