Doctor of Philosophy Official Degree Requirements - May 2, 1995

2 May 1995

This document lists the combined requirements of the Graduate School and of the Department of Computer Science (COMP) and supersedes all previous issues. Reference is occasionally made for  further details to the Graduate School Handbook (GSH). Page references are to the 1992 edition. Apparent errors in the present document should be called to the attention of the Director of  Graduate Studies.

ADMISSION TO DOCTORAL PROGRAM

Admission to the doctoral program is by a vote of the Department faculty and is determined by performance on the Ph.D. Qualifying examination, course grades (we expect H- or better in at least half of the courses taken), admissions information, accomplishment on assistantships, and other testimony from the faculty.

ADVISING

When a student enrolls, a faculty member is appointed to serve as the studentÕs temporary program adviser. By the end of the first semester, the student should select a new adviser whose research interests are closer to those of the student. As the studentÕs research interests change, the student should change advisers as appropriate. Changes in adviser should be reported to the Student Services Manager.

ADMINISTRATION

The Graduate Studies Committee (a standing committee of the Department faculty, chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies) interprets degree requirements, approves plans of study, and acts on petitions from students to the Department and to the Graduate School.

A full-time Student Services Manager maintains student records, answers student queries, and directs student requests to the Graduate Studies Committee and to the Graduate School. All  student requests should be made through the Student Services Manager, usually on forms available from the Manager, whose office is Sitterson 133.

COURSE REQUIREMENT

Each student is responsible for mastering the content of the following core courses, but is not specifically required to take any of them. The student's mastery of content will be tested by the Doctoral Written examination.

COMP 202 (3 hrs) Algorithm Analysis
COMP 203 (3 hrs) Parallel and Distributed Computing
COMP 204 (3 hrs) The Design and Implementation of Software
COMP 205 (3 hrs) Scientific and Geometric Computation
COMP 206 (3 hrs) Computer Architecture

Each student is required to take the following course, unless the requirement is waived, as  explained later.

COMP 321 (1 hr) Technical Communication in Computer Science

Decisions as to other courses required beyond the core will be left to the student's doctoral committee with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. Because proposed Plans of Study are considered individually, and one student's circumstances are not the same as another's,  precedent is not controlling.

The following are minimum requirements. The student's committee may impose further requirements as it judges appropriate. Unless otherwise specified, "course" means a 3-hour graduate-level course not in the core. Two 1.5-hour courses may, however, be accepted as  equivalent to one 3-hour course. Taken "as a graduate student" does not necessarily mean at UNC-CH, and it permits the course to have been taken as a UNC-CH post-baccalaureate Continuing Education student.

1. Primary concentration. Three or four courses of which at least two support in depth the specific dissertation topic and at least one supports more generally the area of computer science in which the dissertation topic falls. The courses do not need to be related to each other, except in that  they support the dissertation. These courses may have been taken as an undergraduate and may have been counted towards an undergraduate degree.

2. Secondary concentration. One or two courses (two if there are only three courses in the primary concentration) that are clearly not in the area of computer science in which the dissertation topic falls. If there are two courses, they must be a coherent pair. These courses may not have been taken as an undergraduate.

3. Mathematical skills. One course at upper undergraduate level or higher in each of two approved areas. An area is approved if it (a) appears on the following list, or (b) is designated by the student's committee as specifically supporting the dissertation topic, or (c) is approved by the Graduate Studies Committee on the basis of a cogent argument by the student. These courses do not need to be related to each other, and may have been taken as an undergraduate. A  nonexhaustive, illustrative selection of UNC-CH courses normally approved appears after the name of each area in the list.

abstract linear algebra (with emphasis on "abstract") MATH 137 (normally preferred), 147
geometry COMP 257; MATH 131, 180
graph theory and combinatorics MATH 148, 190
mathematical logic PHIL 101, 111
modern algebra MATH 134, 138 (normally preferred)
probability and statistics MATH 120; STAT 101, 102, 126, 127

4. Supporting program. Two courses outside computer science, each of which is either a foreign language course or a course that supports the dissertation topic. (Two foreign language courses should normally be in the same foreign language.) These courses must have been taken as a graduate student, but do not need to be at a graduate level. They may include either or both of the courses taken (if as a graduate student) to satisfy the mathematical skills requirement.

5. Minor. The election of a

minor is optional and infrequent. If a minor is elected, it must include at least 15 hours of courses that are taught by departments other than COMP (and are not merely cross-listings of COMP courses). The minor must also meet all the requirements described in GSH 8.

A required course may be waived on the basis of prior study or experience. (Waivers are not required for core courses.) The student must secure (on Form CS-2) the approval of his or her adviser and of the designated instructor.

Relevant graduate courses from other accredited institutions or from other graduate programs at UNC-CH can be transferred to satisfy any of the foregoing course requirements (GSH 15). Course transfers must be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee and by the Graduate School. The Graduate School may require the student to pass an examination on the course content before approving the transfer. Courses taken at Duke University, N.C. Central University, N.C. State  University, UNC-Charlotte, and UNC-Greensboro count as home courses requiring no formal transfer (GSH 13-14).

PROGRAM PRODUCT REQUIREMENT

Each student is required to have programmed and documented a program product. A nonexhaustive list of ways to meet the requirement includes: (1) having been a programmer (not simply a  manager) on a team in the Software Engineering Laboratory course (COMP 145); (2) having written a large program in industry; and (3) having written a program product as part of an M.S. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation project. The student must file Form CS-13 to document completion of the requirement.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

There is no foreign language requirement. The faculty believes, however, that competence in a modern foreign language is an important asset for a computer scientist. Therefore it recommends language study to prospective students. Moreover, assistantship awards and fellowship  recommendations are made taking language study here into account, so as not to penalize  students for any prolongation of program resulting from language study.

QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

The Ph.D. Qualifying examination is in the form of a series of three oral examinations of 45Ð55 minutes each. These examinations test the ability of the student to integrate material across subfields of computer science, to think sharply, to think formally, and to be creative. The scope of the examination is set for each student by the departmental Examinations Committee on the basis of the studentÕs selection of six courses. The examinations are given in one period of at most two days, normally once a year in the Spring Semester, after final examinations and before  Commencement.

We expect a student making normal progress and requiring little pre-core remediation to complete in the first two semesters at least three 200-level courses, of which at least one requires formal thinking. Such a student will be expected to take the examination in the spring ending the first full academic year. A student needing more remediation who will not complete those expected courses in the first two semesters must petition during the first academic semester for a delay of the Qualifying examination. The petition should lay out the planned schedule of courses until the examination and the proposed time for taking the examination. Students who take the examination at the normal time or at the time approved by petition, but who fail the examination, will be allowed to retake the examination once only, normally one year later. Students who defer the examination without approval will not be allowed to retake it after failure. Form CS-10 is used to register for the examination and to petition for deferral.

Each examining committee normally consists of three faculty members. Each student takes questions from three different committees. Each committee reports a grade and also comments on the examination performance of each student. Each committee has a specified area of course work to base their questions upon, but they are also free to use material from undergraduate  background, excepting that for which the student has not yet completed remediation. The  questions should normally cross the boundary between courses or at least between areas in a given course. Many questions will include material from at least one core course. Each committee will need to be able to ask questions that are different for some students than for others, but where students have the same course background in the area of the committee, they should receive the same questions to as great a degree as the oral examination format allows.

DOCTORAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION

This is a comprehensive examination that tests the student's mastery of the core course material. It is identical to the written form of the M.S. Comprehensive examination. It is an examination of minimal comprehensive coverage of the core including material from undergraduate background. It tests mastery of definitions, concepts, and approaches. It may but need not have questions  integrating material across courses. Because it is a test of knowledge, it should require minimal creativity to pass. The passing level is the same for M.S. and Ph.D. students.

The examination, which lasts not more than six hours, is offered twice per year. If failed, the examination may be retaken, once only (except by petition), after a lapse of at least three months (GSH 20). It is assumed that for a Ph.D. student, who already will have qualified, the examination will not form a screen, but rather will test when the student has reached a certain stage of  knowledge. For the Ph.D. student, the grading of the examination can lead to declaration of  weaknesses.


DOCTORAL ORAL EXAMINATION

The Doctoral Oral examination may be taken by any student who has passed the Doctoral Written examination, and whose program of study has been approved by the Graduate Studies Committee.

The examination, normally two to three hours in length, will be administered by the student's doctoral committee. The scope of the examination will be selected by the committee, which will inform the student in writing of its selection well in advance. The scope will be limited to testing areas of weakness identified on the Doctoral Written examination, preparation for research, and subjects judged by the committee to be relevant to the area of the student's dissertation. If, after passing the Doctoral Oral examination, the student undertakes dissertation research in a different area, the doctoral committee appointed for the new dissertation may require the student to take a further Doctoral Oral examination on the new area.

At least one week before the examination, the student must apply to the Graduate School for a "Permit to Take the Second Doctoral Examination" (GSH 19). The student is responsible for  arranging the time and place of the examination. If failed, the examination may be retaken, once only (except by petition), after a lapse of at least three months (GSH 20).

DISSERTATION

The candidate must present a dissertation constituting a worthwhile contribution to knowledge developed by the independent research of the candidate, meeting scholarly standards of organization, presentation, and literary merit, and prescribed standards of form (GSH 22 and the
Graduate School document A Guide to Theses and Dissertations). Further important details are presented in the Departmental document Preparation of Theses and Dissertations. The adviser and at least two other members of the student's committee will read carefully the entire dissertation.

A cooperative meeting of the student with his or her doctoral committee will be held to discuss the feasibility of the student's proposed research. At least one week before meeting, the student shall submit to the committee a brief written dissertation proposal defining the scope of the  proposed research and the planned method of attack on the research problem. The committee will either approve or reject the plan at this meeting. The student is responsible for arranging the time and place of the meeting. The meeting can either precede or follow the Doctoral Oral examination, by either a short or a long interval, at the discretion of the student and committee. The student is expected to call a committee meeting at least every six months to discuss the progress of the dissertation, and to submit a one-page summary of progress each semester to the Director of  Graduate Studies.

The student's doctoral committee consists of at least five persons, a majority whom must be full members of the Graduate Faculty. Other committee members may be faculty from other institutions, scholars from industry, or others whose expertise is relevant to the dissertation (GSH 20). At least one committee member must hold the rank of Associate Professor or higher. The student names the committee by submitting the "Recommendation for Composition of Doctoral Dissertation Committee" form. For each proposed committee member who is not on the Graduate Faculty, a curriculum vitae and the Graduate School form "Recommendation for Appointment to Membership on the Graduate Faculty" should be attached. The dissertation adviser serves as committee chair, unless the adviser is not a COMP faculty member, in which event a COMP faculty member serves as chair.

The student must register for at least three credit hours of dissertation (COMP 394).


FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION

The Final Oral examination normally consists of a public dissertation defense confined to the subject area of the dissertation. The student presents his or her research for 50 minutes; questions follow from the committee and from the audience the committee feels it necessary, it may  supplement the dissertation defense by a private examination on other material. Before the  defense can take place, the adviser and at least two other members of the student's committee must agree that the dissertation is in substantially finished form. The defense should be announced at least two weeks in advance.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Four semesters of residence credit must be earned. At least two of these must be earned by continuous registration for no fewer than six semester hours per regular semester or summer session, although registration during the summer is not required for continuity (GSH 8, 17-18). As much as two semesters of residence credit can be received as a consequence of transferring (GSH 14-15) the appropriate number of hours of course credit. Note that a semester in residence is not identical to a semester of residence credit.

The Department sponsors a colloquium series, which Ph.D. students are expected to attend.

Each student is normally required to have one semester of classroom teaching experience including planning, teaching and grading, here or elsewhere. This requirement is often satisfied by teaching an undergraduate course in one semester or summer session, and sometimes by teaching half of a three-credit graduate course. The Graduate Studies Committee may approve other ways of satisfying the requirement. The student should document fulfillment of the requirement by filing Form CS-11.

Each student is strongly urged, but not required, to spend at least one summer in employment as a professional computer scientist.

The student should apply to the Graduate School for admission to candidacy after passing the Doctoral Oral examination, completing all courses in the approved Plan of Study, and receiving approval of the dissertation proposal (GSH 21). The student must apply by the deadline to the Graduate School for award of the degree (GSH 22).

All requirements for the Ph.D. must be completed within eight calendar years from the date of the student's first classification as a doctoral student by the Graduate School, whether in Computer Science or in another graduate program. If a student is admitted directly to doctoral study, as indicated in the letter offering admission, the eight years begin upon first registration. If a student is permitted to bypass the M.S. degree, e.g. upon Departmental admission to the doctoral program after passing the Ph.D. Qualifying examination, the eight years begin at the start of the semester of that examination. If a student is permitted to continue beyond the M.S., the eight years begin at the start of the regular term or summer session that immediately follows that in which the M.S. is conferred. Although the Department tries to keep track of degree time limits, the Graduate School's interpretation is controlling, and students are responsible for meeting the time limits. As much as two years of time spent in active military service, the Peace Corps, or VISTA will not be counted against the time limit, provided that the Student Services Manager is informed. Also, a student may request a leave of absence for a definite, stated time, not to exceed one year. If the Department and Graduate School approve, the duration of the leave is not counted against the time limit (GSH 9).

If degree requirements change during a student's stay in the Department, the student has the option of continuing under the old rules or switching and satisfying all the new rules. In other words, the student can elect any point in time during his or her stay in the Department and satisfy all the rules in effect at that point.

An exception to any rule may be requested for cause by petition. Decisions made by individual faculty members or by committees may be appealed to the Department faculty as a whole.

SUMMARY AND REQUIRED FORMS
(obtainable from the Student Services Manager, 133 Sitterson)
By the end of semester 1:
Select an appropriate adviser. Thereafter, change advisers as necessary
Register for Ph.D. Qualifying examination (Form CS-10 )
By the end of semester 2
Pass the Ph.D. Qualifying examination
By the end of semester 5
Pass the Doctoral Written examination
Discuss research plan with at least three (potential) committee members; submit Form CS-12
By the end of semester 6
Name the remaining members of the doctoral committee (Graduate School form)
Submit Plan of Study (Form CS-6) approved by the committee
By the end of semester 7
Submit a dissertation proposal to the committee; hold meeting for approval of proposal
or
Request permission to take the second doctoral examination (Graduate School form)
Pass the Doctoral Oral examination
By the end of semester 8
Submit dissertation proposal and pass the Doctoral Oral examination
Apply for Admission to Candidacy for a Doctoral Degree (Graduate School form)
At any time
Satisfy the program product requirement; submit Form CS-13
Satisfy the teaching requirement: submit Form CS-11
Submit course waiver forms (CS-2) as appropriate
Every six months after approval of the dissertation proposal
Meet with the committee to discuss dissertation progress
By the end of semester 9
When dissertation is in substantially finished form, announce dissertation defense,
giving two weeks' notice
Pass Final Oral examination (dissertation defense)
Submit completed and signed dissertation to the Graduate School
Just before you leave . . .
Return office key(s) and building access card to receptionist