Programs by Campus
Indianapolis
Informatics and Computing
School URL: soic.iupui.edu
School E-mail: soicindy [at] iupui [dot] edu
Curriculum
(When conferring University Graduate School degrees, minors, certificates, and sub-plans, The University Graduate School’s staff only use those requirements contained in the University Graduate School Bulletin.)
Ph.D. in Informatics
The Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, the first of its kind in the country, was created as a place where innovative multidisciplinary programs could thrive, a program where students can apply the skills of information technology to a range of other fields. For current information and specific requirements, refer to soic.iupui.edu.
All Ph.D. candidates must meet with their academic or research advisor for course selection and plan of study.
Program of Study
Students in the Informatics doctoral program explore the connections among information technology, theory, social analysis, and application domains in a diverse and multidisciplinary curriculum. This curriculum includes core courses and seminars in Informatics and its specialization in Bioinformatics, Health and Biomedical Informatics, or Human-Computer Interaction; courses in methods and theory; and electives in related disciplines inside and outside of the School leading to a Ph.D. minor; and a dissertation. In addition, students are encouraged to pursue internships as part of their elective courses or independent studies.
Bioinformatics Specialization
A minimum of 90 credit hours are required for the degree. The 90 credit hours consist of the following:
Qualifying Courses (15 credit hours):
- INFO-B 519 Introduction to Bioinformatics
- INFO-B 528 Computational Methods for Analyzing High-Throughput Biological Data
- INFO-B 529 Machine Learning in Bioinformatics
- INFO-B 556 Biological Database Management
- INFO-I 590 Statistical Methods in Bioinformatics
Advanced Core Courses (15 credit hours):
- CSCI 59000 Algorithms in Bioinformatics
- INFO-I 600 Professionalism and Pedagogy in Informatics
- INFO-B 627 Advanced Seminar I in Bioinformatics
- INFO-B 637 Advanced Seminar II in Bioinformatics
- INFO-I 790 Research Rotation/Independent Study
Elective Core Courses (15 credit hours):
Choose from the following:
- INFO-B 536 Computational Methods in Biomedical Informatics
- INFO-B 619 Structural Bioinformatics
- INFO-B 646 Computational System Biology
- INFO-B 656 Translational Bioinformatics Applications
- INFO-B 636 Genomic Data Analytics and Precision Medicine
- Other course approved by advisor
Electives (3 credit hours minimum)
Minor (12 credit hours minimum)
Dissertation (30 credit hours):
- INFO-I 890 Thesis Readings and Research
Areas of Specialization
Faculty research projects often involve representatives from several different research areas working together to develop innovative and even revolutionary new solutions. While students can expect to concentrate in particular areas, they are also expected to explore the broader significance of their work and ways that their expertise can be leveraged to solve problems outside of their own domains.
Areas of Research
Protein structure and function prediction, comparative genomics, structural genomics, fragment assembly in DNA sequencing, systems biology, models of evolution, molecular modeling, drug design, machine learning algorithms, biological database integration, data mining, and biomedical text mining.
Health and Biomedical Informatics Program Specialization
A minimum of 90 credit hours are required for the degree. The 90 credit hours will consist of the following:
Core Courses (24 credit hours):
- INFO-I 501 Introduction to Informatics
- INFO-B 530 Foundations of Health Informatics
- INFO-B 535 Clinical Information Systems
- INFO-I 575 Informatics Research Design
- INFO-B 581 Health Informatics Standards and Terminology
- INFO-B 585 Biomedical Analytics
- INFO-B 642 Clinical Decision Support Systems
- PBHL-B 651 Introduction to Biostatistics I
Ph.D. Specific Courses (15 credit hours):
- GRAD-G 660 Clinical Research Methods
- INFO-I 600 Professionalism and Pedagogy in Informatics
- INFO-B 668 Seminar in BioHealth (taken twice)
- PBHL-B 652 Biostatistics for Public Health II
Research Rotation (6 credit hours):
- INFO-I 790 Informatics Research Rotation (taken twice)
Electives (12 credit hours)
Minor (12 credit hours)
Dissertation (21-20 credit hours):
- INFO-I 890 Thesis Readings and Research
Areas of Specialization
Faculty research projects often involve representatives from several different research areas working together to develop innovative and even revolutionary new solutions. While students can expect to concentrate in particular areas, they will also be expected to explore the broader significance of their work and ways that their expertise can be leveraged to solve problems outside of their own domains.
Areas of Research
Electronic medical records, health data exchange, standards and terminology for health data, clinical decision support, consumer health informatics, technology to enhance patient safety, health application development and implementation, cost reimbursement and integrated health information systems. The Health and Biomedical Informatics program has joint projects with the Veteran Administration Medical Center, Regenstrief Institute, Clarian Health, Methodist Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Community Health Network, St. Francis Hospitals, IU School of Medicine, and other local health care systems.
Human-Computer Interaction Specialization
A minimum of 90 credit hours are required for the degree. The 90 credit hours will consist of the following:
Core Cores (24 credit hours):
- INFO-I 501 Introduction to Informatics*
- INFO-H 541 Interaction Design Practice
- INFO-H 564 Prototyping for Interactive Systems
- INFO-I 600 Professionalism and Pedagogy in Informatics*
- INFO-H 624 Advanced Seminar I in Human-Computer Interaction
- INFO-H 634 Advanced Seminar II in Human-Computer Interaction
- Select two HCI Research Area Selectives:
- INFO-H 563 Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction
- INFO-H 565 Collaborative and Social Computing
- INFO-H 566 Experience Design for Ubiquitous Computing
*In case specific “I” courses, such as I501 and I600 are not offered, HCI core courses may be taken in their stead, in consultation with the faculty advisor.
Methods Courses (18 credit hours):
- INFO-I 575 Informatics Research Design
- INFO-I 790 Informatics Research Rotation (taken three times)
- Two Methods Electives
Specialization (18 credit hours):
- Minor (12–18 credit hours)
- Disciplinary Affinities (0–6 credit hour colloquia series and/or electives)
Dissertation (30 credit hours)
- INFO-I 890 Thesis Readings and Research
Areas of Specialization
Faculty research projects often involve representatives from several different research areas working together to develop innovative and even revolutionary new solutions. While students can expect to concentrate in particular areas, they will also be expected to explore the broader significance of their work and ways that their expertise can be leveraged to solve problems outside of their own domains.
Areas of Research
Because HCI is a multidisciplinary discipline, students are encourage to expand the scope of their research to cross-traditional disciplinary boundaries into such areas as human-centered design, accessible computing, ubiquitous computing, social computing, related areas within digital media applications such as gaming and virtual reality research, computer-mediated communication, usability engineering, health informatics, information visualization, biomedical informatics, android science, social robotics, sensorimotor representation, symbol grounding and symbol emergence, computational neuroscience, and so on.
Ph.D. in Data Science
The data science doctoral program prepares graduate students to develop and evaluate novel approaches to collecting, organizing, managing, and extracting knowledge and insights from massive, complex, distributed, heterogeneous datasets.
A minimum of 90 credit hours are required for the degree. The 90 credit hours will consist of the following:
Core Courses (24 credit hours):
- INFO-I 501 Introduction to Informatics (3 cr.)
- LIS-S 511 Database Design (3 cr.) or CSCI 54100 Database Systems (3 cr.)
- STAT 511 Statistical Methods I or higher (3 cr., requires approval)
- INFO-H 515 Introduction to Data Analytics (3 cr.) or CSCI 57300 Data Mining (3 cr.)
- INFO-H 516 Applied Cloud Computing for Data Intensive Sciences (3 cr.) or CSCI 59000 Cloud Computing (3 cr.)
- INFO-H 517 Visualization Design, Analysis, and Evaluation (3 cr.) or CSCI 55200 Data Visualization (3 cr.)
- LIS-S 541 Information Policy (3 cr.)
- INFO-I 575 Informatics Research Design (3 cr.)
Methods Courses (18 credit hours)
May include up to 6 credit hours of INFO-I 790 Informatics Research Rotation
Specialization (18 credit hours):
- Minor (12–18 credit hours)
- Disciplinary Affinities (0–6 credit hour colloquia series and/or electives)
Dissertation (30 credit hours)
- INFO-I 890 Thesis Readings and Research
Requirements for all Ph.D. Programs
Minor
The student must have an appropriate minor from a unit at IUPUI or IU, Bloomington other than the Data Science program. Minors are selected with the advisor’s recommendation. The selected minor should be appropriate for the student’s choice of subdiscipline. Examples of minors include biology or bioinformatics, biostatistics, chemistry or chemistry informatics, health and biomedical informatics, cognitive psychology, computer science, information science, social and behavioral sciences, or sociology. The number of hours to be included in the minor will be consistent with the requirements of the unit granting the minor. Some of the courses in the minor may also count toward the methods requirement.
Qualifying Examination, Written and Oral
A student must successfully complete a written and oral qualifying examination before the fifth semester of the program. The written exam has a breadth part and a depth part. The breadth part covers the program’s core courses. The depth part additionally covers material from the student’s research.
The oral exam takes place shortly after the student passes the written exam. The oral exam is based on the student’s response to the written exam and the core courses. The both the written and oral exams are prepared and evaluated by faculty in the school who are familiar with the content of the core courses.
The student must pass both the written exam and the oral exam before advancing to candidacy. The student may retake once either the written exam or oral exam, but not both, if they do not pass that part on the first attempt. For further details, consult with the data science program director.
Dissertation Proposal and Defense
The dissertation defense is an oral review of the student’s in-depth knowledge of primary research area and the research proposal for the dissertation. The dissertation proposal must be approved by the student’s research committee, constituted by members of the Graduate Faculty who have expertise relevant to judging the student’s research. That committee may have the same membership as the advisory committee or different members. The advisor for the dissertation must be endorsed by the Graduate School to chair doctoral dissertation committees. The majority of the three or more members of the committee should be from the School of Informatics and Computing and at least one member must be from outside of the school. The student will defend the thesis proposal at a public colloquium in the school. The defense should be completed within one year of passing the Qualifying Examination.
Dissertation
The student must present a written elaboration of significant original research to the research committee in a public defense as described in the Graduate School Bulletin.
Ph.D. Minors
Ph.D. Minor in Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics gathers knowledge and information from various fields such as informatics, chemistry, computer science, medicine, and biology. Students in relevant Ph.D. programs such as biochemistry and molecular biology, medical and molecular genetics, medicine, chemistry, or biology are the target audience for the Ph.D. minor in bioinformatics.
The Ph.D. minor in Bioinformatics is a 12-credit hour program comprised of four (4) courses each of which is 3 credit hours.
Required course: INFO B519, Specialization courses (choose three): B528, B529, B556, B573, I590 Next Generation Sequencing, B619, B646, B656, GRDM G848
Admission Requirements
The graduate bioinformatics courses in the School of Informatics and Computing assume a minimal knowledge of cell and molecular biology. That level of understanding could be gained with at least 6 undergraduate credit hours in molecular biology, genetics, or evolution. They also assume a minimal knowledge of programming, databases, and statistics. That level of understanding could be gained with 3 to 9 credit hours of undergraduate or graduate courses in these areas.
Ph.D. Minor in Health and Biomedical Informatics
The purpose of the minor is to provide opportunities for current Indiana University or Purdue University doctoral students in other disciplines at IUPUI to learn and use Health and Biomedical Informatics approaches to solve problems that arise in their academic fields. This program serves the needs of the Schools of Dentistry, Nursing, Medicine, Public Health, and Science by providing data and information science knowledge and skills in support of problem-solving across multiple health-related domains.
The Ph.D. minor in Health and Biomedical Informatics requires coursework totaling 12 graduate credit hours.
These must include the following core courses: B530, B535, B581, and B642.
Admission Requirements
Applicants are required to have background in Information Technology and Healthcare (or the equivalent).
Ph.D. Minor in Human-Computer Interaction
The purpose of the Ph.D. minor in the HCI Program is to enable current Indiana University and Purdue University doctoral students in other disciplines at IUPUI to learn, apply, and use human-computer interaction (HCI) theories, principles, and tools to address and study problems in their respective academic fields.
The Ph.D. minor in HCI is a 12-credit hour program comprised of four (4) courses, each of which is 3 credit hours:
Required courses: H541, H543, and H563. One additional course, selected from the following list, is required: H517, H561, H564, H565, H566, H624, or H634.
Grading Policy for Ph.D. minors
A minimum of B (3.0) is required in each course that is to count toward the minor. If a minimum of B (3.0) is not earned in a course, that course must be retaken. A course may only be retaken once. Students who fail to achieve the minimum grade of B (3.0) the second time they take a course will not be able to earn the Ph.D. minor.