Information Science PhD

Major: Information Science
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 45.0
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 11.0401
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-3021

About the Program

The College of Computing & Informatics' on-campus PhD in Information Science program prepares students to become creative, interdisciplinary researchers with foundations in information science, data science, and human-centered computing.

Purpose and Scope

The program is designed to support all students in attaining a high level of scholarly achievement in seminars as well as supervised and independent study. The doctoral program has two major goals: acquisition of in-depth knowledge in a specialized research area, and interdisciplinary breadth to support creative scholarship. The degree prepares students for leadership and research careers in academia, industry, administration, and policy setting.

Opportunities

Most graduates move into academic or research and development (R&D) careers.

Additional Information

A master’s degree is not a prerequisite for the PhD. For more information about this program, please visit the College of Computing & Informatics PhD in Information Science webpage. 

Degree Requirements

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidates must complete a minimum of 90 degree credits. Students entering with a master's degree can use the master’s degree as 45.0 credits towards the total of 90.0 credits, pending faculty advisor approval. Students entering without a master's degree need to complete a combination of course and research credits with faculty advisor approval, towards the total of 90.0 credits.

Post-Bachelor's Student Requirements

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Students may take courses beyond the list of the specialization courses, including courses from other academic units, with approval from the PhD program director.

Post-Master's Student Requirements

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Students may take courses beyond the list of the specialization courses, including courses from other academic units, with approval from the PhD program director.

Sample Plan of Study

Full-Time with completed Master's Degree (Post-Master's Students)

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Number of credits taken each quarter is variable depending on stage of the project and other credit load. May be taken for additional credits if necessary.

Full-Time without completed Master's Degree (Post-Bachelor's Students)

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Number of credits taken each quarter is variable depending on stage of the project and other credit load. May be taken for additional credits if necessary.

Facilities

3675 Market Street

The College of Computing & Informatics is located at 3675 Market. Occupying three floors in the modern uCity Square building, CCI's home offers state-of-the-art technology in our classrooms, research labs, offices, meeting areas and collaboration spaces. 3675 Market offers Class A laboratory, office, coworking, and convening spaces. Located at the intersection of Market Street and 37th Street, 3675 Market acts as a physical nexus, bridging academic campuses and medical centers to the east and south, the commercial corridors along Market Street and Chestnut Street, and the residential communities to the north and west.

The uCity Square building offers:

• Speculative lab/office space
• World-class facilities operated by CIC
• Café/restaurant on-site
• Quorum, a two-story, 15K SF convening space and conference center
• Adjacent to future public square
• Access to Science Center’s nationally renowned business acceleration and technology commercialization programs

Drexel University Libraries

Drexel University Libraries is a learning enterprise, advancing the University’s academic mission through serving as educators, supporting education and research, collaborating with researchers, and fostering intentional learning outside of the classroom. Drexel University Libraries engages with Drexel communities through three physical locations, including W. W. Hagerty Library, Queen Lane Library, and the Library Learning Terrace, as well as a vibrant online presence which sees, on average, over 8,000 visits per day. In the W.W. Hagerty Library location, College of Computing & Informatics students have access to private study rooms and nearly half a million books, periodicals, DVDs, videos and University Archives. All fields of inquiry are covered, including: library and information science, computer science, software engineering, health informatics, information systems, and computing technology. Resources are available online at library.drexel.edu or in-person at W. W. Hagerty Library.

The Libraries also make available laptop and desktop PC and Mac computers, printers and scanners, spaces for quiet work or group projects and designated 24/7 spaces. Librarians and library staff—including a liaison librarian for computing and informatics—are available for individual research consultations and to answer questions about materials or services.

CCI Commons

Located on the 10th floor of 3675 Market Street, the CCI Commons is an open lab and collaborative work environment for students. It features desktop computers, a wireless/laptop area, free black and white printing, and more collaborative space for its students. Students have access to 3675 Market's fully equipped conference room with 42” displays and videoconferencing capabilities. The CCI Commons provides technical support to students, faculty, and professional staff. In addition, the staff provides audio-visual support for all presentation classrooms within 3675 Market. Use of the CCI Commons is reserved for all students taking CCI courses.

The computers for general use are Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX machines with appropriate applications which include the Microsoft Office suite, various database management systems, modeling tools, and statistical analysis software. Library-related resources may be accessed at the CCI Commons and through the W.W. Hagerty Library. The College is a member of the "Azure Dev Tools for Teaching” platform that allows students free access to a wide array of Microsoft software titles and operating systems.

The CCI Commons, student labs, and classrooms have access to networked databases, print and file resources within the College, and the Internet via the University’s network. Email accounts, Internet and BannerWeb access are available through the Office of Information Resources and Technology.

CCI Learning Center

The CCI Learning Center (CLC), located in 3675 Market Street's CCI Commons student computer lab, provides consulting and other learning resources for students taking courses offered by the Computer Science Department. The CLC is staffed by graduate and undergraduate computer science students from the College of Computing & Informatics.

The CLC and CCI Commons serve as a central hub for small group work, student meetings, and TA assistance. 

Research Laboratories

The College houses multiple research labs, led by CCI faculty, in 3675 Market Street including: the Metadata Research Center (MRC), Interactive Systems for Healthcare (IS4H) Research, Economics and Computation (EconCS), The TeX-Base Lab, SPiking And Recurrent SoftwarE (SPARSE) Coding, Human-System Evaluation and Analysis Lab (H-SEAL), Applied Symbolic Computation Laboratory (ASYM), Software Engineering Research Group (SERG), Social Computing Research Group, Vision and Cognition Laboratory (VisCog) and the Vision and Graphics Laboratory. For more information on these laboratories, please visit the College’s research web page.