Graduate
Academic Programs
Overview
Core Graduate Research Areas
The Department of Computer and Information Sciences offers programs leading to the PhD and MS degrees. Computer Science is a vigorous and exciting field of research and study that continues to grow in importance. Computer science programs are broad in scope and deal with software and hardware technology, the theory of computation, scientific computing, and their applications. Departmental research strengths include artificial intelligence (machine learning, multiagent systems, planning and problem solving), bioinformatics, computational theory (computational learning theory, design and analysis of algorithms, computability theory), compiler optimization and compilation for parallel machines, natural-language processing, (discourse and dialogue, generation, information extraction, summarization), systems (parallel and distributed computing, grid and volunteer computing, algorithm and architecture design for massive parallelism), networks, (distributed computing, transport layer protocols, mobile and wireless networks, algorithm and architecture design for massive parallelism, networks management, security performance modeling, simulation), graphics and computer vision, rehabilitation engineering (augmentative communication, speech recognition and enhancement), software engineering (program analysis and testing), and symbolic mathematical computation (algebraic algorithms, parallelization), and robotics.
The CIS graduate program provides a solid foundation in the fundamental areas of computer science and, in addition, provides numerous advanced courses and seminars to acquaint the student with current computer science research. The main difference in objectives between the MS and PhD programs is that the PhD is designed to prepare students to conduct advanced research.
The MS program, which is normally completed in four semesters of full-time study, prepares students for doctoral studies or for professional employment. The PhD program consists of additional course work beyond an MS degree and involves supervised research leading to a dissertation. We offer a broad range of courses at the graduate level and have active research programs on topics at the forefront of computer science and technology. The department also offers a Master of Science in Software Engineering jointly with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. People in various fields of science or engineering who just want to improve their computational skills can earn a Certificate in Computational Science and Engineering. This certificate is offered jointly by seven departments, including the CIS Department. The CIS department also hosts the Master degree program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.
MS Degree Requirements
In addition to satisfying the general requirements of the University, candidates for the Master of Science degree must satisfy both the departmental general requirements and the computer science course requirements.
An Application for Advanced Degree for the Master of Science degree should be filed with the Departmental Graduate Committee no later than the beginning of the semester in which the degree is expected. Application forms are available from the Office of Graduate and Professional Education.
A. Departmental General Requirements
The Departmental General Requirements include:
- At least 9 credits of the 30 credits used to satisfy the degree requirements must be 800-level CISC courses. Credits for independent study, research and master's thesis do not count towards this requirement.
- A minimum grade average of 3.0 is required in the graduate courses used to satisfy the degree requirements. The University also requires a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all graduate courses taken including any not used towards the required 30 credits. Students are encouraged to explore graduate courses (600 level or higher) in other areas such as electrical engineering, mathematics, linguistics, statistics, and business and economics. Graduate courses outside of Computer and Information Sciences to be used towards meeting degree requirements require written approval of the Graduate Committee.
- Students are encouraged to participate in the research activities of the Department by taking CISC 666, CISC 866-Special Problems and Independent Study or CISC 868-Research. This is especially true of potential PhD students. No more than three credits of CISC 666, CISC 866 or CISC 868 (combined) may be applied toward meeting the degree requirements or used in satisfying the required minimum grade average without prior written approval from the Graduate Committee. (Exception for master's thesis students-see later section.)
- Each semester all graduate students must explicitly register for CISC 890 - Colloquium and sign up and satisfactorily participate in one of the Department's special research interest groups. One faculty member for each group will be responsible for overseeing satisfactory participation for each student on an individual basis (e.g., simply attending, giving a presentation) and will assign a pass/fail grade accordingly. Each MS student needs 3 semesters of passed CISC 890 to graduate. Special arrangements for part-time students and those who finish in less than 3 semesters will be made.
B. Computer Science Course Requirements
Breadth requirement courses:
- Systems
- Software
- Theory
- All students must take a graduate course in either algorithm design and analysis (e.g., CISC 621) or in theory of computation (e.g., CISC 601).
- All students must take four breadth courses, including at least one in each of the three areas.
- A grade of B- or better is required in each of the four breadth courses taken to meet the breadth requirement.
- Substitutions or satisfaction through courses taken at another university are permitted, but require written approval by the Graduate Committee.
C. Master's Thesis
A master's thesis is optional; successful completion requires a combination of six credits of CISC 868 and/or CISC 869, which are included in the thirty credits needed for the MS degree. Students with a high GPA and/or motivation and ability to perform research are strongly encouraged to get involved in a research project. One way to do this is to complete an MS thesis.
Each student working on a master thesis, with the advice of the master's thesis advisor, needs to establish an advisory committee. The committee consists of 2-3 members of the faculty approved by the CIS Graduate Program Committee. The committee chair is a faculty member in the CIS department, and the thesis advisor. At least one other member should be a faculty member in the CIS department. The proposed advisory committee must be submitted to the Graduate Program Committee for approval. Upon completion of the master's thesis, a final oral examination must be passed, consisting of a defense of the master's thesis. The final oral examination is directed and evaluated by the student's advisory committee.
Admission to the master's degree program does not guarantee that a student can pursue a thesis since more students may desire to do a thesis than there are faculty available to guide them. A thesis student may obtain three credits of CISC 666, CISC 866, CISC 868 in addition to the six credits of CISC 868 and/or CISC 869 applied toward the MS thesis only if the areas of study do not overlap, as approved by the CIS Graduate Committee. The MS thesis student must still satisfy all other Department requirements.
PhD Degree Requirements
In addition to satisfying the general requirements of the University, candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy degree must satisfy several departmental requirements. One objective of these requirements is to provide flexibility in designing an appropriate plan of study. The PhD is an individualistic degree. As soon as possible in the program, each candidate should find a faculty member to act as adviser and be in charge of the candidate's research.
The candidate and advisor design a plan of study that satisfies the University and Department requirements. The Department requirements as listed below specify a minimum amount of necessary work. It is expected that additional course work will normally be required by the adviser. A minimum set of requirements provides a large degree of flexibility for each individual candidate.
A. Departmental General Requirements
The Departmental requires the following:
- Course Work. Each candidate must complete all requirements of a University of Delaware MS degree in Computer and Information Sciences. Candidates with a similar degree from another institution of higher education may be exempted from part or all of this requirement with the written approval of the Graduate Committee.
A candidate with a master's degree in a related field (e.g., EE, Math) must put together a program that meets the CIS Graduate Committee's approval. Using courses taken for the related graduate degree plus courses taken at Delaware, the candidate must satisfy the Computer Science course requirements for the MS degree, and show the equivalent of the 30 credit MS degree offered by the CIS Department.
Each candidate is required to complete a minimum of 6 additional credits beyond the master's degree. The 6 additional credits do not include the following courses: CISC 666, CISC 866, CISC 868, CISC 969. Normally, in meeting the University's requirement for a major area, a candidate will be required by the adviser to complete more than 6 credits. (Note that the University requires a candidate to complete 9 credits of CISC 969 after admission to candidacy.) - Research Ability. PhD candidates are strongly encouraged to get involved in research as early as possible in their program. As part of the process of finding an adviser, and as early as possible, candidates must demonstrate the potential to perform research. Demonstration may be in the form of independent study (CISC 666, CISC 866), research (CISC 868), working as a research assistant, or writing an MS thesis.
- Preliminary Examination. Each candidate must pass a preliminary examination that tests a person's breadth of knowledge of computer science. This exam, normally offered annually in January, is based on subject matter usually included in a CIS undergraduate major and in one year of full-time graduate study including the core areas of the MS program. The detailed composition of the preliminary exam, within the constraint of testing breadth of CIS knowledge, is based upon a reading list of textbooks determined by the Graduate Committee with faculty approval. Candidates are encouraged to take the preliminary exam as early as possible. Students entering with a Bachelor's degree should normally take the preliminary exam by the end of their third semester; and those with a Master's degree should normally take it by the end of their first semester. The preliminary exam may be taken at most two times.
- Advisory Committee. Each candidate, with the advice of the PhD advisor, needs to establish an advisory committee (usually following the successful completion of the preliminary exam). In accordance with the University requirements, the committee consists of 4-6 members of the faculty nominated and approved by the CIS Department faculty. The committee chair is the faculty member in charge of the candidate's research and dissertation. At least two members represent the area of proposed research. At least one member must be from outside the CIS Department. The proposed advisory committee must be submitted to the Graduate Committee for approval. It must then be approved by the CIS faculty.
- Qualifying Examination. Each candidate must pass a qualifying exam. The advisory committee prepares an examination (oral and/or written) testing a candidate's knowledge in the area of proposed research. Part of the examination includes an oral presentation of a candidate's proposed dissertation research. A student passes the qualifying exam as long as there is no more than one negative vote.
Prior to taking the qualifying exam, candidates must submit a dissertation proposal and a written plan describing their background and research interests. The proposal and plan are submitted to the advisory committee and are considered as input to the qualifying examination. Copies of "Discussion on PhD Thesis Proposals in Computing Science" are available in the CIS Department Office.
The qualifying exam is normally taken one year after passing the preliminary exam. During this year a student should actively investigate research possibilities and select a dissertation topic. - Dissertation. Each candidate must complete a dissertation demonstrating results of original and significant research written in a scholarly and competent manner worthy of publication. Upon completion of the dissertation, a final oral public examination must be passed, consisting of a defense of the dissertation and a test of the mastery of a candidate's research area. The final oral examination is directed and evaluated by the student's advisory committee.
- Facility of Expression in English. As part of satisfying the University's requirement that PhD graduates demonstrate an ability to orally express themselves clearly and forcefully, each candidate must present his or her research results in a departmental colloquium, or one of the Department's special research interest groups within six months of the defense.
- Foreign Language. There is no foreign language requirement.
