Program overvew

The Ph.D. program is for students interested in obtaining academic or research positions in colleges and universities or in government and commercial research laboratories. The program gives students a rigorous and thorough knowledge of a broad range of theoretical and practical research subject areas, and develops the ability to recognize and pursue significant research in computer science. Practically all students in the PhD program are supported as teaching assistants in the first year followed by a research assistantship on funded projects thereafter.

Core Area: Theory:

• Analysis of Algorithms
• Theory of Computation
• Logic in Computer Science
•  Discrete Mathematics

Core Area: Software:

• Compiler Design
• Principles Programming Languages
•  Theory of Database Systems
•  Artificial Intelligence

​Core Area: Systems:

• Computer Architecture
• Operating Systems
• Fundamentals of Computer Networks
• Computer Graphics 

Elective Area:

•  Introduction to Computer Vision
• Computing with Logic
• Asynchronous Systems
•  Network Security
•  Computer System Security
• Computational Biology
• Visualization
• Machine Learning

Pd.D Teaching and Research Experience

• Practicum in Teaching
• Ph.D. Internship in Research
• Ph.D. Dissertation Research
• Dissertation Research off Campus - International students

Ph.D. students must take a total of at least five courses from the above areas. At most one course can be included from the Elective area. At least four courses must be from the Core areas and there must be at least one course from each of the three Core areas. Minimum passing grade for a qualifier course is A-. A student who fails to secure a passing grade will have to take another course not taken before, in the following semester. All qualifier courses must be completed within the first three semesters. We recommend students take at least two courses per semester, because most graduate courses are offered only once a year. No course substitutions, exchanges, or pleas for better grades will be accepted.

• A statement of purpose, describing your interests and motivation to pursue a graduate degree.
• A resume or CV, describing your work experience, academic projects, and areas of expertise.
• Three recommendation letters from academia or industry. All recommendation letters should be submitted online. Especially for Ph.D. applicants, we recommend that a majority of the letters be from academia.
• Scanned transcripts. Please make sure these are legible or your application will not be reviewed.
• Test scores. Please have ETS send your official GRE scores to Stony Brook University (Institution code: 2548). In addition, if your native language is not English, you need to report TOEFL or IELTS scores.

The Ph.D. program is intended for students who wish to pursue a research-oriented career. Admission to this program is highly competitive, and the applicants must have the intention of completing the program. All students admitted on a full-time basis to the Ph.D. program are offered attractive financial support in the form of teaching or research assistantships and fellowships, together with tuition waivers.