The Ph.D. Program provides computer science research opportunities for individuals who have a career goal of:
A college or university faculty member
Multidisciplinary research
A career in industry as a leader in computer technology
Biomedical computing research
The Ph.D. program usually requires a minimum of four years of study and research beyond the bachelor's degree. Students interested in the Ph.D., and with a sufficient computer science background, may apply to the Ph.D. program directly after the B.S.
For accepted students, more detailed information is available about the first phase of study, culminating in the [[Ph.D. Level I Qualifying Exam]]. Students taking this exam should review the [[Reading List for Qualifying Exam]].
Acceptance into the Ph.D. program is highly competitive. All academic and scholarly achievements (e.g., all parts of the GRE, TOEFL, advanced area exams, advanced degrees, GPA, and scholarly publications) are employed in the evaluation process. Recently accepted applicants have averaged over:
An application package is considered in its entirety, but requirements typically include:
If one of these areas is particularly strong, it might offset a weakness in one of the other areas. Admission is based upon consideration of all of your strengths and weaknesses.
Note: Faculty should NOT be contacted to inquire about available financial assistance or a student's potential for admission. However, it is fine to contact them to discuss research interests.
We regularly have many positions open for full financial assistance, both due to graduating students and new research grants. All graduate applications are automatically be considered for financial assistance.
Applications: January 14, 2008
Systems: January 16, 2008
Theory: January 18, 2008
Each session will take place from 9:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. on the scheduled day.
This exam is open to all M.S. and Ph. D. students in good standing.
Each part of the exam is graded equally. Questions in the areas will cover material in the Level I Exam study file in the CIS Department office. Generally, the areas are based upon the Reading List for Qualifying Exams of twelve books, nine of which are textbooks for graduate courses. Questions may involve integration across areas. The exam is closed-book.
Notes
All action is centered in the CIS Conference Room (CH-132) and adjacent rooms (if any are needed).
All students must address questions in every area of the exam.
The Examination Committee reviews each student's performance and makes recommendations to the Graduate Faculty, the Graduate Program Director and Chairman. Assessment of a student's performance is based on overall performance in all three areas. The exam is either passed or failed in its entirety. That is, to qualify for further Ph. D. studies in cases of not passing, the student must retake the exam in its entirety. At most one retake is permitted. Retaking the exam is contingent upon approval of the Examination Committee.
A packet of past Level I exams and related course information exists in the aforementioned Level I Exam study file. The current exam is not guaranteed to follow format or content represented by previous exams.
Please notify Janet Tatum by January 3, 2008, if you intend to take the exam.
The Ph.D. program consists of three phases. First is preparation for a written Qualifying Exam in the areas of applications, systems and theory. During this phase, students also begin research in seminars and prepare contributions to papers in journals and conference proceedings. In the second phase, additional coursework, research and writing establish the foundation for a dissertation proposal. A guidance committee administers a Candidacy Examination focusing on this proposal. Success leads to the student's admission to candidacy. The third and final phase consists of research, paper and dissertation writing, and a final defense. Formal coursework occurs in this third phase only when extraordinary opportunities appear for the student to enhance his/her background in principal areas of interest. There is a residency requirement of one academic year with full-time study, normally in Phase III. There is no foreign language requirement.
Please note the following:
Effective for the January 2008 Qualifying Examination
Document Date: March 2007
Specific chapters are indicated where relevant. If not indicated, then entire book is covered.
(The optional coursework is shown in parenthesis adjacent to each topic name.)
Graduate courses are one way for the student to learn some of the material on the reading lists. Students who have little experiences in a subject, or are weak in this area will probably take the associated course. This issue should be discussed with your graduate advisor. A course will not cover all of the topics on the reading list for a given subject, so even if the course if taken, the reading list must be examined independently.
Artificial Intelligence (CS 760 Principles of Artificial Intelligence)
S. Russell and P. Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Prentice-Hall, 2nd edition, 2002.
Computer Graphics (CS 770 Computer Graphics)
James D. Foley, Andries van Dam, Steven K. Feiner and John B. Hughes, Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, 2nd edition, Addison Wesley, 1996, Chapters 1-16.
Gerald Farin, Curves and Surfaces for Computer-Aided Geometric Design, 5th edition, Academic Press, 2001, Chapters 2-6 (Bezier Curves), 14 (Bezier Surfaces), 10 and 19 (Differential Geometry).
Databases (CS 710 Database Systems I)
H. Garcia-Molina, J.D. Ullman and J. Widom, Database Systems: The Complete Book, Prentice-Hall, 2002, Chapters 1-3, 5-8, 10-18.
Programming Languages(CS 505 Programming Languages)
R. W. Sebesta, Concepts of Programming Languages, 8th edition, Addison-Wesley, 2008.
Software Engineering (CS 720 Software Development I)
Collected Papers on Software Engineering, available at 115 Campbell Hall.
Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, Addison-Wesley, 1995. (Chapters 1 and 2, plus the following patterns: Abstract Factory, Singleton, Adapter, Composite, Decorator, Façade, Chain of Responsibility, Command, Observer, Visitor)
Computer Architecture(CS 730 Computer Systems)
John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4th edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 2007.
W. Stallings, Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles, 5th edition, Prentice Hall, 2005.
Algorithms and Data Structures (CS 303 Algorithms and Data Structures)
R. Sedgewick, Algorithms in Java, Parts 1-4: Fundamentals, Data Structures, Sorting, Searching, 3rd edition, Addison Wesley, 2002
R. Sedgewick, Algorithms in Java, Parts 5: Graph Algorithms, 3rd edition, Addison Wesley, 2004
Automata and Computation (CS 750 Automata Theory)
John E. Hopcroft, Rajeev Motwani, and Jeffrey D. Ullman, Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation, Addison Wesley, 2000, Chapters 1-10.
Numerical Computing (CS 780 Numerical Computing Foundations)
Gene H. Golub and Charles F. Van Loan, Matrix Computations, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Chapters 1-5, 7-8, and 10.
Steven C. Chapra and Raymond P. Canale, Numerical Methods for Engineers, 5th edition, McGraw Hill, 2006, Chapters 5-6 (Roots), 21-22 (Integration).
C. E. Wee and R. N. Goldman, "Elimination and Resultants", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Part 1 in January 1995 (Vol 15, No 1), pages 69-77; and Part 2 in March 1995 (Vol 15, No 2), pages 60-69.
Research can be carried out in various areas, including the following research groups:
Also see Research.
Also see Faculty.
This document is intended to provide information and guidance for students who have been accepted into the CIS Ph.D. program. The Ph.D. program consists of three phases.
The goal of phase I is to provide a broad foundation in the field on which a student can later build a research project. The phase culminates with the qualifying examination, which covers topics in Theory, Systems and Applications. The requirements for phase I are designed to encourage students to get involved with research early in their studies. Students can opt for a reading list to prepare for the qualifying examination rather than taking all of the designated coursework. The intent of this option is to provide flexibility during phase I in which a student has the opportunity to take courses that relate to research interest during this time and accelerate progress in the program. However, the student should keep in mind that the preparation for and passing of the qualifying exam is the primary goal during this first phase. Research is secondary.
The qualifying examination is offered each year in January. The entire examination must be taken at each attempt. The Level 1 exams must be passed by January of the third academic year in the PhD program.
For information about the current Qualifying Examination, click here.
Registration: Coursework in preparation for the qualifying examination and other courses and seminars, which are selected to help explore and develop an area of research for phase II.
The goal of phase II is the development of a dissertation proposal acceptable to a research guidance committee. During this phase, the student will work under the close direction of a research advisor and participate in research seminars. In addition to making presentations at departmental research seminars, students are expected to make a presentation of preliminary research results at regional or national research conferences on and off campus. The main on-campus research presentation even is Graduate Student Research Day, held during the spring semester. Regional conferences that are popular and convenient for this initial presentation and publication are the annual meetings of the Alabama Academy of Science and the Mid-Southeast Chapter of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), and the ACM Southeast Conference.
During phase II, the student forms a research committee, consisting of at least 3 members from the CIS department and at least 2 outside members, such that the majority of the committee is from CIS. All members of the committee must be on the UAB Graduate Faculty. Members from outside UAB can be made members of the UAB Graduate Faculty through a formal request to the Graduate School (see the CIS department secretary for information).
During this phase of the program, students are required to demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate published research, confirm their understanding of the important issues in the chosen area, and to propose an original contribution which will advance the state of knowledge in that area. Multi-disciplinary research is encouraged so that the contributions will not only impact the field of computer science but other disciplines and research groups on campus as well. The culmination of this phase is the development of a dissertation proposal, which is evaluated by the candidate's thesis committee. Guidelines for the preparation of the dissertation proposal are available here. If the committee approves the dissertation research proposal, the student is admitted to candidacy. There is no foreign language or minor requirement.
The Level 2 Exam must be successfully passed within 2.5 years of the completion of the Level 1 Exam.
Registration: Advanced courses and seminars in the student�s area of research as assigned by the advisor and directed research hours in CS796.
NOTE: Ph.D. students who do not have an M.S. degree in computer science should apply for the M.S. in CIS on the way to the Ph.D. degree when they accumulate 33 hours of regular graduate courses and three hours of seminar credit.
Note: All IRB (Institutional Review Board) approvals must be obtained in advance of the Phase II exam and of the work that is being done. Please see http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=30246 for details.
Note: A copy of the approved Phase II thesis proposal must be given to the Graduate Program Director to place into the student's file.
During this phase, the proposed research is carried out under the direction of the research advisor and dissertation committee. Students are expected to publish research results as they are developed in the proceedings of major conferences and journals during this phase. This final phase culminates in a public final defense of the dissertation research.
The Level 3 exam must be completed before the end of the student's 7th year in the PhD program. This is a Graduate School requirement.
Registration: Only seminars and CS799.
Note: An accepted journal paper first-authored by the student is expected before graduation. Proof of acceptance must be provided to the Graduate Program Director before completion of the degree, either in the form of a copy of the letter of acceptance from the editor or a preprint/reprint of the article.
Note: The preprint/reprint option for the dissertation in the CIS department is defined as follows. Three or more accepted journal papers first-authored by the Ph.D. student define the bulk of the dissertation. An introduction and conclusions flank those papers. The thesis committee must agree to this option at the Phase II proposal meeting.
Note: A copy of the dissertation must be submitted to the Graduate Program Director in pdf format before completion of the Ph.D.