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The Department of Computer Science is dedicated to advancing and improving
the knowledge, understanding, and practice of computer science through
basic research and education.
Research
We construe the field of computer science broadly, to include the complementary
concepts of computation, information, and communication. We employ modes
of inquiry and creation from pure mathematics to experiment and observation
to design and engineering. We investigate computation, information, and
communication, as inherently interesting phenomena; we also investigate
the many ways in which computational concepts engage other topics: artificial
computational tools for science and scholarship, computational infrastructure
for society.
Our current research may be classified into theoretical computer science,
artificial intelligence, the theory, technology, and practice of programming,
databases and data mining, networks and distributed systems, scientific
computing, computational mathematics. We also have growing efforts in
other applied computing research, such as bioinformatics, medical informatics,scientific
data management, and mathematical and computational models of sound.
- Theoretical computer science. We investigate the fundamental descriptive
and algorithmic concepts underlying the computational process and the
intrinsic limitations to efficient computation. Our faculty specialize
in complexity theory, computational geometry, algorithms, discrete random
processes, distributed computing, combinatorics, computability theory,
and programming language semantics. It should be emphasized that all
other areas of computer science,listed below, have strong theoretical
components represented among our faculty.
- Artificial intelligence. We use language, vision, and learning as
the organizing themes driving work in artificial intelligence.
- Programming systems. Our faculty emphasizes the formal definition,
design, and implementation of programming languages, formal methods
for software design, concurrency, and applications of scripting languages
in scientific computing.
- Databases, data mining, visualization.
- Networks and distributed systems. Our faculty advance the principles,
practice, and applications of large-scale distributed and collaborative
systems, particularly through leadership roles in the global computing
grid and the study of peer to peer networks. Research areas include
the design, implemention, and evaluation of systems, protocols, and
applications.
- Computational mathematics, scientific computing; mathematical, algorithmic,
language and systems aspects of numerical computing; parallel and high
performance computing.
- Interdisciplinary research. We collaborate with faculty in many other
disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, economics, linguistics,
psychology, biological sciences, high energy physics, astrophysics,
geophysics, as well as with the Division of Mathematics and Computer
Science at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). ANL is operated by the
University of Chicago for the US Department of Energy.
Graduate Programs
We offer two graduate curricula in computer science.
* A graduate professional curriculum leading to the Master of Science
(S.M.) degree, for students who wish to enter or advance themselves
in computer science practice.
* A graduate research curriculum leading to the Ph.D. degree and preparing
students to perform advanced basic research in computer science either
in industry or academia. Substantial college teaching experience is
available for students preparing for academic careers.
Acquire further information about our Professional Programs by writing
to our CSPP Admissions, Department of Computer Science, University of
Chicago, 1100 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, by telephoning 773-834-3388,
or through our website http://masters.cs.uchicago.edu/.
You may email any questions to our questions@cs.uchicago.edu
email address.
Acquire further information about our educational programs by writing
to Admissions, Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago,
1100 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, by telephoning (773) 702-6011,
or through the Web at http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/.
The Ph.D. program
The department offers two Ph.D. tracks: a "standard track"
and a "computational mathematics" track.
The detailed requirements for the Ph.D. degree and for the S.M. degree
within the Ph.D. program can be found by visiting the Department's web
page at http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/.
Here is a brief summary.
Our research curriculum does not offer an S.M. program; students admitted
to the Ph.D. program receive their S.M. degrees along the way toward their
Ph.D.
To obtain an S.M. degree, students in the Ph.D. program must fulfill
the following requirements:
(a) Complete a sequence of five core courses and four electives. The core
courses are
CS 31000 - Foundations of Computer Science
CS 32200 - Computer Architecture
CS 33000 - Operating Systems
CS 35000 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
CS 37000 - Algorithms
A modified set of core courses applies to the computational mathematics
track (see the web-site). The list of electives is frequently updated;
we refer to the web page.
Students must complete the core courses by the end of the Winter quarter
of their first year of study and the electives by the end of their second
year of study. Students must receive a grade of at least B- in all the
nine courses and have a GPA of at least 3.00 in the five core courses.
(b) Write a Master's paper and pass a Master's examination.
To obtain a Ph.D. degree, students must meet enhanced S.M. requirements,
including at least B on each of the nine courses and a GPA of at least
3.25 on the five core courses; plus the following:
(c) Pass the Candidacy exam;
(d) Pass the Foreign Language Competency exam (reading a technical paper
in an approved foreign language, with the use of a dictionary);
(e) Write and defend a Doctoral Thesis which contains significant original
research in computer science.
Financial Aid for students in the Ph.D. program
We expect to support all students who make satisfactory progress toward
a doctorate. This support includes full tuition and a monthly stipend
during the academic year that is competitive with offers made by other
top-ranked schools. To earn their stipends, students will have to perform
part-time work for the department as teaching assistants, research assistants,
members of the technical staff, etc. The department also encourages prospective
students to apply for all externally funded grants and fellowships for
which they qualify.
Admission to the Ph.D. program
While most of our graduate students have majored in mathematics or computer
science as undergraduates, applicants with other backgrounds have also
been successful in our department. Students will succeed in the program
if they are motivated to do research and have a strong general intellectual
preparation to study in a particular field of computer science.
Students also need a reasonable foundation in mathematics, including
calculus and linear algebra.
Applicants who expect to specialize in theoretical computer science or
computational mathematics will need a more substantial mathematics background
that includes advanced proof-based courses such as analysis, abstract
algebra, probability and measure theory, logic, topology.
Applicants who expect to work in artificial intelligence (AI) will also
want to have had some background in cognition, such as linguistics, cognitive
psychology, or AI. Much of a typical undergraduate curriculum in computer
science, such as courses in programming languages, data structures, operating
systems and algorithms, is necessary background to specialize in programming
languages and systems. Other applicants will also find such courses very
useful background.
The department encourages all potential students to take an advanced
test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). That advanced test does
not need to be in computer science or mathematics, although these are
generally the most helpful. In certain areas, such as Theory or AI, a
mathematics GRE tends to be more helpful than a computer science GRE.
Teaching opportunities for students in the Ph.D. program
The department takes its undergraduate teaching responsibilities very
seriously, and offers supervised teaching opportunities, including lecturing,
acting as teaching assistants, and working as lab assistants to its best
graduate students. The program allows students to develop their teaching
abilities and gain significant classroom experience. The department also
works with other University departments to make campus-wide teaching seminars
available to its students.
Computing Facilities
In addition to general University computing facilities and our Undergraduate
Computing Laboratory (which contains about four dozen Macintosh computers
and two dozen Linux workstations with extensive peripherals and software),
the Ryerson Research Computing Service provides the faculty, students,
and postdoctoral associates in computer science with state of the art
computing resources. We have the flexibility to adapt quickly to new research
needs.
The resources include: 24-hour 7-day interactive computing services on
a number of shared Unix/Linux computing servers and workstations interconnected
by high speed ethernet; a workstation on each desktop (a total of more
than 200 workstations); wireless connections; substantial amounts of personal
file storage, backed up nightly for reliability and accessible transparently
from all departmental computers; printer service on several PostScript
laser printers; web servers and access to the Internet; Linux clusters
for research in parallel computing and High Performance Computing. The
department also has access to highly parallel machines at ANL.
There are two AccessGrid nodes on campus and the University is a node
on the Illinois I-WIRE ultra-high-speed optical fiber grid connecting
a number of research facilities, including Northwestern University and
ANL. The department also participates in the PlanetLab international networking
and distributed computing laboratory.
Courses
For the list of courses offered and the course descriptions, please consult
the departmental web page at http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/courses.
Last Updated 9/02/2003 |
