A. Mission Statement

The mission of the Doctor of Philosophy program in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering is to meet local, state and national needs for outstanding graduates who will assume positions of responsibility in academic, industrial and government organizations. The degree is awarded for demonstrated scholarly excellence in study and research that provides a significant contribution to the fields of computer science or computer engineering. Programmatic strength lies in the unique blend of faculty expertise, in the combination of theory with software and hardware design and in the laboratory facilities available to the program.

At the local level our mission is to make advanced computer science and engineering educational opportunities available to employees of local high technology industry and government including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We maintain an active research program with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and many local companies. In support of our mission we maintain up-to-date research laboratories and share their use with the local community. In addition, we have access to laboratories maintained by other local organizations.

At the state level our mission includes a number of cooperative activities with other Universities, industry, and government. The Department is one of four Computer Science Departments in the State that receives additional support from the Ohio Board of Regents through its Priorities in Graduate Education Program. The Program provides each Department with support for a Distinguished Professor and several other professors as well as support for joint research projects among the four universities (University of Cincinnati, Kent State University, Ohio State University and Wright State University).

A unique aspect of our mission is accomplished through the Information Technology Research Institute that was established in 1997. The Institute is a college-wide program closely aligned with the Department. Its mission is to conduct basic and applied research, industrially relevant research, and to reduce the time for research results to reach the marketplace. ITRI contributes to the mission of the Department by providing matching support for faculty and graduate student activities and promoting large research projects. The research areas of the Department as well as ITRI include Software Engineering and Database Systems, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Enhanced Reasoning, and Parallel and Distributed Systems. Specific expertise exists in the following areas: software systems, database systems, knowledge-based systems, knowledge discovery and data mining, intelligent interfaces, computer graphics and visualization, neural networks, robotics, machine intelligence, hardware systems and communications, optical computing, parallel computing, and very large scale integration (VLSI).

Part of our mission is to provide support for our doctoral students. Teaching Assistantships are available on a competitive basis for students who have established strong academic credentials and can demonstrate good communication and teaching skills. A number of Departmental Research Assistantships are awarded annually based on exceptional performance or potential. Graduate support is also available in the form of assistantships associated with research projects of the faculty. In addition to the Departmental Graduate Teaching and Research Assistantships, support in the form of both assistantships and scholarships is provided by ITRI and the Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute (DAGSI).

B. Admission Standards

A student may be admitted to the Ph.D. program in Computer Science and Engineering with a baccalaureate degree or a master's degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related area and appropriate experience; satisfaction of the admission requirements as set forth by the School of Graduate Studies; and a record that indicates potential for a career in computer science and engineering research, as evaluated by the Department’s admission committee.

Students should come to the program with knowledge of higher-level programming languages, data structures, real-time programming, computer organization, formal languages, operating systems, and computer systems design. It may be possible to make up minor background deficiencies after admission to the program by taking appropriate courses.

In addition, minimum expectations are a baccalaureate or master's degree from an accredited institution in computer science, computer engineering, or related discipline with a grade point average of at least 3.3 and a score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) of at least 1700. The Graduate Record Examination is not required of students with a degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering from Wright State University master's degree from the Wright State University College of Engineering and Computer Science, provided that a grade point average of 3.6 or better was achieved.

There are approximately 30 active Ph.D. students currently in the Department and those who were required to present GRE scores have an average value of 1923.

C. Meeting the Needs of the State

The State and Country have great needs for highly skilled individuals in the field of Information Technology, which has Computer Science and Engineering at its core. At the present time Universities are unable to meet the demand at all degree levels. In response to this demand we are expanding as fast as we can consistent with maintaining and improving our high quality standards.

D. Placement Objectives for Graduates

The Department prepares Ph.D. graduates for careers in universities, industry and government and places special emphasis on life long learning and development. We will continue to promote the development of a solid knowledge of Computer Science and Engineering as well as the production of in depth original research contributions on the part of our graduates. Since the beginning of the program in 1990, Wright State University has awarded twenty Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering. Four of these graduates are currently in academia, three of them in Ohio universities; eleven hold jobs in the industrial sector, six in Ohio companies; four have jobs with the military, either in active duty or civilian positions, two at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.