Full time study

To make progress on leading edge subjects in a fast moving field like computer science requires full time study. It is nearly impossible to do work that is important, timely, and novel at the pace afforded by part time effort—either one's result will be "scooped" or conditions will change within the field, rendering the work no longer current. Accordingly, PhD students will be admitted only for full time on-campus study. The department is committed to provide support (tuition and stipend) for all full time doctoral students. Such support may come either as a research assistantship or a teaching assistantship. Students are also encouraged to apply for outside scholarships.

Advised study

Each doctoral student must at all times have a single advisor who is a tenured or tenure-track Stevens faculty member. The relationship between advisor and student is not merely an administrative one. Starting early in his/her career, the student will work on research projects to be determined by the advisor and student. Through this day-to-day interaction the student will learn the form and content of high quality research. The student's advisor will also guide the student through the program; e.g., advising on such matters as which courses to take, when to attempt the qualifying exam, what dissertation topic to pursue, etc.

Advisor-advisee relationship. The department aims to admit only students whose background and interests match those of the faculty. Each admitted student will be assigned an advisor whose expertise is well matched to the student. It is hoped that most students will remain with their initial advisors throughout their career, performing research with him/her. However, the advisor-advisee relationship is a voluntary one. If either the student or the faculty member becomes dissatisfied with the relationship, then the student must seek another advisor among the faculty. A student can change advisors at any time provided that the student's new advisor is willing to accept the student.

Requirements. The Ph.D. degree requires 84 credits beyond the Bachelor's degree. Students who already possess a Master's degree may be granted up to 30 credits. The 84 credits may be fulfilled by some combination of: prior MS degree, enrollment in classroom courses, and enrollment in research participation (course CS 960). The division of a student's effort between classroom courses and research participation will vary from case to case, and is a decision that should be made by the student in consultation with and with the approval of the student's advisor. There is no minimum number of classroom courses for the doctorate.

Progress review. Each student's progress is reviewed by the entire computer science faculty near the end of the Fall and Spring semesters. Preparatory to this review, the student must submit a brief progress report describing the student's progress since the last review as well as his/her plans for the time up to the next review. After drafting the report, the student must submit it to his/her advisor for approval. Once approved, the report must be submitted to the computer science department office.

Students who are doctoral "candidates" must also submit a second, separate, report to the graduate dean's office. The definition of the term "candidate" is left to each department, and the computer science department defines candidates to be students who have passed the qualifying exam, both written and oral parts. The report for the graduate dean must be submitted on a special form—the "Doctoral Activity Report," (DAR)—available at www.stevens.edu/registrar/forms/Doctoral_Activity.pdf. It is acceptable to write a single report and submit the DAR to the department as well as to the graduate office.

The outcome of the progress review meeting is that a student is placed into one of three categories: good standing, probation, or terminated. A student in good standing is making satisfactory progress toward his/her degree, and is expected to follow through on the plans outlined in his/her progress report. A student on probation is making inadequate progress toward his/her degree. A student on probation will receive a letter from the faculty that explains what remedial actions he/she must take to return to good standing, and by what time each action must be taken. No student will be terminated without spending at least the preceding semester on probation.

Qualifying Exam. Each student must pass the qualifying exam early in his/her career. The exam has two purposes: to certify that the student is broadly educated in key areas of computer science and to demonstrate that the student has become acquainted with the process of performing original research.

Accordingly, the qualifying exam has two parts, written and oral. The written portion of the qualifying exam tests the student's knowledge of fundamental computer science at an elementary level, akin to that achieved in a Bachelor's program. The written exam tests three subjects: algorithms, programming languages, and operating systems. A student must pass all three subjects in order to pass the written exam. The exam is offered near the end of Fall and Spring semesters, timed so that grades are available at the progress review meeting.

A student may take the written exam at most twice. Any subjects passed the first time need not be taken the second time. The written exam should be taken during the student's first 2 semesters in the program. The written exam must be completely passed during the student's first 4 semesters in the program.

The purpose of the oral portion of the qualifying exam is for the student to demonstrate promise in doing independent original research. The student will perform some work as specified by and under the supervision of his/her advisor. Ideally, this work would consist of the actual production of publishable research results; however, depending on circumstances, it may be more appropriate for the student to perform some type of pre-research work. The student will write a report detailing his/her effort and accomplishments. The student will give a public, announced talk detailing his/her effort and accomplishments. The paper will be read, and the talk attended, by the student's advisor and two other pre-selected regular Stevens faculty members. These three faculty will decide whether the student has passed the oral exam. In style, the report and the talk must be similar to research presentations given by experienced researchers. If either the report or the talk is judged to be inadequate in either content or presentation, this fact will be taken into account during the faculty's evaluation of the student that semester. The student may be terminated, placed on probation, required to prepare a new report or talk, perform further research, or some other remedial action(s).

The oral qualifying exam must be passed no more than 12 months after passage of the written qualifying exam, or by the end of student's 5th semester in the program, whichever is earlier.

Thesis proposal. To demonstrate that he/she is ready to undertake dissertation research, the student must write and present a thesis proposal. The written document must describe the proposed research so that an appropriately informed computer scientist—although not necessarily someone who is an expert in the topic—can understand the proposal. The written proposal should contain an explanation of the problem and why it is important, a sketch of the proposed solution, and background information that serves to indicate that the problem is unsolved and what prior or related approaches to this or similar problems have already been investigated. After writing the document, the student must make a public presentation of the proposed work. The document must be read—and the presentation should be attended—by the persons who are expected to form the student's dissertation defense committee. The presentation must allow reasonable time for appropriate questions by any person in attendance. After the presentation, the dissertation committee will decide whether the student's proposal indicates that he/she is ready to do the proposed work successfully.

If the proposal is judged to be inadequate in either content or presentation, this fact will be taken into account during the faculty's evaluation of the student that semester. The student may be terminated, placed on probation, required to prepare a new talk, perform further research, or some other remedial action(s).

Dissertation defense. The department follows the Stevens-wide procedures for the dissertation defense, including committee composition.

Required rate of progress. Stevens imposes certain deadlines on the student:

• Students who have a Master's degree must complete the doctoral degree within 6 years.
• The thesis proposal must be presented at least 12 months before the degree is awarded.
• It is "recommended" that the qualifying exam be attempted no more than one year after entry to the program or after receipt of the Master's degree, whichever comes first.

In addition, a certain rate of progress through the program is typical and expected:

• The written qualifying exam should be attempted in the first two semesters.
• The written qualifying exam must be passed by the end of the fourth semester.
• The oral qualifying exam must be passed by the end of the fifth semester (or no more than 12 months after passage of the written exam, whichever is earlier).
• The thesis proposal should be presented by the end of the sixth semester.

These are only guidelines: meeting all these targets does not necessarily constitute satisfactory progress nor does failing to meet any necessarily constitute unsatisfactory progress.

Leave. It is expected that students, once enrolled in the doctoral program, will remain enrolled full time without interruption until graduation. However, sometimes it is necessary for a student to take a leave for a reason such as personal difficulty, health, etc. If such a situation arises, the student must petition the faculty in writing for a leave, which, if granted, will last for one semester. To extend the leave, a new petition must be filed. Neither indefinite leave nor excessive repetition of leave is permitted. While the student is on leave, any time limit he/she faces (e.g., completing the qualifying exam within two years) is suspended for the length of the leave.

Exceptions. The faculty reserve the right to make exceptions to any of the rules and procedures described above, in order to promote and preserve the health of the doctoral program and to ensure each student's prompt and effective progress through the program.