Ph.D. in Machine Learning

About the Curriculum

The central goal of the Ph.D. program is to train students to perform original, independent research. The most important part of the curriculum is the successful defense of a Ph.D. dissertation, which demonstrates this research ability.

The curriculum is designed with the following principal educational goals:

•    Students will develop a solid understanding of fundamental principles across a range of core areas in the machine learning discipline.
•    Students will develop a deep understanding and set of skills and expertise in a specific theoretical aspect or application area of the machine learning discipline.
•    The students will be able to apply and integrate the knowledge and skills they have developed and demonstrate their expertise and proficiency in an application area of practical importance.
•    Students will be able to engage in multidisciplinary activities by being able to communicate complex ideas in their area of expertise to individuals in other fields, be able to understand complex ideas and concepts from other disciplines, and be able to incorporate these concepts into their own work.
The curriculum for the Ph.D. in Machine Learning is truly multidisciplinary, containing courses taught in eight schools across three colleges at Georgia Tech: 
•    Computer Science (Computing)
•    Computational Science and Engineering (Computing)
•    Interactive Computing (Computing) – see Computer Science
•    Aerospace Engineering (Engineering)
•    Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)
•    Electrical and Computer Engineering (Engineering)
•    Industrial Systems Engineering (Engineering)
•    Mathematics (Sciences)
Students must complete four core courses, five electives, a qualifying exam, and a doctoral dissertation defense. All doctorate students are advised by ML Ph.D. Program Faculty. All coursework must be completed before the Ph.D. proposal. An overall GPA of 3.0 is required for the Ph.D. coursework.

Research Opportunities

Our faculty comes from all six colleges across Georgia Tech’s campus, creating many interdisciplinary research opportunities for our students. Our labs focus on research areas such as artificial intelligence, data science, computer vision, natural language processing, optimization, machine learning theory, forecasting, robotics, computational biology, fintech, and more.

Admissions

External applications are only accepted for the Fall semester each year. The application deadline varies by home school. 

The Machine Learning Ph.D. admissions process works bottom-up through the home schools. Admissions decisions are made by the home school, and then submitted to the Machine Learning Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for final approval. Support for incoming students (including guarantees of teaching assistantships and/or fellowships) is determined by the home schools. 

After the admissions have been approved by the FAC, the home school will communicate the acceptance to the prospective student. The home school will also communicate all rejections.

Get to Know Current ML@GT Students

Learn more about our current students, their interests inside and outside of the lab, favorite study spots, and more.

Career Outlook

The machine learning doctorate degree prepares students for a variety of positions in industry, government, and academia. These positions include research, development, product managers, and entrepreneurs. 

Graduates are well prepared for position in industry in areas such as internet companies, robotic and manufacturing companies and financial engineering, to mention a few. Positions in government and with government contractors in software and systems are also possible career paths for program graduates. Graduates are also well-suited for positions in academia involving research and education in departments concerned with the development and application of data-driven models in engineering, the sciences, and computing. 

Frequently Asked Questions

For additional questions regarding the ML Ph.D. program, please take a look at our frequently asked questions.

You can also view the ML Handbook which has detailed information on the program and requirements.