Other MS/PhD Program Information : Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences : UMass Amherst

Academic Advisor

You will be assigned an academic advisor when you enter the Computer Science doctoral program. Generally, if you work as an RA for a professor, he or she will be your advisor. If you are a TA, your advisor will be a professor with whom you share research interests. You should meet with your advisor at least once a semester (typically, more often) to review the previous semester in terms of goals, problems, progress, and so on; and to set new goals for the coming semester.

You may request a different academic advisor at any point. Similarly, your advisor might suggest that you should be assigned a different advisor. These requests should be made to the Doctoral Program Director.

Assistantships

Our doctoral students are guaranteed funding on an assistantship for the first five years of their program as long as they are making adequate academic progress and funds are available.* Assistantships are either Research Assistantships (RAs) or Teaching Assistantships (TAs).

*Admitted students who have a five-year guarantee in their most recent admission letter.

College assistantships awarded to entering PhD candidates are for the first twelve months and after that are guaranteed during the two academic semesters if funds are available.* In general, the major support for PhD candidates is expected to come from RAs on faculty research grants and contracts.

*Admitted students who have a five-year guarantee in their most recent admission letter.

Assistantship Contracts

The terms of an assistantship contract are governed by the graduate student union (Graduate Employee Organization, or GEO) and are therefore out of our control. The following represents our informal understanding of the current rules, combined with typical practices within the college. The GEO contract, however, is the final authority on these issues, not these pages. The contract is available from the GEO web site.

The normal workload of an RA consists of 20 hours during the academic year. The responsibilities of an RA are determined by the faculty member responsible for the research, but could include tasks such as programming, running experiments, carrying out literature surveys, and so on. For most students in our college, the distinction between being an RA and being a "graduate student doing your own research" is difficult to make, meaning that deciding whether you're working more than 20 hours is complex. If your RAship requires more than 20 hours on average and is detracting from a reasonable course load, you should talk with your research supervisor. If you are working fewer than 20 hours on average for your RAship, you should also talk with your advisor.

TA Job Description
The duties of a TA are to assist the faculty in the conduct of their courses. More specifically, this may include grading homework (including computer programs); conducting discussion and laboratory sessions, occasional classroom instruction in a faculty member’s absence; setting up laboratory apparatus (including the implementation of special computer programs for laboratory exercises); assisting the faculty in formulation and preparation of homework, laboratory, and exam problems; assisting the faculty in grading exams and term projects; meet with students and teach during office hours and any other activity that is reasonable and normal in the conduct of the course.

TO Job Description
Prepare Lectures, homework, laboratory and exams; lecturing to the students, setting up laboratory apparatus, grading exams and term projects; and any other activity that is reasonable and normal in the conduct of the course.

Eligibility for Teaching Associate to teach a section of a course or First Year Seminar
In order to be a First Year Seminar Teaching Associate, a PhD or Bay State Fellow student must have either completed two semesters of teaching assistantship with satisfactory faculty evaluation, or have completed at least one semester of teaching assistantship with satisfactory faculty evaluation, plus some additional teaching experience (a TA at another institution, a UCA position, tutoring, etc.). Half-time (10 hour) assistantships can be used to satisfy this requirement. Additionally, you must meet all TA requirements, including taking COMPSCI 879.
You must be on campus and able to teach in person for the duration of the semester. The application requires a recommendation letter from a CICS faculty member.

The official rules for time off include vacation time, holidays, and personal time:

The University honors 13 paid holidays a year.
You officially earn 2 hours of vacation time per month, or roughly one day per semester.
You get 24 hours of personal time per semester, or roughly another three days per semester.

Vacation time and, when possible, personal time should be requested in advance and should preferably be taken in the January or Spring breaks. Alternate arrangements can be made with your advisor or TA supervisor if possible. For example, many RAs and their advisors are comfortable with a much less formal way of handling time off. If you feel that you are not getting sufficient vacation or personal time, you should talk with your advisor, supervisor, or the Graduate Program Director.

Changing Between TA and RA

The college sets a fixed number of TA positions each semester. We attempt to provide a TAship for every student who needs one, either because there is no appropriate RA or to satisfy the PhD teaching requirement. TA assignments usually happen in July for the fall semester and November for the spring.

Assigning TAs is a complex process of matching student abilities with teaching needs. If you want to switch out of your TAship into an RA offer, you should contact the Teaching Coordinator, Emma Anderson. If it is possible to accommodate your request, she will do so. However, the closer to the start of the semester, the less likely it is that the request can be met.

The official rules pertaining to TAs who want to switch to being RAs are: "After June 30 or December 30 of each year, students who have accepted a TA offer for the Fall or Spring semester, respectively, may not withdraw from the appointment without the permission of the Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Teaching.

Internships

Many students take an internship, usually in the summer but occasionally during the spring or fall semesters. An internship provides experience with a different group of researchers working on different problems. It can provide valuable networking as well as as practical training. Internship opportunities are advertised regularly by email and/or the sponsoring organization's web site. It is your responsibility to find possible internships if you are interested in one. (Most advisors are happy to help.)

For U.S. citizens and permanent residents of the US, the process of taking an internship is straightforward.

If you hold a student visa, you will need approval to undertake an internship. The internship is treated as Curricular Practical Training and must be approved by the college and the Office of Global Affairs. Your specific limitations and requirements will depend on your visa. Check with the Office of Global Affairs for more information.

Statue of Limitations

When you are admitted to the MS, MS/PhD, or PhD program, the Graduate School assigns you a statute of limitations date. This date reflects the amount of time the Graduate School believes you need to complete your degree. It is initially four years for MS-only, six for the MS/PhD track, and four years for PhD-only.

If you take an approved leave of absence, your statue of limitations is automatically extended by the length of the leave.

If your progress toward your delay is taking longer than the Graduate School's initial estimate, it is possible to extend your statute of limitations. However, you cannot do that yourself. Instead, a request by your advisor and the Doctoral Program Director is sent to the Graduate School asking that the date be extended and explaining why the request is reasonable. Your advisor is unlikely to request a second or third extension if there is not a compelling reason.

If your statute of limitations expires, you are formally terminated from the program. It is possible to petition to be re-admitted though there are costs associated with doing so. Do not let your statute of limitations expire. The college tracks your statue of limitations and works hard to ensure it does not expire accidentally, but the ultimate responsibility is yours.

Leave of Absence

The college follows the Graduate School policy for a leave of absence request. If approved by a program director, the college submits the request on behalf of the student to the Graduate School.

Withdrawing from the Program

Although we hope it does not happen, some students end up withdrawing from the program. The most common such situation is when a student in the MS/PhD track decides that PhD-style research is not a good match for his or her interests. However, some students end up withdrawing for other reasons.

If you need to change your degree program or withdraw from the program entirely, please contact the Doctoral Program Director to discuss your situation.

Note that in some cases it may make more sense to take a leave of absence than to withdraw from the program.