PhD Programs

Doctoral degrees require the fulfillment of the specific department requirements including the number of courses with grades of S (satisfactory) or at least a B-, as well as successful completion of the qualifying examination and doctoral dissertation.

PhD in Computer Science

Tufts offers a PhD program in Computer Science, with admission granted at the department level, not to individual faculty members’ research groups. At Tufts, doctoral candidates go on to change the world in successful careers in industry and academia. They teach in tenure-track positions at prestigious universities, launch innovative start-ups, and go to work at companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and many more.

Doctoral candidates are expected to plan a program of research under the direction of their dissertation supervisor and with the guidance of a faculty committee. Upon completion of this research, the candidate must prepare and publicly defend their dissertation. Students should earn 20 courses for the PhD degree.

Joint-PhD in Cognitive Science

Cutting across the information and life sciences, cognitive science is a paradigmatic multi- and inter-disciplinary research program with enormous future societal benefits, especially as intelligent artificial agents are becoming part of our lives. A graduate student in the Cognitive Science Program is required to meet the requirements of their home department (Psychology, Child Study and Human Development or Computer Science) as well as the requirements for the Cognitive Science Program.

In addition to the Computer Science PhD requirements, a minimum of 12 cognitive science courses are required for the joint-PhD  degree: five core courses and seven electives.

Joint-PhD in Human-Robot Interaction

Doctoral students in Human-Robot Interaction have the opportunity to build a unique degree program for themselves as they lay the foundations for future generations of researchers and practitioners working with robots. Graduating doctoral candidates will receive a joint PhD in their home department (Computer Science) and in Human-Robot Interaction.

Students desiring to be admitted to this program must first (or simultaneously) be admitted to one of three other graduate programs at Tufts (so-called “home” departments). At this time these include: Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. In addition to the Computer Science PhD requirements, a minimum of 10 HRI courses are also required (five core courses and five electives; note that many of these also count towards the Computer Science requirements).