The Department of Computer Science offers the program of study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science degree. The doctoral program in Computer Science is a research degree granted primarily on the demonstration of substantial research achievement. Areas of research actively pursued by faculty and students within the department include: machine learning, artificial intelligence, data mining, cybersecurity, operating systems, distributed computing and networking, cloud computing, parallel processing, data base technology, computer vision, bioinformatics, theory of computation, design and analysis of algorithms, numerical methods, computational science, and software engineering. Courses in these and other areas are available to permit students to complete studies of sufficient breadth and depth prior to engaging in independent research. Admission to the program is highly competitive and based upon academic record, GRE scores, and letters of recommendation, etc. It is strongly suggested that applicants present evidence of competence in computer science as well as mathematical maturity.
Admission Requirements
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GRE (waived for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022)
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TOEFL score (for international students)
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Three letters of recommendation
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Statement of purpose
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Additional requirements:
Degree Requirements
Residence requirement. PhD students must spend two years (36 credits of graduate course work, all courses be letter grade courses) in residence before the QE. CS MS students who transfer to the PhD program before earning the MS degree may count all their UK graduate credits earned towards the MS degree (except CS 768 and similar) towards the first and second year of residency.
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First year. Either (a) Masters at UK, or (b) 18 graduate credits in CS at UK, or (c) transfer of residence credits from an awarded Masters at an accredited domestic or international school. Students request transfer by completing an online form. Prior approval for transfer from the DGS is necessary. In each case, student must still complete the breadth requirement (see next).
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Second year. 18 additional graduate credits at UK.
Breadth requirement. Students fulfill the breadth requirement by taking at least one course from each of the following areas and receiving at least a B in all, and an A in at least two of them.
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CS 505 INTERMEDIATE TOPICS IN DATABASE SYSTEMS , CS 541 COMPILER DESIGN
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CS 570 MODERN OPERATING SYSTEMS , CS 571 COMPUTER NETWORKS
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CS 515 ALGORITHM DESIGN , CS 575 MODELS OF COMPUTATION
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CS 535 INTERMEDIATE COMPUTER GRAPHICS , CS 537 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
A student who has taken equivalent courses elsewhere can ask for them to apply to the breadth requirement; each such case is evaluated on its merits by the DGS. In exceptional cases, when courses needed to complete the requirement are not offered, the DGS may approve other courses as equivalent replacements.
Depth requirement. The Depth process is individualized to the research focus of the student. The student’s committee decides on the appropriate form of this process. It can be a written exam, an oral exam, a literature review, a published paper, some other requirement, or a combination of these. The student’s committee informs the DGS when the student has accomplished this process.
The overall GPA must be 3.0 or higher.
No remaining incomplete grades before the qualifying exam.
In addition, the graduate school policies manual specifies additional requirements and procedures. It can be found on the graduate school website.
Incoming students are informed of the graduate-school and program-specific academic policies at the orientation held before classes begin each fall. A handbook is also on the CS website.