Summary of Procedures for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree:
1. Gain admission to the Graduate School.
2. Select a research advisor willing to supervise the student's work on a project leading to a dissertation. This advisor replaces the initial course-work advisor assigned to the student upon entry to the program.
3. Select, with research advisor, three faculty members to serve on the advisory committee. Remember, the fifth committee member is the Graduate School appointee from outside the Department.
4. If appropriate, remove admission deficiencies in order to qualify for full-standing status.
5. Develop a plan of study with the major advisor in consultation with the advisory committee. This should be done by the third semester of attendance at NDSU.
6. Submit the plan of study to the graduate dean for approval.
7. Complete the majority of courses on the plan of study.
8. Personally meet with the registrar to verify that all courses on the plan of study have been completed and the required GPA has been attained.
9. Seek permission to schedule the comprehensive examination from the research advisor. Remember, the request to schedule the examination is sent by the research advisor to the Graduate School two weeks prior to the examination. In Computer Science, the comprehensive examination for the Ph.D., requires a research proposal from the student and is conducted by the student's committee.
10. Seek permission to schedule the final oral examination from the research advisor. Remember, the request to schedule the examination is sent by the research advisor to the Graduate School two weeks prior to the examination.
11. Submit the dissertation in near final form to the advisory committee members no less than seven days prior to the oral examination.
12. Be sure that the examining committee reports in writing the results of the examination to the graduate dean.
13. Once required changes have been made, submit the paper to a reader selected by the Graduate School.
14. Make any necessary corrections to the dissertation and submit it to the research advisor for approval. Once the advisor is satisfied, the rest of the student's committee must be satisfied with the paper.
15. Complete all obligations to the Computer Science Department, including the return of all keys and equipment.
16. Submit a final copy of the dissertation signed by all committee members to the Department Chair. Allow at least two days for the Chair to approve the paper.
17. Submit five final and approved copies of the dissertation to the Graduate School office. Allow at least three weeks for the Graduate School to review and approve the paper.
18. Attend commencement to receive the graduate degree. (optional)
A. Admission Requirements
The Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at North Dakota State University offers the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science. The program requires that a student have a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in computer science. In some cases, students with a degree in a closely related area may be considered.
Admission to the program is competitive, and requirements for admission to this program are more rigorous than for admission to the M.S. program. In order to be considered seriously, an applicant must normally have the equivalent of at least a 3.25 gpa (on a 4-point scale). A high grade-point average alone does not guarantee admission; the admissions committee will look at the applicant's overall academic record, as well as any relevant employment and professional experience. Of particular importance is evidence of the applicant's potential for scholarship and independent research at the Ph.D. level. Letters of recommendation that can provide such evidence will be helpful.
B. General Information
A beginning student is assigned an initial academic advisor when he/she enters the program. Normally by the end of the third semester, the student will have made arrangements with the faculty member who will serve as the dissertation advisor. The faculty member is to be a person on the current list of qualified Ph.D. advisors which is available from the Department Secretary. Approximately the same time, the student, in consultation with the advisor, will arrange for the formation of the advisory committee; see section C. below for more information.
C. Advisory Committee
For each prospective candidate for the doctoral degree, an advisory committee consisting of at least five members of the graduate faculty will be appointed. The student, with the approval of the department/program chair, will select a major advisor. The relationship between student and major advisor must be a mutually acceptable one. The major advisor will act as the chair of the student's advisory committee and will be in charge of the plan of study. The major advisor and student will agree upon three additional committee members. A fourth committee member will serve as the appointee of the Graduate School. One committee member must be from outside the student's academic college. Additional committee members having expertise in the educational area may also be appointed. These additional members may not necessarily be NDSU graduate faculty. The advisory committee agreed upon by the major advisor and student, and approved by the department/program chair and the academic dean, will be recommended to the dean of the Graduate School for approval and formal appointment. Each committee member will have an equal vote in committee decisions. The committee is to assist the student in the preparation of a program of study and to advise him/her during the period of graduate work. Thus, the advisory committee should meet with the student periodically to review progress of graduate work.
D. Plan of Study
The plan of study will be prepared by the student and the major advisor and shall be approved by the advisory committee, department/program chair, academic dean, and dean of the Graduate School. The Ph.D. plan of study must be filed with the Graduate School prior to the scheduling of the comprehensive examination.
Credits earned in a master's degree program may be included in the total graduate credits. Revisions must be approved by the student, advisory committee and dean of the Graduate School. The graduate dean will officially notify the student, advisory committee, department/program chair, and registrar of all changes.
E. Course Requirements
The total number of graduate credits must be at least 90; this total must include at least 45 credits of graduate course work in computer science and at least 30 credits for the dissertation. The 45 credits of course work must include the four courses CS 708, CS 713, CS 724, and CS 765, or equivalent courses that have been approved by the student's advisor and graduate committee; it must include at least 15 credits of 700-level course work (700-789) at NDSU; and it must include three groups of two related courses each, as described below. The 45 credits may include credits previously applied toward a master's degree; in this case, however, it must include at least 15 additional credits at NDSU at the 700 level (700-789).
Individual courses from other institutions intended to be used as part of the 45 required credits must be approved by the student's advisor and graduate committee. (Normally, most graduate courses in computer science will qualify.) All transfer credits must have been earned within a 10-year period prior to the final examination.
The three course groups may be drawn from the 600- or 700-level courses offered by the department, but may not include any of the following courses: CS 689, CS 708, CS 713, CS 724, or CS 765. The groups may not include courses taken as part of a previous bachelor's or master's degree, or courses that are equivalent to ones taken as part of a previous degree. The groups are to be selected by the student in consultation with the advisor.
These groups of existing courses have been approved by the department (other groupings may be approved by the student's advisory committee):
CS 702, 778
CS 766, 778
CS 677, 702
CS 728, 702
CS 653, 654
CS 714, 737
CS 728, 778
CS 714, 730
CS 751, 752
CS 760, 761
CS 702, 766
CS 626, 735
CS 741, 742
CS 714, 728
CS 677, 714
CS 714, 778
CS 702, 714
CS 714, 766
F. Qualifying Examination
The qualifying examination is identical to the Master's Comprehensive Exam (see II, F). A satisfactory level of performance will be higher than for an M.S. student (typically 70 to 80). A student must pass the qualifying examination to be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. This exam must be passed within two years of entering the Ph.D. program, or by the first time it is offered after the student has completed 36 hours of course work (whichever comes later). At most, two attempts at the examination are allowed.
In the case of a student with a master's degree in computer science from NDSU, if the student has passed the master's comprehensive exam at the Ph.D. level, during the two years before entering the Ph.D. program, the qualifying exam need not be taken again.
G. Research Proposal and Dissertation Defense
At least two semesters before graduation, a student must deliver a public presentation of a research proposal and respond to questions on that proposal by the student's advisory committee. The student may attempt the proposal presentation as many times as desired, but at most twice in any semester. This proposal defense, together with the qualifying examination, is used by the Department to satisfy the Graduate School requirements for a comprehensive examination.
The Graduate School has a document describing the formatting requirements for a dissertation. You should purchase the document from the Varsity Mart before starting to write.
The student must defend the dissertation through a public presentation and questions by the advisory committee. The dissertation must be approved by the student's advisor at least two weeks before the defense. Copies of the dissertation must be given to the advisory committee at least one week before the presentation.
H. Other Rules
(1) A student must maintain at least a 3.25 (out of 4.00) grade point average in all graduate work. There may be a maximum of six hours of C grades. If this average is not maintained, the student will have one semester to bring the average up or be dropped from the program.
(2) All course work must be completed within six years of initial entrance into the Ph.D. program.
(3) All Ph.D. requirements must be completed within ten years of entrance into the Ph.D. program.
I. List of Ph.D. Graduates
II. Faculty
The Department has several active research programs. These programs include:
a. Artificial Intelligence: Paul Juell, Ken Magel, Ken Nygard, Brian M. Slator, Ahmed Kamel, Anne Denton
b. Database Systems: Bill Perrizo, Anne Denton, Honglin Li
c. Software Engineering: Paul Juell, Jun Kong, Ken Magel, Ken Nygard, Akram Salah, Dianxiang Xu
d. Analysis of Algorithms, Optimization and Approximation, Curve Fitting: Vasant Ubhaya
e. Combinatorial Optimization: Ken Nygard
f. Computer Graphics: Ken Magel
g. Distributed Systems: Ken Nygard, Bill Perrizo
h. Communication Networks: Bill Perrizo, Xiaojiang Du, Honglin Li, Ken Nygard
i. Multi-media Systems: Paul Juell, Jun Kong, Ken Magel, Brian M. Slator, Bill Perrizo, Honglin Li
j. Bioinformatics: Bill Perrizo, Anne Denton, Ken Nygard, Vasant Ubhaya, Honglin Li
k. Agent-oriented computing: Ken Nygard, Brian M. Slator
l. Learning environments: Brian M. Slator
m. Educational technology: Brian M. Slator, Paul Juell, Anne Denton
n. Signal/Image processing: Honglin Li
o. Security: Xiaojiang Du
III. Teaching Assistantships and Financial Support
A. Awarding of Assistantships
The Department offers graduate assistantships in teaching, research, and service. During the 1996-97 academic year, more than 40 graduate students were offered assistantships.
Teaching assistantships, awarded by the department, usually involve teaching one or two sections of undergraduate service courses. A few teaching assistantships involve paper-grading and/or tutoring. Research assistantships, which are arranged directly with faculty who have research funding, involve assisting faculty with their research. Service assistantships involve computer-science-related work, sometimes for other faculty or organizations on campus. During the 2002-2003 academic year, the normal stipend for a student who has a half-time teaching assistantship (see below) and is teaching one section of a service course is $456 per month. Stipends in other cases may vary slightly.
A full-time assistantship requires 20 hours of work per week, and a half-time assistantship 10 hours. An assistantship involving at least 10 hours per week qualifies the student for a waiver of all tuition and fees. The Department is not able to offer a waiver of tuition or fees to students who are not awarded assistantships. However, there is a scholarship program administered by the Dean of the Graduate School that offers some of these. Students should contact the Graduate School office for applications.
Decisions concerning financial aid are normally made by April 15 for the following academic year. This means that for persons applying for financial aid, it is important to get the applications in well before that date.
An application for financial aid requires a separate letter of application sent to the department, in addition to checking the box on the standard application form. A foreign applicant who is not a native English speaker may have an initial disadvantage with regard to the awarding of assistantships, simply because a foreign application is often more difficult to evaluate with regard to the applicant's proficiency in spoken English.
In addition, the following rules have been approved by NDSU regarding applicants who are not native speakers of English and who have not previously held assistantships. If the applicant's score on the TOEFL examination is lower than 525, he/she is not accepted initially as a regular graduate student, and no assistantship can be awarded. If the TOEFL score in between 525 and 600, before receiving an assistantship the applicant must take a summer course on English As A Second Language (offered by the Department of Modern Languages) and must have a personal interview conducted by a committee which contains both a member of the department granting the assistantship and a member of the faculty specializing in English As A Second Language. If the TOEFL score is over 600, the summer course is not required but the interview is still necessary. Note that the Computer Science Department normally requires a minimum TOEFL score of 550 for admission; see I, C.
B. Retention of Assistantships
The selection of a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) is based on an assessment of the individual's academic potential and potential as an instructor. The continuation of the assistantship will be determined by success in the courses in which the GTA is enrolled and by demonstration of satisfactory performance of instructional duties.
To retain the assistantship, an individual must be in good standing with the graduate school. That means maintaining a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 in your courses that count for graduate study. The transition from undergraduate to graduate studies is sometimes difficult. In recognition of this fact, GTA's who fail to make at least a 3.0 GPA their first semester but earn a GPA of at least 2.6 will be placed on probation. That means retention of the GTA position depends on earning at least a 3.0 GPA in the second semester. GTA's who are not in good standing with the graduate school at the end of the two semesters of graduate work will not have their assistantship renewed. Once good standing is attained the students may reapply for an assistantship. GTA's whose cumulative GPA falls below 3.0 at any time other than the first semester of graduate school will lose the assistantship.
As a classroom instructor, a GTA represents NDSU in general and the Computer Science Department in particular. Hence the position requires satisfactory performance of duties. Each semester each GTA will be evaluated by a faculty supervisor. A copy of this written report will be given to the GTA and the department chair. If the performance is judged unsatisfactory, a written warning will be issued. This means the GTA is on probation. If the performance does not significantly improve, the assistantship will be terminated at the end of the semester the warning was issued. This termination may be appealed in writing to the chair of the Computer Science Department. The appellant may then be granted a hearing with the chair, the director of Graduate Studies and the faculty supervisor. The final decision rests with the chair.
IV. Helpful offices and phone numbers
Kendall Nygard, Graduate Coordinator, 231-8203
Computer Science Department IACC Bldg., room 258
CS Administrative Secretary, 231-8562
CS Administrative Assistant, 231-6513
Graduate School Office (Admin. 202), 231-7033
Foreign Student Advisor (Ceres 118), 231-7895
Housing Office:
Married Student Housing, 231-8446
Assistant Director's Office, 231-8446
University Village Services and Repairs, 231-7700
Information Technology Services (IACC 206), 231-7961
Library, 231-8876
Interlibrary Loan, 231-8885
Kendall E. Nygard, Graduate Coordinator
Brian M. Slator, Head
Version: September 2006 by John Martin, outgoing graduate coordinator
