Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science

Requirements for Awarding of Degree

Students must demonstrate graduate knowledge acquisition in incremental stages to be awarded a Ph.D. in Computer Science. For more information on degree and credit requirements, please consult the University Catalog.

• Qualifying Exam (QE)

  Eligibility

  • Good academic standing (3.0 GPA) and have an active status (i.e., enrolled for at least three graduate credit hours)
  • A grade of B or higher in the three core courses
  • At least 15 credits completed or on track to be completed during the semester the exam is taken, including the three core courses
    • Independent Studies and Graduate Research do not count toward the 15 credits.
  • Must be taken within the first two years of the Ph.D. program. Failing to pass the exam within two attempts will result in your dismissal from the program.
    • If you fail to take or pass the exam within the two-year period, you must seek an extension from the Graduate Program Director.
    • Qualifying Exams are only held during Fall and Spring semesters.
  • An approved D1 form is on file with the University Graduate School
    • If you wish to take the exam without an approved D1 form, you must seek permission from the Graduate Program Director, under the condition that the D1 form is submitted in the same semester that the Qualifying Exam is taken.
    • The student must have approval from his or her major advisor to take the Qualifying Exam in a given subject area.

  The Qualifying Exam consists of an oral examination in a subject area. However, students with a core-course GPA lower than 3.4 must take a written examination in addition to the oral examination. The subject or subjects of the written examination will be determined by the Graduate Committee. The written examination will be waived for students with a core-course GPA of 3.4 or higher.

  If the student is taking or retaking the core courses in the same semester as the Qualifying Exam, the student may only take the oral examination with approval from the GPD. If the resulting core-course GPA is lower than 3.4 when the grades are posted, an additional written examination will be required.

  Procedure

  • A student planning to take the qualifying exam must declare his or her intention to take the exam to the Graduate Program Advisor within the first two weeks of the semester in which the exam is expected to be taken. The Ph.D. Qualifying Exam, Declaration of Intent form must be submitted to the Graduate Program Advisor within this timeframe. The Graduate Program Advisor will check whether the student is eligible to take the exam (see previous section for criteria).
  • The student’s major advisor must agree that the student is ready to take the exam and confirm the subject area of the student’s exam by signing the student’s Declaration of Intent form.
  • An Exam Committee that consists of three faculty members (including the student’s major advisor) will be formed based on the student’s D1 Form. The student and the Exam Committee members will be notified via email.
  • The student and Exam Committee will be responsible for scheduling the exam, typically held during the last two weeks of the same semester. The student and Exam Committee must notify the Graduate Program Director, Graduate Program Advisor, and Program Specialist of the agreed-upon date and time of the oral exam as well as the proposed reading list (below) via the Announcement of Oral Exam form (submit to the Graduate Program Advisor approximately 12 weeks prior to the exam).
  • The Exam Committee members for the oral exam will determine the reading list of papers. The list should include five classic papers in the subject area as well as two to three papers specific to the student’s research area. The Exam Committee will provide the list to the student approximately 12 weeks before the scheduled oral exam.
  • The student will write an area paper for the qualifying exam. The area paper should include a survey of a research topic and initial original research. The paper should be of sufficient quality to indicate that the student has the ability to conduct original research and make an acceptable written presentation of the results. If the student has submitted or published a paper in the subject area, the paper may qualify as an area paper with approval from the Major Advisor.
  • The oral exam is typically an hour and a half in length. The exam begins with the student presenting the area paper, followed by an intensive questioning by the Exam Committee. Questions from the Exam Committee members may include questions about the area paper, as well as questions about the papers in the reading list. These questions are intended to test the student’s understanding of these papers and the subject area both in breadth and depth.
  • If the student needs to take a written exam in addition to the oral exam (see previous section for criteria), the Graduate Committee will arrange for the exam with the student, i.e., determine which subjects are to be tested and assign an Exam Committee to create and evaluate the written exams. Written exams will be proctored by the Graduate Program Advisor and held prior to the oral exam. Students will be notified of the date and time via email.
  • If necessary, the written exam can run up to two hours per subject area. The exam consists of questions and problems for the student to solve, relating to the core subjects of computer science. The specific subject or subjects of the written examination for the student will be determined by the Graduate Committee.
  • The Exam Committee must communicate the results of the Qualifying Exam to the student, the Graduate Program Director, the Graduate Program Advisor, and the Graduate Program Specialist by the end of the semester using the Result of Exam form. The Exam Committee will submit one composite Result of Exam form. The Exam Committee will also submit the assessment rubric for institutional research purposes. Each individual committee member will fill out the assessment rubric. Both forms should be returned to the Graduate Program Advisor.

  Exam Forms

  • Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Declaration of Intent
  • Announcement of Oral Exam
  • Result of Exam

  Criteria

  The student needs to have a solid grasp of the core subjects of computer science, as evidenced by either earning a core-course GPA of 3.4 or higher or by the result of the written exam.

  For the oral portion of the Qualifying Exam, the Exam Committee will be looking for evidence of both general and specific research skills.

  General research skills include the ability to identify a problem, evidence of scholarship, critical analysis, and communication skills (both in terms of writing and spoken language).

  The specific research skills include the student’s ability and preparedness for undertaking research in her or her chosen subject area. The Exam Committee will consider the following questions in making the decision:

  • Did the student demonstrate a breadth of knowledge in his or her chosen subfield?
  • Did the student demonstrate adequate technical depth?

  All committee members must be satisfied that the student has met these criteria in order to pass the examination. Apart from the presentation and discussion during the examination itself, the Exam Committee may use other means at its disposal to determine the outcome of the examination, including a review of the student’s full academic record.

  The Exam Committee may pass the student (perhaps with a stipulation of further requirements), fail the student, or fail to come to a conclusion.

  • If the student passes the exam, congratulations on achieving an important milestone.
  • If the student passes the exam with a stipulation of further requirements, typical stipulations for further requirements may include completion of additional coursework or passing a further written examination by a certain date. The student must meet the requirement in the given time, or the student is considered to have failed the exam.
  • In the case of an inconclusive outcome from the Exam Committee, a second examination will be scheduled in the following eligible semester. The second examination may consist of only the parts that the Exam Committee considers the student needs to improve. The result of the second examination must be conclusive.
  • Students who fail to take or cannot pass the Qualifying Exam within the first two years of their Ph.D. program must seek an extension from the Graduate Program Director. A student failing to pass the Qualifying Exam in two attempts during the designated period will be dismissed from the program.
• Dissertation Proposal

  Selecting a Dissertation Committee

  The Dissertation Committee is established via the submission of the D1 form to the University Graduate School. Visit University Graduate School Current Students for more information, including the UGS deadlines. The Dean’s Office at the College of Engineering and Computing has an internal deadline of one week prior to the University Graduate School deadline for all forms requiring the Dean’s approval. Please plan accordingly.

  SCIS requires that committees consist of a minimum of five members: at least four faculty members from the field of computer science (three of which must be Graduate Faculty members from FIU’s School of Computing and Information Sciences) and at least one FIU Graduate Faculty member external to SCIS (i.e. from another discipline but within FIU). The Dissertation Advisor (i.e., the student’s Major Advisor) is the Chairperson of the Dissertation Committee and must be a Graduate Faculty member in the College of Engineering and Computing with Dissertation Advisor Status.

  Proposal Defense

  The purpose of the proposal is to convince the Committee that the chosen dissertation topic and the student’s approach will have a reasonable chance of success. SCIS wants to minimize the chance that a dissertation will be turned down when almost complete. In particular, the proposal should:

  • Explain the basic idea of the thesis topic
  • Argue why that topic is important
  • State what kind of results are expected
  • Make plausible that these results are sufficient for a Ph.D. thesis and that they are obtainable within the given time frame with the available resources
  • Demonstrate the student’s academic qualifications for doing the proposed work by including a comprehensive survey of the area of specialization.

  After the student has entered candidacy, the student will write a dissertation proposal. The Major Advisor will conduct an initial review of the proposal and will give the proposal to the student’s Dissertation Committee for further review. If approved, the student and the Dissertation Committee will schedule an oral presentation of the proposal in the form of a public lecture. The student and the Major Advisor should coordinate the proposal defense with the Graduate Program Specialist. The student needs to provide an abstract, bio, and photo for the announcement of the public lecture. On the day of the exam, the Graduate Program Specialist will provide the committee members with the assessment forms.

  Based on the reviews of the written proposal and on the student’s oral presentation, the Dissertation Committee will make a final decision. Upon acceptance of the proposal, the D-3 Form will be completed and signed, to indicate that the proposal has been approved.

   

• Dissertation Defense

  Dissertation Defense

  The dissertation must describe a piece of original and high-quality work and must describe it well. It is on this basis that the School of Computing and Information Sciences certifies the qualification of the new Ph.D. Furthermore, it is the most important basis on which the rest of the scientific community judges the initial achievement and potential of that individual.

  The final public oral defense is a public presentation describing the contributions of the dissertation. The student, Major Advisor, and Dissertation Committee members should schedule the dissertation defense in accordance with the University Graduate School’s Calendar and Deadlines. The student and Major Advisor should work with the Program Specialist to coordinate the dissertation defense.

  The Dissertation Committee makes the final decision whether the student passes or fails based on the content and form of the dissertation, as well as the outcome of the dissertation defense.