Assistantships

Graduate teaching/research assistantships (for both Ph.D. and M.S. programs) are not and cannot be guaranteed in the OU School of Computer Science.  All assistantships are based on funding availability for the department; need by the faculty; and the demand/size of the class (for a Graduate Teaching Assistant/GTA) or research project (for a Graduate Research Assistant/GRA).  Assistantships are granted to Doctoral/Ph.D. and Masters/M.S. students currently in the program, with priority issued to high-achieving graduate students who have progressed further into their respective graduate program and who have established consistent rapport with faculty.  Any interest in a graduate assistantship should be initially directed to your assigned faculty advisor or the desired faculty member, with the following information available to them: your degree pursuit (Ph.D., M.S.), semester of the assistantship, and course (for GTA) or research (for GRA) interest.  If the interest is in a GTA for a course, priority consideration goes to those who have completed the course with a grade of “A” (no less than “B”) as part of the graduate program here at OU…with all eligible candidates being reviewed by the program and relevant faculty.  Emailing all faculty (“blanket” or “mass” emails) to solicit assistantship availability or promote your candidacy is strongly discouraged, so please only email your assigned or desired faculty member.  For unexpected or last-minute assistantship vacancies, the department will email eligible students regarding the position announcement.  Please note the School of Computer Science will not guarantee any assistantship opportunity (for either Ph.D. or M.S. programs), and in many instances, faculty often will request students to participate that they have known for some time.