Overview of Graduate Program at CS SFSU September 2006

1. Overview of Graduate Program at CS SFSUSeptember 2006 Prof. D. Petkovic

2. 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

3. 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!

4. 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/

5. New Research Areas and Technologies • Computing for Life Sciences, biotech • Sensor networks • Personal devices • Serious games (education, training…) • ….

6. 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

7. New Graduate Program Description – curriculum structure 9 9 (3 out of 5 courses) (3 courses) (3 courses) 6 6 Total 30 Units

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. How to write Culminating Experience report (CER) • We observed coming problems • New instructions posted • http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/writing_cpr.html

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Study Abroad with Fulda University • Very important for your careers • Fun… • Please apply • http://cs.sfsu.edu/news/SFSUFulda.htm

18. 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/

19. 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

20. 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)

21. TENTATIVE list of grad courses for Spring 2007 745810835840842845857868867875870 Comp. Geometry, with Math ?869 NEW Data Mining