PhD at CSE: Overview

1. PhD at CSE: Overview • CSE department offers Doctoral degree in the Computer Science (CS) or Computer Engineering areas (CpE) at both MS to PhD and BS to PhD levels. • The CSE Department currently supports Ph.D. studies in the following areas: • 1. Computer Architecture and Systems • 2. Database Systems • 3. Intelligent Systems (Knowledge representation, Knowledge acquisition, Machine learning, Neural networks, Parallel AI and others). • 4. Networking, Telecommunications, and Mobile Computing. • 5. Software Engineering (Environments, Formal verification, Testing, and others) • 6. Multimedia Systems (Authoring, Compression, Collaboration and Communication) • 7. Theory and Algorithms • 8. Bioinformatics • 9. Information Security Fall 2015

2. PhD: Admission Requirements • A master's degree in computer science or a related field, preferably with thesis. For candidate applying for BS to PhD, a BS in CS or a related field is required • A 3.2 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) in all previous work • A sum of verbal and quantitative scores of 310 or more on the GRE and a 160 on the GRE quantitative score. • Students whose primary language is not English must either attain 90 or higher in TOEFL or 7.5 or more in IELTS • Three Strong recommendation letters • A solid statement of purpose indicating their background and desired area of interest Fall 2015

3. PhD: Degree Requirements • Dissertation - 18 hours (Any 18 hours from the following dissertation classes: CSE 6399, 6699, 6999, 7399). Note: Students may not take dissertation classes until they successfully pass their comprehensive exam • Completion of Diagnostics Evaluation • Completion of Comprehensive Exam • MS to PhD Course work – Minimum of 18 hours of graduate level course. See “PhD: Diagnostics Evaluations for MS to PhD” • BS to PhD Course work – Minimum of 30 hours of graduate level course. See “PhD: Diagnostics Evaluations for BS to PhD” Fall 2015

4. PhD Milestone Fall 2015

5. PhD: Diagnostics EvaluationsMS to PhD • Core Requirement: Completion of the 4 core courses (or proof that they have been completed at a different institution at above bachelor’s level) • CSE 5311 – Algorithms, and 3 of the following courses: • CSE 5306 – Operating Systems • CSE 5317 – Compilers • CSE 5350 – Architecture • CSE 5301 – Data Modeling • Completion of at least three 6000-level courses as a UTA PhD student • In total, a MS to PhD candidate must have completed at least 18 hours of course work at UTA, no transfers allowed. Research-oriented coursework (e.g. CSE 5393, 6397, or 6697) do not count. • The PhD committee may increase the number of required courses subject to the candidate’s background during Diagnostic evaluation Fall 2015

6. PhD: Diagnostics EvaluationsBS to PhD • During the Diagnostics Evaluations, a BS to PhD student must demonstrate the completion of at least 30 hours of course work at UTA, no transfers allowed, as follows: • 12 hours of Core Requirement: • CSE 5311 – Algorithms, and 3 of the following four courses: • CSE 5306 – Operating Systems • CSE 5317 – Compilers • CSE 5350 – Architecture • CSE 5301 – Data Modeling • 9 hours of 6000- level courses • 9 hours of Research-oriented coursework (e.g. CSE 5393, 6397, or 6697) required • The PhD committee may increase the number of required courses subject to the candidate’s background during Diagnostic evaluation Fall 2015

7. PhD: Comprehensive Exam • Exam has two components: A written part and an oral part • Each committee member assigns technical papers (at least one, no more than two) • Each committee member assigns questions (at least one, no more than two) • Written part: The student will be given approximately 2 weeks (specified by the committee) to provide responses to the questions in written form to all committee members. • Oral part: The committee must meet for an oral presentation by the student, at which time the committee tests the student's understanding of the technical content of the assigned papers. • A decision to pass or Fail the student is made during the oral portion. A student will be given at most two chances to pass. Fall 2015

8. PhD: General notes and Links • Assistantship: Supported PhD students usually receive an amount of $1,800/month as GTA or GRA. Supported students qualify for STEM tuition support of about $1200/semester. • PhD committee requires a minimum of 4 members, one can be outside department subject to approval of the member by the GSC and graduate office • 99 hour/14 Long Semester rule: The new policy stated that all PhD students can not exceed 99 semester hours and 14 Long semesters. This is to ensure sufficient progress. Failure to meet this will be resulted in loss of funding, tuition support privileges or termination. Fall 2015

9. PhD: Student Progress Review • PhD Students Annual Review: All PhD students are evaluated once a year, usually during the month of April, to ensure satisfactory performance. Unsatisfactory performance will result in loss of financial support or termination. • DS-PRO: (Doctoral Student Progress Report Online) is a required on-line tool that allows doctoral students and professors at UT Arlington to collaboratively set goals. • Please Refer to “Doctoral Program Guide” at: https://cse.uta.edu/current-students/docs/PhD-Graduate-Program-Guide-March2015.pdf for more details Fall 2015