Network Science

About course

The PhD program in network science aims to enhance our understanding of networks arising from the interplay of human behavior, sociotechnical infrastructures, information diffusion, and biological agents. This is an intrinsically multidisciplinary activity, with members of the network science community representing a wide range of fields including computer science, information science, complexity, physics, sociology, communication, organizational behavior, political science, and epidemiology. This is an interdisciplinary doctoral program focused on training students in network science across several colleges—including the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, the College of Science, the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, and Bouvé College of Health Sciences—with several research areas, including computational sciences, information sciences, health and life sciences, social sciences, and theoretical physics. See other collaborating colleges’ catalog sections for possible elective courses. Coursework is dependent on a student’s area of research and subject to prior approval by their faculty advisor. Required coursework includes 20 semester hours of core courses in network science, plus an additional 20 semester hours of courses relevant to the students' area of research. A minimum of 40 credit hours of coursework is required, though the graduate program committee may recommend additional coursework based on student research interests. Satisfactory progress in the program will be ongoing and formally evaluated at the end of both the first and second years of the program. Students are expected to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.000 or better in all coursework. Students are not allowed to retake courses. A student who does not maintain the 3.000 GPA, or is not making satisfactory progress on their dissertation research, may be recommended for termination by the graduate program committee. Each student will have one primary research advisor from the network science doctoral program faculty. Students will be expected to select their research advisor by the end of the spring semester of their second year in the program. The dissertation committee consists of at least four members: the dissertation advisor, one additional network science doctoral program faculty member, one member expert in the specific topic of research (can be from outside the university), and one additional tenured/tenure-track faculty member from the concentration department/conferring college. The dissertation advisor must be a full-time tenured or tenure-track member of the Northeastern University faculty. Students may repeat the comprehensive examination once if they are unsuccessful.

Programme overview

Grade & score