This document summarized the formal requirements and procedures for graduate degrees in the School of Computing (SoC) at the University of Utah. There are four graduate degree programs within in the SoC:
A Computing degree is earned within a particular track.
There is also a combined BS/MS that is described elsewhere. Each graduate student is in exactly one of those degree programs. Transfers between degree programs will normally be considered between semesters.
To remain in good standing, a student has to reach certain due progress milestones set by the SoC. For PhD students, a form specifying these milestones, as well as other necessary forms for graduate students, are posted on the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) website.All degree programs have certain course requirements. However, these represent a necessary, rather than sufficient, set of courses for graduation. To graduate, this coursework must appear on a student's approved program of study, a customized course plan developed by the student in conjunction with their committee.
Courses that count toward graduation must be on the program of study. The following restrictions apply to these courses:
For required courses, this additional restriction applies:
A student may register for CS 6020 if that student writes and publishes a peer-reviewed article based on research performed in the University of Utah School of Computing. The contribution of the student to the article should be equivalent to that conferred by first authorship. The paper should be published in a respectable outlet. It is the responsibility of the student's advisor to determine whether the student has made such a contribution, and whether the outlet is of sufficient quality. This paper must be accepted for publication prior to the end of the second year of study.
Course Load Full-time graduate students in the School of Computing are ordinarily requested to register for 12 hours, which includes regular courses, seminars, and research credits as appropriate. This is especially the case for students being supported via research or teaching assistantships.
Graduate School policy dictates that a graduate student who receives a full tuition waiver during any semester in which he or she holds an assistantship, fellowship or traineeship is required to register for at least nine semester hours, including thesis research and seminars.
Students must be registered for at least three hours per semester, exclusive of summer semester, to remain in a graduate degree program. Students who do not maintain continuous registration and who have not been granted a leave of absence by the Graduate School are subject to being discharged from the degree program.
Students doing theses or dissertations must be registered for at least three semester hours during the semester of the student's thesis defense. Once a student has passed the thesis defense, the student does not have to register the next term if within the 90-day period to turn in the final thesis.
Leave of Absence. If a student does not plan to take classes during a Fall or Spring semester, a leave of absence must be requested. Contact the Graduate Coordinator for the proper form.
The SoC offers two MS degrees, one in Computer Science, and one in Computing. There is currently a Robotics track and a Graphics and Visualization track available in Computing. Both degrees require 30 semester hours of graduate coursework, but differ in what courses a student must take.
MS Residency Requirement. At least 24 semester hours must be in resident study at the University of Utah.
Course Waivers A student may obtain a waiver for any of the required courses by demonstrating prior knowledge (e.g., completion of a similar course taken at another University). This waiver is obtained by petitioning the DGS. The waiver procedure should be initiated by first contacting the Graduate Coordinator. Waiving a required course does not reduce the 30 graduate credit hour requirement.
The MS Supervisory Committee consists of three members. At least two members must be SoC faculty. Any SoC regular faculty member may serve as a supervisory committee chair. Research or adjunct faculty may chair supervisory committees if accorded that privilege by the regular faculty. All official decisions of the committee are decided by majority vote.
The MS comprehensive exam will be administered by the student's supervisory committee and can be coupled with a project or thesis proposal defense, and/or meeting a specified level of performance on a set of classes. For students not doing a project or thesis, the comprehensive exam will typically be passed by meeting the grade requirements in required courses, but this can be modified at the discretion of the student's committee.
MS Transfer Credit. A student may not count more than eight semester hours of non-matriculated graduate work toward any graduate degree unless the student's registration for more than eight semester hours is specifically approved in advance by the SoC Director and the Dean of the Graduate School.
Graduate courses taken as an undergraduate at the University of Utah cannot be counted towards a degree program unless a petition for graduate credit was filed with the University's Registrar at the time the course was taken.
Students who have done graduate study at other institutions may transfer up to 8 semester hours to the University of Utah. The courses must be bona fide graduate level class work (e.g., independent study is excluded), with grade B- or better. Students must be able to show that the course work was not used toward any other degree.
Approval of each course is granted by the student's supervisory committee and the DGS. Course appropriateness is determined by consideration of course content and the student's declared research area. Approved courses are certified by a transfer credit form.
Approval of a course taken elsewhere for transfer credit does not imply fulfillment of any specific required course.
The following three courses are required for students whether or not they do a thesis:
Students not doing a thesis must also take at least two of the following four courses:
For the remainder of the 30 required semester hours at most 6 semester hours can be courses outside of Computer Science, and seminars cannot be counted.
For students completing a thesis: at least one non-required CS course must be taken excluding independent study, seminars, or thesis research credit; independent study (CS 6950 and CS 7950) can be included in the required 30 semester hours only when the project is self-contained and independent of thesis research.
For students not completing a thesis, at most 3 of the required 30 semester hours can be independent study (CS 6950 and CS 7950).
The following 3 courses are required:
One course from each of these three areas is required:
Perception
Cognition
Action
Two additional 6000 level courses must be taken that exclude independent study, seminars, or thesis research credit.
A student may pursue an M.S. with a (1) course-only option, (2) a project option, or (3) a thesis option. The
minimum number of credits for any option is 30 graduate level classes (this includes 5000 and 6000 level courses
as designated by departments). The individual option requirements are:
The SoC offers two PhD degrees, one in Computer Science, and one in Computing. There are currently a Robotics track, a Graphics and Visualization track, and a Scientific Computing track available in Computing.
Residency. At least one year (i.e., two consecutive semesters) of the doctoral program must be spent in full-time academic work at the University of Utah. When a student proceeds directly from an MS degree to a PhD degree with no break in the program of study (except for authorized leaves of absence), the residency requirement may be fulfilled at any time during the course of study.
Credit for Previous Courses. PhD students may count some hours of coursework from other graduate degrees toward the coursework requirements associated with the program of study. Unlike for the MS programs, credit for previous courses for PhD students is administered by the DGS so these courses do not need to be be officially transferred to the University. Approved courses are certified by inclusion of the appropriate SoC form in the student's file. All coursework on the program of of study is subject to approval by the student's supervisory committee and the DGS.
PhD students with a masters-level degree in a closely related discipline should work with their initial committee to create a program of study that can include graduate courses taken as part of their previous degree program. This program of study can include up to twenty total hours to be counted toward their PhD requirements, and can be used to satisfy some or all of the PhD required courses. Like all programs of study, it must then be approved by the DGS and the graduate school.
A student who has been accepted by the Graduate School is formally admitted to candidacy for the PhD by the University at the recommendation of the student's supervisory committee. Admission to candidacy occurs after the student:
An application for candidacy must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than the last day preceding the semester of graduation. For the degree to be conferred, the approved Program of Study form must be completed and the dissertation completed and publicly defended.
A PhD Supervisory Committee conducts the student's written qualifying examination, oral qualifying examination, and dissertation defense. This committee consists of five faculty members, at least three of whom must be from the SoC, and at least one member from outside the SoC. Any SoC regular faculty member may serve as a supervisory committee chair. Research or adjunct faculty may chair supervisory committees if accorded that privilege by the regular faculty. Individuals who are not faculty members may serve on supervisory committees if nominated by the regular faculty on the committee, and endorsed by the Graduate Studies Committee and School Director. For Computing degrees, further restrictions on committee makeup may apply. All official decisions of the committee are decided by majority vote.
Qualifying Examination. All PhD students must pass a Qualifying Examination, as specified by the Graduate School. The Qualifying Exam consists of a written part, to be conducted first, and an oral part.
The written part of the Qualifying Examination will cover the candidate's general area of specialization in sufficient depth to demonstrate their preparation for conducting PhD-level research. Each internal member of the student's supervisory committee will contribute one or more questions to this exam. The external member(s) of the committee can provide question(s) if they wish to. The supervisory committee will provide a written evaluation of this part of the exam, including an indication of whether or not the student will be allowed to proceed to the oral part of the Qualifying Examination. More details on the procedures for the written part is available on the GSC web page.
The oral part comprises the dissertation proposal defense. At the supervisory committee's option, it may also include follow-up questions relating to the written part of the exam. A majority of the supervisory committee should certify that the proposal is ready to be defended prior to conducting the oral part of the Qualifying Exam.
Dissertation. The completed dissertation must be published either in its entirety (through a legitimate publisher of the student's choice or through University Microfilms) or as one or more articles accepted for publication in approved scholarly journals. An abstract of each dissertation must be published in University Microfilms' Dissertation Abstracts International.
At least 50 hours of graduate coursework is required, composed of at least 27 hours of regular graduate coursework, and at least 14 semester hours of dissertation research. Independent study and seminars cannot be used as part of the required 50 hours. Of the required 27 semester hours of regular courses, up to 6 may be graduate courses outside of CS. Up to 20 hours of coursework taken elsewhere or counted toward previous degrees can be counted toward the 27 hour regular course requirement with the approval of the GSC. Ph.D. students must demonstrate core knowledge in computer science by passing 5 specified courses:
Students should select 1 from each of the 3 categories:
Students should select two of the following courses for a total of 5 required courses:
Students may not place out of this requirement by substituting or transferring courses from other institutions. However, with approval of the Graduate Studies Committee, a student may replace one or more of these courses with a more advanced course offered by the School of Computing in the same or related subject areas. Substitute courses must be regular classes with exams and/or assignments, not seminar, readings, or independent study classes. There is a list of pre-approved substitutions listed on the GSC web page. Each advanced course can be offered as a substitute for only one required course. At most 9 credits of the 27 semester hours of regular graduate course work required of PhD candidates can consist of CS5460, CS6100, CS6810, CS5470, CS6210, CS6480, CS7520, i.e., the seven courses listed above.. Substitute courses are not subject to this 9 credit limit. For example, if one advanced course is substituted for one of the listed core knowledge courses, then 12 hours of core knowledge courses can be counted towards the 27 credit requirement. If two advanced courses are substituted, then all 15 hours or core knowledge courses can be counted toward the 27 hours requirement. There is a list of pre-approved substitutions listed on the GSC web page. Each advanced course can be offered as a substitute for only one required course.
At least 50 hours of graduate coursework is required, composed of at least 27 hours of regular graduate coursework, and at least 14 semester hours of dissertation research. Independent study and seminars cannot be used as part of the required 50 hours. Up to 20 hours of coursework taken elsewhere or counted toward previous degrees can be counted toward the 27 hour regular course requirement with the approval of the GSC.
The following 3 courses are required:
Four courses are required from these three areas, including at least one from each area:
Perception
Cognition
Action
Two additional 6000 level courses must be taken that exclude independent study, seminars, or thesis research credit.
At least 50 hours of graduate coursework is required, composed of at least 24 hours of regular graduate coursework, and at least 14 semester hours of dissertation research. Independent study and seminars cannot be used as part of the required 50 hours. Of the required 24 semester hours of regular courses, up to 6 may be graduate courses outside of CS. Up to 12 hours of coursework taken elsewhere or counted toward previous degrees can be counted toward the 24 hour regular course requirement with the approval of the GSC.
The following 4 courses are required:
In addition, a student must take four elective courses which involve the themes of scientific computing or are directly applicable to the student's dissertation research.
Course work listed on the approved Program of Study form must comprise at least 50 semester hours of graduate
course work and dissertation research, exclusive of independent study. Graduate course work applied toward an M.S.
degree may be included. At least 14 semester hours of dissertation research (CS 7970) and 30 semester hours of
graduate course work must be included. Up to 12 hours of graduate level course work already applied to other degrees
may be used in the program of study.
Required Courses PhD students must demonstrate core knowledge in computer graphics and visualization by
passing three courses from a choice of four, prior to the start of their fifth semester of study, with grades of
B or better in each course and an overall GPA in the specified courses greater than 3.5. Students must chose at
least three of these four specific courses:
Students may place out of this requirement by substituting or transferring courses from other institutions. Substitute courses must be "regular" classes with exams and/or assignments, not seminar, readings, or independent study classes. Satisfactorily completing the three courses as described constitutes completion of the Comprehensive exam; this must be completed by the the end of the fourth semester.
Elective Courses School of Computing Computer Science courses on the Program of Study must be at the 6000 level or above, excluding independent study, and research credits. Of the required 30 semester hours, up to 9 credit hours may be graduate courses outside of the School of Computing. Admissible elective courses within the School of Computing are the following:
Courses not on the list above must be approved by the student's committee to count toward the elective requirements. Independent study (CS 6950 and CS 7950) can not be included in the Program of Study for the PhD degree.
The supervisory committee must give preliminary approval of the thesis or dissertation prior to the defense. The defense can be scheduled after this approval. To schedule the defense, contact the Graduate Coordinator. Students are strongly encouraged to schedule the defense during a regular colloquium slot.
The student must provide one copy of the thesis or dissertation to the chair of the supervisory committee at least three weeks before the defense, and one copy to each of the other committee members at least two weeks prior to the defense. A complete draft of the thesis or dissertation must be delivered to the Graduate Coordinator one week prior to the announced time of defense. This copy will be made available for public access. Students are encouraged to place an additional copy on the School of Computing web pages at least one week prior to the announced time of defense.
After successfully defending the thesis or dissertation, the student must obtain approval from the Final Reader (typically the supervisory committee chair), School Director, and Dean of the Graduate School. A draft of the final thesis or dissertation must then be presented to the Thesis Editor. Successful completion of the defense must be reported to the Graduate School at least four weeks before the last day of examinations in the final semester. Students should also read the document regarding copyright notices provided by the School and declare their intentions regarding granting the School the right to photocopy the thesis or dissertation before notifying the Graduate Coordinator of completion of the defense.
The student has one month after the defense to make any revisions prior to submitting the thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School Thesis Editor. There will be at most two additional months to complete any changes required by the Thesis Editor before final acceptance. If either of these deadlines are not met, the candidate must redo the oral defense. The final thesis or dissertation must be filed one week before the end of the semester of graduation.
Students are expected to offer each committee member a bound copy of the thesis or dissertation once it is completed. Detailed policies and procedures concerning the thesis or dissertation are contained in "A Handbook for Theses and Dissertations" published by the Graduate School.