State Approves RIT’s Ph.D. Program in Computing and Information Sciences

In an effort to encourage students to pursue science and engineering with a foundation in computing, New York state has granted approval to Rochester Institute of Technology’s Ph.D. program in computing and information sciences. This is RIT’s third Ph.D. program.

The Ph.D. program, focusing on use-driven domain computing, will be offered through RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, the largest comprehensive computing college in the nation. The doctoral degree aims to cultivate independent scholars, well-prepared teachers and educators, and researchers able to work in interdisciplinary environments. Twelve students per year will be accepted into the program, and classes will begin this fall.

RIT’s Golisano College has established the Center for Advancing the Study of Cyberinfrastructure to serve as the research facility for the Ph.D. students and faculty. Faculty members from several RIT colleges are conducting interdisciplinary research within the center’s 14 laboratories. Doctoral students are expected to work at the research center as part of the program.

“The Ph.D. program is the crown jewel of the college,” says Jorge Diaz-Herrera, dean of the Golisano College. “This is a very comprehensive college with state-of-the-art facilities, and the Ph.D. program will allow us to put our advanced research into perspective. The program will involve a small percentage of our large faculty so we can maintain our focus on undergraduate education while conducting world-class use driven, computing-enabled research.”

RIT also offers doctorates in imaging science and microsystems engineering.