Track Description for the Graduate Catalogue:

Computer Architecture and Embedded Processors is a technical area within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Computer Architecture is at the interface of computer hardware and software. Its practitioners are responsible for specifying, designing, and implementing at the architecture level the hardware structures that carry out the work specified by computer software. Concomitantly, computer architects share the responsibility for providing mechanisms that algorithms, compilers, and operating systems can use to enhance the performance requirements (e.g., speed, energy consumption, availability, security, etc.) of running applications. Computer architecture provides a processor-centric perspective to many dimensions, such as the scope of a processor (e.g., embedded processors, desktop systems, servers, and supercomputers), the target application (e.g., general purpose versus domain specific), the characteristics of the design objectives (e.g., speed, power consumption, cost, reliability, availability, reconfigurability), and the measurement and analysis of resulting

designs.

B. Seven required items for GSC approval:

1. Qualifying exam Procedure

There are two steps to the qualifying exam, the Pre-qualification procedure and the Qualifying Exam. After passing both parts, the student officially becomes a PhD candidate. The second part (the Qualification exam) is uniform throughout the ECE department, and so is not discussed further here.

The first part, the Pre-qualification procedure has three components: successful passing of the Pre-qualification exam, admission to the CAEP PhD track, and a letter from an ECE faculty member signifying his/her intention to supervise the student's PhD dissertation. When a student has completed all three requirements, he/she is certified as pre-qualified.

The Pre-qualification exam procedure is described below.

Format: The CAEP pre-qualifying exam will be an oral exam.

Timing: The pre-qualifying exam will be conducted early in the spring semester of each year, before March 1 at the latest. Students must pass the pre-qualifying exam by the end of their third year of graduate residency in the ECE department at The University.

Purpose and Scope: The purpose of the pre-qualifying exam is to ascertain the suitability of the student to pursue a PhD in Computer Architecture and Embedded Processors. Thus, the professor is free to ask any questions he/she deems relevant including those outside the subject area (that is, questions covering general knowledge are specifically allowed) in an attempt to determine whether the student should be encouraged to continue to the PhD degree. In short, the exam is not intended to test specific material from any one specific course.

Who Can Take the Exam: Any graduate student enrolled in any track within the ECE department can apply to take the pre-qualifying exam. Students who have been admitted as PhD students to the CAEP track and have achieved a 3.5 GPA in their graduate work at UT will automatically be allowed to take the exam provided they have not failed the exam twice previously. Graduate students in ECE who have not been admitted as PhD students in CAEP or who have a GPA below 3.5 may be allowed to take the exam at the discretion of the CAEP faculty.

Application Process: ECE graduate students wishing to take the CAEP pre-qualifying exam must submit their intentions to do so to the CAEP Ph. D coordinator during the first 2 weeks of the Spring semester during which the exam is given. The student must be enrolled as a graduate student in ECE during the semester in which he/she takes the exam. The CAEP faculty will post guidelines to help the potential applicant, including advice as to how to prepare for the exam and what data might be useful to support the student's application. The CAEP Ph. D coordinator will notify the student whether his/her application to take the exam has been approved before the end of the third week of classes of the Spring semester.

Number of Attempts: Students may take the exam a maximum of two times. If a student fails the exam twice, he/she will not be allowed to take the exam a third time.

The exam will be conducted as follows:

1. The examination will take place during a week designated ahead of time for this purpose.

2. At least two weeks before the examination week, each student will be assigned four to six examiners from the faculty associated with CAEP. Students may contact their individual examiners before the exam, if they wish to, for general information about the scope of that examiner's exam. All students taking the exam during a single exam period will be assigned the same number of examiners. Students will select one additional area to be examined in, in addition to computer architecture and embedded processors, from a list provided by the Pre-Qual Exam coordinator. Examples of such areas are embedded systems, computer arithmetic, and digital logic design. These additional areas will be volunteered by the CAEP faculty based on their willingness to examine students in these areas. Examiners will be assigned by a method such as Latin Squares in an attempt to provide fairness in the evaluation process.

3. At least two weeks before the examination week, each professor will be given a list of his/her examinees. The professor will set aside enough 30 minute time slots during the designated week for examining the students assigned to him/her. An electronic sign-up sheet will be available one week in advance of the examination week for each student to sign up for his/her set of exams. Each professor will be provided with a link to a grade sheet that lists the students' names, and provides space for (a) a grade, and (b) comments.

4. Each student will sign up for his/her set of 30 minute exams.

5. Each oral examination will take place one-on-one in the professor's office or other room designated by the professor. The oral exam may be recorded (e.g., audio taped) at the discretion of the professor.

6. At the conclusion of the exam, the professor will assign the student a grade from the following set of grades:

Best ever: Best student I have ever seen

Absolutely yes: Outstanding student; I would love to supervise

his/her dissertation

Above threshold: Should be admitted, but if others say no, I can

be convinced.

On the fence: I will defer to others.

Below threshold: Should not be admitted, but if others disagree,

I can be convinced.

No: Definitely should not be admitted.

Worst ever: Worst student I have ever seen

Professors are encouraged to write comments discussing the reasons for the grade assigned. For a grade of Best ever, Absolutely yes, No, or Worst ever to be considered in the evaluation of the student, the examiner assigning the grade must include a comment on the reasons for the grade.

7. After the exam period, the grades will be entered into a table: rows = students, columns = professors. A summary sheet will also be drawn up, containing all comments made by each professor with attribution. Each professor will be provided a copy of this information in time to review it before the meeting.

8. A meeting of the CAEP faculty will be held within two weeks of the exam period for the purpose of determining who passed the pre-qualifying exam. That determination will be based mainly on the student's performance on the individual exams. A [2/3] vote of the faculty present at the meeting will be necessary for the student to pass the pre-qualifying exam.

9. Any student wishing special consideration contrary to the rules stated above can appeal to the CAEP faculty. Special consideration with respect to any rule will be decided by floor (2/3 majority of the associated faculty).

2. Course Requirements

a. MS degree:

Students can elect three degree options, each requiring a different number of course units.

Students electing the MS Thesis option must complete 24 hours in addition to registering for EE698A and EE698B. The eight courses (24 hours) must include at least 5 courses of major work, and 2 courses (at least one at the graduate level) of supporting work.

Students electing the MS Report option must complete 27 hours in addition to registering for EE398R. The nine courses (27 hours) must include at least 6 courses of major work, and 2 courses (at least one at the graduate level) of supporting work.

Students electing the No-thesis/No-report option must complete 30 hours of course work. The ten courses (30 hours) must include at least 7 courses of major work, and 2 courses (at least one at the graduate level) of supporting work.

EE397K.1 Conference Courses may not be counted as part of the course work total above, regardless of option.

For the thesis option, the student must take EE698A exactly once, in a separate semester before taking EE698B. EE698B must be taken in the semester the student is to receive the MS degree. EE698A/B do not count toward the 24 hours of formal course work required.

For the report option, the student must take EE398R in the semester the student is to receive the MS degree. EE 398R does not count toward the 27 hours of formal course work required.

For all options, no more than 6 semester hours of upper-division undergraduate coursework can be included in the program of formal coursework. In addition, no course with a grade less than C and at most one course with a grade of C can be included in the program of work.

Lists of Approved Major Work courses and Approved Supporting Work courses are maintained at: http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/CAEP/CAEPmajor.htm. A course not appearing on a respective list may be approved by the Track Advisor.

b. PhD degree:

At least 30 hours of regular classroom instruction, all courses at the graduate level. At least 6 hours must be outside the principle area of study, considered supporting work.

No individual instruction classes may count toward the 30 hours of regular classroom instruction.

At least 12 hours of the 30 must be taken in residence at UT-Austin. All courses taken at UT Austin to satisfy the coursework requirement must be Option 1 courses. The student must maintain a GPA of 3.5 in these courses.

Note: These are MINIMUM requirements; a PhD qualifying exam committee can elect to require more if it believes such is appropriate for that student.

3. Degree Plan for Advising

a. MS degree:

Approved Major Work Courses: A combination of graduate courses and upper-division undergraduate courses taken at UT can be considered major work for the MS degree. See the list referred to above.

Other courses may be considered major work on an individual basis; it is recommended that students seek the advice of the Track Advisor (or the research supervisor) in creating a cohesive and acceptable program of work.

Approved Supporting Work Courses: All courses in the ECE department that are not considered major work can be considered supporting work. In addition, courses taken in the Computer Science department can count as supporting work as long as the course can be used for a degree by students in Computer Science. Other courses may also be approved for supporting work; a student should seek the Track Advisor's approval before taking the course to guarantee acceptance.

b. PhD degree:

Course requirements for the PhD degree are determined by the PhD Qualifying Exam committee. Students are encouraged to seek the advice of their research supervisor to ensure that they are crafting an acceptable program of work.

4. Admissions Committee: All members of the primary CAEP faculty (Chase, Chiou, Erez, Evans, Garg, Gerstlauer, John, Patt, Swartzlander, Valvano) will constitute the admissions committee.

5. Track Advisor: Jon Valvano

6. Admissions Advisor: Derek Chiou

7. Track Coordinator: Lizy John