Computer Science

The Department of Computer Science offers graduate work leading to the master of science degree in computer science with either a Thesis (Plan A) or Non-Thesis (Plan B) option.

Program Expectations

Summary of Requirements	Hours
CORE REQUIREMENT: COSC 5110	10
BREADTH REQUIREMENT:
One Theory course, One Artificial Intelligence course, and Two Systems courses	12
Additional Courses	20
Minimum Coursework Total Hours	42
Dissertation Research (COSC 5980)	12
Other Credits (may include COSC 5980)	18
Total Hours	72

Ph.D. Program:
Each doctoral student will have a supervising committee of at least five members appointed. The primary functions of this committee are to suggest coursework, to administer the qualifying, preliminary, and final examinations, and to oversee and evaluate the research of the candidate. The committee will consist of at least three members of the computer science department faculty and at least one non-COSC faculty member. The standards that this committee should consider when recommending programs of study are outlined in the following sections.

Coursework Requirements
A total of at least 72 credit hours at the 4000-level or above must be completed.  A minimum of 42 of these credit hours must be taken as coursework, including the CORE REQUIREMENTS and the BREADTH REQUIREMENTS.  A minimum of 12 hours of COSC 5980 (Dissertation Research) must be taken. No more than 6 hours of 4000-level computer science coursework and no more than 12 hours total of 4000-level coursework, may be counted toward the total credit requirement.  Coursework from other departments may count towards degree requirements with the approval of the supervising Ph.D. committee.  All course requirements MUST be completed or enrolled with satisfactory midterm progress prior to scheduling the Ph.D. Final Examination.

UW Coursework Requirements for Ph.D. Transfer Students
Ph.D. transfer students must complete at least 24 credit hours at the University of Wyoming.  At least 12 credits of the CORE & BREADTH REQUIREMENTS must be taken at the University of Wyoming.  No more than one class per category of breadth may be counted towards this 12-credit total. The research writing course and algorithms course credits may be counted toward this 12-credit total.  Seminar credits may not be counted toward this 12-credit total.

Program
A program of original and innovative research will be undertaken by the candidate. At the end of this program, the candidate will document this research in a dissertation. The dissertation will present the details and results of the candidate's research in addition to providing a critical comparison with relevant previously-published works.

Each successful doctoral student must pass three examinations. These include a qualifying examination, a preliminary examination, and a final (dissertation) defense.


Qualifying Exam Criteria
The student must complete the CORE REQUIREMENTS and pass a closed oral examination on a research area administered by the supervising committee. Although closed to the public, faculty members of the Department of Computer Science are welcome to attend.  The exam must be announced to the faculty at least two weeks in advance.  The research area will be chosen in consultation with the committee. The student must demonstrate background knowledge of the state of the art in the area and preliminary work. This will involve, but is not limited to, presenting material and answering questions covering the relevant area knowledge. The format of the exam will be defined by the committee prior to the exam to allow for sufficient preparation. This examination is intended to motivate the candidate to review relevant literature extensively prior to pursuing the original and innovative portions of the research. Qualifying exam criteria must be completed within the first 4 semesters of enrollment in the Ph.D program. If the student does not pass the qualifying exam, the committee will instruct the student as to what needs to be accomplished (and by when) to pass.  The closed oral examination requirement may be waived for a student who has completed an M.S. degree in COSC at UW if their M.S. presentation was at a research level that demonstrated background knowledge of the state of the art in the area, at the discretion of the supervising Ph.D. committee.


Preliminary Exam Criteria
Prior to scheduling the Preliminary Examination, the student must be making satisfactory progress towards completion of their course requirements, including the BREADTH REQUIREMENTS. A Preliminary Examination will consist of a presentation and defense of the already-completed portion of the dissertation research and the research that is proposed to complete the dissertation. The Preliminary Examination must be open and announced at least two weeks in advance. The preliminary examination must be completed within 8 semesters of enrollment in the Ph.D program. This examination is intended to motivate the candidate to make significant progress on work towards their Ph.D. dissertation and propose milestones for completion. If the nature of the proposed continued research and methodology is deemed to be sufficiently original and innovative by the supervising committee, then the committee will approve the research direction after having administered this examination. If the student does not pass the preliminary exam, the committee will instruct the student as to what needs to be accomplished (and by when) to pass.

Option for M.S. degree en route to Ph.D
After completing the Qualifying Exam and Preliminary Exam, a Ph.D. student may additionally earn an M.S. degree after completing the remaining M.S. course requirements, including the BREADTH REQUIREMENTS.  COSC 5980 may be substituted for COSC 5960 in the M.S. requirements at the discretion of the supervising committee. The M.S. degree will be granted only after completion of the preliminary exam.  For an M.S. degree to be granted prior to completion of the preliminary exam, the student should enroll in the M.S. degree program and complete the remaining M.S. requirements.


Final Exam Criteria
Prior to scheduling the Ph.D. Final Examination (often referred to as a “defense”), all course requirements, including the BREADTH REQUIREMENTS, MUST be completed or enrolled with satisfactory midterm progress.  The Final Examination (dissertation defense) will consist of an oral presentation by the candidate of his/her research and the results that were derived. At this examination, the candidate is expected to defend the research as being original and contributory to the discipline of computer science. The Final Examination must be open and announced at least two weeks in advance. The dissertation must be distributed to the supervising committee at least two weeks in advance of the Final Examination. If the student does not pass the final exam, the committee will instruct the student as to what needs to be accomplished (and by when) to pass.

Time to degree for part-time students: Exceptions to the completion deadlines for the Qualifying Exam and Preliminary Exam may be made for part-time students at the discretion of the supervising committee.


COMPUTER SCIENCE CORE REQUIREMENTS:
Each of the following must be completed with a B or better for COSC 5110 (algorithms):
●      COSC 5110 Analysis of Algorithms

Students are strongly encouraged to take COSC 5110 the first time it is offered after enrollment.

COMPUTER SCIENCE BREADTH REQUIREMENTS: Students must earn a grade of B or better in one class from the Theory category, one class from the Artificial Intelligence Category, and one class from each of two different Systems categories (e.g. one class from Programming Languages and Compilers and one class from Computer Graphics, Visualization, and Interaction). Although some courses may count under multiple categories, a course may only count once towards the breadth requirement. Thus there must be 12 credits taken to satisfy the breadth requirement. Only 5000-level computer science courses may count towards the breadth requirement.

Theory Course:
●     COSC 5120 Theory of Computation
●     COSC 5200 Computational Complexity
●     COSC 5220 Languages and Automata
●     COSC 5010/20 Theory topics courses as offered (must be approved by the department)

Artificial Intelligence Courses:
●     COSC 5550 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
●     COSC 5555 Machine Learning
●     COSC 5560 Modern Robots
●     COSC 5010/20 Artificial Intelligence topics courses as offered (must be approved by the department)

Systems: Programming Languages and Compilers Courses:
●     COSC 5750 Computer Architecture
●     COSC 5785 Compiler Construction
●     COSC 5010/20 Programming Languages and Compilers topics courses as offered (must be approved by the department)

Systems: Computer Graphics, Visualization, and Interaction Courses:
●     COSC 5450 Computer Graphics
●     COSC 5730 Mobile Device Programming
●     COSC 5010 Human-Computer Interaction
●     COSC 5010 Virtual Reality Environment Systems
●     COSC 5010/20 Computer Graphics, Visualization, and Interaction topics courses as offered (must be approved by the department)

Systems: Networking, Distributed Computing, and Data Management:
●     COSC 5750 Parallel and Distributed Systems
●     COSC 5755 Network Applications
●     COSC 5825 Advanced Database Systems
●     COSC 5010 High Performance Computing
●     COSC 5010/20 Networking, Distributed Computing, and Data Management topics courses as offered (must be approved by the department)

COSC Graduate Courses