Ph.D. in Computer Science

The Ph.D. in Computer Science educates the next generation of researchers who will advance CS theory and applications across academia and industry - helping address a nationwide shortage of doctoral-qualified computer scientists. Students join an intellectually rigorous, interdisciplinary research community tackling critical problems in healthcare, telecommunications, finance, security, climate, and energy. The program provides deep training in theoretical and applied computer science, research methods, and emerging technologies, along with hands-on experience in AI, machine learning, IoT, cybersecurity, data science, mobile and cloud computing, human-computer interaction, and augmented and virtual reality. Students graduate prepared for faculty positions and industry R&D roles including AI and CS researcher, ML engineer, algorithm developer, security specialist, robotics researcher, and systems engineer. In addition to coursework, students complete a qualifying exam and an original doctoral thesis.

Successful incoming students to the Ph.D. program have a master’s degree in computer science or a closely related field (e.g., computer engineering, data science, applied math) from an accredited institution. Students without a related master's are normally expected to start in a Katz CS (or related) MS first.