PhD in Computer Science

The Ph.D. in Computer Science aims to build the next generation of scholars in computer science research. At GW, doctoral students can expect to work closely with a faculty advisor in their chosen research area to create a curriculum plan and guidance for the doctoral dissertation. Students have the opportunities to teach introductory-level courses to undergraduates, present conference papers, and work with faculty on research grant applications.

With its unique location of Washington, D.C., GW maintains access and connections to one of the highest concentrations of tech companies in the country, as well as research-granting federal institutes, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Naval Research Laboratory.

For Prospective Students:

Admissions Requirements

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in a relevant area from an accredited institution.
- If an applicant has obtained a master’s degree, a minimum grade point average of 3.5 (on a scale of 4.0) is required.
- If an applicant has only obtained a bachelor’s degree, the minimum grade point average must be a 3.3 (on a scale of 4.0).
Completion of two math courses beyond pre-calculus.
Strong academic background that includes courses in structured programming language, discrete structures and data structures.
Successful submission of online application form, exam scores and other documents as outlined in the admissions requirements.

Faculty Advisor & Research Area

We strongly recommend that prospective doctoral students determine a faculty member in the department with whom they would like to work, as well as the research area of interest.

Top research areas of the department:

Algorithms and theory
Computer architecture, networks, parallel and distributed computing
Computer security and information assurance
Database and information retrieval systems
Machine intelligence and cognition
Multimedia, animation, graphics and user interface
Software engineering and systems

Download Faculty & Research Factsheet (PDF)

For Current Students:

The general requirements are stated under School of Engineering, Doctoral Program Regulations.

Program Requirements

Relevant Forms

Preliminary examination form
Proposal defense report form
Final examination approval form
Dissertation completion form
Additional forms and resources from SEAS

PhD Course Guidelines:

PhD students must work with their advisors to develop a program of study that meets the following requirements.

For direct Ph.D. degree students: 54 credit hours (minimum of 42 credit hours of course work available for graduate credit and minimum of 12 credit hours of dissertation research credits (CSCI 8999)) are required. Additionally, a student should continue to enroll in Continuing Research - Doctoral (SEAS 0940) until their dissertation is completed.
For post-Master’s Ph.D. students: 18 credit hours of course work available for graduate credit and 12 credit hours of dissertation research credits (CSCI 8999) are required. Additionally, a student should continue to enroll in Continuing Research - Doctoral (SEAS 0940) until their dissertation is completed.
A maximum of 15 credits outside of the department for direct Ph.D. students; a maximum of 9 credits outside of the department for post-Master’s Ph.D. students.
Students must demonstrate competency in each of the following areas:
- Algorithms and theory;
- Software and systems
- See details in the Preliminary Examination section below.

Preliminary Examination

Failure of full-time students to pass the preliminary examination by the end of the fourth semester will lead to dismissal from the program.

Students who register for 6 credits or fewer in three consecutive semesters are part-time. Part-time students are required to pass the preliminary examination within their first three years, or 30 credits, of enrollment in the PhD program. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the program.

To demonstrate competency, students may take one course in each of the following areas:

Algorithms and theory: CSCI 6212 Design and Analysis of Algorithms or CSCI 6311 Theory of Computation
Software and systems: CSCI 6221 Advanced Software Paradigms, or CSCI 6431 Computer Networks, or CSCI 6461 Computer System Architecture

Competency is demonstrated in one of two ways:

By completing the course with a minimum grade of A-; or,
By taking only the written, in-class examinations in the course. With this option, students must pass all exams given during a semester, earning a minimum grade of A- in each.

Students who prove, via their official transcript, that they earned the requisite grades as part of their master’s degree may apply that result to the preliminary exam requirement.

Students must submit a Preliminary Examination Form to the Department of Computer Science after completing the requirements for the preliminary exam.

Publication Requirements

Students must have at least one peer-reviewed conference or journal paper accepted for publication at the time of the dissertation defense.

As a guideline, students are expected to have at least two or three conference or journal papers accepted for publication by the time of their dissertation defense, and the material from those papers should be the core of the dissertation.

Dissertation

Dissertation Advisor and Co-advisor(s)

Every PhD dissertation must be supervised by a faculty advisor who must be (1) a regular full-time faculty member of GW with a primary or secondary appointment in the CS Department, or (2) a research faculty member of the CS Department. Besides the dissertation advisor, a PhD student may have one or more co-advisor(s), who may be full-time or part-time faculty at GW, or professionals from outside the university. Co-advisors are expected to hold a terminal degree.

Forming a dissertation committee

The dissertation committee must consist of at least three members, including the major advisor. Additional advisor(s) and co-advisors are optional and additional to the three members.
The committee must have a presiding chair who is a regular full-time faculty member whose primary appointment is in the Department of Computer Science. The committee chair may not be the student's research advisor or co-advisor.
At least two members of the committee, not including advisors and co-advisors, must be regular full-time faculty members whose primary appointment is in the Department of Computer Science.
- Faculty with secondary appointments in the Department of Computer Science are not considered regular full-time faculty members in the Department.
At least one member of the committee must be an external reviewer. The external reviewer must hold a doctoral degree. They may not be a research advisor or co-advisor of the student. They should have a primary appointment in another GW department or outside the University.
The dissertation committee must be approved by the Chair of the Department of Computer Science.
The committee membership is normally the same for the dissertation proposal examination and the dissertation defense. However, the membership may change with the approval of the advisor and department chair.

Dissertation proposal defense

The defense may not take place before the student has passed the preliminary examination.
The student’s advisor must approve the scheduling of the dissertation proposal defense.
The student submits a written proposal, in the style of a dissertation, to the members of the dissertation committee. The proposal should contain preliminary results.
The dissertation committee evaluates the proposal and conduct an oral examination of the student. The committee conveys its recommendation of pass/fail to the Department of Computer Science.
A proposal defense report should be filed.

Dissertation defense

The dissertation defense may not be scheduled before the student has passed the dissertation proposal defense.
The student’s advisor must approve the scheduling of the dissertation defense.
The student submits a written dissertation to the members of the dissertation committee, normally two or more weeks in advance of the defense. The writing should follow the dissertation writing guidelines.
The committee evaluates the dissertation and conducts an oral examination of the student. The committee conveys its recommendation to pass or fail to the Department of Computer Science.
The final examination approval form and the dissertation completion form should be filed.

University Graduation and Scholarship Requirements

Students are responsible for knowing the University’s graduation and scholarships requirements. Consult the University Regulations section of this Bulletin. Students should consult the department for additional information and requirements.