ENGINEERING IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
The goal of the Ph.D. in Engineering in Computer Science is to train: i) experts in computer science and engineering able to develop new technologies and methodologies both in academia and in public and private research institutions; ii) specialists of very high professional level with engineering skills able to transfer technological and methodological advances into leading application sectors such as informatics, artificial intelligence, robotics, security, in industrial contexts, as well as in services and public administration. The members of the Ph.D. board have a very relevant publication record, they continuously coordinate and participate in international and national research projects, as well as technology transfer projects in collaboration with industrial partners. This scenario gives many possibilities for PhD students to collaborate with top-level researchers worldwide. At the end of the term, PhDs are employed in prestigious academic and industrial institutes in Italy and abroad. In the recent past, a significant number of PhDs has been involved in the creation of start-ups with a strong focus on innovation. Areas of interest of the Ph.D. in Computing Science and Engineering include: Computer architectures and networks Algorithm engineering and complexity analysis Software engineering Artificial intelligence and Knowledge representation Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Information systems Databases Distributed Systems Web and social networks Software oriented computing Cyber security and intelligence Computer vision and computer graphics Human-computer interaction Multi-agent and Multi-robot systems The organization of the teaching activities is described below (more information and updates are available in the PhD web site https://phd.uniroma1.it/web/ENGINEERING-IN-COMPUTER-SCIENCE_nD3514_EN.aspx) The overall activity of Ph.D. students during the three years of the Ph.D program can be quantified in 180 ECTS credits (simply ECTS in the following), 30 of which (corresponding to 50% of work load of one year) are devoted to studying, and 150 of which (corresponding to one year and a half of work) are devoted to carrying on research and writing the thesis. The credits are divided as follows: Type A 0-30 credits for completion of the curriculum of basic studies, chosen from the regular courses from the graduate and undergraduate curricula offered at Sapienza. The Admission Commission makes a proposal for the assignment of credits of type A. Type B 12-18 credits for specialized modules offered by the Doctorate, by the Master Programs or for courses offered by qualified institutions requiring a final exam, that must be approved by the Board of Lecturers. Type C 12 credits for the attendance of summer schools, tutorials at conferences, and departmental seminars (usually on the basis of 0.5 credits for each 1 hour seminar), in order to ensure the integration of the post-graduate students in the life of the department and the development of multi-disciplinary competence in the various research areas of Engineering in Computer Science. According to the organization of the Ph.D. in Engineering in Computer Science, the Ph.D. Board of lecturers is in charge of planning the individual and collective educational activities for students. Individual activities are established also on the basis of the suggestions of the Admission Commission, which evaluated the applications to the Ph.D. for the cycle at hand. In addition, a Thesis Committee is assigned to each student, formed by an advisor, chosen by the student, a co-advisor and, optionally, a third member, appointed by the Ph.D. Board. At least one of the members of the Thesis Committee has to be a member of the Ph.D. Board of lecturers. If the scholarship is granted by an external institution, the Thesis Committee includes an additional representative of that institution as well. The activity of Ph.D. students can be summarized as follows. During the first year, students start their educational program and their research activity. The teaching program consists of a series of Ph.D. courses held especially for students by teachers from the department or invited from other Italian or foreign institutions. Courses cover the main areas of interest of the Ph.D. program. These kinds of courses allow students to achieve CFU of Type B. As a complement to the Ph.D. educational program, students may be asked to take courses from M.Sc. (type A or B), or national or international Ph.D. schools (type B). As said, seminars offered by the department allow students to achieve credits of type C. The research activity for the Ph.D. thesis starts in the first year of the Ph.D. program, and continues in the second and in the third year. The research is conducted under the supervision of the Thesis Committee. At the end of the first year, Ph.D. students present to the Ph.D. Board a brief overview of the state of the art of their area of interest, and sketch the main lines of the research goals they intend to pursue. Admission to the second year is subject to fulfillment of the expected educational objectives and to the preliminary research results obtained during the first year. During the second year, students typically spend some months (usually six) abroad in prestigious universities or other research institutions. At the end of the second year, each student prepares a 20-page report on her or his research activity. Admission to the third year is subject to completion of their educational program and to the scientific quality of the research results obtained during the first two years. At the end of the third year, the Ph.D. Board appoints, for each student, two external reviewers from prominent national or international research institutions, which are asked to evaluate the quality of the thesis. Then, the thesis is defended in front of an internal evaluation commission, which includes the members of the Thesis Committee, and in front of the Ph.D. Board. The internal evaluation commission formulates an evaluation of the student's thesis. The Ph.D. Board then produces a final evaluation on the basis of the thesis, the thesis presentation, and the overall activity carried out by the student during the three years, taking into account the reports of both the internal evaluation commission and the external reviewers. Most of the results contained in the thesis are expected to be published in high-quality journals and conferences.
Giorno: 23/9/2021 Ora: 08:00 Aula: sarà comunicata attraverso il sito web / will be announced in the web site Indirizzo: Via Ariosto 25, Roma
Giorno: 15/9/2021
Luca IOCCHI (luca.iocchi@uniroma1.it)
Email dottorato: dottinginf@diag.uniroma1.it