Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science

The Ph.D. in Computer Science program is administered by the Graduate College. The Department of Computer Science has set up the policies and requirements for its Ph.D. program on the basis of the policies and requirements of all Ph.D. programs administered by the Graduate College. This document should answer most of the common questions about the Ph.D. in Computer Science Program. However, all readers are encouraged to consult with the Graduate Committee of the Computer Science Department as well as the Graduate College for further information.

The uniqueness of Our Ph.D. Program

Doctoral programs are fundamentally different from Bachelor's or Master's degree programs. Like other programs, doctoral students gain a base level of knowledge through coursework. The difference, however, comes with research. Whereas a Bachelor's or Master's student may undertake a research project, it merely provides a complement to the coursework and is clearly guided by a faculty advisor. Doctoral research is the focus of a doctoral student's studies. Doctoral research is much more self-guided and exploratory than research done in the other programs. Future employers typically select doctoral students on the quality and originality of their thesis research, not their grades in coursework. Reflecting this focus, the bulk of time and effort during a student's doctoral studies is spent on thesis research.... [-]

The Department of Computer Science offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science. The program is designed to increase the student’s fundamental knowledge and to give the student guidance and experience in research. A graduate student pursues these objectives by taking advanced courses, participating in seminars, and carrying out and reporting on research projects. The department provides the advantage of close personal association between graduate students and faculty, giving special attention to individual needs and interests.

Ph.D. Curriculum


The Ph.D. degree in Computer Science may be completed in a minimum of three years and a maximum of seven years of post-undergraduate study.... [-]

Our Program

At the graduate level, the Electrical and Computer Engineering department offers programs of study leading to the doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) in electrical and computer engineering. Clarkson University also offers an off-campus Ph.D. option designed to assist qualified non-resident candidates to matriculate at Clarkson University as doctoral degree candidates.

Curriculum

Degree Requirements

A minimum of 90 credit hours (beyond B.S.) corresponding to a minimum of three academic years of full-time study, two of which must be in residence at Clarkson. A master’s degree may be accepted in lieu of a maximum of 30 credit hours. A minimum of 6 credit hours of seminar work. Minimum coursework: 39 credit hours total, 9 credit hours in a minor field, 6 credit hours outside the department, and 9 credit hours taken in residence at Clarkson. At least 21 hours of the coursework should be done with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. A dissertation must be submitted and defended orally before a committee of five faculty members with at least one committee member being from outside the department of the thesis advisor. Admission Requirements ... [-]

The PhD INF program prepares graduate students to work in the transformative "fourth paradigm" of science and engineering, an interdisciplinary field relying on Big Data and advanced software, hardware, and statistics skills. After a streamlined five-year plan of study, graduates will be ready to be leaders in industry and government research labs, faculty and research scientists in academia, and entrepreneurs in cutting-edge informatics application areas. Graduates will make contributions to exciting projects that address critical areas of national need in bioinformatics, population health, environmental sustainability, ecology, software engineering, wearable computing, cyber-physical systems, and cybersecurity.... [-]

The doctoral program in computing and information sciences is designed to produce independent scholars, well-prepared educators, and cutting-edge researchers poised to excel in their work in computing and interdisciplinary academic or industrial environments. The degree highlights two of the most unique characteristics of the Golisano College: its breadth of program offerings and its scholarly focus on discovering solutions to real-world problems by balancing theory and practice.The program focuses on the theoretical and practical aspects of cyberinfrastructure as applied to specific problems across multiple domains. It is a blend of intra-disciplinary computing knowledge areas and inter-disciplinary domain areas.... [-]

The purpose of the graduate program in Computer Science is to facilitate the student's continued professional and scholarly development. The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs are designed to prepare the student to conduct research and development in an area of concentration.

Typical areas of concentration include:

Computer Systems: parallel processing, quality-of-service, and resource management in distributed systems, scheduling, and load balancing for parallel and distributed systems, tools for parallel programming, performance evaluation, fault-tolerant computing, interconnection networks, multimedia systems, real-time systems, memory system design; Intelligent Systems: neural networks, machine learning, planning, scientific visualization, pattern recognition, natural language processing, multi-agent environments, decision support; Software Engineering: requirements engineering, incremental delivery, conceptual modeling, scenario-based techniques, formal specifications, object-oriented software engineering, design methodologies, software testing, software maintenance, software re-engineering, software processes, real-time systems; Database: temporal databases, object-oriented databases, database models and languages, distributed database systems, indexing and hashing techniques, conceptual modeling, data security, logic and databases, query optimization, relational design theory, user interfaces, data repositories. Communications: networks, wireless communication, distributed computing, mobile computing, multimedia systems. ... [-]

Overview

We are one of the nation’s leading public polytechnic universities and a top-tier research institution. With an enrollment of more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students, we offer small-campus intimacy with the resources of a major public research university. NJIT is a global leader in such fields as solar research, multimedia databases, big data, vehicular networking, medical informatics, bioinformatics, information systems, and cybersecurity, among others. We rank fifth among U.S. polytechnic universities in research expenditures, topping $100 million, and are among the top one percent of public colleges and universities for return on educational investment, according to PayScale.com.NJIT occupies a 45-acre campus in the University Heights section of downtown Newark along with Rutgers – The State University Newark Campus, Rutgers Medical School and Essex County College. NJIT is located 20 minutes from New York City.... [-]

Program Overview

Offered through the Department of Computer Science, the Ph.D. program in Computer Science is designed to equip students with excellent skills at the forefront of computing. Through research and teaching, the Department contributes to computing breakthroughs that are fueling advances in medicine, communications, transportation, security, and other areas vital to society and the world.

The doctoral degree is based on coursework as well as research that leads to a dissertation. It is recommended that students interested in the doctoral degree contact the faculty whose interests best fit his/her interest. Areas of research focus center around these topics: computer security and information assurance, software engineering and systems, bioinformatics and biomedical computing, networking and mobile computing, pervasive computing and embedded systems, machine intelligence, robotics, and algorithms and theory.... [-]

Program Overview

The doctoral program in computer engineering is designed to involve students in cutting-edge research in the areas of computer architecture and high-performance computing, or microelectronics and VLSI systems. The research interests of the faculty in the computer architecture and high-performance computing area span computer architecture, parallel processing, cloud computing, and high-performance and grid computing. In the microelectronics and VLSI design area, the faculty's interests include the design and modeling of electronic and nanoelectronic devices and systems, microfluidic devices integrated with electronic devices, the design of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) for sensors and for RF-MEMS devices, micro and nanoelectronic circuits with applications to sensors and biosensors, and techniques to develop CMOS Integrated sensors and their interface circuits using analog and digital circuits.... [-]

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Analytics and Data Science

Kennesaw State University's Ph.D. in Analytics and Data Science is an advanced degree which has been developed to meet the market demand for Data Scientists.

This degree will train individuals to translate large, structured and unstructured, complex data sets into information to improve decision making. This curriculum includes a heavy emphasis on programming, data mining, statistical modeling, and the mathematical foundations to support these concepts. Importantly, the program also emphasizes communication skills - both oral and written - as well as application and tying results to business and research problems.

Because this degree is a Ph.D., it creates flexibility. Graduates can either pursue a position in the private or public sector as a "practicing" Data Scientist - where continued demand is expected to greatly outpace the supply - or pursue a position within academia, where they would be uniquely qualified to teach these skills to the next generation.... [-]