Interdisciplinary Ph. D. Program in Information Security

This is not an official document and it is placed here for the potential applicants’ convenience. It is subject to constant change, especially in Areas B and C, as the participating departments change their offerings and/or the Program’s Graduate Committee modifies the requirements to meet the ever-developing needs of the field. One’s mileage can vary but one can always doublecheck on the availability of a particular course in a particular session by visiting the websites of the appropriate departments.

Program Requirements

Students shall complete 90 credit hours of graduate course work beyond their Bachelors’ degrees, of which up to 30 credits can be earned in individual thesis research with the major professor (XXX 699, with the designator of the department which will graduate the student—currently, COMM 699, TECH 699, or LING 699). The preliminary examinations, as negotiated with the student’s Thesis Advisory Committee, and the prospectus defense should then be defended (typically, the examinations will consist of two research papers supervised by a Committee Chair or member). The student’s thesis must be completed and defended in a public oral examination administered by the Advisory Committee.

Students’ Masters’ degrees, if completed by admission time, count for 30 credits, and many of the credits, especially from degrees in related areas, will be approved by the Admission Committee for coverage credits. All the credits from the Purdue Masters’ Program in Information Security will count towards the Ph.D. requirements.

General requirements:

  • Eight (8) required courses from Area A below: four (4) technical courses, two (2) political/social courses, and 2 philosophical/ethical course;
  • A 5-course sub-concentration selected from the Areas A, B, and C below by the student in consultation with his/her advisory committee. Graduate courses taken prior and/or outside of the program may be approved to satisfy this requirement;
  • Sufficient electives to complete the credit requirements. These courses are also to be selected from the following list by the student and his/her advisory committee. At least three of the courses must be seminars;
  • Equivalents may be substituted upon approval of the student’s committee. Transfer courses may be used to satisfy up to two of the above courses, as per Purdue University’s rules, with approval of the student’s committee;
  • Prerequisites: Students are responsible for meeting all prerequisites and/or obtaining permissions, as per departmental regulations.

Area A. Required courses

Take 8 courses (one from each line):

Four technical courses:

  • CS 526 or C&IT 555, and
  • CS 555 or ECE 627, and
  • CS 626 and CS 655—or equivalents
  • PHIL 524 and PHIL580N—or equivalents
  • POL 621 and SOC 519—or equivalents

Area B. Recommended courses

Any eight courses not taken in Area A:

  • AGEC 596F, 608, 685, 691K
  • ASM 591B, 591S
  • AT 573, 581A, 581B
  • C&IT 455,499C, 499D, 499F, 499N, 556, 581A, 581B, 581C,581R, 581S, 581Z, 623R
  • COM 512, 518, 520, 558, 559, 559D, 574, 632
  • CS 503, 536†, 565, 580, 590W, 626, 636, 655, 690S
  • CPT 581A
  • CSR 631
  • ECON 607, 610
  • ECE 632, 560†, 565, 572, 574, 669
  • ECET 525
  • ENGL 628
  • IE 530, 532, 548, 559†, 577†, 659, 674
  • IT 545
  • LING 500, 521, 531, 689N
  • MGMT 547†, 590N, 642, 690D
  • OBHR 681, 683
  • PHIL 524, 580A, 580B, 580N‡, 624
  • POL 620, 621
  • PSYC 521, 555†, 577†, 585, 629
  • SOC 519
  • STAT 502, 512, 513†, 514, 517
  • TECH 581O

†May take one or the other of the following but not both.

  1. CS 536 or ECE 560 or MGMT 547
  2. PSYCH 577 or IE 577
  3. PSYCH 555 or IE 559

‡When content is appropriate

Area C. Elective Courses

Any four courses:

  • AT 573, 581A, 581B
  • CGT 581B
  • COM 610, 612, 618, 674, 676
  • CS 502, 541, 542, 590D
  • ECE 570
  • ECET 581S
  • ECON 676, 677
  • EDCI 644, 667
  • ECE 544, 562, 565, 566, 570, 573, 632
  • FNR 558
  • IT 507
  • LING 500, 531, 532
  • MGMT 505, 506, 544, 545, 561, 590E, 600, 601, 630, 683, 681W, 691W
  • OBHR 642, 643, 663, 667
  • PSYC 556, 579
  • TECH 646

Any course from Area B above, not taken to satisfy Area B requirement, can be taken in Area C.

Courses from at least five different graduate programs should be taken among Areas A, B and C. Five graduate courses must constitute a declared and approved meaningful sub-concentration.

Specific departmental requirements:

  • Students graduating via the Department of Communication must satisfy that department’s requirements for the Masters’ degree in Information Security, take COM 600 and COM 601 and make sure that they earn a minimum of 12 graduate credits in Communication;
  • Students graduating via Technology must satisfy that department’s requirements for the Masters’ degree in Information Security [link];
  • Students graduating via Linguistics must take LING 531 and LING 689N: Natural Language Processing.