Joint Ph.D. Degree

Use your Graduate Academic Bulletin

Students pursuing a graduate degree in Cognitive Science should use the University Graduate School Academic Bulletin.

How to apply

The Joint Ph.D. Degree in the Cognitive Science Program is for new students and current students already in another Ph.D. department or program at IUB. Current students in the Cognitive Science Program may also apply for the Joint Ph.D. Degree if they decide to pursue a second graduate major from another department or program. The Joint Cognitive Science Ph.D. has different requirements from the Single-major Cognitive Science Ph.D.

New students need to be accepted separately by both the Cognitive Science Program and the second Ph.D. program (the dual major). Current IU graduate students will need to submit an electronic application for graduate admission to a dual degree in the Cognitive Science Program. Students will need to include with the online application: Application to Change from a Single to a Double Major for the Ph.D. degree form, the Advisory Committee form for a dual major, and a goal statement addressing their aims in both majors (1-2 pages). Students are required to make such a request prior to their qualification exams. Please contact Susan Palmer for additional information (stowle@indiana.edu).

Coursework for the Ph.D. Joint degree requires a minimum of 90 credit hours, of which 32 credit hours must be in courses listed below:

The four Cognitive Science core courses:

Q520 – Mathematics and Logic in Cognitive Science
Q540 – Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive and Information Sciences
Q550 – Models in Cognitive Science
Q551 – The Brain and Cognition

Note: On the basis of their undergraduate background, students may be exempted from one or more of the core courses other than COGS –Q540, which all students must take. Request for exemptions must be made prior to candidacy. Exemptions from any core courses require approval by the Director of Graduate Studies of the program and Dean Daleke in the University Graduate School.

At least 6 credit hours of breadth coursework not in the originating discipline and not among the core Q-courses or pure research courses such as Q799 and Q899. A non-core Q-course maybe used to satisfy the breadth requirement with the approval of the student’s advisory committee.

Students must also take at least four semesters of the Colloquium Series course COGS Q733 before candidacy. Please note, students entering program starting fall 2018, will need to sign up for Q733 for 1 credit for four semesters prior to candidacy.

Tool-Skills Requirements:

Statistics Tool Skills: Completing a 3 credit hour course covering statistical analysis e.g. PSY P553-P554 (advanced statistics in Psychology or the equivalent). COGS Q560 may also be used to fulfill this requirement.

Computational Tool Skills: Completing a 3 credit course which mainly covers programming related to cognitive modeling, such as Q530. Students with extensive programming experience may fulfill this requirement by showing their prior work related to cognitive modeling.

Research Presentation Requirement

Students must present a research talk to a Cognitive Science audience (including at least three faculty members who assess it), covering some aspect of the student’s own research in Cognitive Science. The presentation should be advertised to the cognitive science community, and could be part of campus lecture series like Cognitive Lunch, Logic Seminar, Developmental Seminar, Linguistics Colloquia, Grey Matters, etc. The research covered may be from any stage of the student’s career, including (but not restricted to) the thesis research. The presentation must be made before advancement to candidacy. At least three CogSci faculty members will need to attend this talk.

Advisory Committee for Joint PhD CogSci program

The Appointment of Advisory Committee form is required by the Graduate School to establish your advisory committee who approves the student’s program of study and counsels the student until the passing of the qualifying exams. This should be set up by the end of the 2nd semester. The advisory committee must be approved both by the originating discipline and Cognitive Science Program. The committee will need to have at least two member from each major. From the two members of the Cognitive Science Program, at least one member must be outside the originating discipline.

Qualifying Examination

There are two options for the qualifying examination: (a) an examination in the originating discipline and a separate comprehensive examination in Cognitive Science (these may be taken at separate times); or (b) a joint examination covering relevant areas of both the originating discipline and Cognitive Science, as determined by the advisory committee and with permission of both the originating discipline and the Cognitive Science Program. The Cognitive Science examination is normally taken after completion of the Cognitive Science course requirements, typically by the end of the student’s third year for Joint Degree students. (Students pursuing joint degrees in Cognitive Science and another discipline may request to postpone the Qualifying Examination by one year, by writing to the Director of Graduate Studies.) If the student fails the exam, it may be retaken once, by the end of the student’s fourth year; failure the second time is grounds for dismissal from the program. See further details under the Doctor of Philosophy Degree subsection on the Qualifying Examination above.

Final Examination

The public and oral defense of the dissertation will be conducted jointly with the student’s originating discipline.