To earn a PhD 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 PhD 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 PhD degree, students must
complete 30 credits enrolled at the University of Florida campus.
Additionally, students must satisfy the following requirements before earning
the degree:
- Satisfy the CISE graduate-level course and GPA requirements.
- Attend the minimum number of seminars each academic year.
- Pass the written and oral qualifying examination.
- Pass the admission to candidacy examination (defend a dissertation proposal).
- Serve as a Teaching TA for at least one semester.
- Prepare and submit some portion of the doctoral research for journal
publication, subject to the approval of the supervisory committee.
- Write and defend a PhD dissertation.
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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.
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.
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To successfully complete a Ph.D. degree, students must satisfy the
following course and GPA requirements. (Note, this new course
requirement is in effect starting Fall 2006. Students who came before
Fall 2006 can follow either the old core
course or the
new course requirement.)
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 PhD 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.
- Computer Systems: Select 2 from the following 4 courses
- Theory: Select 2 from the following 3 courses
Other course requirements:
-
For students without a prior master's degree in Computer Science or
Computer Engineering: (View Example)
- 24-credit CISE graduate-level courses, exclude CIS 6905, 6910, 6940,
7979, 7980; CIS 6971 may account for 6 credits for thesis-option
CISE masters.
- A minimum of 3-credit CIS 7980 Research for Doctoral Dissertation.
- Other graduate-level courses including any research credits are at the discretion of the student and
the students' supervisory committee chair.
-
For students with a prior master's degree in Computer Science or
Computer Engineering: (View Example)
- 6-credit CISE graduate-level courses, exclude CIS 6905, 6910, 6940,
7979, 7980; CIS 6971 may account for 6 credits for thesis-option
CISE masters. Note that the required CISE graduate-level credits
increases accordingly to compensate any waived core course
credits.
- A minimum of 3-credit CIS 7980 Research for Doctoral Dissertation.
- Other graduate-level courses including any research credits are at the discretion of the student and
the students' supervisory committee chair.
GPA requirement:
-
According to the Graduate School rule, students must maintain a 3.0 overall GPA, as well as a cumulative 3.0 GPA for
all courses taken from CISE. In addition, the CISE core course requirements are such that each student can
have at most one core course with a grade of "C" or "C+".
- PhD students are expected to maintain a 3.5 GPA to be considered in
"good standing".
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A
new 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.
* Prepare a copy of the course syllabus and catalog description
of the equivalent course(s) as well as any supporting material such as
exams, projects, and homework.
*
For new PhD students, you must submit the collected information to Joan
Crisman at student services on the first day when the class begins. The
admission committee will evaluate the equivalencies of core courses. The
core course that you have waived will count toward the required three
core courses required to take the qualifying exam, and will be counted
as a B+ (a neutral grade) in the required 3.5 core GPA for taking the
PhD qualify exam.
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.
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Full-time, on-campus Ph.D. students must attend at least 10 CISE
Department Seminar colloquia per calendar year as a graduation requirement.
Four types of seminar are counted:
- Barr Systems Distinguished Lecture Series
- Department colloquium talk (does not include regular seminars organized by individual research area)
- Faculty candidate seminar
- CISE PhD thesis defense
See the CISE colloquia schedule and Barr Systems lecture schedule links on the
CISE Department Seminar page.
(The CISE Department Seminar colloquia are also valuable to masters students
and masters students are highly encouraged to attend.)
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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 students' supervisory committee.
The written area examinations may be
selected from the following six 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 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 3.5 GPA in 3 of the
core courses that will be counted towards satisfying the core
requirement before they are allowed to take the written portion of the
qualifying exam. Approved transferred core courses are counted towards
the minimum 3 core courses with 3.5 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 (not
counting Summer terms) after entering the CISE graduate program. 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
has worked full-time for a few years before being re-admitted to the
Ph.D. program, must follow the same timeline to take the Ph.D. written qualifying exam,
i.e. must pass the exam by the end of the fifth semester counted from
the semester that the student began their graduate studies in CISE. Upon
approval of the Graduate Affairs
Committee, a student may be allowed to defer the exam by one semester.
Distance-learning Ph.D. students must follow the same
timeline to pass the qualify 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. dissertation proposal. 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 PhD degree.
If the Qualifying Examination is passed before the midpoint of the
semester, then that semester counts as a full semester.
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Previous Ph.D. Qualifying Examination
(This material is restricted to access from the ufl.edu domain)
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Ph.D. students can apply for a masters degree after advancing to Ph.D.
candidacy and having satisfied all the masters degree requirements.
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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 performance in course work
- The opinion of the supervisory committee concerning the overall
fitness for candidacy
- An approved Ph.D. dissertation topic
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).
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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
committee. The completed evaluation is sent to the student and the
supervisory committee chair. Students repeatedly not making 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.
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The Graduate School requires all Ph.D. candidates to
be able to use the English language correctly and effectively. Two of
the departmental requirements for the Ph.D. degree directly address the
need for candidates to demonstrate oral and written communication skills.
All Ph.D. students must be appointed as a Teaching TA for at least one
semester and must submit
a publication to a scholarly journal. After passing the Ph.D. written
qualify exam, students who have not served as a Teaching TA, must inform
the Student Services two semesters of their choice that they like to
serve as a Teaching-TA. The TA requirement emphasizes
verbal communication skills, while the research journal submission requirement
emphasizes the ability to focus and state research work precisely, thoroughly,
and succinctly. Students deficient in these skills may be required to
take appropriate remedial course work, which will not count toward the required credit hours.
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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. An
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 Written Qualifying Examination, or the
examination must be repeated and passed.
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Students who enroll in an M.S. degree in the CISE Department
and wish to continue their studies toward the Ph.D. program can apply for
admission to the PhD program after two semesters from the initial enrollment.
Two letters of recommendation, one from student's Supervisory Committee chair,
and the other from a graduate faculty member in CISE must be submitted to the Student Services Center.
The student's graduate record will be reviewed and
evaluated before being allowed to enter the Ph.D. program.
Please visit the Prospective
Student link for general admission to the Ph.D. program.
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First Semester:
-
Apply for credit transfer up to 30 hours
from a prior master degree in computer science or computer engineering
from an accredited institution.
-
Apply for credit transfer up to 15 credits
beyond the master degree earned from a computer science doctoral program
at other accredited institutions.
-
Apply for transferring any core course to
satisfy the core course requirement
-
Take proper graduate courses; satisfy seminar attendance
requirement.
Second Semester:
- Select Supervisory Committee Chair, form the committee before the end
of the semester.
- Take proper graduate courses; satisfy seminar attendance requirement.
Third and Fourth Semesters:
- Prepare and take the Ph.D. written Qualify Exam. Students can take the
first attempt after satisfying the core and GPA requirement..
- After passing the written portion of the qualify exam, Discuss with Supervisory Committee Chair
and notify Student Services of when to serve the one-semester teaching-TA
requirement.
Semester for Admission to Candidacy:
- Discuss with Supervisory Committee Chair the plan to take the candidacy
exams; inform the committee and set up the oral exam date.
- Inform Student Services Center the planned date of the exam.
- Prepare the dissertation proposal and deliver to the committee 2 weeks
before the exam.
- After admitted to candidacy, apply for the master degree for those without a prior master
degree and have satisfied all master requirement.
Semester Before Graduation:
- Discuss your plan for the graduation with the Supervisory Committee
Chair.
- Check with the Student Services Center to see if all graduation
requirements, including appropriate course credits, passing the Qualify
Exam and admission to Candidacy, have been satisfied.
- Prepare and submit some portion of the doctoral research for journal
publication.
Semester of Graduation:
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