The Ph.D. Program in Computer Science at The City University of New York's Graduate Center is designed to prepare selected students for leadership in industrial careers and research and teaching in academe.
The ubiquitous role of the computer in our society requires that the Ph.D. candidate master computer science in its broadest sense, as well as display knowledge in a specialized area of the discipline and show the ability to perform independent research.
CUNY's Ph.D. Program in Computer Science is conducted as a consortium of seven senior colleges within the CUNY system, as well as the Graduate Center. Each offers graduate studies in the realm of computation, the Graduate Center, however, is the only institution chartered to grant the Ph.D. Located in mid-town Manhattan, the Graduate Center functions as the hub, both academically and administratively, of the Program. The other principal participants, as of January 2001, are Baruch College, Brooklyn College, The City College, The College of Staten Island, Hunter College, Lehman College, and Queens College.
At present, courses are given at the Graduate Center. Advanced graduate courses, including seminars, special-topics courses and colloquia are offered at the Graduate Center each semester, whereas lab-oriented courses tend to be offered at the senior colleges. Thus, depending upon an individual's research interests and the home college of a student's dissertation advisor, one may - after the first year of study - divide one's time between the Graduate Center and one or more of the CUNY senior colleges.
The Ph.D. Program in Computer Science currently has approximately 120 members of the doctoral faculty, selected from the CUNY senior colleges, or engaged directly by the Graduate Center. Appointment to the doctoral faculty is based primarily on the professors' research achievements over the course of their academic careers.
The collective research contributions and publications of the doctoral faculty are quite extensive, and compare favorably with those of computer science groups at other major universities and research institutes in the US and abroad.
Because of the often interdisciplinary character of computer science, the Program benefits from the far-flung activities of the City University. Selected faculty members in the Ph.D. Programs in Engineering, Linguistics, Mathematics, Philosophy and Psychology contribute to the program.
The considerable educational and research resources of the City University and various computer science departments and related facilities provide extensive opportunities for computer-related research.