Overview of Graduate Program at CS SFSU September 2006 Prof. D. Petkovic.

Overview of Graduate Program at CS SFSU

September 2006

Prof. D. Petkovic

SFSU CS Department Objectives• Prepare students for job market• Prepare students for Ph. D. studies

• MS is becoming a necessity in today job market

• Education goals:– Fundamentals– Discipline specialty (CLS, SW Eng, general)– Project, industry cooperation, teamwork– Individual research– Thesis is mandatory

Overview of Graduate program

• New program started Fall 2004– New degrees (MS with Conc. In CLS, SW Eng,

General)– More emphasis on research and team projects– Many new courses– http://cs.sfsu.edu/grad/graduate.html

• Program doing well!

Trends in Software Development• Global development of computer software through international

cooperation and outsourcing are the main characteristics of current and future software engineering development process

• Interconnected: Everything is being connected• Open: Increased emphasis on building SW from components and

services developed globally and being Open Source• Collaborative: SW built with multidisciplinary teams • Easy to use: Critical need for making systems easy to use, on time

and budget, and with adequate performance

• SW Engineering voted the best job by Money Magazine– http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/

New Research Areas and Technologies

• Computing for Life Sciences, biotech• Sensor networks• Personal devices• Serious games (education, training…)• ….

Computer Scientist of the future

• Knowledge of technical material (up to date)• Knowledge of some specific domains 9finacials,

biotech, games…)• Project and teamwork skills• Verbal and written communication and

presentation skills• Ability to work in a global and open SW

environment• MS preferred

New Graduate Program Description – curriculum structure

Breadth requirements One from each area: Computing Foundations; Computer Systems; SW Development

CLS Conc. SE Conc. GEN Conc.

ElectivesUpper division OR any graduate OR 897/9 OR one course from other SFSU Departments

Culminating Experience897/9 followed by 895/8

9

9

6

6

(3 courses) (3 courses) (3 out of 5 courses)

Total 30 Units

Center for Computing for Life Sciences: Role and Activities

• Provides SFSU focus in Computing for Life Sciences:– Place for students to find and do culminating experience and other projects

in CCLS area, following individual department policies– Feedback to curriculum development– Hosts projects with local industry

• Provides focus on funding and increases chances for getting grants • Complements other degree programs at SFSU ( I.e. MSCS with

Concentration in Computing for Life Sciences) • Incubator for commercialization efforts• Consists of faculty, students and external partners (industry

collaborators, visitors) from all relevant departments, part or full time, working together

• http://cs.sfsu.edu/ccls/index.html

Recommended sequence of study

• Check this NEW link, should be very useful– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/grad_recom_sequence.html

• Talk to grad advisor• Ask advice on time• Let us know early if you want to go for a Ph. D.

Thesis and research• Actively seek the advisor (e.g. take the class, meet the

advisor in your area of interest, talk to grad advisors or Chair…)

• Thesis vs. Project• In the new program two 899s are allowed. Both or only

one can be used as part of the thesis• Expected time about 3 semesters (with writing and

defense). This is serious work!• Resources:

– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/forms/aboutculminatingproject.html– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/new_grad_culminating_req.html– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/Master-Thesis_Steps.html

How to write Culminating Experience report (CER)

• We observed coming problems• New instructions posted

– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/writing_cpr.html

Graduate seminar series – formerly PERNET

• Focus on taking this in one semester (your first or second)

• Excellent way to broaden up, learn, get an idea for MS thesis and meet/hear great people

• Need 10 stickers (can compensate with attending graduate seminars talks in other semesters)

• Very exciting speakers coming

694/893 – co-op• For foreign students: counts as an elective• Foreign students have limit of 30 units, so be

careful how you use them – 694/893 counts• 694/893 can not be taken if:

– All electives are compelled– Student working on a thesis– 694/893 would delay the graduation– Policy updated to limit work to 20 h/week during

Fall/Spring semesters http://cs.sfsu.edu/forms/student%20forms/893-694%20Course%20Requirments.pdf

Practical training – foreign students

• Must have GPA > 3• Must not delay graduation• Thesis practical training will be harder to justify• Post-completion practical training can start only

when the thesis is completed• Starting work under practical training before

graduation is not advisable and not good for you!• New process:

– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/forms/student%20forms/opt_cpt_letter_instructions.html

CSC 895/898

• Please follow the schedule for all the related forms, like GAP, Human Subjects etc. – they need to be done well before you are registering for 895

• Foreign students – watch the reduced load etc. – need to get a form approving reduced load

• OIP issues – we do not easily approve starting outside jobs before the thesis is complete

• One page with all the info– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/forms/

aboutculminatingproject.html

English requirements

• Important to have English proficiency for both engineering and R&D careers

• We improved ways to satisfy it (did not make it easier to pass the exams…) – http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/grad_program.html

Study Abroad with Fulda University

• Very important for your careers

• Fun…

• Please apply– http://cs.sfsu.edu/news/SFSUFulda.htm

Other stuff

• “Biology for CS” is now is prereq for “Bioinformatics Computing”

• Policy on cheating and plagiarism will be strictly enforced – (students are getting inventive…)– http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/plagarism.html

• Get involved with ACM– http://acm.sfsu.edu/joomla/

Two new faculties

• Prof. Hui Yang, Ohio State: Data Mining

• Prof. Kaz Okada, Siemens Research (Ph. D. from USC): imaging, AI– http://cs.sfsu.edu/news/TwoNewAssistProfFall2006.htm

Some project ideas/people• DB/UI/Applications in biology and bioinformatics and CLS

area: Profs. Singh, Yoon, Petkovic)• DB Tools, Multimedia databases: profs. Murphy, Singh,

Petkovic• Visulisation/Graphics: prof. Yoon• WWW Applications, Community applications: Prof. Levine• Performance, WWW, Info Retrieval: Prof. Dujmovic • Algorithms, compilers, WWW search: Profs. Wong, Dujmovic• Distributed Systems, Open Source: Prof. Puder• Multimedia sound, music: Prof. Hsu• Data Mining : Prof. Yang• Imaging, AI: Prof. Okada• Machine learning, AI for Bio: prof. Buturovic (Adjunct)

TENTATIVE list of grad courses for Spring 2007

745810835840842845857868867875870 Comp. Geometry, with Math ?869 NEW Data Mining