The School of Computing within the College of Engineering at WSU offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a computer science concentration.
Information for Prospective and Current Doctoral Students
Students with a completed master's or bachelor's degree can be admitted into the doctorate
program. The WSU major codes are: G10G for the master's to doctorate program, and G10H for the bachelor's to doctorate program. Both programs are offered jointly by the
School of Computing and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. All
students in the School of Computing must choose the Computer Science (CS) track, and those in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering choose
the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) track.
Admission into the School of Computing doctorate program requires a completed master's or bachelor's degree, with a grade point average of at least 3.250 in computer science, data science, or a related field. GRE is not required. Students are admitted into this program only after they prearrange with some faculty member to be their PhD research advisor. Applicants are therefore encouraged to communicate with faculty member(s) before applying for admission.
The School of Computing tries to offer Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA) to all its eligible PhD students. All domestic students automatically qualify for these assistantships. In order to be eligible for these assistantships, all international students must already have one of the following:
- A score of 22 or higher on the Speaking component of TOEFL, OR
- A score of 7.0 or higher on the Speaking portion of IELTS, OR
- A score of 50 or higher on the Test of Spoken English (TSE). The TSE/SPEAK test can be conducted on the WSU campus.
Please note that PTE or Duolingo scores are not acceptable for GTA positions.
In addition, a few Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA) are sometimes available. They are always awarded by individual faculty, and a student needs to contact their PhD advisor to check for availability. These assistantships do not have any TOEFL/IELTS/TSE score requirement.
In addition to the College of Engineering's doctorate requirements, the School of Computing requires the following:
Advisor
Each student is required to secure a faculty advisor from the School of Computing to supervise their Ph.D. dissertation research before applying for admission into the program.
Plan-of-Study
A Ph.D. Plan-of-Study should contain a minimum of 72 total credit hours, beyond undergraduate study, with the following requirements:
- Twenty-four (24) credit hours of CS 976 PhD Dissertation.
- Thirty-six (36) credit hours of coursework, including a maximum of 24 credit hours that can transfer from a master's degree. All these credits should be relevant to the School of Computing (i.e., offered by graduate programs in computer science, data science, or a related field).
- Twelve (12) credit hours of additional coursework, CS 976, or a combination of both.
- At least 60% of all hours on a Plan-of-Study (i.e., at least 44 hours) must be at the 800-level or above.
The Plan-of-Study also includes names of the student's Ph.D. advisory committee members. This committee is composed of the advisor, 3 faculty members from within and one faculty member from outside the School of Computing.
Students are encouraged to consult their PhD advisors and prepare their Plan-of-Study within one year of starting their program.
Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
The student's Ph.D advisory committee, at the request of the advisor, conducts a Ph.D. Qualifying Exam to evaluate the student's research readiness to eventually complete the dissertation requirements. The committee determines whether the student has demonstrated a preliminary understanding of the research literature relevant to the intended research direction.
The Qualifying Exam is scheduled only after an approved Plan-of-Study is on file. The student is encouraged to complete the Qualifying Exam within the initial two academic years in the program. A link to the Qualifying Exam Form to be filled is below.
The advisor, in consultation with the committee, may require the student to retake the Qualifying Exam, if there are significant changes in the student's studies since the last successful attempt (e.g., original advisor, or committee, or dissertation-direction changes).
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Exam
The Dissertation Proposal Exam is required to ensure that the student's proposed research outcomes and publication plan qualify as a Ph.D. dissertation. The Dissertation Proposal Exam is scheduled only after the Qualifying Exam has been successfully cleared.
A Ph.D. student completes their program by passing the Final Dissertation Defense. This is an oral presentation and defense of their Ph.D research and dissertation document. It is carried out in front of the advisory committee and is open to public. At least 5 months must elapse between the Dissertation Proposal Exam and the Final Dissertation Defense.
Helpful Documents and Links
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- SoC Blue Card Fillable Form (Needs to be submitted before registering in non-standard courses, like CS 893 and CS 976)
- Ph.D. Qualifying Exam Form - SoC (Needs to be submitted when completing the Qualifying Exam)
- Doctoral Plan of Study Form (Needs to be submitted to create a new Plan-of-Study, or modify an existing one)
- SoC Dissertation Proposal Examination Agreement (Needs to be submitted when completing the Dissertation Proposal Exam, together with the next form)
- Graduate School Dissertation Proposal Approval (Needs to be submitted when completing the Dissertation Proposal Exam, together with the previous form)
- Mandatory Professional and Scholarly Integrity Training (Needs to be completed by all students and marked off in the Plan-of-Study)
- More Graduate School Forms