College of Engineering > Academic Programs > Computer Science and Software Engineering > Academic Programs > Graduate > General Regulations

General Regulations

p>The Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering offers the Ph.D. degree and two Master's degrees, the M.S. (with a required thesis) and the M.Sw.E. (project required). All degrees are designated with the major of Computer Science and Software Engineering (COMP is the major abbreviation). An Information Assurance Option is also available for students studying for the Ph.D. or the M.Sw.E. degree.

The following sections contain a brief statement of regulations specific to the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department. Particular emphasis is placed on those regulations for which there are requirements for CSSE in addition to those of the Graduate School. For specific dates of all graduate activities, consult the current calendar in the Auburn University Bulletin.

2.1 ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Application forms and related information can be obtained from the Graduate School web site. Online application is strongly encouraged. Except recommendation letters and resume, all application materials must be mailed directly to the Graduate School.

Graduate School
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849-5347
Phone: (334) 844-4700
Email: gradadm@auburn.edu
Homepage: http://www.grad.auburn.edu

If necessary, please include information regarding the means of satisfying any prerequisites (see next section) which are not explicitly listed on your transcript. All applications will be evaluated by the CSSE Graduate Admissions Committee after they are forwarded to CSSE by the Graduate School.

Specific questions concerning graduate study in Computer Science and Software Engineering should be directed to

Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering
3101 Shelby Center
Auburn University, Auburn, AL. 36849-5347
Phone: (334) 844-4330
Email: csegpo@eng.auburn.edu

NOTE: Admission to the program leading to any advanced degree does not constitute admission to candidacy for that degree.

2.1.1 PREREQUISITES

Although most of our graduate students have a degree in computer science, software engineering, or computer engineering, a significant number of them have formal training in other disciplines. We encourage strong applicants from many backgrounds, provided they can show potential to complete the graduate degree requirements in Computer Science and Software Engineering.

For those applicants without or with little formal training and/or experience in Computer Science and Software Engineering, the following prerequisite areas are considered essential to success in our graduate programs. Please be aware that the admission slots for such kind of students are limited.

1. FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, including programming in C, C++, or Java, and data structures.
2. MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, including discrete structures, algorithms design and analysis.
3. COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND SYSTEM SOFTWARE, including assembly language and operating systems.

This prerequisite prescription is largely dependent on the individual applicant's background and experience and should be taken in the beginning of the student's graduate study. Each application will be considered on a case by case basis and the above model may be considered as the worst case scenario for most applicants. Please note that these prerequisites are NOT available through the Graduate Outreach Program.

2.1.2 GRADE POINT AVERAGE AND GRE SCORES

In general, only those students who have at least a 3.0/4.0 undergraduate grade point average at the time of graduation will be considered for the graduate program. Priority will be given to applicants who score greater than 1000 on the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

2.2 TRANSFER FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS

Upon recommendation of the student's advisory committee, a maximum of six semester hours of related graduate work that has been satisfactorily completed (B or better) at other approved graduate schools may be applied toward the master's degree course requirements. Transfer credit for the Ph.D. is determined by the student's advisory committee.

2.3 RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS

There is no requirement for students to be physically on campus to earn any of the degrees offered through the computer science and software engineering graduate program. Residency requirements are left up to each student's academic advisor, who ensures that the student is "immersed in the culture of graduate education." Further details on the residency requirements of the university can be obtained from the Graduate School web site. Consult the Auburn University Bulletin for specific residency requirements for students holding graduate assistantships. It is the student's responsibility to assure that all Graduate School requirements are met.

2.4 ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The student's graduate study will be directed by a committee of at least three faculty members chaired by a major professor. These are selected by the student with the concurrence of the major faculty and the department chair. Each master's level student must choose a committee within the first semester of graduate study. Ph.D. committees must consist of at least two members of the graduate faculty (including the major professor) and must be organized by the third semester of doctoral work.

2.5 GRADE REQUIREMENTS

All remedial prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of B or better. Candidates for an advanced degree are required to maintain a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0/4.0 on all work taken for graduate credit. No grade below C will be accepted for graduate credit, but grades on all courses carrying graduate credit will be used in determining the overall average. A student whose GPA falls below 3.0 will be placed under academic probation, warning, or suspension. See the paragraphs on Grades and Academic Standing in the Graduate School section of the Auburn University Bulletin for details. A student is allowed to take no more than 10 semester hours in addition to the prescribed program (see Section 2.12) in order to obtain an overall grade point average of 3.0/4.0.

2.6 GRADUATE COURSE REQUIREMENTS

For the M.S. degree, the minimum requirement is 30 semester graduate credit hours. At least 21 hours, including thesis hours, must be taken from the CSSE Department. The thesis (COMP 7990) may count between 4 and 6 hours.

For the M.Sw.E. degree, the minimum requirement is 33 semester graduate credit hours. COMP 6700 and 6710 must be included for this degree. Students with an undergraduate degree from this department and have already taken COMP 5700 and 5710 are exempted from this requirement. At least 24 hours, including the non-thesis project course, must be taken from the CSSE Department. The project (COMP 7980) may count up to 3 hours. M.Sw.E. students must present the results of their project in an oral examination. A project report is also required, which should be converted into a CSSE technical report after its approval.

For the Ph.D. degree, the minimum requirement is 66 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree, of which at least 42 hours must be of graded (e.g., A, B, C) courses. In addition, a minimum of 39 of these hours must be in the area of CSSE and at least 18 hours in 7000 or above courses must be taken from Auburn University as a doctoral student. A student must also complete 24 hours of additional course work (may include ungraded courses, 7980, 7990, and 8990). Although most students would have more than 18 hours of COMP 8990 RESEARCH AND DISSERTATION, only 18 hours are counted toward the degree.

For M. S., M.Sw.E., and Ph.D. degree students, an official Information Assurance Major is available. In order to achieve this option, a student must take the following two courses:

• COMP 6370 Computer and Network Security
• MATH 6180 Cryptography

and one of the following courses:

• COMP 6320 Design and Analysis of Computer Networks
• COMP 6500 Advanced Operating System
• COMP 6520 Network and Operating System Administration
• COMP 6360 Wireless and Mobile Networks
• COMP 7370 Advanced Computer and Network Security
• COMP 7970 Special Topics in Information Assurance
• COMP 8360 Wireless and Mobile Networks

When a student is about to complete the three courses required for the Information Assurance Option, the student must inform the CSSE graduate program officer. This ensures that the completion of the option is marked on the student's official transcript.

2.6.1 CSSE CORE REQUIREMENTS

The advanced CSSE courses are divided into core areas of specialization as indicated below.

• INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (not considered for CSSE major credits)
  • COMP 6000, COMP 6010, COMP 6020, COMP 6030
• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
  • COMP 6600, COMP 6610, COMP 7600, COMP 7610, COMP 8600
• COMPUTER SYSTEMS
  • COMP 6330, COMP 6370, COMP 6500, COMP 6510, COMP 6520, COMP 6720, COMP 7300, COMP 7330, COMP 7370, COMP 7440, COMP 7500, COMP 8330, COMP 8500
• COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
  • COMP 6120, COMP 6400, COMP 7120, COMP 7400, COMP 8120, COMP 8400
• THEORY AND PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
  • COMP 6200, COMP 6210, COMP 6220, COMP 6230, COMP 6280, COMP 7210, COMP 7220, COMP 7270, COMP 7280, COMP 7310, COMP 8220
• COMPUTER AND WIRELESS NETWORKS
  • COMP 6320, COMP 6360, COMP 6390, COMP 7320, COMP 7340, COMP 7350, COMP 7360, COMP 7440, COMP 8320, COMP 8330
• HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS
  • COMP 6620, COMP 7620, COMP 8620
• SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
  • COMP 6700, COMP 6710, COMP 7700, COMP 7710, COMP 7720, COMP 7730, COMP 8700

The following guidelines are applied by the advisory committees in formulating plans of study at both the master's and Ph.D. levels:

1. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY is not considered a CSSE category. Courses in this category would be treated as non-CSSE courses.
2. A minimum of one course must be taken from FIVE of the SEVEN CSSE categories (excluding INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY).
3. For the M.Sw.E. degree, COMP 6700 Software Process, COMP 6710 Software Quality Assurance, and one 7000 or above Software Engineering course are required.
4. A master level student may have up to 3 hours of COMP 7930 DIRECTED STUDY. A PhD student may have up to 6 hours of DIRECTED STUDY (COMP 7930 and/or 8930).
5. A maximum of 6 credits of COMP 7990 will count toward the M.S. degree; a maximum of 3 credits of COMP 7980 will count toward the M.Sw.E. degree. Ph.D. plans of study must show a minimum of 18 credits of COMP 8990.

In addition, each plan of study must meet general Graduate School requirements for the degree and must be approved by the student's advisory committee. If a master's student is considering earning a Ph.D., she/he must reapply to the Graduate School.

2.6.2 ADDITIONAL CSSE REQUIREMENTS

The CSSE department has the following additional course requirements and constraints:

1. A dissertation/thesis/project defense must be open to the public. The student should make arrangements with his/her advisor to announce the defense in the department and/or throughout the campus. Other students are encouraged to attend.
2. No more than three hours of credit may be given for COMP 7930/8930 in any one term. Students are required to obtain the approval of a sponsoring faculty member before registering for COMP 7930/8930.
3. The sponsor and topic for each COMP 7930/8930 class must be made clear to the committee when the plan of study is approved.

2.7 MINIMUM ENROLLMENT REQUIREMENTS

All graduate students must enroll for a minimum of three credit hours per semester when attending school. Students who have formally defended their research in a previous semester and are only awaiting graduation are exempted from this requirement. Students will not perform schoolwork (including research or project work) without being enrolled in a course.

Students who have assistantships (GRA or GTA) and who have not finished their coursework must register for enough hours to be considered full-time. Students who have assistantships and who have finished their formal coursework must register for at least three semester credit hours, more if so designated by the source of their funding (advisor, GPO, or department chair).

Students who have not registered for at least two consecutive regular academic-year semesters will be considered to have withdrawn, and formal application procedures may be required for re-enrollment.

2.8 RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

A thesis is required for all M.S. degree candidates. An M.Sw.E. degree candidate must complete a project. Ph.D. students are required to write a dissertation based on an original investigation and approved by the candidate's advisory committee. The chairman of the candidate's advisory committee will serve as the dissertation director.

A proposal supporting either the thesis, project, or dissertation topic must be written by the candidate. The proposal must be approved by the student's advisory committee before work on the thesis/project/dissertation may start. A draft of the final thesis or dissertation must be submitted to the advisor prior to the first day of classes in the semester in which graduation is expected.

2.9 PH.D. CANDIDATE PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS GUIDELINE

A major component of Ph.D. study and research is to publish research results through peer review process. The following guideline provides general requirements for a typical CSSE Ph.D. candidate.

1. A Ph.D. candidate must have submitted a (conference or journal) paper for review before the preliminary examination can take place.
2. A Ph.D. candidate must have a minimum of 2 conference papers published or accepted for publication and one submission to a journal, OR a journal paper published or accepted for publication, before the final dissertation defense can take place.
3. In rare circumstances, the dissertation advisory committee may grant exceptions.

2.10 PLAN OF STUDY

As early as is practical the student should confer with his/her major professor to select courses for the graduate program and to discuss research interests. The course work should support the student's research interests.

For the M.S. or M.Sw.E. degree, a Plan of Study should be submitted by the end of the second term of graduate study. For the Ph.D. degree, a Plan of Study should be filed within the third term of doctoral work. The Plan of Study form can be found from the Graduate School homepage. The student is responsible at all times for carrying out the program which has been planned. Any necessary changes must be approved by the student's committee and formally submitted to the Graduate School.

2.11 TIME LIMIT

All graduate work to be applied to an M.S. or M.Sw.E. degree must be completed within a period of five years. Upon admission to candidacy (i.e., successful completion of the preliminary examination), Ph.D. students have four calendar years to complete all degree requirements. If a student is unable to complete the requirements on time, the Graduate Council may be petitioned for an extension, but such extension is not automatically granted and should not be expected unless there are serious extenuating circumstances.

2.12 EXAMINATIONS

The following sections describe examinations required of master's- and doctoral-level students.

2.12.1 MASTER'S EXAMINATIONS

All candidates for the M.S. degree or M.Sw.E degree must pass a comprehensive oral examination covering the major subjects and the research leading to the thesis or project. Oral examinations are approximately one hour in length, and should be scheduled no later than the deadlines indicated in the Graduate School calendar.

2.12.1 DOCTORAL EXAMINATIONS

The Ph.D. degree program requires that students undergo three examinations, the qualifying examination, the general exam, and the final exam.

2.12.2.1 DEPARTMENT QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

The purpose of the qualifying examination is to evaluate on entry to the doctoral program each student's grasp of foundational undergraduate computer science that is considered necessary for success in subsequent graduate courses. This examination covers four topics: operating systems (including networks), algorithms (including data structures and discrete mathematics), computer organization, and programming fundamentals. The examination process spans two days. Multiple-choice and short-answer questions covering the four topic areas are administered on the morning of the first day. Students have a four-hour limit in which to complete the exam. A programming assignment is made the afternoon of the first day. The program is due by the close of business on the second day. The students may complete the program using Java, C, C++, or C#.

A student scoring less than 70% in any examination topic area is required to enroll the in the undergraduate course corresponding to that topic and a student who fails to write a working and tested programming assignment must enroll in a remedial programming course (see below). Students have two semesters in which to take remedial courses. The student must earn a grade of B or better in each such course. A grade of less than B in any remedial course will result in the student's dismissal from the doctoral program, as will extending past the two-semester time limit. The qualifying examination cannot be taken more than once. Students who are dismissed from the doctoral program may not reapply.

Failing this topic:	Student must earn a B or better in this course
Operating systems	COMP3500 (Operating Systems)
Algorithms	COMP3270 (Algorithms)
Computer organization	COMP3350 (Computer Organization)
Programming fundamentals	COMP 2710 (Software Construction) or COMP3000 (Object-oriented Programming)
Programming assignment	COMP 2710 (Software Construction) or COMP3000 (Object-oriented Programming)

The qualifying examination is offered at roughly the midpoint of each Fall and Spring semester. The examination is required for all Ph.D. students, except those that have scored in the upper 25th percentile of the GRE Computer science Subject Test. The qualifying examination must be taken in the first semester during which the student is classified by the Graduate School as a Ph.D. student.

2.12.2.2 GENERAL DOCTORAL EXAMINATION

A general examination (also referred to as the "preliminary examination") over the student's major and minor areas will be required of all applicants for the Ph.D. degree. The purpose and general guidelines for the preliminary examination are given in the Auburn University Bulletin. It shall be administered by the student's advisory committee and will have a written and an oral part. It can be held at any time after completion of one year of graduate study, but will normally occur after most course work has been completed. Before this examination can be taken the student must have:

1. Passed the qualifying examinations, and
2. Submitted a formal research proposal
3. Published or submitted a (conference or journal) paper

The advisory committee may require the student to repeat part or all of the examinations, but in no case will more than one re-examination be permitted, and at least four months must elapse before a re-examination is scheduled. The student is admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree by the graduate dean upon recommendation from the student's advisory committee. This cannot precede the completion of the general examination. In addition, at least one complete semester (preferably more than one) must intervene between the general oral and the final examinations.

2.12.2.3 FINAL DOCTORAL EXAMINATION

After the dissertation has been completed the final examination will be scheduled. The examination will be administered by the candidate's advisory committee. An outside reader representing the Graduate School also attends and participates. The final examination will be an oral defense of the dissertation.