Ph.D. in Imaging Science
Rochester, USA
DURATION
5 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Aug 2024
TUITION FEES
USD 41,424 **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* rolling admissions
** $41,424 - $54,974 | based on credits taken
Introduction
Reach the penultimate status of higher education in imaging science acquiring the capabilities, skills, and experience to succeed in this diverse field.
The Ph.D. in imaging science signifies high achievement in scholarship and independent investigation in the diverse aspects of imaging science. Students contribute their fundamental body of knowledge in science and engineering that is associated with this field of study. As an imaging Ph.D. candidate, you’ll acquire the capabilities, skills, and experience to continue to expand the limits of the discipline and meet future scholarly, industrial, and government demands on the field.
Candidates for the doctoral degree must demonstrate proficiency by:
- Successfully completing course work, including a core curriculum, as defined by the student’s plan of study;
- Passing a series of examinations; and
- Completing an acceptable dissertation under the supervision of the student’s research adviser and dissertation committee.
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Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
RIT awards more than $37 million in merit scholarships and assistantships to graduate students each year. Scholarship awards range from 5% of tuition all the way up to full tuition. Awards are based on an applicant's academic excellence. Many things are considered when awarding scholarships - undergraduate grades, graduate placement test scores, and your research and work experience all factor in.
Graduate assistantships are offered to full-time matriculated graduate students to serve as teaching, research, or administrative assistants. Graduate Assistants receive wages (determined by the department making the appointment) in exchange for work performed. Many graduate assistants also receive tuition remission (i.e., tuition support) in addition to receiving wages for assistantship duties.
Graduate students can be awarded both scholarships and assistantships. These funding opportunities are the same for both US and international applicants.
RIT awards more than $30 million in merit scholarships and assistantships to graduate students each year. Scholarship awards range from 10% - 40% of tuition. Our median scholarship amount is around 30% of tuition or $13,000. Awards are based on an applicant's academic excellence. Many things are considered when awarding scholarships - undergraduate grades, graduate placement test scores, and your research and work experience all factor in.
Graduate assistantships are offered to full-time matriculated graduate students to serve as teaching, research, or administrative assistants. Graduate Assistants receive wages (determined by the department making the appointment) in exchange for work performed. Many graduate assistants also receive tuition remission (i.e., tuition support) in addition to receiving wages for assistantship duties.
Graduate students can be awarded both scholarships and assistantships. These funding opportunities are the same for both US and international applicants.
Optional Co-Op: cooperative education is paid work assignments with corporations and organizations around the U.S. and abroad. Co-op allows students to spend one or more semesters employed in a full-time, paid position related to their academic program before they graduate. Many students use co-op earnings to help finance their education.
Work-Study: graduate students studying full-time may apply to work part-time on campus. RIT has more than 9,000 jobs available each year, and students typically work 10 – 20 hours per week. International students studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa may work up to 20 hours per week on campus and 40 hours during break periods.
Curriculum
All students must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours of course work and research. The core curriculum spans and integrates a common body of knowledge essential to an understanding of imaging processes and applications. Courses are defined by the student’s study plan and must include core course sequences plus a sequence in a topical area such as remote sensing, digital image processing, color imaging, digital graphics, electro-optical imaging systems, and microlithographic imaging technologies.
Students may take a limited number of credit hours in other departments and must complete research credits including two credits of research associated with the research seminar course, Graduate Seminar (IMGS-606, 607).
Graduate elective courses offered by the Center for Imaging Science (and other RIT academic departments in fields closely allied with imaging science) allow students to concentrate their studies in a range of imaging science research and imaging application areas, including electro-optical imaging, digital image processing, color science, perception and vision, electrophotography, lithography, remote sensing, medical imaging, electronic printing, and machine vision.
Advancement to candidacy
Advancement to candidacy occurs through the following steps:
- Adviser selection
- Submission and approval of a preliminary study plan
- Passing a written qualifying exam
- Study plan revision based on the outcome of the qualifying exam and adviser recommendation
- Research committee appointment
- Candidacy exam based on thesis proposal
Following the qualifying exam, faculty decide whether a student continues in the doctoral program or if the pursuit of an MS degree or other program option is more acceptable. For students who continue in the doctoral program, the student's plan of study will be revised, a research committee is appointed, candidacy/proposal exams are scheduled, and, finally, a dissertation defense is presented.
Research committee
Prior to the candidacy exam, the student, in consultation with an adviser, must present a request to the graduate program coordinator for the appointment of a research committee. The committee is composed of at least four people: an adviser, at least one faculty member who is tenured (or tenure-track) and whose primary affiliation is the Carlson Center for Imaging Science (excluding research faculty), a person competent in the field of research who is an RIT faculty member or affiliated with industry or another university and has a doctorate degree, and the external chair. The external chair must be a tenured member of the RIT faculty who is not a faculty member of the center and who is appointed by the dean of graduate education. The committee supervises the student’s research, beginning with a review of the research proposal and concluding with the dissertation defense.
Research proposal
The student and their research adviser select a research topic for the dissertation. Proposed research must be original and publishable. Although the topic may deal with any aspect of imaging, research is usually concentrated in an area of current interest within the center. The research proposal is presented to the student's research committee during the candidacy exam at least six months prior to the dissertation defense.
Final examination of the dissertation
The research adviser, on behalf of the student and the student's research committee, must notify the graduate program coordinator of the scheduling of the final examination of the dissertation by forwarding to the graduate program coordinator the title and abstract of the dissertation and the scheduled date, time, and location of the examination. The final examination of the dissertation may not be scheduled within six months of the date on which the student passed the candidacy exam (at which the thesis proposal was presented and approved).
Barring exceptional circumstances (requiring permission from the graduate program coordinator), the examination may not be scheduled sooner than four weeks after the formal announcement (i.e. center-wide hallway postings and email broadcast) has been made of the dissertation title and abstract and the defense date, time, and location.
The final examination of the dissertation is open to the public and is primarily a defense of the dissertation research. The examination consists of an oral presentation by the student, followed by questions from the audience. The research committee may also elect to privately question the candidate following the presentation. The research committee will immediately notify the candidate and the graduate program coordinator of the examination result.
English Language Requirements
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