Emory UniversityDepartment of Mathematics and

Computer ScienceGraduate Handbook

2015-2016

Table of Contents

1. Department Information1.1 Registration1.2 Computers/Email1.3 Mail Service1.4 Graduate Program Coordinator1.5 Graduate Student Offices1.6 Copy/Work room and Office Supplies1.7 Expense/Travel Reimbursement

2. Ph.D. Requirements2.1 Ph.D. in Mathematics

2.1.1 Summary of Degree Requirements2.1.2 Remarks on Degree Requirements 2.1.3 Area Specific Course Recommendations2.1.4 Teaching and TA Duties2.1.5 Pedagogy and Professional Development

2.2 Ph.D. in Computer Science and Informatics2.2.1 Seminar Attendance2.2.2 Course Requirements2.2.3 Qualifying/Rotation Project2.2.4 Qualifying Examination2.2.5 Teaching Requirements2.2.6 Candidacy2.2.7 Seminar Presentations2.2.8 Dissertation and Defense2.2.9 Pedagogy and Professional Development2.2.10 Sample Schedule

2.3 Ph.D. Concentration in Biomedical Informatics2.3.1 Overview2.3.2 Course Requirements2.3.3 Qualifying/Rotation Project

2.4 Professional Conduct2.5 Yearly Progress Reports

3. M.S. Degree Requirements3.1 M.S. in Mathematics3.2 M.S. in Computer Science3.3 M.S. in Computer Science with Biostatistics Concentration3.4 M.S. in Computer Science with Computational Science Concentration3.5 Yearly Progress Reports

4. Annual Evaluation

5. Fellowships and Assistantships5.1 Duties5.2 Conditions, Evaluation, and Renewal5.3 Payment

6. Grievance Policy

7. FAQ

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This Graduate Student Manual is intended to orient new students to the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Emory University and to provide a summary of its polices and procedures regarding graduate study. The manual complements the Laney Graduate Handbook, which contains general degree requirements and Graduate School policies. The manual is modified yearly to account for policy changes. Before basing decsions on this manual, students should be certain that they have the latest version (dated by school year). If unsure about some policy or rule, students should consult with their advisor, the graduate program coordinator, or the Director of Graduate Studies.

1 Departmental Information

1.1 Registration

Registration is typically held during the week classes begin. First time registration for new students is done by the Graduate Program Coordinator, Terry Ingram (W436). In subesequent semesters, students will register online through the OPUS system (https://www.opus.emory.edu). The system can also be accessed from the Emory home page (www.emory.edu) Students must consult with either the Director of Graduate Studies or his/her faculty advisor on matters related to registration (e.g., pre-registration, registration, drop, add). Any academic problems arising from student failure to consult with an approriate faculty advsior will be the responsibility of the student. Once a student has been Registered, the student will need to pay their student fees at the Bursar's Office.

PLEASE NOTE:

Change in registration is not allowed after the official add/drop period (normally the first full week of the semester). It is not possible to retroactively enroll in, drop, or change the grading basis of a course. It is the student's responsibility to check and verify his/her registration.

Students must receive permission to enroll in directed study or research sections by their mentor/advisor. These courses are by permission only and enrollment will only happen if permission has been granted.

Students should never register themselves for classes in another department outside of Math and Computer Science unless the following criteria have been met: (1) approriate faculty advior has been consulted and given persmission. (2) The course is part of the student's degree requirements. (3) the student has received prior permission from the department teaching the course. Any problems with scheduling must be addressed during the add/drop period.

1.2 Computers/E-Mail

Each student will have a computer account. Students with assigned desks will have a desktop computer connected to the departmental UNIX file server. To obtain e-mail access, you must first contact Emory’s Information Technology Division (ITD) at 7-7777 to set up a university user ID and password. Once the university ID and password is set up, please see the systems staff to activate your account on the Math/CS system.

1.3 Mail Service

The department provides mailboxes for all faculty, staff, and graduate students. The mailroom is located beyond the main reception desk in W405. Graduate student mailboxes are divided up

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between programs with the Computer Science Masters (and beginning with PhD) student on the right, above the staff and faculty mailboxes; the remaining Computer Science PhD students will be located on the back wall, and all Math PhD and MS students are located on the right, in the wooden mailboxes. Each student’s name appears below his/her box. The department has two outgoing mail trays located inside the cabinet underneath the middle section of faculty mailboxes. One is for campus mail only, and the other is for mail going out by the United States Postal Service, and they are marked accordingly. Personal letters should bear the appropriate postage and can be placed in the U.S. mail tray. The department does not pay for postage for personal items. There is a branch of the U.S.P.S. located on campus in the DUC where stamps may be purchased. Stamps may also be available in the department from Erin Nagle in E418 for the cost of the stamp(s). Mail goes out twice daily: once in the early morning (around 9:00AM) and once in the afternoon (around 2:00 PM).

1.4 Graduate Program Coordinator

The Graduate Program Coordinator is Terry Ingram. She handles the day-to-day functions of the graduate program and serves as a liaison between the graduate students and the Graduate School. Her office is W436, and her telephone number is 404-727-6114 (7-6114 from campus phones). See her with any problems or questions.

1.5 Graduate Student Offices

Students receiving financial support from faculty, the Graduate School, or an external fellowship will be assigned a desk in one of the graduate student offices. Each PhD student will be given a key to the main door of the office and to his/her assigned desk. Office door keys and desk keys may be obtained from Terry Ingram; a $10 cash refundable key deposit is required at time of issuance. For the safety and consideration of all students, please keep the main door locked at all times, especially when there is no one else in the room. This is the only way to protect your personal items and those of your office mates. Do not leave anything of great value unlocked or exposed.

1.6 Copy/Work Room and Office Supplies

The copy machines and office supplies are for department faculty and staff use only. Exceptions to this are students currently teaching a course, assisting a professor/faculty member (and that faculty member asks you to make copies), or you need to make copies related to University or department business. No other personal copies by graduate students are permitted except for the above-mentioned reasons.

Office supplies are for the use of faculty, staff, and graduate students who are currently teaching or assisting a faculty member. Supplies are not available to graduate students who do not meet one of the above criteria.

1.7 Expense/Travel Reimbursement

Funding is available to all students enrolled in the doctoral program. The Laney Graduate School makes available funds to support specific categories of graduate student professional development. These funds are awarded on the basis of the merit of the proposed activity and the importance of the activity to the student’s program of study. To receive an award a student must be in good standing, both in the Laney Graduate School and in the program.

Students are responsible for submitting their request no later than the 10th of each month. A new procedure went in to effect last year allowing Mrs. Ingram to approve the application before the Laney Graduate School will review the application. It is

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recommended that students apply for conferences early. There will be a one-month grace period to apply from returning from a conference. If you apply after the conference and you are denied funding, you will not be given a second chance to apply.

It is required that if you use Emory funding, you must comply with the new travel policy. The policy states that air travel bought with Emory funds be purchased through one of Emory’s air travel providers. This requirement includes travel, which is at first paid for using a personal credit card, and later reimbursed using Emory funds. To comply with the travel policy, you must access Travelocity through a link found on the Laney Graduate School website and log in using your Emory NetID. Awards are made in three funding categories: (1) conference participation, (2) supplementary training not available at Emory, including language acquisition, and (3) research. For conference participation, there is both an annual limit and a cumulative career limit: students can receive no more than $650 each year (with one exception—see details on Conference Participation page located on the Graduate School website), and no more than $2,500 over their Emory careers. Supplementary training and research support are not subject to cumulative career limits. However, the amount of past support and the size of the current request affect how an application is reviewed. Support in either category up to a $2,500 threshold will be awarded on the basis of DGS and advisor approval, while support above the threshold will be reviewed by a faculty committee on a competitive basis. The thresholds are cumulative in nature: in either category, when a student’s current request plus any past awards exceeds $2,500, the faculty review will apply.

In general, the funds are available to all students enrolled in doctoral programs. To receive an award a student must be in good standing, both in the Graduate School and in the program. The Graduate School makes awards directly to students.

Occasionally, students may incur expenses on behalf of the department. Such items include meals with prospective students and seminar refreshments. Original, detailed receipts along with the event name or the names of all of those who attended the meal should be submitted to Terry Ingram for reimbursement. Receipts and any accompanying documentation must be taped neatly, without overlaps, to 8 ½ x 11 sheets of papers. Disorganized, cluttered, or unclear paperwork will be returned to the student for revision.

Allow 2-3 weeks processing time for all forms of reimbursement.

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2 Ph.D. Degree Requirements

This section provides information on requirements needed to complete a Ph.D. in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Emory. The Ph.D. is suitable for those wishing to pursue careers in academics or industry.

2.1 Ph.D. in Mathematics

Possible research specializations include:

Algebra and Number Theory. Division algebras and the Brauer group, Galois cohomology, real algebraic geometry, algebraic groups, algebraic number theory, computational methods.

Analysis and Differential Geometry. Complex analysis, conformal and quasiconformal mappings, global analysis on manifolds, microlocal analysis, geometric analysis, partial differential equations.

Discrete Mathematics. Graph theory, random structures, ordered sets, projective planes, theory of computation.

Computational Mathematics. High performance computing, computational fluid dynamics, image processing, inverse problems, numerical analysis (linear algebra, PDEs, optimization), scientific computation.

The Ph.D. program is designed so that students may complete the basic course and exam requirements during the first two years. Research with a Ph.D. advisor usually begins in the second or third year. However, the moderate size of the faculty and Ph.D. program allows considerable interaction among faculty and students, so it is possible to establish relationships with individual faculty members as early as the first year.

In addition to regular courses, a variety of talks will be given each semester, including research seminars, student organized Graduate Student Seminars and SIAM Student Chapter talks. It is highly recommended that students attend as many talks as possible.

2.1.1 Summary of Degree Requirements

In addition to the general degree requirements listed in The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook, specific course and exam requirements to complete a Ph.D. in Pure and Computational Mathematics are given in the tables below. Details regarding these requirements are given in Section 2.1.2.

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Pure MathematicsCore Courses: Math 511-512: Analysis I & II

Math 521-522: Algebra I & II Four additional courses chosen from at least three different areas

among: Algebra/Number theory, Analysis/Geometry, Computational math, Discrete math, Topology.

Advanced Coursework:

At least two advanced courses or seminars in the student’s research area.

Qualifying Exams:

Math 511-512 (Analysis), Math 521-522 (Algebra) One sequence from below. Other course sequences can be

substituted with approval of the Graduate Committee.o Math 515-516 (Numerical Analysis)o Math 531-532 (Graph Theory)o Math 535-536 (Combinatorics)o Math 543-544 (Topology)o Math 545-546 (Diff. Geometry)o Math 557-558 (Partial Diff. Equations)

Teaching Requirements:

Math 590: Pedagogy and Professional Development TATTO course Teaching at least two one-semester courses

Progress Report:

Oral presentation to the dissertation committee

Dissertation and Defense:

Acceptable dissertation and public presentation

Computational MathematicsCore Courses: Math 511-512: Analysis

Math 515-516: Numerical Analysis Two of the following:

o Math 550: Functional Analysiso Math 561: Matrix Analysiso CS 561: Software Systemso CS 555: Parallel Processing

Additional Coursework:

One sequence from below, not counting courses taken for the core requirement.

Math 557-558 (Partial Diff. Equations) Math 771-772: Numerical PDE, Numerical Optimization CS 551 & 555: Systems Programming, Parallel Processing

Advanced Coursework:

At least two advanced courses or seminars in the student’s research area.

Qualifying Exams:

Math 511-512 (Analysis), Math 515-516 (Numerical Analysis) One sequence from below. Other course sequences can be

substituted with approval of the Graduate Committee.o Math 557-558 (Partial Diff. Equations)o Math 771-772: (Num. PDE, Num. Optimization)o CS 555, 561: Parallel Processing, Software Systems

Teaching Requirements:

Math 590: Pedagogy and Professional Development TATTO course Teaching at least two one-semester courses

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Progress Report:

Oral presentation to the dissertation committee

Dissertation and Defense:

Acceptable dissertation and public presentation

2.1.2 Remarks on Degree Requirements

Required Courses. In most cases, the required core courses should be taken in the student’s first year. This requirement represents a minimum set. Depending on the student’s research interests, more courses from this list may be required by the student’s Ph.D. advisor.

Additional Required Courses. This requirement represents a minimum set. Depending on the student’s research interests, more than one sequence may be required by the student’s Ph.D. advisor; see below for research area specific course recommendations.

Additional Advanced Courses. These courses should be in an area related to the student’s research interests. The student must consult with, and have approval from their research advisor regarding the fulfillment of this requirement. See below for research area specific recommendations.

Required Qualifying Exams. These should normally be taken in the summer following the first academic year. Exceptions may be given, with approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Additional Qualifying Exam. This must be taken no later than the summer following the second academic year, however the student may take it the summer following the first academic year. Exceptions may be given, with approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Comments on Qualifying Exams. Each qualifying exam is evaluated as either pass or fail. The Director of Graduate Studies must approve absence from a scheduled exam; an unapproved absence of a scheduled exam will be considered a fail. If a student receives a fail on an exam, then the student will have one opportunity to repeat the exam. The exam must be repeated within one year of the first attempt, but at least four months from the first attempt. If a student fails a qualifying exam a second time, then the student will not be allowed to continue in the Ph.D. program. However, with approval of the Graduate Committee, the student may be allowed to pursue an M.S. degree.

Teaching Requirements. The department is committed to preparing students for possible academic careers. Thus, in addition to research, teaching is an integral part of the Ph.D. program. Each student is required to teach at least two one-semester courses as part of this training. However, before graduate students are allowed to teach at Emory, they must first complete Math 590 (Pedagogy and Professional Development), and a Graduate School run TATTO Course (TATT 600). Math 590 is a weekly seminar usually taken in the spring term of the first year, and the TATTO course is 2 days, taken in August before the beginning of the Math students first year. Students must also register for two sections of TATT 610 in order to fulfill the Graduate Schools requirement for teaching. For further details, see Section 2.1.4.

All departing graduate students must provide copies of their grade books (or spreadsheets) for the courses they taught in the preceding year (if any). If you teach during the AY 2015-2016, you must send an electronic grade book to Terry Ingram before the department will sign off on your degree application. If there is an outstanding I (incomplete) grade in a class you taught, in addition to the grade book, you must also leave a statement to the program coordinator stating what is

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left for the student to complete in order to change the I grade.

Progress Reports. Each student is required to fill out a yearly progress report. In addition, the student is required to form a dissertation committee, and to make a formal presentation to the committee regarding the progress of their thesis research. This presentation should be done no later than the summer following the student’s 4th year, and at least the semester prior to the dissertation defense.

Students MUST apply for Candidacy before submitting a degree application. This can be done after you have passed all required qualifying exams, or by August 1 before the start of your fifth year. If you do not submit an Application to Candidacy form, you will not receive your stipend funds until the situation has been resolved.

Dissertation Committee. The committee should include the student’s advisor, and at least 2 other experts in the area. Experts from outside the department or university may be selected where appropriate, however 3 Emory Faculty members must be on the committee. See the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook for further details regarding committee members from outside the university.

Dissertation and Defense. The dissertation committee is responsible for reading the student’s thesis and attending the oral defense. The committee must give final approval of an acceptable thesis and an acceptable oral defense. The defense is open to all, and must be advertised in advance.

2.1.3 Area Specific Course Recommendations

The following are intended to provide examples of the courses students might take during the first two years of study, depending on their area of research interests. Note that some courses in “year 1” may be switched with courses listed in “year 2”, and depending on offerings, some courses may be done in the third year as well.

Algebra, Analysis and TopologyYear Fall Spring

1 Math 511 (Analysis I)Math 521 (Algebra I)Math 541 (Topology I)

Math 512 (Analysis II)Math 522 (Algebra II)Math 542 (Topology II)Math 590 (Pedagogy and Professional Development)

2 Math 545 (Diff. Geometry I)Topical SeminarReading/Research

Math 550 or Math 520Topical SeminarResearch Reading

Combinatorics and Graph TheoryYear Fall Spring1 Math 511 (Analysis I)

Math 521 (Algebra I)Math 531 (Graph Theory I)

Math 512 (Analysis II)Math 522 (Algebra II)Math 532 (Graph Theory II)Math 590 (Pedagogy and Professional Development)

2 Math 561 (Matrix Analysis)Math 535 (Combinatorics I)Elective

Math 500 (Probability)Math 536 (Combinatorics II)Elective

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Computational MathematicsYear Fall Spring1 Math 511 (Analysis I)

Math 515 (Num Analysis I)Math 561 (Matrix Analysis)

Math 512 (Analysis II)Math 516 (Num Analysis II)Math 771 (Num Optimization)Math 590 (Pedagogy and Professional Development)

2 Math 558 (PDE)CS 561 (Software Sys)Math 550 (Func Analysis)

Math 772 (Num PDE)CS 555 (Parallel Processing)Elective

Computer Science TheoryYear Fall Spring1 Math 511 (Analysis I)

Math 521 (Algebra I)Math 531 (Graph Theory I)

Math 512 (Analysis II)Math 522 (Algebra II)Math 532 (Graph Theory II)Math 590 (Pedagogy and Professional Development)

2 Math 535 (Combinatorics I)Elective

CS 584 (Computer Algebra)Math 536 (Combinatorics II)Elective

2.1.4 Teaching and TA Duties

This section provides more detailed information about TA duties, teacher training, and teaching requirements of Ph.D. students.

TA duties in the department. The duties of first year students generally include grading papers and working in the evening calculus tutorial. Mathematics Ph.D. students in their second year and beyond are ordinarily expected to teach one section of an undergraduate mathematics course each semester. This course is usually one of Math 111-112 (Calculus I&II) or Math 116 (Life Science Calculus II). TAs have control and responsibility for these courses, except as described in the item below on Supervision and Support of TAs.

Pedagogy and Professional Development. The Director of Graduate Studies and Undergraduate Studies supervise a seminar on teaching and professional ethics issues (Math 590) in the spring semester of each year. The seminar will meet weekly and be attended by all first year Mathematics and all students in later years whose first teaching responsibility has been delayed beyond the normal schedule, and any advanced students who have been asked to participate or have a wish to attend. The purposes of the seminar include:

(a) Instruction in teaching methods. We include advice on how to run a course (development of fair and explicit grading practices, adherence to a fixed and workable syllabus, timely evaluation of students’ progress, how to encourage and conduct office meetings, setting exams), how to run a classroom (encouraging and handling questions, coping with disruption), as well as ways to lecture well (importance of preparation, understanding of how much an hour lecture can hold, use of examples and pictures).

(b) Presentation of both historical and technical material. Experienced teachers among our faculty and graduate students supply both historical and technical details and advice for the TA’s. Concerning ”model lectures”, the participating students are expected to attend at least one faculty member’s lecture during the semester. It is

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recommended that over the course of time, they vary their visits to see a variety of techniques and methods.

(c) Mini-lectures by first year students. During the semester-long seminar, the first year TA’s present short lectures (10-15 minutes) to seminar participants on topics from some elementary course syllabus. Normally each student gives two or three such lectures. All seminar participants critique these presentations. At the end of the seminar, the DGS and DUS, in conjunction with other participating faculty, will determine which first-year students will go on to solo teaching duty the following year. Students deemed not ready for a class are assigned as TA’s to be mentored by selected faculty. This mentoring includes allowing the student to present short lectures in the mentors’ classes, so as to further refine their skills. When the mentor deems them ready, they will be allowed to teach a class in the following semester. Additional ESL courses are required when deemed necessary.

(d) Instruction on the ethics of teaching, publication, mentoring and public scholarship. These topics are part of the program for scholarly integrity (PSI) required for all Ph.D. students. (See Section 2.1.5 for more details.)

Supervision and Support of Graduate Student Instructors. A section leader is assigned to a cohort of students teaching (or student instructors, SI) 100-level courses. This person tracks the progress of the course throughout the semester and make sure all the sections are begin taught at the same level and pace. They run weekly meetings to discuss the upcoming topics and courses specific teaching matters. They deal with content issues as well as concerns or complaints from students. The section leader will review the syllabus, tests, quizzes and final exam.

A teaching mentor is assigned to each graduate student to follow the progress throughout the semester and aids in their development as teachers. They are a resource for the graduate student and are available to discuss teaching issues and give advice on how to manage their students, their schedules, and their classrooms. The teaching mentor will sit in on their student’s class periodically and will write an observation report discussing areas needing improvement or areas that are strong.

During the term, the SI is required to distribute midterm evaluation forms to their students. The SI and the teaching mentor will review the evaluations. Besides the teaching mentor, the DGS, DUS and Chair are available if the SI wishes to discuss the results. The usual College form is used at the end of the semester to allow comparison of results with others teaching the course and investigate potential problems that may not have already been detected.

The Chair of the Teaching Committee, DGS and DUS gather written reports on the progress of each SI. Along with the written comments of the teaching mentors, the College teaching evaluations and TATTO mid-semester evaluations are used to gauge the SI’s performance.

2.1.5 Laney Graduate School Jones Program in Ethics (JPE)

All students must complete the program in ethics, consisting of the following three parts.1. A one-day graduate school workshop (JPE 600): this is typically scheduled the summer

before or the winter during the student’s first year of study.2. Mathematics specific training (Math 590 and the annual department meeting): Math 590

is typically taken in the spring of the first year of study.3. A minimum of 6 hours of graduate school hosted seminars: this is completed over the

course of the student’s PhD study.

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Students will receive notifications from the Graduate School regarding the workshop and seminars. Instructions on Mathematics-related topics such as mentoring, authorship, peer-review and scholarly misconduct will be provided in Math 590 and an annual department meeting on teaching.

2.2. PhD in Computer Science and Informatics

The Ph.D. program is designed around departmental research strengths in data and information management, data mining, healthcare analytics, machine learning, natural language processing, security and privacy, information access and retrieval. The program is distinguished by its collaborations with Emory’s computational and discrete mathematics faculty, departments of biology and chemistry, and highly regarded schools of medicine and public health. In addition to the general degree requirements listed in The Laney Graduate School Handbook, a summary of the specific course and exam requirements to complete a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Informatics is described in Sections 2.2.1 through 2.2.9. Students with insufficient background in computer science may need to complete additional undergraduate courses.

2.2.1 Seminar AttendanceEach student in the program is required to enroll and maintain satisfactory attendance in the Computer Science Seminar (CS700) each semester that he/she is in residence. Each student is also required to present at least one thesis-related seminar prior to graduation.

2.2.2 Course RequirementsTo complete the program, a student must take CS524, CS580, at least one more course in each of Analysis and Systems, and at least two courses in Applications. A partial listing of courses is shown below.1 A course listed in multiple areas may count only once. Beyond these, the student may

1. take three additional courses, and complete two rotation projects (described below) under different faculty advisors,or

2. take four additional courses, and complete one rotation project.

The additional coursework may be taken from Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Biomedical Informatics, the Rollins School of Public Health or the Goizueta Business School. Students must complete CS524 and CS580 in the first year with an average grade of B+, and the remaining coursework by the end of the third year while maintaining a 3.5 GPA.

Course Analysis Systems ApplicationsMath515 Numerical Analysis I XMath516 Numerical Analysis II XMath561 Matrix Analysis and Applications X XMath771 Numerical Optimization X XMath772 Numerical PDEs XMath789 Topics in Computational Math XCS524 Theory of Computing (Required) XCS526 Advanced Algorithms XCS540 Software Engineering XCS551 Systems Programming XCS552 Computer Organization/Architecture XCS554 Data Models and Systems X XCS555 Parallel Processing X

1 New courses are periodically added and may be used to meet the course requirements.

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CS556 Compiler Construction X XCS557 Artificial Intelligence XCS558 Networking XCS559 Distributed Systems XCS560 Computer Graphics XCS561 Software Systems XCS570 Data Mining XCS571 Natural Language Processing XCS572 Information Retrieval XCS573 Data Security and Privacy XCS574 Machine Learning X XCS580 Operating Systems (Required) XCS581 High-Performance Computing XCS584 Topics in Computer Science XCS700 Graduate Seminar (Required)CS710 Topics in Computing Systems XCS720 Topics in Algorithms XCS730 Topics in Data and Information XCS740 Topics in Computational Life Sciences X

2.2.3 Qualifying/Rotation Project Rotation projects aim to provide practicum opportunities to students prior to their dissertation research. The objective is to expose students to computational research problems in practical settings. Projects also serve as part of the qualifying process for candidacy.

Students register for one section of CS598R for each rotation project under the supervision of a faculty advisor/researcher. If the advisor is not a member of the program faculty, then a co-advisor from the program is required. Each student will submit an advisor approved final report upon completion. An accepted or published paper may serve as the final report. If software development is involved in the project, it is important to clearly specify the deliverable at the start of the project.

As part of the overall evaluation for admission into candidacy, the student’s qualifying examination committee will review all project reports. For students with interdisciplinary research interests in biomedical or public health informatics, rotation projects may involve participation in research laboratories in Biology, Chemistry, Rollins School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, or external organizations such as the CDC. Upon completion of the coursework and project requirements, students are eligible to receive a Master of Science degree.

Remarks on Course Requirements1. A student may earn 3 hours of course credit for each rotation project through CS598R. A

project that requires more than one semester to complete may continue as CS599R (not CS598R).

2. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that he/she meets the general degree requirements described in the Graduate School Handbook (GSH). In particular, students must complete, in advanced standing, 18 hours of coursework (with no more than three hours of directed studies), and another 18 hours of research and coursework before candidacy.

2.2.4 Qualifying ExaminationThe exam committee consists of at least one program faculty advisor and two other department faculty members. Any committee member or the student may request additional committee members from outside the program.

There are two parts: the exam and the thesis research proposal. Both seek to establish the

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student's readiness to conduct original research in a chosen area. The exam covers fundamental knowledge in select topics according to the ACM Computing Classification, shown in the next table. The ACM Computing Classification encodings are indicated. The committee determines the format of the exam: oral, written, or a combination. Each student is required to select one major topic and one minor topic. Questions will be selected from a reading list.

Topic ACM ClassificationSystems, Networks, Parallel Processing, Programming Languages

C.2, D.4, D.3.2-D.3.4

Discrete Mathematics, Theory of Computation, Formal Languages, Algorithms

F.1, F.2, F.4.2, F.4.3, G.2

Numerical Analysis, Scientific Computing G.1Database Management, Data Mining, Information Extraction and Retrieval

H.2, I.5.2, I.5.3, I.5.4, H.3.2, H.3.3

Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning

I.2.4, I.2.5, I.2.6, I.2.7, I.2.8

Bio/Medical/Health Informatics J.3

The proposal begins with a 30-minute presentation of the student's proposed research, and is followed by a question-answering session by the committee. The student must prepare a proposal write-up, including a comprehensive bibliography that is distributed to the committee at least two weeks prior to the exam.

The committee assigns a grade of pass, conditional pass or fail to each exam. In the case of conditional pass, the committee will specify requirements that the student must satisfy for removing the contingency. In the case of fail, the student may retake the exam one more time.

2.2.5 Teaching RequirementsTeaching training is an important part of a student's overall preparation for possible academic careers.

First year students who are supported by Graduate School stipend typically work as teaching assistants in an undergraduate course. During the course of their program, students must teach (delete co-teach) at least two one-semester undergraduate courses (or the equivalent) as instructors of record.

Students must first complete a Graduate School run summer TATTO (TATT 600) Course prior to their first year. Students must also register for one section of TATT 605 and one section of TATT 610 in order to fulfill the Graduate School requirement for teaching. More details on the TATTO program can be found in the Graduate School Handbook.

All departing graduate students must provide copies of their grade books (or spreadsheets) for the courses they taught in the preceding year (if any). If you teach during the AY 2015-2016, you must send an electronic grade book to Terry Ingram before the department will sign off on your degree application. If there is an outstanding I (incomplete) grade in a class you taught, in addition to the grade book, you must also leave a statement to the program coordinator stating what is left for the student to complete in order to change the I grade.

Each student instructor (or co-instructor) must attend CS590: Pedagogy and Professional Development, fall of their first year, provided they have completed TATTO (or fall of their second year in exceptional circumstances). The seminar will review pedagogy, discuss classroom observations, address student and teaching issues, review homework and tests, and discuss relevant literatures on CS education. The seminar will also provide instructions on scholarly

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issues that are part of the graduate school’s requirements on program for scholarly integrity (PSI – see 2.2.9 for more details). Each graduate instructor will have a faculty mentor for the course that they are teaching or co-teaching.

2.2.6 CandidacyAfter a student completes the course requirements, the qualifying examination and the teaching requirement, he/she is eligible to apply for candidacy. Admission into candidacy is guided by the principle that a Ph.D. should possess proficiency in multiple areas and mastery in at least one area. Proficiency in breadth is assessed through the student's performance on completed courses and rotation projects, while depth in an area is determined by passing the qualifying exam and other measures such as research publications.

Students MUST apply for Candidacy before submitting a degree application. This can be done after you have passed all required qualifying exams, or by August 1 before the start of your fifth year. If you do not submit an Application to Candidacy form, you will not receive your stipend funds until the situation has been resolved.

A Ph.D. student must be in candidacy before they may submit an application for a Master’s degree based on candidacy.

2.2.7 Seminar PresentationsEach student must present one CS700 seminar on his or her thesis research. This is done while the student is in candidacy and prior to the dissertation defense.

2.2.8 Dissertation and DefenseStudents must write a dissertation describing original research in their chosen area. They must deliver a public presentation of the dissertation before a dissertation committee consisting of the faculty advisor who is a member in the program, two additional faculty members from the program, and one or more members outside of the program with Ph.D. degrees.

2.2.9 Laney Graduate School Jones Program in Ethics (JPE)

All students must complete the program in ethics, consisting of the following three parts.1. A one-day graduate school workshop (JPE 600): this is typically scheduled the summer

before or the winter during the student’s first year of study.2. Computing specific training (CS590, the annual department meeting and CS700,

Graduate Seminar): CS 590 should be completed in the fall of the second or third year of study.

3. A minimum of 6 hours of graduate school hosted seminars: this is completed over the course of the student’s PhD study.

The Graduate School will notify students regarding the workshop and seminars. Instructions on computing-related topics such as data management in research (privacy, sharing), mentoring, human subjects, peer-review and scholarly misconduct will be provided in CS590, in an annual department meeting on teaching, and in CS700, the Graduate Seminar.

2.2.10 Sample ScheduleThe following is a typical five-year schedule of the PhD study.

Year Activities1 CS524, CS580, Four Courses, Seminar (CS700)2 CS590, Four Courses, Seminar (CS700), TATTO, Rotation Project3 Rotation Project, Research, Seminar (CS700), TATTO, Qualifying

Examinations4 Research, Seminar (CS700) and Presentation5 Research, Seminar (CS700), Dissertation Defense

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2.3 Ph.D. Concentration in Biomedical Informatics

2.3.1 OverviewThe Biomedical Informatics Concentration (BMI) focuses on the effective use of biomedical data, information and knowledge for biomedical and clinical research, as well as decision support, driven by efforts to improve human health.

Requirements for the concentration follow a similar structure to the Computer Science and Infor-matics Ph.D. program. Details of the coursework and rotation projects are different and described next.

2.3.2 Course RequirementsStudents are required to take the following 3 core courses that establish a foundation of biomedical informatics.

BMI 500 Introduction to Biomedical Informatics BMI 501 Fundamentals of Clinical Environments BIOS 500 / BIOS 502 Statistical Methods I / Statistical Methods III2

In addition, Students are required to take at least 8 courses from three domains that serve as building blocks of a good biomedical informatics training. The minimum number of courses re-quired from each of the three domains is listed below. Students may take a qualifying exam once they have completed the minimum course requirements.

Analytical (PhD Students – min 2 courses, MD/PhD Students – min 1 course): BIOS 510 Probability Theory I BIOS 511 Statistical Inference I EPI 504 Fundamentals of Epidemiology INFO 503 Management Principles for Informatics

Biomedical (PhD Students – min 3 courses, MD/PhD students – min 2 courses) BMI 503 Introduction to Clinical and Translational Informatics IBS 524 Cancer Biology IBS 574 Computational Biology & Bioinformatics BMI 510 Fundamentals of Machine Learning BMI 511 Machine Learning & Computational Biology BMI 515 Imaging Informatics

Computational (PhD Students – min 3 courses, MD/PhD students – min 2 courses) BMI 502 Advanced Biomedical Informatics CS 540 Software Engineering CS 554 Data Models and Systems CS 570 Data Mining BMI 512 Digital Image Processing BMI 520 High Performance Computing

In addition to the courses listed above, a student may substitute an elective with relevant courses from Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Biomedical Informatics, the Rollins School of Public Health, School of Medicine, and relevant colleges at Georgia Tech. When substituting courses, a student must obtain prior written approval from their thesis advisor and the BMI program director. Students must complete their core courses with a grade of B+ or higher and complete the remaining coursework by year three with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

2.3.3 Qualifying/Rotation Project

2 Students with engineering, CS or Math background must take the more advanced BIOS 502.

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Students are required to complete an informatics and a domain specific rotation project at the end of years one and two of their study. A rotation is a three credit hour, semester long project with pre-defined deliverables and a final evaluation. Students will not be limited to the core faculty when choosing their rotations or research projects. Instead, we will require that trainees select a domain-focused rotation faculty mentor, in addition to their advisor, who will provide the biomedical, clinical or translational domain use cases that will drive their informatics training. It is expected that these rotations will provide students with valuable research experience and will help them focus on a specific area of research and help jump-start their dissertation. It is expected that the projects will be in areas relevant to the student’s dissertation topic.

Student will be helped by their thesis advisor (or the program director, if they don’t have an advisor) in choosing a rotation faculty mentor. Prior to starting a rotation, a student is required to submit a project proposal with well-defined deliverables. The student’s rotation mentor is required to submit a mid-term evaluation to the program director and the students thesis advisor (if he student has one). The student is required to complete a final report and also present their work at a department seminar.

PhD students are expected to complete their first rotation in either the summer following their first two semesters in the program or during the subsequent fall semester.

The table below shows a sampling of available rotations with a diverse group of supervising rotation faculty. These are ongoing research collaborations between program faculty and other faculty at Emory and Georgia Tech that could provide students with numerous opportunities to identify an area of interest for their rotations.

ICU Informatics: Management of critically ill patients – management of multi-system failure; predictive algorithms, human computer interface.

Medical Home: Development of the instrumented medical home. Analysis of sensor data from water, electrical power systems to characterize health status of chronically ill patients in a non-obtrusive manner.

Leveraging advanced “omics” data in healthcare diagnostics: Application of next gene sequencing, gene array, epigenetics and other “omics” technology to patient care. Carter, Hill, SaxeImaging Informatics and Radiation Therapy: Methods for quantitative analysis of effects of radiation/pharmacotherapy over time through coordinated analysis of Radiology, Pathology images; correlation of imaging results with “omics” and outcome. Meltzer, Fox, Sharma, Crocker

Data modeling and visualization, predictive modeling and assessment of economic impacts associated with hospital discharge strategies. Sweeney, Post

Integrative Analysis of Radiology, Pathology, “omics” and outcome: Brain tumors, lung cancer, kidney cancer, lymphoma. Brat, Moreno, Meltzer, Flowers, Moreno, Qin

Transplant Informatics: Integrative analysis of information from biomedical literature, flow cytometry, virtual slide, host clinical data and donor data to predict outcome and to guide treatment. Kirk, Sharma, Farris, (BMI Track Proposal – two PhD students have taken this)

The role of “omics” in predicting outcome and guiding treatment in patients with cardiovascular disease: Clinical and research use of sequence, gene expression, epigenetic and glycomic data in management of cardiovascular disease. Quyyumi, Gibbons, Rossi, Post

Natural language processing in biomedicine, conceptually indexed clinical document repositories, integrated query and mining of textual and discrete data: Applications include healthcare quality analyses and comparative effectiveness studies involving cardiology, smoking cessation, asthma. Agichtein, Post, Davis, Quyyumi (BMI Track Proposal – MS student has taken this)

Integrative Informatics, HIV/AIDS and cancer: Acquisition and integrative analysis of CFAR (Center for AIDS Research) patient data from Atlanta area to understand epidemiological and biomedical relationship between HIV/AIDS and cancer. The data includes clinical, treatment, viral sequence, host “omics”, host immune system, radiology and pathology data. Curran, Flowers, Nettles, SchinaziBiomedical Informatics methods for federated data management and analysis in the Atlanta Center for Translational Science Institute (ACTSI). The Biomedical Informatics Program of the ACTSI is

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charged with continued development of biomedical informatics infrastructure to coordinate access to and analysis of clinical, radiology, pathology, “omics” data associated with the ACTSI. Post, Sharma

Clinical data warehouses, semantic and temporal data modeling, human-computer interfaces for investigators to extract/abstract electronic health record data: Development of enhanced registries that integrate data from multiple sources to capture patient phenotype and provide easy-to-use interfaces for investigator-driven query and analysis. Leveraged national-scale informatics efforts include i2b2, UMLS and NCBO. Biomedical research areas include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, multiple cancer related areas and healthcare quality. Post, Flowers, Brat, Umpierrez, Quyyumi, Votaw, Sharma

Ensuring data integrity in complex federated systems and in integrative studies that involve complementary biomedical datasets: This will be motivated by a variety of integrative informatics efforts including the ACTSI data management and analysis effort, integrative cancer informatics studies, transplant informatics and “omics” and cardiovascular disease. Harrold, Orso

Security and biomedical systems: Analysis of requirements and development of methods to support secure, appropriate and patient-centered data access motivated by clinical and translational research using multi-scale data in multi-institutional environments. The ACTSI federated data management infrastructure and the Cardiovascular Research Grid are used to motivate this effort. Blough, Ahmed (PhD student (GA Tech) has worked on this)

Integrative studies in multi-scale neuroimaging: This is motivated by neuropsychiatric studies and brain tumor research and involves analysis, data modeling and data visualization of neuroimaging, multiplex quantum dot immunostained pathology data, very high resolution ex-vivo imaging. The results of these integrative multiscale image analyses are related to “omic”, outcome and treatment response data. Meltzer, Votaw, Bostick, Gutman, Brat, Ressler, Sharma

2.3.4 Qualifying ExaminationA student must declare their intention to take a qualifying exam in the semester prior to the one in which they wish to take the exam. The students must declare an area of interest among translational bioinformatics, clinical research informatics, or clinical informatics, as defined by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). The exam committee consists of at least one department faculty advisor and two other program members. Any committee member or the student may request additional committee members from outside the department.

There are two parts: the exam and the thesis research proposal. Both seek to establish the student's readiness to conduct original research in a chosen area. The committee determines the format of the exam: oral, written, or a combination. Questions will be selected from a reading list.

The proposal begins with a 30-minute presentation of the student's proposed research, and is followed by a question-answering session by the committee. The student must prepare a proposal write-up, including a comprehensive bibliography that is distributed to the committee at least two weeks prior to the exam.

The committee assigns a grade of pass, conditional pass or fail to each exam. In the case of conditional pass, the committee will specify requirements that the student must satisfy for removing the contingency. In the case of fail, the student may retake the exam one more time.

2.3.5 Teaching RequirementsRefer to section 2.2.5

2.3.6 CandidacyRefer to section 2.2.6

2.3.7 Seminar PresentationsFrom year 2, a student is required to present, annually, their research at a department seminar. Topics can include a summary of their rotation projects, dissertation research etc.

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2.3.8 Dissertation and DefenseRefer to section 2.2.8

2.3.9 Laney Graduate School Jones Program in Ethics (JPE) Refer to section 2.2.9

2.4 Professional Conduct

A graduate student involved in any form of undergraduate instruction (e.g., classroom instructor, TA, lab assistant, grader) is expected to behave as dedicated professionals. Lack of preparation and unprofessional conduct undermine the efforts of the entire department.  The Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Chair will investigate reports and complaints by students of graduate instructors being late, rude, or unprepared.  Substantiated neglect of duty can result in full or partial rescinding of the instructor’s stipend.

2.5 Yearly Progress Reports

Every student is required to submit a yearly progress report to the Director of Graduate Studies. The report must be reviewed and signed by the student’s advisor. If the student does not yet have a Ph.D. advisor, then the DGS must review and sign the report. Reports are due by the end of May, and should contain information spanning the period from June 1 of the previous year to May 31 of the current year.

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3 M.S. Degree Requirements

This section provides information on requirements needed to complete an M.S. in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Emory University.

3.1 M.S. in Mathematics

Pure Mathematics: Students in pure mathematics track must complete each of the followingthree areas.

1. The following four courses: Math 511-512: Analysis I & II Math 521-522: Algebra I & II

2. Four additional courses chosen from the following: Any 500 level or above math courses (except directed study, seminar or research

courses) At most one approved undergraduate level math course

3. One of the following options: Thesis option: An acceptable thesis and oral defense. Course only option: Two additional approved elective courses. One of them can

be a directed study course.

Applied Mathematics: Students in applied mathematics track must complete each of the followingthree areas.

1. The following six courses: Either Math 511 (Analysis I) or Math 512 (Analysis II) Math 515: Numerical Analysis I Math 516: Numerical Analysis II Math 557: Partial Differential Equations I Math 771: Numerical Optimization Math 772: Numerical Partial Differential Equations

2. Two additional elective courses, chosen from the following list: Math 511: Complex Analysis Math 512: Real Analysis Math 531: Graph Theory I Math 532: Graph Theory II Math 558: Partial Differential Equations II Math 561: Matrix Analysis Math 748: Advanced Partial Differential Equations Math 789R: Any topics in Applied Math CS 555: Parallel Processing CS 561: Software Systems

Students may request an elective course not on the above list (for example, a course from an-other department). All requests must be approved by the Math DGS.

3. One of the following options: Thesis Option: An acceptable thesis and oral defense. Course-Only Option: Two additional courses chosen from the list in area (2)

above.

Degree by Candidacy: Students enrolled in the Mathematics PhD program may also obtain theirMasters degree by Candidacy by completing the following requirements:

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1. Completing the coursework required for the PhD degree2. Passing the written qualifying examinations for the PhD degree3. Being admitted to candidacy

3.2 M.S. in Computer Science

The M.S. in computer science accommodates students whose primary interest is in computer science as well as students who want to combine their study in computer science with course work in related mathematics. Requirements for completing the degree are as follows.

1. Completion of CS524 (Theory of Computation), CS551 (Systems Programming), CS556 (Compiler Construction), and CS580 (Operating Systems) with a 3.0 GPA.

2. Completion of three additional 500-level or above courses.

3. Choose one of the following.a. (Thesis Option) An acceptable master’s thesis and oral defense.b. (Course-Only Option) Completion of 9 additional electives hours. Courses outside the

department (e.g., from the sciences, schools of medicine and public health, or the business schools) may be taken if they coincide with the degree objective of the student. Approval of electives will be by the Computer Science Committee.

c. (Project Option) Completion of one approved elective (may be outside the department) and a faculty supervised project (for up to 6 credit hours). The project result may be in the form of a report or documented software and will be made publicly available. Satisfactory completion of the project requires approval by the faculty advisor.

3.3 M.S. in Computer Science with Biostatistics Concentration

The program combines core training in biostatistics and applied computing to prepare students for careers in industry, government, or public health. Requirements for the degree are as follows.

1. Completion of CS540 (Software Engineering), CS554 (Database Systems), CS570 (Data Mining), BIOS506 (Biostatistical Methods I), BIOS510 (Probability Theory I), BIOS511 (Statistical Inference), BIOS507 (Applied Linear Models) with a 3.0 GPA.

2. Completion of four additional 500-level or above courses that includes at least one course in computer science and one course in biostatistics.

3. Choose one of the following.a. (Thesis Option) An acceptable master’s thesis and oral defense.b. (Course-Only Option) Completion of two additional electives. Courses outside of

computer science or biostatistics may be taken if they coincide with the degree objective of the student. Approval of the Director of Graduate Studies required.

c. (Project Option) Completion of one approved elective and a faculty supervised project. The project result may be in the form of a report or documented software and will be made publicly available. Satisfactory completion of the project requires approval by the faculty advisor.

3.4 M.S. in Computer Science with Computational Science Concentration

The Computer Science Masters program with Computational Science Concentration combines key elements of graduate study in Computer Science augmented with advanced coursework and projects in computationally focused scientific inquiries. Students must complete each of the following.

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1. Four courses chosen from the following with a 3.0 GPA. Math515: Numerical Analysis I Math516: Numerical Analysis II CS551: Systems Programming CS555: Parallel Processing CS561: Software Systems CS584: High-Performance Computing

2. One additional graduate CS course, and two additional courses chosen from 500-level or above Math/CS courses, approved courses from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Environ-mental Science, Psychology and Anthropology.

3. One of the following options:a. (Thesis Option) An acceptable thesis project to be submitted to the Graduate School.b. (Project Option) Completion of 3 additional approved elective hours (may be outside

the departments), and a faculty-supervised project for 6 credit hours. The results from the project may be in the form of a report or documented software, and will be made publicly available. Satisfactory completion of the project requires approval by the fac-ulty advisor.

c. (Course-Only Option) Completion of 9 additional elective credit hours. Courses outside the department may be approved if they coincide with the degree objective of the student.

3.5 Yearly Progress Reports

Every student is required to submit a yearly progress report to the Director of Graduate Studies. The report must be reviewed and signed by the student’s thesis advisor or, for students choose the non-thesis options, by the Co-Director of Graduate Studies. The reports will typically be due by the end of May, and should contain information spanning the period from June 1 of the previous year to May 31 of the current year.

4. Annual Evaluation

The Laney Graduate School and each program have standards for academic performance that students must meet, including making satisfactory progress through the program. Students will be reviewed at the end of each semester, and will receive a written evaluation at the end of each year. The evaluation will be based on an assessment of the student’s overall performance including coursework, exams, research and work duties (e.g., teaching). The result of a negative evaluation may be 1) a probation with a reduction, suspension or termination of financial support, or 2) termination from the program.

5. Fellowships and Assistantships

With the exception of students supported by external fellowships (e.g., DOD, DOE, and NSF), all full time students admitted to the PhD program also receive either a Graduate School Fellowship (GSF) or a faculty research assistantship (RA). Award decisions are made at the time of admission into the program, and in subsequent years based performance evaluations and formal reapplications. Reappointment is not automatic. GSF is not available to students in M.S. Degree Programs, although RA may be available to M.S. students in some cases. The maximum length of support is five years for a PhD student, and two years for a master’s student.

5.1 Duties

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Students receiving fellowships and assistantships are expected to perform work duties of various types. Faculty advisors determine the work required of RAs, while the department assigns GSF recipients’ duties, which may involve lab and teaching assistance, grading, and teaching. For students with interdisciplinary research interest/focus, work duties may involve assignments in non-departmental research and project activities at the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, and other collaborating units on campus.

5.2. Conditions, Evaluation, and Renewal

A student receiving an RA or a GSF must be registered as a full-time student (or in residency). Student receiving support from Emory sources, including grants, may not accept any remuneration for any other work either in or outside the university.

The performance of each GSF and RA recipient will be reviewed and evaluated annually by the department’s Graduate Committee and when appropriate, the student's faculty advisor. In addition, the assistant's progress towards his or her degree will also be evaluated. The student must continue to make satisfactory progress toward their degrees in order to maintain the support.

Fellowships and assistantships may be reduced, suspended or terminated by the department in advance of the stated expiration date, when the student's performance is unsatisfactory. Any of the following may result in an unsatisfactory performance rating: failure to maintain the stated minimum GPA, failure to earn minimum required credits toward degree each semester, failure to advance to candidacy in a timely manner, failure to perform satisfactorily in assigned teaching or work duty.

5.3 Payment

Students who are receiving a stipend will receive their first payment at the end of September. Stipends are paid at the end of each month on the last working day. The first check for new students may be sent by regular mail. It is extremely important, particularly for new international students, that you immediately update your mailing address to your local address; failure to do so will result in your first pay check being mailed to your home country as this is most likely the only address Human Resources will have on file for you. Your address must be updated in two different places: Human Resources and OPUS.

After September, paychecks will be deposited via direct deposit.

Everyone must be on Direct Deposit. All students receiving a stipend will need to first meet with Mrs. Ingram, to be hired into the Emory payroll system. Students will then be instructed to an online orientation to complete the details of the direct deposit information.

If you have not yet found a local bank to handle your banking business, you may want to check in to the Emory Federal Credit Union. They usually offer free banking services to students and are usually a much better ”deal” for students than the bigger commercial banks. They have two locations: a campus branch at the DUC (Dobbs University Center) and the main branch at 1237 Clairmont Road. If you decide to open an account with the credit union and it is to be used as your direct deposit account, you will have to ask them to set the account up for the direct deposit.

6. Grievance Policy

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Students who have a grievance related to aspects of their program in the Department of Mathe-matics and Computer Science should report it to the Director of Graduate Studies. The student should describe the grievance and relevant details in a letter addressed to the DGS, who will try to resolve the grievance in conversations with the student and relevant parties. If this is unsuc-cessful, the Director will appoint a committee of three program faculty members or use an existing standing committee, who will review the grievance and propose an appropriate response. If it is not possible to resolve the grievance within this committee or the framework of the program’s ad-ministrative structure, the Director will forward the grievance to the Office of the Senior Associate Dean of the Laney Graduate School. At that time, the grievance will be handled according to the Grievance Procedure described in the Laney Graduate School Handbook. If the grievance is with the Director, the student submits the grievance directly to the Senior Associate Dean of the Laney Graduate School.

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7. Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for PDS funds?Begin by reviewing the information from the LGS website, http://gs.emory.edu/professional_development/pds_funds/index.html. There are links on both the left and right side of this page for instructions on how to apply. Before submitting any documentation, please bring me the information you plan to upload. I would like to review the documents before they are uploaded to the system.

How do I get reimbursed for travel?Remember to keep all original receipts and boarding passes. These will need to be taped neatly so sheets of paper in order to be scanned. We will review the information together before submitting them for reimbursement. If you received PDS funding from the LGS, you will need to follow their instructions on reporting the outcome of the trip.

Where do I book flights? Can I use other resources?If you are traveling on Emory University business, you must use one of the three travel agencies. The information can be found on this, https://www.finance.emory.edu/home/travel/air_travel/index.html, website. If you book yourself, please remember that you will need a credit card. If your flight is being covered by a faculty member, you will need to get the smartkey from him/her. Or you can pay with your credit card and get reimbursed when you return.

How do I check my account balance? Log in to OPUS and go to the Student Center link. This should be the display you see. The account balance is listed under the Account Summary (1).

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Where do I view my anticipated aid?While still in the above screen, click on Account Inquiry (*2). The following should be the next screen you see:

Click on View Anticipated Aid. The image below should be what you see. If the link is not available to you, it means that there is no aid posted to your account. Please contact me immediately. You will also notice when aid will post to your account and what amount of aid you will receive.

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What do my office keys open?Graduate students who have been assigned an office, can use their key to open any classroom that the department has on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the MSC building.

What is the number of hours I need to register for?Students must be registered for 9 hours or more to be considered full-time.

Can I register for less hours?Students receiving a stipend cannot register for less than 9 hours. All students must maintain a full-time status. That is, unless you are an international student in the Masters program. Please see the question & answer below.

I am an international student in an MS program, and plan to graduate this semester. Can I register for less hours if I am graduating at the end of the current term?Yes, it is possible to be enrolled less than full-time in your final semester and maintain your non-immigrant status. The Laney Graduate School should receive a letter from the DGS making this request. Once we have received their permission, you must complete a request for a reduced course load (http://www.emory.edu/isss/students/maintaining_f1_status/reduced_courseload_authorization.html) through the ISSS website as soon a possible and before the end of add/drop.

I plan to graduate this semester, but I also want to get an MS degree as well as a PhD degree. Is it possible to do it in the same semester?Yes, it is possible to obtain an MS and PhD in the same semester as long as they

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are not in the same program. Students can obtain an MS in Computer Science and a PhD in Mathematics at the same time, or vise versa as long as the student has met the requirements for the degree. Dual degree applications would need to be submitted at the same time.

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