Ph.D. Degree in Software Engineering

Program Requirements

1.      All M.S. course requirements (items 1, 3, 4, and 5) or their equivalent in transfer or examination credits.

2.      CSCI 793:  Software Development Project (6 semester hours).  This course will require the design, implementation, and testing of a significant piece of computer software.  This course must be completed successfully before the Qualifying examination may be attempted. If a student successfully passed the M.S. in Software Engineering Comprehensive Examination at the Ph.D. qualifying level while earlier completing an M.S. at North Dakota State University, the student shall not need to take the Qualifying Examination, but this course must be completed successfully within the first two years of the Ph.D. program.

3.      Satisfactory completion of the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination.  This examination will consist of integrative questions on the four core courses described in (1) under the M.S. above.  Students must complete this requirement within their first seven semesters of participation in the program. 

4.      Twelve hours of course work chosen from the courses listed below and not duplicating any items used to satisfy 1:

a.       CSCI 714: Software Project Planning and Estimation b.      CSCI 715: Software Requirements Definition and Analysis
c.       CSCI 716: Software Design
d.      CSCI 717: Software Construction
e.       CSCI 718: Software Testing and Debugging
f.        CSCI 747: Software Complexity Metrics
g.       CSCI 745: Formal Methods for Software Development
h.       CSCI 746: Development of Distributed Applications

5.      Six hours of additional course work in Computer Science or Computer Engineering chosen by the student and his advisor and approved by the student’s Advisory Committee

6.      Thirty-six semester credit hours for research, preparation, and defense of a dissertation in Software Engineering.  These hours will be graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis.

Admissions Requirements:

            The requirements listed here are minimums.  The Department reserves the right to refuse admission to any student meeting these minimums, if adequate space and resources are not available for that student’s successful completion of the program.

1.      Graduate Certificate

a.       B.S. or equivalent degree from an accredited university or college;
b.      Twelve semester hours or equivalent in Computer Science from an accredited institution, or at least one year fulltime professional software engineering experience;
c.       Programming skill in a modern higher level programming language, preferably C++, C#, or Java.

2.      M.S.

a.       B.S. or equivalent degree from an accredited university or college with at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.  Fulltime professional experience may offset this GPA requirement at the rate of 0.1 in GPA for each eighteen months of such experience to a maximum of 0.4 in GPA;
b.      Eighteen semester hours or equivalent in Computer Science from an accredited institution, or at least two years of fulltime professional software engineering experience;
c.       Programming skill with one modern higher level programming language, preferably C++, C#, or Java.

3.      Ph.D.

a.       B.S. or equivalent degree from an accredited university or college with at least a 3.25 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.  Significant fulltime software development professional experience may offset this GPA requirement at the rate of 0.1 in GPA for each  two years of such experience to a maximum of 0.4 in GPA;
b.      Eighteen semester hours or equivalent in Computer Science from an accredited institution, or at least three years of fulltime professional software engineering experience;
c.       Programming skill in at least one higher level programming language, preferably C++, C#, or Java.

Examinations:

1.      The M.S. Comprehensive Examination and the Ph.D. Qualifier Examination are the same test, but the Qualifier has a higher level of passing. 

2.      This examination is completely different from the examination used in the Computer Science graduate programs.

3.       The examination is three hours long. 

4.      Notes and other reference material are not permitted.

5.      The examination is offered once a semester usually around the twelfth week of the semester.  This examination will be offered with the Computer Science graduate examination.

6.      Prior written registration for the examination is required. Each student is required to designate either CSCI 715 or CSCI 718 as part of their core on the registration form.

7.      The examination will consist primarily of integrative questions that draw on material from more than one of the core courses.  A reading list will be published prior to the start of the semester in which the exam is given.

8.      The examination will be graded independently by each of the Software Engineering faculty.  Each grader will assign each student a grade of M.S. pass, Ph.D. pass (implies M.S. pass), or fail.  The graders will meet and decide upon one of these three grades for each student

9.      Appeals may be submitted in writing within two weeks of the release of grades and will be reviewed by the committee. 

10.     A student has a maximum of two attempts to pass the examination at the needed level.  Failure to pass after two attempts results in the student’s dismissal from the graduate program in Software Engineering.