Computer Science PhD
Program Code: G-CPS-PHD
Degree Designation: Doctor of Philosophy
Department: Computer Science Department
Website: cs.duke.edu/graduate/phd
Program Summary
The Department of Computer Science offers programs leading to the MS and PhD in computer science, with areas of concentration including algorithms, artificial intelligence, scientific computing and numerical analysis, and systems and architecture.
Outstanding programs in algorithms and computational complexity; computational geometry; internet systems, networking, and security; computer architectures and distributed systems; computational biology; biological computing and nanotechnologies; databases and cloud computing; machine learning theory and applications; and artificial intelligence, computational economics, computer vision, natural language processing, and scientific computing provide exciting and challenging research opportunities to students in computer science. The research interests of the department’s faculty overlap with these areas and with research areas in other disciplines such as biology, engineering, nanotechnology, environmental sciences, economics, biochemistry, statistics, and medicine.
Academic Requirements
The PhD program consists of coursework and a sequence of research milestones culminating in a doctoral dissertation. The PhD course program includes a breadth requirement, satisfied by earning qualifying credit in four of six core areas of subject knowledge.
All entering PhD graduate students participate in a special seminar course (COMPSCI 701S) to introduce them to the discipline and profession of computer science. A student entering graduate study in computer science should have a strong undergraduate grounding in the fundamentals of calculus, linear algebra, and discrete mathematics, and basic knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and one or more higher-level computing programming languages; some undergraduate research experience is preferred. Students should consult the official departmental document Computer Science Graduate Program Degree Requirements for a full explanation of requirements not listed in this bulletin.