Independent Work

1. Independent Work Fall 2012 Margaret Martonosi Mona Singh

2. Key Points of this Talk • Everything you need is on the web: • http://iw.cs.princeton.edu/12-13/ • IW mailing list – you must join • https://lists.cs.princeton.edu/mailman/listinfo/iw • Dates: http://iw.cs.princeton.edu/12-13/dates.html • the definitive set of deadlines is up on the web • New this term: Piazza for logistical questions: • https://piazza.com/class#fall2012/cos397497 But if you have questions, ask: • Colleen Kenny-McGinley, CS 210, Undergraduate coord. • Margaret Martonosi mrm@cs.princeton.edu, • IW coordinator, Prof in CS dept • Mona Singh mona@cs.princeton.edu, • IW coordinator, Prof in CS dept • Both reachable at iwcoord@lists.cs.princeton.edu Aside from logistics, the most important thing to do is find an advisoryou can work well with and a project you are excited to work on.

3. Independent Work Find an advisor Decide upon a (novel) problem you want to solve, or a thing you want to build (piece of software, piece of hardware, etc.). Decide how you will approach the problem, what tools you will use, etc. Solve the problem. At the end of the semester, write a report describing what you did

4. Independent Work Find an advisor Decide upon a (novel) problem you want to solve, or a thing you want to build (piece of software, piece of hardware, etc.). Decide how you will approach the problem, what tools you will use, etc. Solve the problem. Iterate At the end of the semester, write a report describing what you did

5. How to Find a Project Computer Systems Theory Programming Languages Computer Architecture Artificial Intelligence Computer Graphics Computer Security Applications: Biology, Music, Economics, Policy

6. How To Find a Project • Browse the web: • wiki.cs.princeton.edu/index.php/UgradResearchTopics • http://www.cs.princeton.edu/research/areas/ • Check professor’s webpages • Talk to professors • Primarily in CS dept, outside advisors possible • Send e-mail, or catch profs in their office • Walk in moderately prepared • Talk to grad students

7. What you need to do (1 semester) • Find an advisor (Today! By tomorrow! ASAP!) • Plan to meet him or her every week or every other week • If you wait too long, harder to find an advisor (paperwork Sept 28) • Start working • 6-10 hours/week is an appropriate amount of time per week • work steadily: Treat it like a class with a weekly assignment. • Give a 9 minute project proposal & progress talk (+ 3 minutes for questions/changeover) • Oct 15-19 • Expect to see preliminary work already • Write up a 1-page checkpoint report • November 12 • 20-25 page Final Report • January 9 • Poster Session • Jan 10, 10am-2pm

8. What you need to do (Thesis, 2 semester) • Second reader • Due Feb 8 • February paper • Due Feb 8 • Thesis outline • Due March 25 • Written report • May 6 • Thesis / 2 semester IW presentations • April 29- May 3 • Poster Session • May 9, 10am-2pm

9. Who’s Who? • Advisor • The person who guides you in the research • Cares about research quality & outcomes • May help & attend project proposal, poster session, etc. • IW Coordinator (Profs Martonosi and Singh) • Coordinates other aspects of your IW, such as project proposal, poster sessions, etc • Final arbiter of grade • Undergrad coordinator (Colleen Kenny-Ginley) • Manages submissions, etc.

10. What Can You Ask? • Advisor • Anything research related • Not: can I skip the project proposal or poster or write-up • IW Coordinator (ProfsMartonosiand Singh) • Anything about mandatory requirements • Not: is this research interesting • Undergrad coordinator • Anything about dates, forms, etc • Not: can you give me an extension

11. Independent Work Mistakes • Delay project selection until last minute • Ignore your advisor • you should try to meet once/week, even if it’s a brief meeting • Allow yourself to get stuck • talk to your advisor; don’t avoid them when you are stuck • Bluff your way through checkpoints • think hard about your plans • work hard & consistently & start early • Incoherent presentations • prepare & practice • get feedback from your advisor & friends • give slides to your advisor in advance & ask for feedback • communication skills are the key to technical success

12. If you’re having trouble… • Let us know… • Examples: • Missed deadlines • Problems with work • Problems with related work • If you tell us, we might be able to help you • We can direct you to right person • Fixing it post facto may be much harder • Such as involving Deans, fixing incompletes, etc.

13. On to the specifics....

14. Proposal Presentations • Logistics: • 9 minute talk; 3 minutes for questions/changeover • Attend full 1-hour session and give feedback to other students • Content Goals: • Describe the problem • explain why it is important, challenging and interesting • make me excited to hear more later • Explain how the research will be evaluated • Present a realistic plan for the semester • point out possible stumbling points – what is your contingency plan if research does not go as you hoped? • You should demonstrate expertise, which comes from having already done substantial amount of work

15. Proposal presentations: What Are You Doing? • One semester of work • Your work, not group’s work • Not background • What if I’m building on something • Focus on your contribution • Focus on this semester’s contribution • Not just background • Don’t spend too much space/time on background

16. Proposal Presentations • Presentation Goals: • Clearly communicate the key points • Be sure your talk is well-structured • Pretend you are talking to a group of CS seniors who have not taken a course in the area of research you are pursuing • Don’t use uncommon jargon or terms without defining them • Pictures, charts and graphs

17. Proposal Presentations • Presentation Goals: • Be conscious of your presentation style • Speak clearly • Make eye contact • Show energy and enthusiasm in your voice • Assess your audience’s level of comprehension • Practice in advance and in front of friends and your advisor • Heed feedback

18. Proposal Presentations • Audience Goals: • Listen to the content and note both good and bad presentation elements • both for your benefit and the speaker’s benefit • Give feedback notes to your fellow students: • For proposals, each student will attend the talks give in the same hour as their talk • Grades: • Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor

19. Checkpoints • Approximately a 1 page document • describe the accomplishments made so far • note tasks partially or completely completed • note papers read, experiments conducted, code completed • illustrate your understanding of the topic • give a plan for the rest of the semester • note deadlines for completing other tasks • Meet with your advisor, have them read your checkpoint document and sign the checkpoint form • You must return the form to UGC (CS 210) by the checkpoint deadline

21. Poster Session • Create a display for a 4-by-4 bulletin board • poster, collection of slides, etc. • plus optional software demo • Content • Brief background – explain the problem & motivation • what have you learned? • what experiments have you performed? • what have you proven? • what algorithms have you defined? • New this term: Top Posters selected for “Hall of Fame” • Displayed in the department (and on your resume!)

22. Final Report • Final report is 20-25 pages • do not go “much” over 25 pages • you may have an appendix that contains auxiliary materials such as code that spills over 25 pages • Thesis Reports: approximately twice as long (40-50 pages) • Content and writing are both important • Visuals such as graphs, diagrams, pictures, etc can be effective communication mechanisms • See website for turn-in instructions & specifics about fonts and such • A PDF copy needs to be mailed to UGC by the deadline • Give your advisor a copy (either e-mail or hard copy as they prefer)

23. Grading • Grades will depend upon: • Student initiative and contribution: the creativity and originality of student ideas • Student progress: content, amount of work accomplished to date, clarity and polish of presentations • Student paper: the content, eloquence, organization and clarity of writing • Majority of grade will depend upon research work • But, poor presentation and/or poster, and missing checkpoints will also have an impact

24. How to Get • A-level • New contribution – interesting result, publishable • Well-written scholarly report – intro, background, related work, contributions, comparisons, etc • B-level • Weaker result – not clearly publishable • Reasonable report – still scholarly, but perhaps weaker discussion • C-level • No new result • Report looks like workbook or lab report • D-level • Nothing interesting attempted, nothing gained • Report is stream of consciousness

25. Summary: Most important things • Find an adviser and project as soon as possible • feel free to email them • check out the independent work projects page • Go to the course web site and read the course web pages – make a note of all deadlines • If something is unclear, ask us, your advisor or UGC • Join the IW mailing list – mandatory • Meet with your advisor often and talk to them as soon as you get stuck – do not procrastinate

26. Questions? (This won’t happen!)

27. Questions?

28. Questions?

29. Goal: Fun, Profit, Enrichment • Opportunity to learn something in detail • More than you could do in a standard course • Differentiator • Grad schools • Jobs • Life • Fun • You get to do exactly what you want to!

30. What Is Independent Work? • Research • Advanced development • Some combination of the two • Literature survey leading to research

31. How To Have a Good 12 Weeks • Start as soon as possible • Take some time right now to shop around • Read project ideas, web pages • Talk to grad students you’ve had as TAs • Talk to faculty – Finding an advisor you want to work with is the key step • Come up with your own idea • But listen to your advisor’s advice • Don’t be afraid of change • Better to change course than dead end • Don’t change course too often