Each degree includes completion of Core courses CPS 5401 and CPS 5310, and four Prescribed Electives chosen from: CS 5334, CS 5350, CS 5336, MATH 5392, MATH 5385, MATH 5329, MATH 5330, MATH 5343, MATH 5345, PHYS 5325, BINF 5351, BINF 5352, GEOP 5336, GEOP 5352, EE 5371, EE 5372, CE 5307, ME 5302, and ME 5312. Free Electives may be chosen from: CS 5310, CS 5340, CS 5317, CS 5351, CS 5353, CS 5354, CS 5382, CS 5383, MATH 5310, MATH 5311, MATH 5314, MATH 5315, MATH 5335, MATH 5346, MATH 5386, MATH 5392, MATH 5385, MATH 5388, MATH 5391, MATH 6311, MATH 6345, BIOL 5328, BINF 5341, BINF 5354, BIOL 5316, GEOP 5353, GEOP 5460, GEOL 5375, PHYS 5365, PHYS 5371, EE 5301, EE 5310, EE 5370, EE 5376, EE 5377, EE 5379, and ME 5390. Courses taken and not used to satisfy the Prescribed Electives requirement can be used to satisfy the Free Electives requirement. A doctoral student entering with a M.S. degree must take only 6 to 15 credit hours of free electives, at the discretion of the CPS Core Advisor.

The final exams in the Core and Prescribed Electives may be used as qualifying exams. A doctoral student failing any of the qualifying exams will be required by the CPS Program Committee to do one of the following: (1) leave the program; (2) repeat that particular qualifying exam(s) the following year; (3) take a make-up exam(s) within 4 weeks; or (4) opt for continuing with an academic or professional master’s degree. A student qualifying to continue work towards the Ph.D. will choose a dissertation topic and advisor(s) chosen from the CPS Core Faculty.