Skip to content

Graduate Education

Full-time Ph.D. Program

Working together, our students and faculty drive our field forward while generating innovations with real-world impact.

Consistently ranked among the top computer science and engineering graduate programs in the nation, the Paul G. Allen School offers our 300 full-time graduate students a collegial and supportive learning environment; research opportunities of the highest quality; and the chance to collaborate with entrepreneurial faculty who are recognized leaders in their fields. We are proud of our record of accomplishment in mentoring student researchers who go on to positions at the very best academic departments and industry laboratories. Working together, our students and faculty drive our field forward while generating innovations with real-world impact.


Explore Our Ph.D. Program

Ph.D. Admissions

Each year, the Allen School welcomes around 60 new students interested in pursuing advanced academic or industry research careers to our Ph.D. program.


Learn About Ph.D. Admissions »

The Process

Students earn their Ph.D. through a combination of coursework, original research and thesis preparation under the guidance of faculty at the forefront of the field.


Learn about the Ph.D. Process »

Course Guide

We offer an array of courses that support students in developing core skills and attaining a broad knowledge of computing while exploring their chosen area in depth.


Explore Ph.D. Courses & Requirements »

Student Handbook

From degree requirements, to funding, to helpful advice — and more — our online handbook has (nearly) all students need to know to navigate the program.


Explore the Student Handbook »

Ph.D. Advising

Our advising team is a group of compassionate and knowledgeable individuals who are here to support Ph.D. students on every step of their academic journey.


Meet the Ph.D. Advising Team »

Teaching Assistants

Teaching assistantships enable Ph.D. students to play an integral role in the learning experience at the Allen School while honing their skills as educators and mentors.


How To Become a Teaching Assistant »

Ph. D. Program Information


Highlights

Allen School News

Allen School Ph.D. student Cheng-Yu Hsieh is interested in tackling one of the biggest challenges in today’s large-scale machine learning environment — how to make AI development more accessible. His research focuses on making both data and model scaling more efficient and affordable.

Allen School News

A team of University of Washington and NVIDIA researchers developed FlashInfer, a versatile inference kernel library that can help make large language models faster and more adaptable, and received a Best Paper Award at MLSys 2025 for their work.

Allen School News

On Friday, June 13, an estimated 5,000 friends, family, faculty and staff packed the UW’s Alaska Airlines Arena, where roughly 800 graduates collected their commemorative diplomas, flipped their tassels and made the transition from Allen School students to Allen School alumni.