Ph.D. in Computer Science

Ph.D. Program in Computer Science

The Ph.D. program requires both breadth and depth in coursework. The breadth requirement ensures students obtain a solid foundation in core computer science areas, while the depth requirement allows students to gain an in-depth and up-to-date understanding of a particular area of concentration. In parallel with coursework, students are also expected to engage in research as early as their incoming semester.

The program requires 48 credit hours of graduate course work, including core computer science courses, research courses starting in the first year, as well as an interdisciplinary research project. After an oral qualifying examination at the end of the fifth semester, the prospectus presentation is scheduled at the beginning of the seventh semester, and the final milestone is to complete and defend a dissertation. A more detailed listing of requirements and example curricula can be found in the program catalog listing.

Ph.D. Transfer Credit

Up to 24 credit hours of graduate work at Tulane or another university may be transferable for credit if the work is in Computer Science or in a related area. In particular, students who have completed a Master's degree may be able to have some of their Master's coursework count for the Ph.D. degree. The suitability of a course transfer is approved on a course-by-course basis and is not guaranteed.

• Must be submitted within the first semester 

• Can transfer at most 1 core course, must have an A- or higher

• Other courses must have a B or higher 

• An exception could be given to transferring PhD students 

• Attach detailed syllabi of the requested courses to transfer 

• Fill out the form and email it with the detailed syllabi to cs-grad@tulane.edu

Areas of Faculty Expertise

 

Students with interest in multi-agent systems, artificial intelligence, and/or data science with applications to group decision making, recommender systems, and issues in AI, ethics, and society, are invited to contact Professor Nicholas Mattei. Possible areas for interdisciplinary collaboration include mathematics, economics, psychology, and law.

Students with an interest in human-computer interaction, accessible computing, and computational social science are invited to contact Professor Saad Hassan. Professor Hassan conducts interdisciplinary research on technologies to facilitate inclusion, learning, and creative expression for individuals with disabilities, with a focus on Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users. Possible areas for collaboration include linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, art, and design. Students with disabilities are welcomed and encouraged to apply.

Students interested in research in computational biology and bioinformatics are invited to contact Professor Ramgopal Mettu. Professor Mettu currently conducts research in protein structure prediction, protein-protein interactions, compound screening and computational immunology. This research is performed in collaboration with faculty from the Tulane Medical School.

Students with interest in computational geometry, shape matching, or trajectory analysis, possibly in combination with topology or statistics or with biomedical image analysis, are invited to contact Professor Carola Wenk. Possible areas for an interdisciplinary collaboration include mathematics, biomedical engineering, and biology.

Students interested in working in the theory, algorithms and applications of machine learning are invited to contact Professor Jihun Hamm. Professor Hamm's current research topics include deep learning, adversarial machine learning, non-convex optimization, and machine learning applications in biomedical sciences.

Students interested in machine learning algorithms for natural language processing are invited to contact Professor Aron Culotta. Professor Culotta conducts interdisciplinary research on social media analysis with applications to public health, emergency management, and political science. His recent methodological focus includes domain adaptation, semi-supervised learning, and causal inference.

Students interested in working on the algorithms and applications of computer vision and machine learning are invited to contact Professor Zhengming (Allan) Ding. Professor Ding's current research focuses on developing advanced AI learning algorithms to generate accurate, reliable, and transparent decisions including topics such as deep learning, transfer learning, multi-view learning, and applies to AI-assisted interdisciplinary applications such as smart transportation, medical data analysis, WiFi-based robot localization, and material fracture detection.

Students interested in reinforcement learning and multi-agent learning are invited to contact Professor Zizhan Zheng. Professor Zheng's current research topics include (deep) reinforcement learning, federated learning, learning in games, machine learning security and safety, and their applications in robotics, healthcare, environmental science, and social sciences.

Students interested in the theory and applications of networking and security are invited to contact Professor Zizhan Zheng. Professor Zheng develops optimization and learning-based solutions to improve the efficiency and security of wireless networks, cyber-physical systems, and cloud and edge computing systems. Possible areas for interdisciplinary collaboration include smart transportation, energy systems, and environmental science.

Students with interest in data visualization, computer graphics, and/or image processing are invited to contact Professor Brian Summa. Possible areas for interdisciplinary collaboration include mathematics, biology, neuroscience, physics, earth and environmental sciences, and chemical and biochemical engineering.

Students with interest in computer systems and architecture are invited to contact Professor Lu Peng. Currently, his research topics include GPU/CPU performance, power, reliability, and security design, deep learning neural networks accelerators and applications, blockchain acceleration and applications, and quantum processor architecture and compilers. Possible areas for an interdisciplinary collaboration include physics, healthcare, and biological sciences.