Doctor of Professional Studies in Computing: A Categorization of Applied Industry Research

This is a full paper in the Innovate Practice category examining a Doctor of Professional Studies (D.P.S.) in Computing program at Pace University which is a specialized degree program designed for active Information Technology (IT) professionals with at least five years of full time experience in the computing field. The first question that guided our research is how is the Pace University D.P.S. program related to other doctoral computing programs in the United States and globally. The second question that guided our inquiry is dissertation topics pursued by graduates in dissertation research, specifically by IT professionals in the Pace University program. To answer this second question, we analyzed the first 114 dissertation abstracts that have been defended at Pace University in the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. We used machine learning and natural language processing to determine commonalities among research topics in order to gain an understanding of the topic categories and topic spread produced by the program.