A total of 90 credit hours of graduate-level coursework is required for the Ph.D. in Computer Science (CS) at Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering in Indianapolis.
Graduate courses (24 credits)
Computer science courses: Ph.D. candidates must take at least 24 credits of in-person computer science courses (CSCI) at or above the 500 level, with a minimum 3.25 GPA. Courses for nonmajors (CSCI-A) do not count. Students receiving two (2) failing grades will be dismissed from the program.
Completed M.S. courses: All eligible 500-level CSCI courses from the Luddy Indianapolis M.S. in Computer Science may count toward the Ph.D.
Transfers: Up to 18 credits from an M.S. at another university, with minimum grade of B+, may be transferred upon petition and approval by the CS Graduate Committee within the first year; approval may be full, partial, or denied.
Minor area requirement (12 credits)
Ph.D. students in Computer Science at Luddy Indianapolis must also complete a minor in another department (grade B or higher), with two options to fulfill the requirement:
- An official graduate minor from another IU department or program approved by Computer Science. If fewer than 12 credits are required, the remaining credits must be CSCI courses (excluding CSCI-A) at the 500 level or above.
- An individualized interdisciplinary minor consisting of at least 12 graduate credits from IU departments or programs in Indianapolis, or from Luddy programs outside the student’s major. Courses must be recommended by the advisory committee and approved by Computer Science before enrollment.
Research (54 credits)
Students must complete at least 54 research credits through CSCI-Y-890 under their official Luddy Indianapolis CS thesis advisor. Credits taken with a former advisor remain valid if the advisor changes. Beginning in the second year, students are expected to take at least one research credit each semester. If no advisor is assigned, the graduate committee chair may appoint a temporary one, though students are strongly encouraged to secure a permanent advisor quickly to ensure timely progress. CSCI-Y-890 credits count only toward the Ph.D., not the M.S. students finishing coursework, before the dissertation must continue registering for research credits to maintain full-time status.
Milestones toward Ph.D. degree
The major milestones* in the Ph.D. program are:
| Core Qualifying Exam | By the end of the 3rd semester |
| Research Area Qualifying Exam | By the end of Year 2 |
| Candidacy exam | By the end of Year 4 (one year before defense) |
| Thesis defense | Expected to finish by Year 5 and no later than Year 6 |
*Part-time students may take up to twice as long to meet milestones. Students pursuing the M.S. and Ph.D. concurrently must work toward milestones from the start of the program. If a student is unlikely to meet them, the advisor and student must request an extension.
Details of the milestones follow:
Core Qualifying Exam (CQE)
In the first semesters, students build breadth in computer science and depth in their research area. Full-time students must complete core qualifying exam requirements by the end of the third semester; part-time students have up to six. Timing is measured from Ph.D. entry, regardless of other degree enrollment. Students should consult their advisor on research requirements and exam preparation.
To pass the core qualifying exams (CQE), students must declare their doctoral research area to the graduate committee and complete four courses: two in their primary depth bucket and one each from two other buckets. They must inform the committee of their chosen courses within the first week of the semester. A minimum average GPA of 3.67 across the four courses is required, with no grade below B. For example, grades of A, A–, A–, and B+ yield a 3.67 GPA, meeting the requirement.
Full-time students who do not pass the CQE within three semesters may face dismissal. Extensions must be requested from the Graduate Committee before the end of the third semester. If approved, students have two options in the fourth semester: (1) take new courses in the required buckets and meet the 3.67 GPA threshold, or (2) retake qualifying exams in previously chosen courses (with grades below A–) as approved by the committee. In option (2), the instructor prepares and grades the exam, which is Pass/Fail and does not count toward the GPA requirement.
Notes and Exceptions
- Students without a CS or closely related undergraduate degree must take Data Structures and Operating Systems, earning A– or better. These courses do not count toward the 90 Ph.D. credits.
- Luddy Indianapolis CS M.S. graduates may apply previously taken courses and grades toward CQE requirements, but must notify the graduate academic advisor and program director to ensure proper designation in their record.
- All Ph.D. requirements, including qualifiers, apply fully to students entering in Fall 2025. For those who entered in Fall 2024 or Spring 2025, maintaining a 3.67 GPA in four in-person CSCI courses (500 level or above) counts as passing the CQE. If they lack four such courses, they have until Fall 2026 to meet the CQE under current rules. This exception is due to their not being informed of the five research area buckets. They must still pass the research qualifier exam under current guidelines and deadlines.
Students with a prior graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in CS or a related field from another institution who have completed courses meeting IU Indianapolis CS qualifying requirements may substitute those courses by passing a written qualifying exam in the final week of the semester. To do so, they must petition the graduate committee within the first week, stating their intent to take the exam in selected courses. If approved, the committee will arrange with the instructor to prepare and grade the exam. The result is Pass/Fail and does not count toward the 3.67 GPA requirement for the five qualifying courses.
The five research areas and the list of courses in each research area are given below.
- Theory/Algorithms (T)
- Systems and Security (SS)
- AI/ML/Data (AMD)
- Software Engineering (SE)
- Vision/Graphics (VG)
Below is the list of CSCI courses by research area, with S = Spring semester and F = Fall semester. Course offerings are not guaranteed each semester or year, so students should plan ahead and check the schedule to complete qualifying requirements on time.
Theory/Algorithms (T):
- CSCI-B 501 Theory of Computing (not offered in recent years)
- CSCI-B 503 Algorithm Design and Analysis (F, S)
- CSCI-B 504 Introduction to Cryptography (F)
Systems and Security (SS):
- CSCI-B 516 Engineering Cloud Computing (S)
- CSCI-P 536 Advanced Operating Systems (F)
- CSCI-P 538 Computer Networks (F)
- CSCI-P 539 Wireless Sensor Networks and IoT (S)
- CSCI-B 543 Computer Architecture (F)
- CSCI-B 547 System and Protocol Security and Information Assurance
- CSCI-B 561 Advanced Database Concepts (F)
- CSCI-B 575 Quantum Computing and Applications (F)
- CSCI-B 577 Security Engineering (F)
AI/ML/Data (AMD)
- CSCI-B 551 Elements of Artificial Intelligence
- CSCI-B 555 Machine Learning (F)
- CSCI-P 558 Deep Learning (S)
- CSCI-B 565 Data Mining (F)
- CSCI-B 651 Natural Language Processing (S)
Software Engineering (SE)
- SCI-P 532 Object-Oriented Software Development (S)
- CSCI-P 565 Software Engineering I (F)
- CSCI-P 566 Software Engineering II (S)
- CSCI-P 567 Software Quality assurance (F)
Vision/Graphics (VG)
- CSCI-P 583 Data Visualization (F)
- CSCI-B 655 Pattern Recognition (S)
- CSCI-B 657 Computer Vision (F)
Doctoral committee formation
Year 2 focuses on research exploration, selecting a doctoral committee, and passing the Research Area Qualifying Exam by the end of the year. Research is overseen by a faculty advisor and the doctoral committee. Students may work with a non-CS faculty supervisor, but a CS faculty advisor must also oversee the work, and both will serve on the committee.
The doctoral committee must have at least three full-time, tenure-track CS faculty and one outside member from outside the CS Department. Faculty with joint CS appointments are not considered outside, but adjunct faculty are.
The chair is normally the student’s research supervisor and/or CS advisor and must be a full-time, tenure-track (or tenured) CS faculty member. Committee membership is submitted to the Department Chair for approval and then forwarded to the Graduate School.
Research qualifying exam
The research qualifying exam is supervised by a preliminary committee of the advisor and at least two other faculty. This committee is informal and does not require approval by the Office of Graduate Education. It is typically composed of likely future doctoral committee members, though final committee membership is not bound by it. The preliminary committee determines exam requirements and evaluates pass/fail. All options include a presentation and oral exam, in which students must show thorough knowledge of related research, their broader field, and situate their work within this context with appropriate citations.
Presentation options include, but are not limited to:
- Discuss up to five committee-approved papers, summarizing the field, key contributions, open questions, and links to the student’s research.
- Present a committee-approved conference or journal paper (published or under submission) as a main co-author, expanding on related work and highlighting the novelty of their contribution.
- Give a survey-style talk demonstrating knowledge of a specific research topic.
- Present proposed research on a topic chosen by the preliminary committee.
For students choosing path (2), the presentation is not an evaluation of their own work—that occurs at the candidacy exam. Instead, they must show a thorough understanding of related research, situate their work in the broader field, and explain its context. For example, if the paper introduces a new network formation model for application X, the presentation should:
- Identify the general area (network modeling)
- Review existing methods and their applications
- Explain why those methods do not apply to X
- Summarize the paper’s result showing it applies to X
After completing the research qualifying exam, the committee submits the signed Research Qualifier Exam form to the Graduate Program Director. Students who fail have one chance to retake it the following semester; a second failure results in expulsion from the Ph.D. program.
Candidacy exam
With their advisor, the student develops a detailed understanding of their research area and prepares a proposal. The candidacy exam, an oral defense of this proposal before the doctoral committee, should be planned in the 3rd or 4th year and must occur at least one year before the dissertation defense. The student presents the proposal and answers committee questions. Other faculty may attend but do not vote.
The committee form must be signed and approved by the Graduate School before the exam. If membership changes between candidacy and defense, the new committee must be approved, but the candidacy with the original committee remains valid.
Requirements
Prior to taking the exam, the student must have fulfilled the following requirements:
- A student must have completed the 24 credit hours of courses in computer science as specified in the computer science graduate course credit requirements.
- Must pass both the core qualifying exam and research qualifying exam.
- Plan of Study (POS) approved by the Graduate School
- GPA of at least 3.25
- Doctoral committee approved by the Graduate School
After the candidacy exam, the advisor must check "Passed" or "Failed" and all members of the committee must sign the online candidacy exam form. Students should prepare a talk that will last 30–45 minutes without questions. The committee members may ask questions throughout the exam, so the exam may last up to two hours.
Candidacy proposal
In addition to the oral exam, students must prepare a written candidacy proposal. This should include the following topics:
- The proposed research area: including motivation, what work has been done, what challenges exist, what the thesis contribution will be.
- What work the student has already completed.
- What additional work will be completed before graduation.
Some tips for preparing the proposal:
- There is no required format for the candidacy proposal, but students are encouraged to follow the thesis guidelines so material can be reused with minimal reformatting. The thesis guidelines are published at the Indiana University Indianapolis graduate school
- Students should check with their advisor and other committee members throughout the preparation of the proposal to ensure that their expectations are being met.
- Students can ask committee members to loan them copies of good candidacy proposals which have been submitted to them in the past.
- Students may find it helpful to write notes about papers while reading and record the bibliographic details as well as notes about the content. That way, when writing the literature review, the relevant information will already be collected.
Year 4 and beyond: Research completion and Defense
After passing the candidacy exam, the student must complete the research, write the dissertation, and defend it under the advisor’s supervision, maintaining regular communication with committee members to avoid surprises.
The defense is an oral exam set by the doctoral committee, including a public presentation of the dissertation’s major results.
Additional requirements
- Ph.D. students must give at least one public lecture (e.g., a conference presentation) during the program.
- Full-time students must attend at least 60% of CS colloquia in their first two years; part-time students are exempt.
- Students should also review the Graduate School regulations on the IU Indianapolis Graduate School website.
Evaluation of student progress
Each year, student progress is reviewed by the advisor and Graduate Program Director. At the end of spring, students complete a Doctoral Student Yearly Review (DSYR) form detailing progress (milestones, courses, publications, talks, results) and setting goals. The advisor reviews and updates the form with the student, then submits it with the plan of study to the Graduate Program Director. Two consecutive years of unsatisfactory progress may result in dismissal. Students entering with an M.S. are expected to progress faster than those without.
The defense must occur at least one year after the candidacy exam to allow time for incorporating feedback. Students seeking to defend earlier must obtain approval from the Graduate Program Director and Graduate School. The dissertation must follow Office of Graduate Education regulations.
Plans of study for Ph.D. – Creating/Changing
Meet first with the Graduate Advisor, then with your research advisor before creating or revising your Plan of Study (POS).
Student responsibility
Students must ensure their POS and registration match each semester (course title, number, credits) by the Add/Drop deadlines. Late changes are not allowed.
Ph.D. POS for students with an M.S. from another school
List the M.S. on the POS as transferred credits, then add credits to total 90 for the Ph.D. Transferred credits count as course credits, so remaining credits must include required courses and at least 30 research credits.
Extra credits
The Plan of Study must list exactly 90 credits for the Ph.D. Students may register for more, but extra credits should not be included. Fewer courses may be listed if this reaches 90. Courses can count toward the core or research qualifying exams even if not listed on the POS.
Colloquium attendance requirement
In their first two years, full-time CS graduate students must attend at least 60% of department colloquia, counted from the date of admission. Attendance is expected at eight per semester or 60% of those offered, whichever is greater. Fewer than required in one semester can be made up the next. Students falling short will be warned in their annual review.
Only CS department colloquia listed on the department’s webpage, including candidacy and dissertation defenses, count; other departmental or group talks do not. Conflicts may allow adjusted requirements, but students must report them to the Graduate Program Administrator. After two years, attendance is no longer tracked but encouraged. Part-time students are exempt, though they are encouraged to attend relevant talks. Attendance should be recorded with the Graduate Program Director.