The School of Computing and Information Science offers Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Science (MS) degrees in Computer Science. The PhD degree is granted to highly-qualified students who have completed a rigorous course of study and research training resulting in the preparation and defense of a dissertation describing original computer science research. Students are required to complete 58 semester hours in an approved program of study: 39 hours of course credit, 18 hours of thesis credit, and a 1-hour PhD orientation seminar and The student must pass a comprehensive examination and prepare and defend a dissertation. There is a written and oral proposal as well as a final oral defense of the dissertation. The Ph.D. is granted to highly-qualified students who have completed a rigorous course of study and research training resulting in the preparation and defense of a dissertation describing original computer science research. The Ph.D. is the highest academic degree. It confers the right to be addressed as doctor and opens the door to rewarding and fulfilling careers in academia and industry. The doctoral student will obtain a broad and deep graduate-level background in computer science, with particular depth in a chosen area of specialization. The student will receive extensive training in computer science research over the course of the program under the direction of a faculty advisor as well as other faculty on the five-member PhD committee.<br><br>Robots are becoming increasingly common, from the factory robots that build cars to the vacuuming robots that clean houses. For many applications, robots dont have to be very smart. However, for others, they must operate autonomously and be capable of intelligent, flexible behavior. Examples of this include ocean exploration, long-term data gathering in changing environments, space exploration, and some military applications. Robots are one kind of agent, that is, an entity that senses its environment (e.g., via sensors), makes a decision about how to behave, and takes actions (e.g., via effectors). Artificial intelligence (AI) research on giving agents intelligence, then, will lead to smarter, more capable robots.