OLD Degree requirements in the Ph. D. program in Computer Science (September 2000 -- September 2001)

This page has been substantially revised in Summer 2001. Please refer to the revised version.

Introduction

This document describes the requirements for a doctorate from the Computer Science department at the University of Chicago. If you have any questions regarding these requirements, please direct them to the Graduate Committee Chair, Laszlo Babai.

This document was substantially updated in Summer 2000. Students' prior work toward fulfilling the requirements listed in previous versions of this document will be honored.

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Master's Degree within the Ph. D. program

Students working toward the Ph. D. must first obtain their Master's Degree within the Ph. D. program. This degree must not be confused with the terminal Master's degree obtainable in the Chicago Masters and Professional Programs (CPPCS).

Ph. D. students are generally expected to complete their Master's Degree by the end of the second year of their graduate study.

In order to obtain the Master's Degree, students in the Ph. D. program must meet the following requirements:

Students must also meet the University Requirements and obtain Final Approval.

IMPORTANT DEADLINE:
All students who have already done work toward fulfilling the course requirements under the old system but have not yet received their Master's Degree are requested to contact Laszlo Babai, Graduate Committee chair, by September 30, 2000, for an initial review of their plan to fulfill the requirements.

Such a review is necessary not only because of the change in the requirements but also because several of the courses required under the old system were not available. It is our hope that under the new system, such discrepancies will be virtually eliminated. By introducing a common set of core courses, we hope to bring greater focus to the foundations of the program and to foster collegiality between our graduate students.

Small adjustments to the new system are still possible, and the comments of all graduate students are invited. Please send your comments to the Graduate Commitee Chair.

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Advisors and Committees

Every graduate student must have an advisor who is responsible for monitoring his or her academic progress. An initial advisor is assigned to each student by the Department when the student first enters the program. This temporary advisor has no further responsibilities once the student has become affiliated with a thesis advisor.

By the end of the first year, the student must have a thesis advisor. The thesis advisor directs the student in the preparation of the Master's paper, guides the student's doctoral research, and chairs the Examination Committee at the Master's exam, the Candidacy exam, and the Doctoral Thesis defense.

The student/advisor relationship is a central aspect of the graduate program. To maintain the effectiveness of this relationship, it requires the ongoing consent of both parties -- either party can withdraw from the relationship by notifying the Graduate Committee chair. If a student has difficulty finding a thesis advisor, they should seek the help of the Graduate Committee chair or the Department chair. The Department chair must approve a nondepartmental advisor.

Before the Master's exam, each graduate student should also have an Examination Committee consisting of at least three members, including the student's thesis advisor. The committee must be acceptable to both the student and the advisor, and at least half of the members of the committee must be members of the departmental faculty. As with the student/advisor relationship, membership in the Examination Committee requires the ongoing consent of the student and the committee member.

While advisors will monitor their students' progress, it is ultimately the students' responsibility that they meet each of the requirements in this document.

The Graduate Committee chair shall be notified of all changes in advisor or Examination Committee status.

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Student Reviews

The faculty will meet before the end of the Spring quarter. At this meeting the faculty will decide for each student whether that student is making sufficient progress to continue in the graduate program starting next Autumn.

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Course Requirements for the Master's Degree

All students must complete an approved sequence of nine courses with a grade of at least B in each course. An approved sequence consists of the five core courses and four electives.

The core. The core courses are intended to provide firm foundations and guarantee sufficient breadth. Currently, the following five courses constitute the core.

  • CMSC 31000 - Foundations of Computer Science. (Offered each Autumn. Replaces CS 385. The areas covered include automata theory, context free languages, computability. This course is a prerequisite for all other core courses.)
  • CMSC 32200 - Computer Architecture. (Offered each Autumn. This course is a prerequisite for CMSC-33000.)
  • CS 33000 - Operating Systems. (Offered each Winter.)
  • CMSC 35000 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. (Offered in Winter or Spring each year.)
  • CMSC 37000 - Algorithms. (Offered each Winter.)

Electives. The following courses are currently approved by the Department as electives to fulfill the course requirement. To ensure the overall direction, each student's advisor must approve the student's selection of electives.

  • Artificial Intelligence:

  • Theory of Computing:

  • Systems:
    • CMSC 33300 - Networks and Distributed Systems. (This course is the third part of the basic Systems sequence 32200--33000--33300.)
    • CMSC 33400 - Virtual Reality Systems

  • Scientific Computing:

Discrete Mathematics. Mathematical foundations to much of computer science are offered in the undergraduate course CMSC 17400 "Discrete Mathematics" (offered each Autumn). It is strongly recommended that students without a strong mathematical background take this course during their first quarter. This course is NOT required.

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Substitutions

The Department does not guarantee that all these courses will be offered in any given period of time. Students may petition the Graduate Committee to substitute other courses for those listed in case of unavailability.

A student with a suitable background may petition the graduate committee to replace the above courses with more advanced course work.

Students are urged to submit their petitions for substitution before they take a course with which they intend to fulfill the course requirement.

"Reading and Research" courses may not be used to fulfill the core requirement.

"Reading and Research" courses may not be used to replace electives except under the most extenuating circumstances. Such exception must be approved by the Graduate Committee. Students are encouraged to check with the Graduate Committee chair in advance, but final approval of a "Reading and Research" course to fulfill a course requirement will in general be only given after the completion of the course work.

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Master's Paper and Exam

Each student must complete a Master's paper and put a copy on public display. The paper must demonstrate knowledge of a particular area of computer science, including in-depth familiarity with the related literature.

The student must give a public presentation of the paper, followed by a private exam. At the public presentation and in the private exam, the student must be able to give detailed answers to questions about the work described in the paper. The exam will be administered by the Examination Committee.

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From Master's to Ph. D.

After completing the Master's requirements, students select an area of independent research. Their contribution to scholarship will be published in the Ph. D. thesis.

Along the way, the following additional requirements must be met:

Students must also meet the University Requirements and obtain Final Approval.

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Candidacy Exam

Each student must pass a candidacy exam administered by the Examination Committee by the end of the student's third year. Before the exam, the student must have an exam proposal approved by each member of the Examination Committee. The student should post the approved proposal to the standard location (currently the uchi.cs newsgroup) and notify the Graduate Committee chair at least two weeks before the exam. The committee will decide the format of the exam. Usually, the committee will administer a private oral exam that tests depth and breadth in areas related to the student's doctoral research.

If a graduate student changes advisor after completion of the candidacy exam, the new advisor may require the student to retake the exam.

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Foreign Language Competency

The department requires each student to be able to read a technical paper in a foreign language with use of a foreign language dictionary.

This requirement is overseen by the Graduate Committee. Please contact the Graduate Committee chair well in advance to plan for this exam.

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Doctoral Thesis and Defense

The department requires each student to write a Doctoral thesis that includes significant original research in computer science.

The student must successfully defend his or her thesis in a public forum before the Examination Committee and any other interested faculty members. The Examination Committee will decide the format for the defense. The thesis defense must occur at least two weeks after the student has given proper notice. Proper notice consists of the following actions:

  1. The student must give a draft of the thesis, approved by the advisor, to each member of the Examination Committee and to the Graduate Committee chair. The draft must be nearly complete with only minor changes expected in the final version.
  2. The student must give the draft of the thesis draft to the department's administrative assistant. The administrative assistant will register the thesis and put the copy on public display.
  3. The student must put an additional copy on display in the standard common area (currently the CS lounge).
  4. The thesis abstract must be posted to the standard location (currently the uchi.cs newsgroup).

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University Requirements

In addition to the departmental requirements, every graduate student must fulfill the University requirements for the appropriate degree (Master's Degree or Ph. D.), including residency requirements, proper degree registration, payment of fines, etc. The University prints these rules each quarter in the Time Schedule, and makes them available in the Student Manual of University Policies and Regulations. The University also publishes requirements for the formatting and acceptance of the Ph.D. dissertation. For additional information contact the Office of Academic Publications (acapubs@uchicago.edu, (312) 702-7404).

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Transfer Students

Students transferring from a different graduate program may petition the Graduate Committee for having some of the above requirements fulfilled by work done at the previous institution.

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Recordkeeping and Final Approval

Each time that a student changes advisors or his or her Examination Committee, that student should fill out the "Advisor and Examination Committee change form." For the Master's paper and exam and for the fulfillment of the course requirements, as well as for the candidacy exam, the foreign language exam, and the doctoral thesis defense, the student should have the appropriate form filled out and give the form to the Graduate Committee chair. The Graduate Committee chair will record the information on these forms and place the forms in the student's permanent record.

While the department will make every effort to ensure the accuracy of student records, it is highly recommended that students keep a copy of each form they turn in to the Graduate Committee chair.

After the student meets all the requirements for a degree (Master's Degree or Ph. D.), the student should get the appropriate "Final approval form" signed by the chair of the Graduate Committee and the chair of the department. In order to receive a degree in a certain quarter, the student must submit an Application for Degree when they register for that quarter. The student must then submit the required material to the university by the appropriate date, normally the Friday three weeks before the convocation at which the student expects the degree. For the Ph. D., the university's thesis requirements must be met.

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Exceptions to the Requirements

Exceptions to these requirements will be made only in the most extenuating of circumstances. Minor exceptions require approval of the Graduate Committee. Major exceptions require approval of the entire faculty. No exceptions can be made to the University requirements.

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