Computer Science Dept.
357 EPS BuildingMontana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717
Tel: (406) 994-4780
csinfo@cs.montana.edu
Department Head:
John Paxton
Ph.D. Degree
Wondering what it takes to get a Ph.D. in Computer Science at MSU? This page tells you. If you are new to this page, you should read it all. Otherwise visit the section you want from the following table of contents.
The Graduate School Requirements
College of Engineering Requirements
Computer Science Department Requirements
o Admission into the Doctor of Philosophy Program
o Defense
Application for the Ph.D. Program
The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree is generally intended for students who have a B.S. or M.S. degree in Computer Science and who want to pursue a research and/or college-level teaching career. The program leading to the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science is rigorous and requires coursework, research, exams, and the writing of a dissertation.
In order to understand the requirements for the Ph.D. degree it is important to understand how the Ph.D. program is administered by the University. Since the Ph.D. degree is a graduate degree, it is ultimately managed by The Graduate School at MSU. Therefore, in order to earn a Ph.D. degree, a student must satisfy the requirements of
The Graduate School Requirements
The Graduate School ensures the quality of a Ph.D. degree from MSU regardless of the College or Department in which the degree is earned by establishing a minimum set of requirements for all Ph.D. degrees at the University. Ph.D. candidates must therefore be aware of all of the procedures and requirements established by The Graduate School for the Ph.D. degree.
Every student is required to become intimately familiar with The Graduate School at MSU. This can be done by visiting
http://www.montana.edu/gradstudies
The Graduate School web site provides directions and forms for applying for graduate study at MSU. It also explains common requirements for the Ph.D. degree such as regulations regarding the composition of the committee.
In particular, Ph.D. students should pay special attention to the sections of the online graduate catalog that apply to the Ph.D. degree. The Graduate Catalog of Policies and Procedures can be found at
http://www.montana.edu/wwwdg/cat_for_doc_stud.html
The specific requirements for the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science appear in an upcoming section, but these are only valid in the context of the requirements of The Graduate School and the College of Engineering.
College of Engineering Requirements
An overview of the Ph.D. programs in the College of Engineering can be found in the COE Graduate Student Handbook.
When reading this document, students need to be aware of the fact that the Ph.D. in Computer Science is a separate degree from the Ph.D. in Engineering (i.e. Computer Science is not an option of the Ph.D. in Engineering program).
Computer Science Department Requirements
Admission into the Doctor of Philosophy Program
Applicants to the Ph.D. program are required to fill out an online application.
Applicants to the Computer Science Ph.D. program must meet all College of Engineering and The Graduate School admission requirements. In addition applicants must meet the following admission requirements of the Computer Science Department:
- Graduate Record Exam (GRE): On the old GRE, we expect minimum scores of 700 (Q), 500 (V) and 4.0 (AW). On the new GRE, we expect minimum scores of 155 (Q), 153 (V) and 4.0 (AW). These GRE scores are just one metric used in determining admission and are advisory. It is possible in some circumstances that a student may be admitted into the Ph.D. program with GRE scores lower than these if other indicators are favorable.
- Degree Requirements: a previous Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a closely related discipline.
- Grade Point Average (GPA): 3.30 GPA during the last two years of the applicant's most recent computer science or related degree.
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Previous course work: acceptable previous coursework in most of the core areas of computer science, including
- Computer Architecture
- Networks
- Operating Systems
- Programming Languages and Compilers
- Software Engineering
- Theory of Computing
Applicants who cannot show proof of sufficient previous coursework or expertise in these areas may, at the discretion of the Computer Science Department, be admitted into the Ph.D. program with appropriate courses from the MSU Computer Science curriculum listed as deficiencies that such students must take in addition to the courses required for the Ph.D. degree.
- TOEFL: at least 600 on the written TOEFL test, 250 on the computer-based TOEFL test (CBT), or 100 on the internet based test (IBT) for students from countries where the primary language is not English, and who do not have a previous degree from an English-speaking university. International students can find additional information about the application process by following this link to MSU's Office of International Programs: http://www.montana.edu/international/. In place of the TOEFL, we also accept a total band score of at least 7.0 on the IELTS.
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Letter of Endorsement (highly recommended but not required): a letter of endorsement from a tenure-track member of the MSU Computer Science faculty who agrees to serve as the applicant's research and dissertation advisor.
- Statement of Intent: a 1-2 page statement of why you want to pursue a Ph.D. and what your research interests are.
Applicants must be aware that these are minimum requirements and do not by themselves guarantee admission into the Ph.D. program.
Students admitted to the Ph.D. program with a previous M.S. degree in Computer Science or a closely related area must complete a minimum of 36 credits to obtain the degree.
Students admitted to the Ph.D. program with a B.S. degree in Computer Science or a closely related area (but not an M.S. degree in computer science) must complete a minimum of 60 credits to obtain the Ph.D. degree.
Students who transfer into the Ph.D. program from another institution may be able to receive credit for graduate computer science courses taken at the other institution. Such cases will be handled on an individual basis.
The program of study for the Ph.D. degree will be individually tailored with the assistance of the student's advisor. However, every program of study must include at least six (6) graduate level computer science courses (courses numbered 500 or above).The following sections elaborate the course requirements.
All students must take these two courses:
- CSCI 532, Algorithms, 3 credits (formerly CS 515)
- CSCI 538, Computability, 3 credits (formerly CS 510)
All students must take at least four courses from the following:
- CSCI 520, Parallel and Distributed Computing, 3 credits (formerly CS 540)
- CSCI 540, Advanced Database Systems, 3 credits (formerly CS 535)
- CSCI 541, Computer Graphics, 3 credits (formerly CS 525)
- CSCI 547, Machine Learning, 3 credits (formerly CS 536)
- CSCI 548, Reasoning Under Uncertainty, 3 credits
- CSCI 550, Data Mining,3 credits (formerly CS 530)
- CSCI 551, Advanced Computational Biology, 3 credits
- CSCI 560, Advanced Operating Systems Topics, 3 credits - no longer offered
- CSCI 565, Wireless Networks & Mobile Computing, 3 credits
- CSCI 566, Advanced Networking, 3 credits (formerly CS 541)
- CSCI 568, Advanced Compilers Topics, 3 credits - no longer offered
- CSCI 575, Computational Research Topics, 3 credits (formerly CS 513)
- SE 522, Empirical Software Engineering, 3 credits
Students may be required to take additional courses (possibly outside of the Computer Science Department) as part of their program of study. This will be determined by the student's advisor, program committee, and the Department Head.
Note: CSCI 690 (Doctoral Thesis) is the only course on the Program of Study (including deficiency courses) that can be taken pass/fail.
All students must complete a thesis, also known as the doctoral dissertation. This is a formal publication of the results of a student's research work completed under the direction of the student's dissertation advisor.
- CSCI 690, Doctoral Thesis, 18 credits (formerly CS 690)
Description: In order to remain in the Ph.D. program, a student must sustain consistent and satisfactory progress towards the degree, including maintaining grades in accordance with The Graduate School standards.
Timeline: Each Ph.D. student is evaluated annually by the entire faculty. This evaluation typically takes place at the beginning of spring semester.
Outcomes: There are three possible outcomes for the Timely and Satisfactory Progress evaluation:
- The student passes and continues with his or her studies.
- The student is put on probation and given one year to improve the quality of his or her graduate work.
- The student fails and is dropped from the Ph.D. program.
Note: All students who have completed at least two semesters in the Ph.D. program at the start of summer semester are required to meet with their academic committee members at least once per year to provide an update on their progress and to receive feedback.
Description: The Qualifying Exam is used to evaluate whether a student can potentially undertake the necessary research to complete the Ph.D. Any deficiency courses must be completed before the examination can be taken.
To satisfy the qualifying exam, a student must submit a research paper as a primary or secondary author to a well known conference or journal, and present the findings at a departmental seminar. The paper should be co-authored by at least one MSU Computer Science faculty member. Following the presentation the student should submit both the research paper (with relevant information about where it was submitted) and a copy of the presentation to the program committee (the student's advisor, the department's Ph.D. coordinator and the department head). The program committee will use the submitted materials to evaluate whether the Qualifying Exam has been passed. In some cases, the committee will delay its decision until the evaluated article is accepted for publication.
Timeline: The exam must be successfully passed within two years of commencing the Ph.D. program, regardless of the student's course load.
Outcomes: There are four possible outcomes for the Qualifying Exam:
- The student passes and continues with his or her studies.
- The student passes conditionally, but must satisfy provisions specified by the program committee (such as completing certain courses with a satisfactory grade or resubmitting the paper).
- The student fails, but is given a second chance to retake the exam within 12 months. The Qualifying Exam may be taken at most twice.
- The student fails and is dropped from the Ph.D. program.
Description: Near the end of the coursework specified on a student's graduate program of courses and after the student has established her/his doctoral committee and identified a research topic, the student must pass a comprehensive examination.
The exam is administrated by the student's doctoral committee and scheduled by this committee and the student. The student must inform the Ph.D. advisor and doctoral committee about the intention of taking the exam in written format (e.g. by e-mail) at least two months before the desired examination date.
To be eligible to take the Comprehensive, a student must have:
- Passed the Qualifying Exam.
- Passed all six 5xx courses that have been specified in the student's program of study from the areas of Theoretical Foundations and Systems and Applications.
- Completed at least two-thirds (2/3) of the coursework required for the degree.
The Comprehensive Exam consists of the following:
- A written thesis proposal, due to the student's doctoral committee at least two weeks before the public presentation discussed next.
- A public presentation of the proposal. The student's doctoral committee members must attend this presentation. This presentation must be scheduled immediately prior to the closed-door oral clarification described next.
- An oral clarification of the proposed research during a closed meeting with the student's doctoral committee.
- The student can also be given an additional written examination on all courses from the program of study where a grade lower than a B was received.
The logistics of the Comprehensive Exam are as follows:
- At least two weeks before the exam, a candidate must submit a written thesis proposal to the Ph.D. committee. This proposal is called a prospectus. The prospectus' organization and formatting must follow the format specified in the most recent NSF's Grant Proposal Guide (see the chapter on “Proposal Preparation Instructions” at http://nsf.gov.). The NSF Proposal Guide specifies the maximum size requirements for the prospectus. The minimum length of the prospectus (not including references, the author's CV, etc.) is 12 pages with margins not bigger than 1.25 inch on each side, filled with single-spaced lines and using font not bigger than 12 point. It is to the student's advantage to have the advisor check and approve the preliminary version of the prospectus before the Comprehensive examination.
- A public presentation of the prospectus must be given after submitting the prospectus. The candidate, with oversight from his or her advisor, is responsible for ensuring that the public presentation is advertised. Contact the CS Department's administrative assistant to send an e-mail to all CS graduate students and faculty at least one week prior to the presentation. In addition, notification should be sent to The Graduate School at least two weeks in advance.
- The chair of the student's Ph.D. committee will work with the other committee members to design an oral exam based on the thesis proposal. The oral component (i.e. clarification of the proposed research) will be conducted immediately following the public presentation of the prospectus.
- If the student has received a grade lower than a B in any courses, a written deficiency exam will be given on that material within three weeks of the oral exam.
The written thesis proposal, also known as a prospectus, should be a clear presentation of the research plan. The document should include a clear problem statement, an explanation of why the problem is important, an overview of related background knowledge, an overview of preliminary work and results, a timeline that explains the future work to be done and a bibliography. The student should work closely with the advisor to produce a high quality prospectus.
During this exam, the student will be asked questions regarding the prospectus. The student may also be asked to present the research topic, identify specific problems to be examined during the research, and discuss possible approaches to solve them (such as presenting important literature related to the proposed research).
The deficiency exam will cover all courses where the student received a grade lower than a B. The exam will be closed-book, closed-notes. The questions will generally be at the level of questions posed on a final examination in a graduate course. However, the questions may require the student to demonstrate the ability to synthesize concepts from a wide variety of subjects in relationship to the Ph.D. topic and to reason both broadly and deeply about problems in Computer Science.
Timeline: The Comprehensive exam must be taken within four years of commencing the Ph.D. program, regardless of the student's course load. Furthermore, the exam must be taken within one year of completing the six required 5xx courses. Typically, this exam will be taken within two years of passing the Qualifying Exam.
The Comprehensive exam must be taken at least two semesters before the planned date of the Thesis Defense. This is a minimal time interval allowed only for exceptional students. Typically, the Comprehensive exam will be taken 2-3 years before the Thesis Defense.
Outcomes: There are four possible outcomes for the Comprehensive exam
- The student passes and continues with his or her studies.
- The student passes conditionally, but must satisfy provisions specified by the doctoral committee.
- The student fails, but is given the opportunity to retake the exam. A minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months must elapse before the exam can be repeated. A student may take the Comprehensive exam at most twice.
- The student fails and is dropped from the Ph.D. program.
Seminar Requirement: On a date prior to the defense, a research presentation must be given at the department's 4:10 p.m. Monday seminar.
The candidate, with oversight from his or her advisor, is responsible for ensuring that the defense is advertised. Contact the CS Departments' administrative assistant to send an e-mail to all CS graduate students and faculty at least one week prior to the defense. In addition, notification should be sent to The Graduate School at least two weeks in advance.
Description: The final examination for the Ph.D. degree is the Defense of Thesis. The Defense consists of two parts. One part is public and the other private. The two parts must be scheduled in a contiguous time block. In the public part, the student presents a seminar on the thesis that is advertised on campus and is open to the public. Faculty and graduate students in the Computer Science Department typically attend. The student's Ph.D. committee is required to attend.
The private part is held immediately after the public presentation. Typically, this is attended only by the student's graduate committee. The committee will have read the dissertation carefully and will ask the student questions about the dissertation, probe the student's knowledge of his or her dissertation topic, point out errors in the dissertation, congratulate the student on contributions made, and provide helpful comments.
The Defense will be held after the dissertation is deemed ready by the student and advisor. The actual Defense must be scheduled in accordance with The Graduate School rules. The student should give a polished draft of the dissertation to the committee members at least two weeks before the defense is to be held.
Publication Expectations: Each Ph.D. student must submit at least one paper on the dissertation topic to a mainstream journal. Paper(s) will normally be co-authored with the student's advisor and possibly others. Evidence of the submission must be presented at the time of the Defense of Thesis exam. This is a minimal requirement. A Ph.D. student will be more employable for an academic or industry position if the student has been involved in numerous publications. It is thus highly recommended that the student and advisor publish intermediate results along the way to the degree. Graduate students should note that this requirement is intended to help them establish their credentials in preparation for future employment.
Timeline: The Defense is expected to be taken within 3 years of passing the Comprehensive exam. The maximum time allowed between the comprehensive examination and the awarding of the Ph.D. degree is five years. The minimum time (for exceptional students only) allowed between the comprehensive examination and the awarding of the Ph.D. degree is two semesters.
Outcomes: There are three possible outcomes for the Defense:
- The student passes and can graduate. The dissertation must be submitted to The Graduate School for final acceptance and publication.
- The student passes conditionally, but must make corrections and modifications to the dissertation as agreed to by the graduate committee at the time of the defense before submitting it to The Graduate School for final acceptance and publication.
- The student fails and is dropped from the Ph.D. program. Note: The Defense can be held only once.
Application for the Ph.D. Degree
Visit the The Graduate School for complete information regarding the application procedures.
