University of Florida :: Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)

Academics

Ph.D. Program

Ph.D. Degree General Requirements

To earn a Ph.D. degree, a student must satisfy a minimum of 90 graduate-level credits beyond the bachelor's degree. Up to 30 credits from a prior master's degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering taken either at the University of Florida or from another accredited institution may be transferred and counted towards the Ph.D. degree. Students must apply for the credit transfer during their first term of enrollment. An approval from the graduate school is necessary for the credit transfer. Beyond the first 30 credits counted toward the Ph.D. degree, students must complete 30 credits enrolled at the University of Florida campus. Additionally, students must satisfy the following requirements before earning the degree:

Ph.D. Supervision

Every entering Ph.D. graduate student must attend the New Graduate Student Orientation, usually given right before or at the beginning of Fall and Spring semesters.

The student must form a supervisory committee no later than the end of the second semester of enrollment. The supervisory committee consists of at least five Graduate Faculty members. The chairperson of this committee must be a Graduate Faculty member in CISE. At least three members of the committee must be from CISE and at least one from outside CISE as an external member.

An annual evaluation of the research progress/potential of each Ph.D. student will be performed by the Graduate Affairs Committee in conjunction with the chair of the student's supervisory committee. This evaluation will be done at the end of Spring semester. Copies of this evaluation and of the student comments are placed in the student's academic file. The student and the supervisory committee chair receives notice after the student has been in the CISE graduate program for 5 years. Proper actions and close monitoring will be taken place afterwards to insure that the students are making progress towards the Ph. D. degree.

Ph.D. Course and GPA Requirement

To successfully complete a Ph.D. degree, students must satisfy the following course and GPA requirements.

Core course requirement: Students who have completed a master's degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering from another university may petition to have courses taken during their Master's degree count towards the Ph.D. core course requirement. Such petitions will be accepted only after the Graduate Affairs Committee has determined that the outside course is similar in rigor and in scope to the equivalent course offered by the CISE Department.

Other course requirements:

GPA requirement:

Establishing Equivalencies for Core Courses

A procedure has been put in place to determine core course equivalencies. If you believe that you have taken a course (or courses) including undergraduate courses that is equivalent to a core course in our department you will need to take the following steps:

Obtain a copy of your complete finalized transcript from your prior institution.

Remember: This is a different process than transferring your degree or any other courses toward your degree, which must be done with John Bowers during the third and fourth weeks of classes.

Seminar Requirement for Ph.D. Students

Full-time, on-campus Ph.D. students must successfully complete 3 credits of CIS 6935 (Graduate Seminar) before graduation. The course awards one credit on an S/U basis and may be taken only once each semester. Off-campus Ph.D. students through distance learning are exempted from the seminar requirement.

Ph.D. students are not expected to register for the seminar course in their first two semesters, when most students take a full load of regular 3-credit courses. The 1-credit seminar course can accompany CIS 7979 (Advanced Research) in later semesters, adjusting the total credits to satisfy the required semester credit load.

The instructor for this course will make all decisions in selecting eligible seminars and setting the minimum number of attendances which will constitute a satisfactory grade. All Barr Systems seminars, department colloquium talks, and Ph.D. dissertation defenses are qualified. Other talks may also be included based on recommendations from faculty. See the CISE colloquia schedule and Barr Systems lecture schedule links on the CISE Department Seminar page.

Ph.D. Qualifying Examination

The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination consists of a written portion and an individual oral examination. Students must pass two different area examinations to pass the written portion. The oral portion of the exam is normally combined with the admission to candidacy examination, which is given by the student's supervisory committee.

The written area examinations may be selected from the following areas:

A faculty member is assigned as the Area Representative for handling the examination for each exam area. The exam committee Chair and the current Area Representatives are listed from this link. A syllabus is published in advance of the exams listing the topics to be covered in each exam.

The former Vision and Intelligent Systems exam and the two new areas (Computer Vision and Machine Learning) are mutually exclusive. Thus, if a student has already successfully passed the Vision and Intelligent Systems exam s/he may not take either of the two new area exams.

The Ph.D. written examination is offered twice a year, typically in late October during Fall semester, and in mid-March during Spring semester. Students must register for area exams in the beginning of the semester that they will attempt the exams. To maintain the level of CS/CE core knowledge, Ph.D. students are required to obtain at least a 3.4 GPA in 3 of the required 4 core courses that will be counted towards satisfying the core requirement before they are allowed to take the written portion of the qualifying exam. Additionally, the three core courses must include either 1 systems and 2 theory OR 2 systems and 1 theory—see Core course requirement. Approved equivalent core courses are counted towards the minimum 3 core courses with 3.4 GPA in calculating the minimum GPA requirement.

The total number of attempts to pass the two different area examinations cannot exceed four and students must complete all attempts by the end of the fifth semester in the CISE graduate program, or the second semester after entering the CISE Ph.D. program with a prior M.S. degree from this department, whichever comes last. If a student fails an exam in one area, that student may choose to attempt an exam in a different area.

A Ph.D. student who has a Master's degree from the CISE department and who has left the CISE graduate program for at least one year before entering the Ph.D. program must pass the written exam by the end of the fifth semester, counted from the semester that the student began the Ph.D. program in CISE.

Distance-learning Ph.D. students must follow the same timeline to pass the qualifying exam. Exceptions must be approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee.

Once the written examination is passed, the student is allowed to take the oral examination, which is instituted by the student's supervisory committee. The oral examination is normally taken in conjunction with the Ph.D. admission to candidacy. Students who fail to pass the oral examination are given a maximum of one retake.

The Graduate School requires that at least two semesters elapse between passing the oral portion of the Qualifying Examination and receiving the Ph.D. degree. If the Qualifying Examination is passed before the midpoint of the semester, then that semester counts as a full semester.

Previous Ph.D. Qualifying Examination (This material may be accessed only from the cise.ufl.edu domain).

Ph.D. Students Apply for Master's Degree

Ph.D. students can apply for a master's degree after advancing to Ph.D. candidacy and having satisfied all the master's degree requirements.

Admission to Candidacy

A student may apply for advancement to Ph.D. candidacy by scheduling an oral examination after the student has passed the Qualifying Examination. The decision to advance a student to Ph.D. candidacy is made by the student's Supervisory Committee. This decision is based on the following:

The purpose of the Ph.D. Candidacy Examination is to certify the scope and validity of the student's proposed research, and the student's ability to perform the work. A document including a concise introduction to the area of research, relevant work by others, preliminary results by the student, an outline of proposed work, and a bibliography must be submitted to the committee at least two weeks prior to the examination. The student will receive a grade of pass or fail. A failing mark will require another examination when the student is better prepared, at least one semester after the first attempt. A passing mark will often be accompanied by useful comments (to be made in writing by the student's committee chairman) so the student can better refine future efforts and goals.

After passing the Ph.D. Candidacy Examination, the student is admitted to candidacy. The student may register for Research for Doctoral Dissertation (CIS 7980) only after admission to candidacy. Prior to passing the Ph.D. Candidacy Examination, research must be conducted under the Advanced Research course (CIS 7979).

Annual Evaluation and Termination of Ph.D. Students

All Ph.D. students must make proper progress towards the Ph.D. degree. This includes maintaining a good GPA, passing the Ph.D. qualifing exam within the allowable time limit, advancing to the candidacy and defending the Ph.D. thesis promptly. Ph.D. students are evaluated annually by the Graduate Affairs Committee in conjunction with students' Supervisory Committees. The completed evaluation is sent to the student and the Supervisory Committee chair. Students who repeatedly fail to make proper progress may be terminated from the Ph.D. program. Students already having advanced to Ph.D. candidacy status may be terminated by a vote of the faculty. Such a decision will also be based on the student's annual evaluations, and a recommendation of the student's Supervisory Committee.

Communication Skills

The Graduate School requires all Ph.D. candidates to be able to use the English language correctly and effectively. All Ph.D. students must be appointed as a Teaching TA for at least one semester. This requirement directly addresses the need for candidates to demonstrate oral and written communication skills. After passing the Ph.D. written qualifying exam, students who have not served as a Teaching TA must serve as Teaching TA in the following semester. With approval from the Graduate Affairs Committee, students can defer the Teaching TA service for one semester. The Teaching TA requirement emphasizes verbal communication skills. Students deficient in these skills may be required to take appropriate remedial course work, which will not count toward the required credit hours. Off-campus Ph.D. students through distance learning are exempted from the teaching TA requirement.

Ph.D. Final Examination

All Ph.D. students are required to complete and defend a dissertation of publishable quality. This must be an independent investigation, including a basic research component, that constitutes an original contribution to the engineering aspects of Computer and Information Science and Engineering. Projects that solely demonstrate an application of computer technology to a new problem area will not be acceptable. The format of the dissertation must conform to the requirements of the Graduate School. To facilitate this, the Graduate School Editorial Office provides the Guide for Preparing Theses and Dissertations and various seminars. The dissertation must be submitted to the Graduate School in electronic form.

The defense is the final examination in which the student defends his/her research. It must occur after the dissertation has been submitted to the Graduate School and all other prescribed work is done, but no more than six months before the conferring of the degree. The student must be registered for at least three hours of CIS 7980 during the term in which the final examination is given and the term in which the degree is conferred.

The dissertation title along with an abstract should be posted on electronic and standard bulletin boards at least two weeks in advance so that interested students and faculty may attend. A general-audience abstract must be submitted along with the announcement to the CISE Student Services Center for posting. The dissertation must be submitted to all Supervisory Committee members at least two weeks in advance of the defense.

The defense consists of two parts: an open part and a closed part. During the open part, the student gives a one hour presentation on the dissertation work. During this presentation, members of the audience may ask questions. Then the student's Supervisory Committee chairperson will ask the audience to leave the room to begin the closed section of the defense. The student's Supervisory Committee members and other faculty may ask the student more detailed questions during the closed section. The student will then leave the room while the Supervisory Committee prepares its decision. The defense may be attempted at most two times.

Time Limitation - All work for the doctorate must be completed within 5 years after the Qualifying Examination, or the examination must be repeated and passed.

Admission to Ph.D. Program for CISE M.S. Students

CISE M.S. students can apply to enter the Ph.D. program after two semesters' grades become available. A statement of purpose and three reference letters from CISE graduate faculty (the supervisory committee chair should be included for M.S. with thesis option) are required. The student's graduate record will be reviewed and evaluated before being considered for entry into the Ph.D. program.

M.S. students who wish to be considered must submit all materials to Joan Crisman at the Student Services Center within 2 weeks after the end of each semester.

Please visit the Prospective Student link for general admission to the Ph.D. program.

Checklist for Ph.D. Degree

First Semester:

Second Semester:

Third and Fourth Semesters:

Semester for Admission to Candidacy:

Semester Before Graduation:

Semester of Graduation:

For additional information contact a CISE Academic Advisor or visit the CISE Student Services Center (E405 CSE Building).

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