The School of Computing and Information Science offers Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Science (MS) degrees in Computer Science. The PhD degree is granted to highly-qualified students who have completed a rigorous course of study and research training resulting in the preparation and defense of a dissertation describing original computer science research. Students are required to complete 58 semester hours in an approved program of study: 39 hours of course credit, 18 hours of thesis credit, and a 1-hour PhD orientation seminar and The student must pass a comprehensive examination and prepare and defend a dissertation. There is a written and oral proposal as well as a final oral defense of the dissertation. The Ph.D. is granted to highly-qualified students who have completed a rigorous course of study and research training resulting in the preparation and defense of a dissertation describing original computer science research. The Ph.D. is the highest academic degree. It confers the right to be addressed as doctor and opens the door to rewarding and fulfilling careers in academia and industry. The doctoral student will obtain a broad and deep graduate-level background in computer science, with particular depth in a chosen area of specialization. The student will receive extensive training in computer science research over the course of the program under the direction of a faculty advisor as well as other faculty on the five-member PhD committee.<br><br>Agent-based systems. An agent is an entity that perceives the world, makes decisions about how to behave, and then takes action. Multiagent systems (MAS) are software or software/hardware systems that are organized around agents. Multiagent systems research is increasingly important in controlling groups of robots and in controlling interacting software agents. Agents behaving badly. The most common way of thinking about MASs is to treat the agents as benign, and possibly cooperating. However, once self-interested agents are allowed in the mix, there is the very real potential for an agent to decide that its best interests are not in line with the interests of others or with the group as a whole. In this case, the agent may be considered a miscreant agent, even if there is no overt goal on the part of the agent to hurt the system.