CS-PHD - Computer Science (PhD)
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Program Overview
Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science
The PhD degree is intended primarily for students who desire a career in research, advanced development, or teaching. For this type of work, a broad background in computer science and the engineering sciences, and intensive study and research experience in a specialized area are the necessary requisites.
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is conferred on candidates who have demonstrated to the satisfaction of our department:
High attainment in a particular field of knowledge.
Ability to do independent investigation and present the results of research.
They must satisfy the general requirements for advanced degrees, the program requirements specified, and the doctoral requirements for candidacy, as outlined in our department.
Guidelines for Reasonable Progress
By the end of the first academic year, you should align with a permanent advisor. Students are welcome to switch advisors; however, a student should not have significant periods of time (after the first year) with no advisor.
A student must make satisfactory progress in their research, as determined by their advisor.
Three foundation/breadth requirements must be completed by spring quarter of the second year.
A student should meet the eligibility requirements and file for Candidacy by the end of the second year in their program.
All courses must be completed by the end of the third year. Any deviation from this timeline must be approved in advance by both the student advisor and the director of the PhD program.
By spring quarter of the third year, a student should pass a Qualifying Examination in the area of their intended dissertation.
Within one year of passing the Qualifying Examination, a student should form a reading committee and submit a signed Reading Committee form to the PhD Student Services Office at phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu.
By spring quarter of the fourth year, a student should schedule the Thesis Proposal with the reading committee members and submit the Thesis Proposal form to the PhD Student Services Office at phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu.
The Teaching Requirement must be completed by their fourth year. As a matter of policy, students are required to satisfy half of the teaching requirement within the first two years of their program. Students are encouraged to complete the teaching requirement early in their stay to eliminate conflicts with later dissertation work.
The University Oral Examination must be completed at least a quarter before the degree is conferred.
Admissions Information
PhD | Stanford Computer Science Admissions/Application Information
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Degree Requirements
The following are general department requirements. Contact the Computer Science PhD administrator for details.
A student should plan and complete a coherent program of study covering the basic areas of computer science and related disciplines. The student’s advisor is primarily responsible for the program’s adequacy, which is subject to review by the CS PhD Student Services Office.
The first year of the PhD program is spent working with one to three different professors on a rotating basis. The intent is to allow the first-year PhD student to work with various professors before aligning with a permanent program advisor. Students who don’t need the entire year to find a professor to align with will have the option of aligning within the first or second quarter.
The course Departmental Lecture Series seminar allows faculty to explain their research to first-year CS PhD students. First-year CS PhD students must attend 2/3 of the classes to receive credit.
A student must complete 135 course units for graduation (a total of 10 units of PE courses can be counted towards this). Computer Science PhD students take eight to ten units per quarter. Credit for coursework completed elsewhere (up to a maximum of 45 course units) may be applied toward graduation requirements. Students must also complete at least three units of coursework with at least four different faculty members. There are NO courses explicitly required by the CS PhD program except for the 1 unit course Departmental Lecture Series and at least three (3) CS499 (Advanced Reading and Research) or its equivalent. At least one course must be taken for a letter grade. A 3.0 GPA must be maintained.
Students must satisfy the foundation/breadth requirements to remain in the PhD program. The department provides a clear roadmap for these requirements, including the option to take or waive the following foundation courses: CS103, 109, 111, and 161. The breadth course requirement will be three courses from four predefined areas and cannot be waived. A student needs to pass the courses with a grade of B+ or higher. A student must fulfill three foundation/breadth requirements by the end of year two and complete all foundation/breadth requirements by the end of the third year.
Once these requirements are met, and a student has completed at least a three-unit graduate-level course with each of four instructors who are members of the Academic Council, they can apply for candidacy by the end of their second year in the program. The department’s website has an up-to-date course list that satisfies the breadth requirements.
The student must pass a qualifying exam in the general area of their expected dissertation by the end of the third year in the program, ensuring a clear and structured progression.
First-year CS PhD students must attend two-thirds of the classes to receive credit.
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To be taken in the first quarter of the student’s first year.
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Or its equivalent.
All PhD students must enroll in at least three units of CS 499/CS499P or equivalent (Research units with your non-CS faculty advisor’s home department) for all quarters.
Students will be required to take or waive CS 103, 109, 111, 161.
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Completion of a CS Bachelor’s degree and/ or CS Master’s degree automatically waives all four courses.
Waiving will be lenient based on sufficient coverage of a predefined set of topics for each course and transparent.
Double dipping: At the discretion of the waiver approver, a specific, more advanced Stanford course could be assigned to waive foundation courses (e.g., CS 154 for CS 103), allowing students to fill both foundation and breadth requirements simultaneously.
*Note: Units from waived courses to satisfy the foundation requirements will not count toward candidacy. If you have waived all the foundation requirements due to your CS bachelor's or master's Degree, those units will not count toward candidacy.
The breadth course requirement will be three (3) total courses from four (4) predefined areas (cannot be two (2) from the same area).
Students need to pass the courses with a grade of B+ or higher.
Breadth courses cannot be waived (these courses must be taken while in the PhD program).
Three foundation/breadth requirements need to be completed by the end of year two. All courses need to be completed by the end of year three. Any deviation from this timeline must be approved in advance by the student advisor and the director of the PhD program.
Courses in this group emphasize mathematics and formal reasoning as it applies to foundational questions about computation.
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Courses in this group seek to build models of observed phenomena. They emphasize building these models from data, with the goal of predicting, classifying or otherwise structuring observations.
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CS273A
Courses in this group explore the construction of computing artifacts that meet design constraints or requirements. They emphasize not only what we build but how we build it and the challenges in doing so. Problems in this area often, but not always, include performance (speed, memory, energy), scalability, tradeoffs, complex software, and considering the quality of the artifact itself in addition to its capabilities.
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Courses in this group examine how computing and technology affect and interact with humans and societies, seeking to place artifacts in the context in which they are used. In particular, this area will include courses dealing with computation’s societal impact and HCI courses.
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The Computer Science Department allows only up to a maximum of three units (one unit each summer) of Curriculum Practical Training (CPT) in the entire academic career. CS 390A, B, and C may each be taken once (full-time). Fulltime internships are allowed only during summer quarter.
CPT is an authorized period of employment that is an integral or essential part of a graduate student’s curriculum.
This information is designed for students in F-1 status. It will provide information on an employment opportunity called “curricular practical training” (off-campus employment).
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Overview
The Qualifying Examination tests a student’s depth of knowledge and familiarity in their area of specialization. Qualifying Exams are generally offered in all areas covered by the written Comprehensive Exam. A student can request a Qualifying Exam in an area not already offered, such as one that cuts across current divisions. The feasibility of such a request is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Ph.D. Program Committee. A student should pass a qualifying exam no later than the end of their third year.
A student may take the Qualifying exams only twice. In some cases, a conditional pass is awarded. The student is credited with the Pass when the designated conditions have been met (such as TAing a particular class, taking a course, or reading additional material in a specific area). If a student fails the Qualifying Exam a second time, the PhD Program Committee is contacted, as this would mean the student is not “making reasonable progress.” This is cause for dismissal by default from the PhD program. The Qualifying Exams are a university requirement and are taken very seriously. Therefore, sufficient time and in-depth preparation must be given to the student’s Quals area to ensure success.
The format of the Qualifying Exams varies from year to year and area to area depending on the faculty member or Quals Chair in charge of each specific exam. Examples are in-class written exams, “take-home” written exams, oral exams, written assignments, and/or a combination of the above. The Quals Chair administers the exams, and the results must be submitted to the Ph.D. Program Officer for the required entry into the university’s Axess (PeopleSoft) and departmental database systems. Passing the Qualifying Exam certifies the student is ready to begin dissertation work in the chosen area. If a student wishes to do dissertation work in an area other than their Qualifying Exam area, the student’s advisor and/or the faculty in the new area will determine whether an additional exam is required.
Overview
After passing the Qualifying Examination, a student must secure the agreement of a department faculty member to act as the dissertation advisor. Typically, this is the program advisor, but sometimes the dissertation advisor may be in another department. In addition, the student must form a Dissertation Reading Committee composed of the principal dissertation advisor and at least two additional readers.
Reading Committee
The Reading Committee Form should be signed by all the committee members and submitted to the CS PhD Student Services at phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu no later than one year after passing a qualifying exam.
Regulations Concerning Composition of Reading Committee
The principal advisor and at least one of the other committee members must be Academic Council members. This is a university regulation.
At least two committee members must be CS professors or joint CS professors (academic council members, i.e., Stanford faculty). Courtesy and Adjunct CS professors do not count. This is a departmental requirement.
The Reading Committee supervises the dissertation research, advises the student, evaluates the student’s progress, and signs the final draft of the dissertation.
These Committee Members also often serve on the student’s Orals Committee because of their research knowledge.
Readers, not Academic Council members (limit one), need prior approval from the Graduate Division to serve on your Reading Committee by filing a Petition Form.
Overview
The thesis proposal allows students to obtain formative feedback from their reading committee to guide them to a successful, high-quality dissertation. The thesis proposal (a private session only with the student's advisor/co-advisor and reading committee members) should allow time for discussion with the reading committee about the direction of the thesis research.
Thesis Proposal
The student must present an oral thesis proposal and submit the form to their full Reading Committee by the spring quarter of the fourth year. The Thesis Proposal Form must be filled out, signed, and approved by all the committee members and submitted to the CS PhD Student Services at phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu.
The suggested format should include:
A description of the research problem and its significance
A description of previous work in the area and the “state of the art” before the student’s work
A description of preliminary work the student has done on the problem and any research results of that work
An outline of the remaining work to be done and a timeline for accomplishing it
Overview
Teaching experience is valuable for CS PhD students. It allows them to demonstrate their knowledge of CS topics, improve their public speaking and presentation skills, and explore future career options in academia.
Teaching Requirement
CS PhD Students are required to complete course assistantships (CA) or teaching fellow (TF) during their academic career for courses in Computer Science numbered 100 or above. This requirement can be completed with either two (2) 50% appointments or four (4) 25% appointments of CAships or TF for a total of 100%.
A CA receives the same salary and tuition benefits as a research assistant (RA). A TF receives a higher salary.
Note: The teaching requirement must be completed by the fourth year. As a matter of policy, a student should satisfy half of the teaching requirement in the first two years of their program. Students are encouraged to complete the teaching requirement early in their stay to eliminate conflicts with later dissertation work.
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching Award
A graduating PhD student is eligible to receive a certificate of distinction in teaching if the following conditions are met:
At least one CS faculty member who has supervised the student as a course assistant nominates the student for this distinction; this nomination is e-mailed to Jay Subramanian.
The student should have completed five (5) 50% CAships as a Course Assistant (CA) in CS courses, of which at least one course should be taught as a Teaching Fellow (TF) with primary responsibility for organizing and teaching a course (tutored video does not qualify).
Students are eligible to apply for candidacy if the following are applicable:
Students have permanently aligned with an advisor/s. Aligning with an advisor outside of the CS Department will require a CS co-advisor (courtesy faculty do not count).
Have completed three (3) foundation/breadth requirements; this could be a combination of foundation and breadth courses taken as a current CS PhD student (foundation waivers do not count). For more information, please visit: Foundation & Breadth Requirements.
Have completed at least a three-unit graduate-level course with each of the four instructors who are members of the academic council as a CS PhD student.
Candidacy makes you eligible for the post-candidacy rate and sets your five-year time clock in motion to complete the rest of your PhD requirements. All students must file for candidacy by the end of their second year in the program.
Stanford University requires an Oral Examination for the PhD Program. The department chooses the format of the University Oral Examination. In the Computer Science Department, it is a Defense of the dissertation. The Oral examination format is a public presentation lasting approximately one hour, followed by questions from the examining committee in a private session (a maximum of three hours).
The university oral examination must be completed at least a quarter before the degree is conferred. Orals may be scheduled any time after a substantial portion of the dissertation is complete. The University prefers that orals not be scheduled during the first two weeks of the quarter, finals week, or breaks.
University Oral Examination
The Orals Committee must have at least five members, including one Chair and four voting members. Four of the five must be Academic Council members. The Orals committee will consist of the following:
Chair. The chair of the oral committee is typically selected by the student and advisor, usually at the suggestion of the reading committee members. The chair must be an academic council member and may be a professor emeritus.
The chair of the examining committee may not have a full or joint appointment in the advisor's or student's department but may have a courtesy appointment in the department.
The chair can be from the same Department as any other member(s) of the examination committee. It can be from the student's minor Department, provided that the student's advisor does not have a full or joint appointment in the minor Department.
To maintain impartiality, the oral chair may not simultaneously serve on the student's dissertation reading committee.
Readers. The student’s Reading Committee members usually serve on the Orals Committee. Readers who are not Academic Council members (limit 1) need prior approval from the Graduate Division to sit on the Orals Committee by filing a Petition Form along with the Orals Form.
Advisor. The student’s advisor is a member of the committee.
A student must submit a University Oral Exam Schedule form and a copy of their dissertation abstract at least two weeks before the proposed Orals date. The PhD student services office will ensure the committee is composed correctly.
Form/s should be submitted as a PDF and emailed to phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu. Jay Subramanian, Director of Graduation Admissions and PhD Program, approves all forms on behalf of the Department chair. The CS PhD Student Services Team will collect her signature after you submit your form/s.
The most important requirement for the PhD degree is the dissertation, which is the culmination of the student's research and hard work.
Dissertation
Review the Dissertation and Theses website for a comprehensive list of items to prepare and submit for your dissertation.
The Dissertation & Thesis Center opens to submissions on the first day of instruction each quarter. Students must first enroll and have applied to graduate to access the portal.