Assistantships
Graduate Teaching Assistantships
A limited number of teaching assistantships are available to Computer Science graduate students. The normal duties of a Teaching Assistant (TA) involve serving as an assistant to the instructor(s) of record for one or more undergraduate courses within the department. These duties may include helping students in the lab or with other course assignments, grading papers, giving occasional lecture presentations in the absence of the instructor, or other duties as assigned by the instructor.
Teaching assistantships may be awarded on a half-time or full-time basis. A full-time TA is expected to work 20 hours per week; in return, he or she receives a stipend and a waiver of full-time tuition and fees for each semester. A half-time TA is expected to work 10 hours per week; he or she receives half the normal stipend and a waiver of tuition and fees for 6 credit hours per semester.
Teaching assistantships are normally awarded on an academic year basis (fall and spring). TAs with satisfactory performance during the fall semester are renewed for the following spring semester. Thus, students desiring an assistantship for the upcoming academic year are advised to apply in late spring (March or April) or early summer for TA appointments that begin in August. When applying, students should highlight their applicable computing background and indicate which UTC undergraduate courses they are prepared to assist.
Occasionally an assistantship(s) will become available mid-year due to one of the existing TAs graduating in December; interested students should contact the Graduate Program Coordinator late in the fall semester (October or November) to inquire about potential mid-year (January) opportunities.
Students should use the form provided by the Graduate School to apply for a graduate teaching assistantship. Submit the completed form plus a resume and/or any other supplementary materials to the Graduate Program Coordinator.
Graduate Research Assistantships
A limited number of research assistantships may be available to Computer Science graduate students. The duties of a Research Assistant (RA) may vary considerably depending on the nature of the research project, but may include literature searches, data collection and analysis, write-up of experimental results, or other duties assigned by the faculty member supervising the research.
As in the case of teaching assistantships, research assistantships may be awarded half-time (10 hours/week) or full-time (20 hours/week) and include a stipend and tuition/fees waiver. The availability of funds and the amount of the student’s stipend will depend upon the specific grant(s) that are funding the research project.
As the department’s research funding is always in flux (faculty are constantly applying to research funding agencies for new grants, while existing funded grants eventually terminate) and every grant award is different, the availability of graduate research assistantships fluctuates considerably. Students are advised to seek out faculty members working in their area(s) of interest and inquire regarding current and upcoming opportunities for research assistantships. Each faculty member with funded research chooses which student(s) he or she wishes to hire as research assistants. As in the case of teaching assistantships, the student should use the Graduate School form to apply.