The University of Arizona

Graduate Info

Doctoral Program

The Ph.D. curriculum in Computer Science consists of required course work, research, and examinations, culminating in the dissertation and its defense. This program is supervised by the student's doctoral committee. The committee must consist of at least three faculty from the Department of Computer Science, all of whom must be University of Arizona tenured, tenure-track, or approved as equivalent, and one faculty from the minor department. Any additional members may be tenured or tenure-track, or a special approved member. Special members must be pre-approved by the Dean of the Graduate College.

Ph.D. Course Planning Tool (PDF)
Graduate Prerequisite Forrest (PDF)
Graduate College forms

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 four research areas: Computing Systems, Software Systems, Theory and Algorithms, and Applications. All Ph.D. candidates must complete at least 6 courses from the following core areas; the number of courses they take from these four core areas must follow the distribution 2, 2, 1, 1, but the student can choose from which areas they take 2 courses and from which areas they take 1 course. In addition, requirements include two Advanced Topic (600 level) courses, two elective courses, and six units of Research Project work (C SC695C taken twice, each time for three units) and 1 colloquium course (C SC695A). 

Please note, internship credit (C SC593) will not count toward degree requirements.

Students are expected to complete the course requirements by the end of their second year as a Ph.D. candidate. 

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
 536, Software Engineering
 560, Database Systems Implementation

Theory and Algorithms
 545, Design and Analysis of Algorithms
 573, Theory of Computation

Applications
 533, Computer Graphics
 537, Computational Geometry
 577, Introduction to Computer Vision

Advanced Topics
All students take two of the following advanced topics courses (6 units):

Colloquium Requirement

A one unit colloquium requirement (C SC 695A) consisting of attending a minimum of 10 colloquiums during your course of study within the department. This is a requirement of all Computer Science graduate students. Registration for C SC 695A should take place during the fourth semester of study or the semester they are to complete the major coursework requirements. Attendance of the required 10 colloquia may take place any time during the students tenure within the department, the student should not wait until the semester they are registered for C SC695A to attend these research talks. Attendance will only be counted when a student submits the required colloquia form which is made available during the talk.

Examinations

To make satisfactory progress in the Ph.D.program, a full-time student must meet the following requirements listed at: Ph.D. Satisfactory Progress Policy

Doctoral students are required to pass the following examinations:

Qualifying Examination

The qualifying examination must be taken within the first two years of graduate study for students admitted without a Master's degree and within the first year for students admitted with a Master's degree. The Qualifying examination consists of two parts, written and oral. The written qualifier can be waived if the student has obtained at least a 3.5 CGPA in the core classes. The oral qualifier is an oral presentation of the required Research project (C SC695C). The oral presentation will focus on the students understanding of the project and other related topics.

Students are also required to pass a qualifying examination in their minor field, with requirements determined by the minor department.

Comprehensive Examination

This exam is normally given at the end of the student's last semester of doctoral course work, this examination consists of written and oral parts in both the major and minor fields. It is a comprehensive examination, designed to test the depth of the student's knowledge in fundamental areas of the discipline, as well as the student's breadth of preparation in both major and minor subjects. This exam is closed to the public, only the student and his/her committee may be in attendance.

Dissertation Defense

This is an oral examination, presented to the students 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.

Minor

A minor program typically consists of 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.

Graduation Requirements