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Doctoral Breadth Courses

Breadth Course Information & Area Advocates

Classes marked with "*" (star) are appropriate for any CSD doctoral or 5th year master's student.

Classes marked with a "-" (dash) are intended as more advanced topics for CSD doctoral or 5th year master's students in the specific research area.

  • Breadth courses listed below, when offered in a given semester, are identified in the current or upcoming semester course pages on the CSD website. You can isolate them by a filtered search for Star (*) or Dash (-).
  • Your curriculum requirements will be met over multiple semesters. You should cross reference courses from the list below to be sure you are meeting overall curriculum requirements.
  • For additional information regarding breadth courses and CSD PhD curriculum requirements please refer to the appropriate section in the PhD Handbook.
  • Please use the Schedule of Classes (SoC) to confirm what is being offered in the upcoming semester. Courses can be added or removed into the beginning of the semester and may not be immediately synced when changes occur.
  • In the SoC SELECT:
    • Semester/Year: [upcoming semester, i.e.: Spring 2025, etc.]
    • Departments: Computer Science (15XXX)
    • Course Level: Graduate
    • Teaching Location: Pittsburgh
  • You can take courses listed in the SoC that do not meet breadth requirements during the pursuit of your degree keeping in mind you should plan to complete the curriculum requirement within the first 2-3 years in the program.

You can contact the research area advocate to determine if alternative classes would be accepted for an area in a particular semester.

CSD Doctoral Breadth Courses
AREA BREADTH COURSES
Algorithms and Complexity
Area Advocate:
Daniel Sleator
* 15-750 Algorithms in the "Real World"
* 15-751 A Theorists Toolkit
* 15-756 Randomized Algorithms
– 15-850 Advanced Algorithms
* 15-851 Algorithms for Big Data
– 15-854(B) Modern Approximation Algorithms
– 15-855 Graduate Computational Complexity Theory
* 15-856 Introduction to Cryptography
* 15-857 Analytical Performance Modeling & Design of Computer Systems
* 15-858 (B) Discrete Differential Geometry
Artificial Intelligence
Area Advocate:
Tuomas Sandholm
* 15-780 Graduate Artificial Intelligence
- 15-784 Cooperative AI
- 10-714 Deep Learning Systems: Algorithms and Implementation
Computer Systems
Area Advocate:
Todd Mowry
* 15-740 Computer Architecture
* 15-745 Optimizing Compilers for Modern Architectures
Programming Languages
Area Advocate:
Robert Harper
- 15-812 Programming Language Semantics
* 15-814 Types and Programming Languages
* 15-816 (C) Advanced Topics in Logic: Automated Reasoning and Satisfiability
Software Systems
Area Advocate:
David Andersen
* 15-712 Advanced Operating Systems and Distributed Systems
– 15-719 Advanced Cloud Computing
* 15-744 Computer Networks
– 15-821 Mobile and Pervasive Computing
– 15-826 Multimedia Databases and Data Mining