Ph.D. Degree Program

These guidelines for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in the Department of Computer Science at UTSA describe requirements and procedures that supplement, but do not supersede, the Doctoral Degree Regulations listed in the UTSA Graduate Catalog. Requirements for the doctoral degree program include successful completion of 90 credit hours (30 hours course work, 42 hours research, and 18 hours flexible electives), the qualifying examination, and a dissertation. An approximate timeline for completing the program is as follows:

• 1st year. Take the 4 core courses: CS 5363, CS 5513, CS 5523, and CS 5633. Complete about 1/2 of the course work by the end of the 1st year. Choose an Advisor by the end of the 1st year
  
  
• 2nd year. Pass the qualifying exam at the beginning of the 2nd year (note: the core courses are the subject of the qualifying exam). Take Doctoral Research every semester with your Advisor. Complete nearly all of the course work by the end of the 2nd year.
  
  
• 3rd year. Write a dissertation proposal. Form a dissertation proposal exam committee. Successfully defend the dissertation proposal by the end of the 3rd year. Apply for candidacy.
  
  
• 4th and any additional years. Form a dissertation committee with your Advisor as the Chair of this committee. (normally, this committee will be about the same as the oral examination committee). Write a dissertation. Pass the final oral examination.

Academic standing and financial assistance (such as fellowships and assistantships) are contingent on making satisfactory progress toward the requirements in this policy and the Doctoral Degree Regulations in the Graduate Catalog. To obtain an exception to the requirements, a student must submit a written petition to the Ph.D. Graduate Advisor of Record with any appropriate supporting documentation. The petition will be considered by the Computer Science Graduate Studies Committee. Exceptions will be granted only under extraordinary circumstances.

Several people are especially important for helping a student navigate through these requirements. They are the Graduate Advisor of Record, the Academic Advisor, and the Doctoral Advisor(s). The Computer Science Graduate Advisor of Record is responsible for the administration of the Computer Science graduate degree programs, including the Ph. D. program and the MS program. The Academic Advisor is a computer science faculty designated to guide the student before the student has chosen a Doctoral Advisor. The Doctoral Advisor is a computer science professor who directs the research by the student, with the goals of drafting a dissertation proposal for the dissertation proposal exam and writing a dissertation for graduation.

When starting the Ph.D. program, each student is assigned and advised by an Academic Advisor, who should be consulted each semester before the student registers for courses. If an Academic Advisor is not available, the student should consult the Graduate Advisor of Record.

In a student's 1st year, the student should choose a professor to be the student's Doctoral Advisor, with that professor's consent. (It is also possible for a student to have two Doctoral Advisors, who jointly supervise the student.) A Doctoral Advisor must be a member of the Computer Science Graduate Council. A Doctoral Advisor must be chosen after the student has passed the qualifying exam. A student may change his or her Doctoral Advisor at any time by submitting a Change of Advisor form for approval by the Graduate Studies Committee.

All students seeking a doctoral degree at UTSA must be admitted to candidacy. One part of the requirements for admission to candidacy is passing a Ph.D. qualifying examination and a dissertation proposal examination. Notice that if the student changes a Doctoral Advisor after passing the student's dissertation proposal exam and changes to a different the research topic under the supervision of the new Doctoral Advisor, the student must pass another dissertation proposal exam on the new research topic. Students should consult the University's Doctoral Degree Regulations for the other requirements.

The Ph.D. qualifying examination is a written examination to be taken at the beginning of each Fall and Spring semester. Full-time doctoral students must take the qualifying exam by the beginning of their third semester; part-time doctoral students must take the qualifying exam within one year after completion of the core courses. Students who fail their first attempt at the qualifying exam are allowed to make a second attempt on the next qualifying exam. No more than two attempts to pass the qualifying exam are permitted.

The qualifying exam consists of sections on the following subjects: Computer Architecture, Analysis of Algorithms, and a subject chosen individually by students, which can be either Operating Systems or Programming Languages and Compilers. A common syllabus for each of these subjects is maintained and available to students. Each section of the exam only consists of questions based on the syllabus. The 3 sections of the exam will be scheduled on 3 consecutive days, approaximately 7 to 10 days before the Fall or Spring semester starts.

The qualifying exam will be made and graded by a qualifying examination committee composed of eight computer science graduate faculty members, with two members for each subject area of the exam. The committee is formed by the Graduate Advisor of Record, in consultation with the Graduate Studies Committee. The exam is graded by each grader assiging a pass or fail grade to the section he or she grades. To pass the qualifying exam, a student must receive no more than one fail grade.

If a student failed the Qualifying Exam at the first attempt, he or she is allowed to make a second attempt at the next qualifying exam, in which the student needs only to re-take the section(s) he or she has failed.

After passing the qualifying exam, a student must choose a Doctoral Advisor and register for Doctoral Research with that Doctoral Advisor in each of the subsequent semesters until the student passes the Dissertation Proposal Examination.

After the student has completed the course work in the student's Program of Study (core courses, designated electives, and free electives), the next step is to take the dissertation proposal exam. The dissertation proposal exam must be taken within one year after completion of all course work. No more than two attempts to pass a dissertation proposal exam are permitted.

The dissertation proposal exam is conducted by a four member faculty committee, which is chaired by the student's Doctoral Advisor. The remaining members, who must be members of the Computer Science Graduate Council, are selected by the student and his or her Doctoral Advisor, and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee. The student's Program of Study must also be submitted to and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee at this time. One additional member from outside the Computer Science Department may be chosen. This is the student's Dissertation Proposal Examination Committee.

A written dissertation proposal should be submitted to the student's Dissertation Proposal Examination Committee at least two weeks before the examination. The dissertation proposal should

• present an overview of the background and related work in the field,
• explain the basic idea of the dissertation topic,
• argue why that topic is original, challenging, and important,
• state what kind of results are expected, and present preliminary results, if any, and
• make a plausible argument that these results are obtainable within a reasonable amount of time.

The student should write the dissertation proposal as soon as he/she can address the issues described above. The dissertation proposal should be 20 to 30 double spaced pages. The presentation should be approximately 40 minutes long. Following the presentation, the dissertation proposal examination Committee will hold a closed-door oral examination of the student based on the proposal and on relevant background from the student's Program of Study. Only the committee members and other graduate faculty may attend the exam session. The total length of the presentation and the examination will not exceed two hours. After the examination, the student will be asked to leave. The committee will discuss and vote on the student's performance in the dissertation proposal examination. Unanimous approval of the dissertation proposal examination Committee is required for the student to pass the examination. After a student passes both the qualifying exam and the dissertation proposal exam, the student is "admitted to candidacy." The answers to a set of Frequently Asked Questions to the dissertation proposal examination is available online.

If a student changes the research direction after passing a dissertation proposal exam, as determined by the Dissertation Proposal Examination Committee, the student will be required to take a new dissertation proposal exam. This will often be the case after a student changes the Doctoral Advisor.

A student who wants to exit the Ph. D. program may apply to switch to the computer science Master's Degree program, and to obtain a M.S. degree in Computer Science. All requirements for the M.S. degree must be satisfied. All the graduate courses taken as a doctoral student except Doctoral Research and Doctoral Dissertation may be counted towards a M.S. degree. The passing of the Ph.D. qualifying exam and dissertation proposal exam satisfies the comprehensive exam requirement for the M.S. degree.

A student who wants to switch to the Master's Degree Program must petition for a change in status from a Ph.D. seeking student to an M.S. seeking student. The petition must be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee prior to the deadline for applying for graduation.

A student who has a Ph.D. Stipend automatically rescinds the stipend and any tuition waiver upon changing status to an M.S. seeking student. A student who applies for the M.S. degree after being admitted to Ph. D. candidacy retains status as a Ph.D. seeking student.

The student's Doctoral Advisor, who chairs the dissertation committee, must be a member of the Department of Computer Science and of the Graduate Council of the University of Texas at San Antonio. Additional members of the Dissertation Committee are recommended by the student's Doctoral Advisor, in consultation with the student, for approval by the Graduate Studies Committee. Upon recommendation of the Graduate Studies Committee, the Office of the Provost and the Vice President for Academic Affairs appoints the Dissertation Committee. The committee consists of a minimum five faculty members, including the student's Doctoral Advisor, who consults with other members of the committee as the work proceeds. Four of the members will be from Computer Science and one from outside the Department. All the members of the Dissertation Committee must be Members or Special Members of the UTSA Graduate Council. A committee member from outside the University can become a Special Member of the Graduate Council with approval by the Computer Science and the UTSA Graduate Council.

After passing the dissertation proposal examination, the next steps are writing a dissertation and passing the final oral examination. The final oral examination is administered and evaluated by the student's Dissertation Committee and covers the dissertation and the general field of the dissertation. The finaloral examination consists of an open presentation of the dissertation, followed by a closed oral examination. Only the committee members and other graduate faculty may attend the closed portion of the examination. The length of the examination is no more than two hours. Unanimous approval by the Dissertation Committee is required to pass the finaloral examination. Also, the written dissertation must be unanimously approved by the Dissertation Committee.