Nova CS PhD graduates

I'd like to hear from people working on and having completed Nova Computer Science PhDs.

I will soon complete my Masters in CS from a brick/mortar school, but I will definitely not do a brick/mortar Phd. Of all majors, online is the way to go for CS. Plus I feel that by the time I am done with it, online will be so prevalent that brick/mortar schools will not be able to look down upon online PhD so easily.

So I'd like to hear from Nova folks because I think that will be the way I go. What kind of work do you do? What kind of acceptance have your Nova degrees received? What problems have you had related to online degree work? Anyone from Texas, especially San Antonio attending Nova? Anything else you might think of.

Thanks


BS Computer Science, UT Austin 1993
BA Math, UT Austin 1993
MS Computer Science, StMarys University, San Antonio Summer 2004

 

1. Professor, Roosevelt University.

2. NSU's degree is "OK" - helps that it has a "bricks & mortar" presence. Some of the faculty pan it - my point is that my circumstances required an online degree. I let my performance speak for me. It helps my undergraduate is from Oxford - it's not relevant but academics can be quite snobbish.

3. The biggest challenge with online work is the self-discipline that is required -and the potential isolation from the normal classroom interactivity.

 

I have a Nova Information System Ph.D. degree. The CS degree was not an option for me when I started at Nova because it was solely a traditional residence program at the time. This changed in the mid-90's. I work in the IT field and the degree opened many doors including becoming a Technical Fellow with my company (a Fortune 100 company), a significant raise, increase job opportunities, and an ability to further indulge my interests in teaching as an adjunct. My last two adjunct teaching institutions were with North Carolina State University in their traditional CS program and North Carolina Wesleyan College in their CIS adult degree program.

John

 

I graduated in 2003 with a PhD in CIS. My master’s degree was also awarded by Nova in 1999. My doctorate and master’s degree from Nova have worked well for me so far. I currently work fulltime as a Sr. information security architect at a federal government facility in New Jersey and teach part-time at a large state university in New Jersey. After earning my PhD in 2003, I was offered fulltime faculty positions by three community colleges but I decided not to accept these offers. Between next week and the middle of May, I have been scheduled for in-person interviews at three state universities in three different states. The phone interviews went very well and that’s why I was invited for in-person interviews. Depending on the outcome of these interviews, I may hopefully make a hop unto the academia come September of this year. I also teach online for a couple of colleges.

 

Ike,

good luck with your interviews.

Kevin

 

Hi Kevin,

Thanks.

 

I just started the PhD in CS this semester, so my information may not cover all of your questions.

I work in biotech and the main focus of my job is more law (I have a JD as well) but technology is also a huge part of my job. The coursework is pretty much the same as I've experienced from my B&M MS in computer science. You have to keep up and they make many assignments and deadlines, so it's probably more structured than you'd find in an in-person PhD.

I have been looking for new jobs and the PhD in progress has been fairly helpful. I am planning on doing my dissertation on topics that I can incorporate into my field and the interviewers I've had have not asked any daunting questions or questioned the validity of NSU. A few have even remarked how it's great that I'm getting a PhD that is flexible and will allow me to continue working. So, I haven't seen any detriment to the name of the institution.

All of my other degrees are from B&M schools and they are considered top caliber for the degrees I've earned. So, I think that it helps that you have other degrees from good schools. If you can validate why you are going to NSU to an interviewer and can logically explain why it was your best option, I don't think anyone will question it further. But that's just been my experience so far. Granted, I haven't been pursuing any jobs in academia and I'm sure that will provide more limitations than the corporate world. However, if you want to use your PhD for a non-academic job, then they will probably be more concerned on your research focus than the school you attended to a large degree.

 

Thank you all for the responses so far. They have been very insightful.


A few more questions...

How many classes do I HAVE to take per session? and per year?
This is important because my employer will pay for education, but only up to a certain amount. So this limits the number of classes per year. I'm assuming they will continue to pay (they paid for my Masters).

I am correct in counting 3 cluster sessions per year?

If I take fewer classes per year, do I still have to fly to Florida 4 times a year? Or is it relative to how many courses you take per session/year?

How is the coursework delivered? Can I do it all at 3AM if I want to? Or are there set times that the lectures are streamed? Or are they streamed? Are there even lectures for that matter?

Do you work on your own or do you have to be in groups? I enjoyed working in groups in some of the Masters classes at St Mary's, but it was a pain when you had people not carrying their weight. How do groups "meet" and get together? Phone, email, webcams, chat rooms?


Thank you all. I hope this thread helps others as wel

 

Most students take 3 courses per term

Most sudents take 6 courses per year

No you are not. It's 4 clusters per year (or 2 institutes per year if are an institute student)

It depends. I believe that it's negotiable. You are allowed to complete a few courses (probablt 6 credits) through directed independent study.

Through combined on-campus and online formats.

Sure (that's is the online part)

Yes, you must attend classes in Fort Lauderdale 4 times a year.

Yes, there are real lectures (about 10 hours per day) during cluster or institute meetings.

You many form an informal group. It helps both during course works and during the dissertation phase.

MS Netmeeting, webcams, email, newsgroup, etc

 

There are only 2 clusters that last 5 months each per year at the PhD level. You fly down for two 3-day weekends per semester. The only lectures that you will receive will be at the cluster sesssions. The rest is independent reading and research. Projects are done on your own as well. You may collaborate more during the on-campus clusters, but I have yet to have to work in a group on anything. Discussions are electronic (not too unlike the format you find here).

You aren't required to take 10 hours per semester (but almost everyone does). They really encourage you to take 2 classes and one project course per year so that your coursework is finished in 2 years. You will probably need at least 2 and likely 3 years to complete your thesis once your coursework is done. If you stretch the coursework out to 4 years, then you are really pushing yourself on the thesis if you don't finish it in 3 years. I believe there is a seven year limit for the program, so you really don't want to drag out the coursework too long. You also need to remember that for the PhD in CS, the courses are only offered once every two years. So, if you don't take a course that's offered in one cluster that it's offered, you'll have to wait a two full years before it's offered again.

Likewise, if you are only taking a half load, it gets expensive for travel (you'd probably end up paying close to what you'd pay over what your employer doesn't reimburse for travel for 2 extra years to finish the coursework).

 

Re: Re: Nova CS PhD graduates

Ike -- I hope you don't mind answering a barage of questions.

If I'm interested in parallel computing, does NSU have any systems that could be used to support research in that area?

How is the research library accessed? Is any (or all) of it accessed online?

Are there any colloquims/seminars that are held for grad students? If so, are these online?

I don't care for the percentage of NSU grads in the faculty. Have you heard of any plans on reducing this percentage?

Thanks!

 

The library is mostly online (you have access to dozens of online journal and thesis databases). I've had no problem finding pretty much all the articles I need online in the databases I have access to for research.

You can check out books from the library, but you only get them for 2 weeks and it really isn't conducive, IMO, to PhD research. By the time you read what you need to cull from the book, you need to mail the book back. You'd be better off becoming a "friend of the library" at your local/nearest research library and getting checkout privileges.

You'll have to wait for Ike for the other questions, because I'm not familiar with your research interest.

For clarification: if you are actually doing a PhD in CS (not information systems or other fields in the department) you do not have the institute option. CS is only offered in the cluster format.

 

Re: Re: Re: Nova CS PhD graduates

As you may have known, most NSU students are mature working adults. Some of these students work for aerospace, high-tech, telecommunications, manufacturing, and medical industries. Some of them are also college professors. The answer to your question is no but the students are not constrained in anyway if the choose to conduct a research on parallel computing. They can either conduct it at their places of work or look for a parallel computing facility/lab that is close to them. I am sure that no student who lives and works my part of the country (North East) will be enthused to go to Fort Lauderdale to conduct his/her research. The beauty of Nova (and DL in general) is flexibility.

It’s online for DL students and on-campus for resident students. Nova’s Alvin Sherman Library is the largest in Florida and the Southeast.

Several colloquia are held each year. They are held on-campus in Fort Lauderdale.

All the three new tenure-track faculty members that were recently hired do not hold Nova doctorates. These new faculty members are Dr. Yair Levy (PhD, Florida Atlantic University), Dr. Amon Seagull (PhD, University of Rochester), and Dr. Ling Wang (PhD, Purdue University). Also, of the two tenure-track faculties that were hired two years ago, one earned his PhD from University of Mississippi (Dr. Easwar Nyshadham). I think that sincere efforts have been made by SCIS administration to trim down the percentage of homegrown faculty. As regards adjunct faculty, majority of them earned their doctorates from Nova.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Nova CS PhD graduates

Just for clarification, I don't hold anything against a Nova PhDs. Its just that I think its academically superior to be exposed to products of many different programs -- my feeling applies to adjuncts as well!. On well, no program is going to give me everything I want.

Do all faculty teach from the campus, or are some of them remote? I guess what I mean by this is some of the Nova adjuncts permantly based outside of Florida?

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Nova CS PhD graduates

All fulltime (tenured and tenure-track) faculties are resident faculty members. That is, they teach on-campus courses. On the other hand, some adjunct faculties teach on-campus courses and the rest teach online courses.

 

Joan,

Some adjuncts who teach online courses live in South Florida but many of them also live in different parts of the country.