Graduate Coursework

Contents

1. Registration and Coursework Policies
   
   1. Satisfactory progress
   2. Registration and Minimum course load per semester
   3. Taking Courses in Other Departments
   4. Pre-Candidacy Research Credits
   5. PhD Coursework Waiver Policy
2. Course Listing
   
   1. Areas and Courses
      1. Artificial Intelligence
      2. Bioinformatics
      3. Computer Systems
      4. Database Systems
      5. Software Engineering/Programming Languages/HCI
      6. Scientific Computing
      7. Algorithms and Computation Theory
      8. Visual and Geometric Computing
3. Special Topics Courses
4. 798/798 Section Numbers
5. 898/899 Section Numbers

1. Registration and Coursework Policies

Maintaining Satisfactory Progress

To ensure continuous progress toward your degree, it’s imperative that you consistently meet the set expectations, commensurate with your other responsibilities. You must maintain continuous registration, whether through coursework or research credits. An overall B average must be sustained in your coursework, exclusive of CMSC 799 (Thesis Research) and CMSC 899 (Dissertation Research). Failure to comply may result in the termination of your graduate admission.

In instances where you receive a grade of I (incomplete) in any course, you must resolve this to a satisfactory grade before your degree can be conferred. If you earn a grade of D or F in a graduate course, you must retake the course and achieve a grade of C or higher to maintain your eligibility for degree completion.

You are responsible to keep yourself updated and comply with all deadlines and requirements for your graduate studies. The Graduate School announces exact dates for graduation, academic deadlines, registration deadlines, and other pertinent timelines for each academic year. The Computer Science Graduate Office announces these dates on a semesterly basis. Any changes in departmental policies will be communicated through an announcement to gradlist [-at-] cs [dot] umd [dot] edu.
In the event of any circumstances that might hinder your ability to maintain graduate standing or fulfill degree requirements, it is your responsibility to inform the Computer Science Graduate Office in writing.
 

Registration and Minimum course load per semester

All graduate students within the Computer Science department are required to register through Testudo. It is essential to notify your advisor of your course selections and any subsequent changes each semester. To request permission for restricted courses, please use the Graduate Office’s online permission form. Due to the high demand for Computer Science courses, we strongly advise you to register early.

Minimum course load

Course load is measured in units, which are defined as follows:

Audited courses do not generate graduate units. A part-time graduate student must complete at least 12 units per year. A full-time graduate student is normally expected to successfully complete a combination of courses that totals at least 48 units each semester (excluding summer sessions). Graduate assistants and International students must maintain full-time status.

Graduate Assistants are referred to either as Graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs), Graduate Research Assistants (RAs), or Graduate Administrative Assistants (AAs).

• Full-time Graduate Assistant (GA): Working 20 hours per week equates to 24 units. To maintain full-time status, full-time GA should register for an additional 24 units.
• Half-time Graduate Assistant (GA): Working 10 hours per week equates to 12 units. To maintain full-time status, half-time GA needs to register for 36 units.

Consult this reference to help calculate whether or not your coursework qualifies you as a full-time graduate student:

Taking Courses from Other Departments

Graduate courses from other departments can be used to satisfy the “elective” courses requirement (see section 2.3 in the policy manual). Under specific circumstances, these courses might also qualify for MS/Ph.D. course requirements.

Qualifying Course Criteria:

• At least 75% of the course grade should be based on homework, programming tasks, research projects, and exams
• Written exams in these courses should form at least 30% of the final grade

For Elective Course Registration:

If you're looking to enroll in a non-CS course to satisfy the "Elective" graduate course requirement, please complete this form and provide the necessary details.

For MS/Ph.D. Qualifying Course Registration:

To have an external course evaluated for its relevance as a qualifying course within the MS/Ph.D. program, please provide the necessary details to the Grad Office using this form:

• Specific course details, including the syllabus and the instructor’s name
• Identifies the area in which you want the course to count
• A justification explaining the relevance and importance of this course to your studies
• Upload any relevant supporting documents

The Grad Office forwards the request to the appropriate field committee members and they will decide on the course’s suitability as a qualifying Ph.D./MS course for the indicated area or if it should be considered as an elective.

Note: Please ensure your submission is well in advance of the semester in which you plan to undertake the course

Pre-Candidacy Research Credits

Pre-candidacy research credits (CMSC898) are used to maintain registration or full-time status when regular coursework isn’t sufficient. These credits are particularly relevant in scenarios where you are engaged in research activities with your advisor but have not yet advanced to candidacy. In such cases, you should register for CMSC 898 to appropriately account for your research efforts.

CMSC898 section number is linked to the professor under whom you are conducting your research. A listing of section numbers can be found in 898/899/799/798 Section Numbers. 

PhD Coursework Waiver Policy

Overview

In the Computer Science graduate program, advancing to candidacy requires students to complete six qualifying courses at the 600–800 level across four different areas with a minimum of four A's and two B's, two additional elective courses with grades of B or higher, and a compulsory one-credit course, "How to Conduct Great Research." (For detailed information, refer to section 2.3, Pre-candidacy Requirements, in the Policy Manual.)

While approved course waivers can reduce the total number of courses you need to take, they do not reduce the requirement to earn a minimum of four A's at UMD, a requirement that ensures mastery of the subject matter.

Criteria for Waivers

• The previous course must align closely with a UMD-qualifying course in terms of exams, graduate-level content, and syllabus similarity
• Waivers must be approved by the relevant field committee

 Please Note:

• A maximum of 3 courses can be waived. Please only submit 3 requests at a time. If some requests are denied, additional ones may be submitted
• The waiver process does not affect the requirement to achieve four A’s in UMD-taken courses. Approved waivers are only applicable for meeting the requirement of obtaining two 'B' grades in the qualifying courses or elective courses
• Courses taken for undergraduate credit, or classified as retired (no longer offered) at UMD, are ineligible for waivers
• A course that is evaluated and classified at the 400 level does not qualify for PhD coursework waiver, even if it was taken for graduate credit at another institute. Such a course can be applied to your MS requirements. If you intend to include credits earned at another institution towards your MS-along-the-way, you must adhere to the Graduate School's policy for transferring credit. If eligible, submit the UMD Graduate School Inclusion Form via CS Graduate Form Submissions.
• Waivers will only be accepted for coursework completed in previous Ph.D. or MS programs prior to starting at UMD. Purely online courses are generally not considered acceptable for waiver requests.

Submission Process:

• Submit waiver requests through this form to the relevant field committee chair(s).
• To ensure timely processing of your waiver requests, please submit them via the provided form by October 1st for consideration for the upcoming Spring semester, or by March 1st for the following Fall semester. Be mindful that decisions are typically made in time for early registration for the next term.
  • For consideration in your Spring semester coursework, submit waiver requests by October 1st
  • For consideration in your Fall semester coursework, submit waiver requests by March 1st
• Clearly link the course you're seeking to waive to the equivalent UMD course for comparison purposes.

2. Course Listings

All core courses (600-700 level) listed under 'Areas and Courses' are qualifying courses, and their status is generally stable. Special Topics Courses will have their qualifying status updated each semester.

Areas and Courses

The graduate program coursework is organized into areas, each with associated faculty and courses. There are currently eight areas:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Bioinformatics
• Computer Systems
• Database Systems
• Software Engineering/Programming Languages/HCI
• Scientific Computing
• Algorithms and Computation Theory
• Visual and Geometric Computing

Below are the courses by area:

Some courses may appear in more than one area. However, you cannot use a particular course to satisfy more than one area's requirement.

It is expected that courses at the 600-800 level will be offered on a rotating basis, roughly every three or four semesters.

In addition to the courses listed above, special topics courses are offered, under the course numbers CMSC 818, 828, 838, etc.

MS/PhD Status of Special Topics Courses

1. This section lists special topics courses (i.e., 498, 798, 8x8) by semester, and for each course, indicates the following:
   • Fall 2015 and later - whether it is MS/PhD qualifying and area
   • Spring 2015 and earlier - whether it is PhD qualifying and area; whether it is MS qualifying and area; whether its exams consistute an MS comp in an area and, if so, which of its exams.
     • [Spring 2015 and earlier: MS or PhD qualifying courses must base their grades primarily on exams (and not on paper readings, presentations, etc). An MS comp must be based entirely on exams (and not projects, homeworks, term papers, etc). It can be one or more of the regular exams in the course (e.g., final, midterm + final), regular exams augmented with additional questions, a separate exam, or any combination.]
2. Instructors offering such courses should email the relevant information to the grad office well before the start of the semester.
3. Information for a semester is finalized when the semester starts.
4. If a special topics course being offered is not listed here, then it does not count as MS/PhD qualifying or toward MS comps.

798/799 Section Numbers

MS students should register for section numbers designated as "PJ" under their advisor for the following courses. Full list can be viewed here.

• CMSC798: Non-thesis research
• CMSC799: Thesis research

898/899 Section Numbers

Sections for the following independent research courses (CMSC898, 899) are by faculty member.  Full list can be viewed here.

• CMSC898 - Pre-Candidacy Research
• CMSC899 - Doctoral Dissertation Research

It is assumed students have already received faculty approval for registering for their section. For CM899, PhD students who have advanced to candidacy will automatically be registered each Fall and Spring by the registrar if the student has advanced by end of schedule adjustment for that semester. PhD students graduating in summer would need to register for 1 credit of CMSC899 to meet the requirement of being registered the semester of graduation.

Off-campus Internship/Individual Study (I1** or I2**): Students who are off-campus or on internship can register for "I" sections in summer (replacing the first zero in the course number with the letter "I"). These sections are intended for when the student is NOT required to come to campus. All coursework is off-site or there are no on-campus meetings with the advisor. Students will be charged the off-campus mandatory student services fee if they are enrolled in this type of section.

Winter Registration: In rare cases where a student needs to register for the Winter semester, they may do so under the DGS's section number: 0107 (On-campus) or I107 (Off-campus).