CS501: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Computer Science I Fall, 1997

Department of Computer Science
State University of New York at Buffalo


Instructor:
Prof. Stuart C. Shapiro, 226 Bell Hall, 645-3180 ext. 125, shapiro@cs.buffalo.edu,

Office Hours: See my schedule. If I'm in my office, and not talking to someone else, I'll be happy to talk with you. Or make an appointment via Gloria Koontz, koontz@cs.buffalo.edu, 716-645-3180 Ext. 103

Class Meetings: Wed Fri 10:00 - 10:50 AM, 210 Natural Sciences Building

Registration Number: 098120

Texts (Buy from Book Store):
  • Leslie Lamport, LaTeX: A Document Preparation System User's Guide and Reference Manual, 2nd Edition, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994.
  • Richard Stallman, GNU Emacs Manual, 13th Edition, Free Software Foundation, 1997.
  • Mary-Claire van Leunen, A Handbook for Scholars, Revised Edition Oxford University Press, New York, 1992.
These are all reference books you will be using for several years, at least.

CS501/502/700 Requirement:
The Graduate Student Handbook says that first year graduate students are expected to take 3 credits of CS501/502/700. In 1997-98, CS502 will not be offered, instead, you are to take CS501 in the Fall and CS700 in the Spring for a total of 3 credits. You are to register for CS700 under the faculty member you expect to do research with for your M.S. and/or Ph.D. A main activity of CS501 will be presentations by the department's graduate faculty of their research programs. This should help you decide whom you want to work with for your CS700.

Schedule:
CS 501, WF 10:00 - 10:50 AM, ROOM 210 Natural Sciences Building
September3Prof. Shapiro
Dr. Davin Milun
Introductions
Computer Accounts
 5


Prof. Jin-Yi Cai
Assigment 1 due
Graduate Studies at UB
 10Dr. Milun UB CS Computing Environment
 12Drop/Add Deadline
Prof. Shapiro

Begin Emacs
 17Prof. ShapiroFinish Emacs, Begin LaTeX
 19Prof. ShapiroFinish LaTeX, Begin HTML
 24Prof. ShapiroFinish HTML
 26Prof. Sargur SrihariHandwriting Recognition
October1Prof. Russ Miller A Project Involving Atoms, Molecules, and Computational Science
 3 Prof. Ashim GargHow to Visualize a Graph
 8Prof. William Rapaport A Computational Theory of Vocabulary Expansion
 10Prof. Kenneth ReganLow-Level Complexity Theory
 15 Prof. Shapiro Research in Knowledge Representation & Reasoning
 17Prof. ShapiroMore on LaTeX
 22Mrs. Elenora M. HeffnerWriting Skills
 24
Prof. Shapiro
R Deadline
Presentation Techniques
 29Dr. MilunSoftware Development Tools
 31 Prof. Jin-Yi CaiOverview and Some Topics in Complexity Theory
November5Prof. RapaportTeaching Techniques
 7Department PortraitsReport to 216 Bell Hall for pictures
 12Prof. Alan SelmanTBA
 14Prof. Shambhu J. Upadhyaya Research in Reliability and Fault Tolerance
 19Prof. Rohini SrihariMultimodal Information Retrieval
 21Prof. Deborah WaltersComputational Vision
 26No classFall Recess
 28No classFall Recess
December3Prof. Bharat JayaramanResearch Topics in Programming Languages
 5Prof. ShapiroOpen Discussion
 10 Prof. Venugopal Govindaraju Recognition Paradigms for Handwritten Words and for Faces
 12Prof. Aidong ZhangResearch on Multimedia and Databases
Last class

Other resources:

Grading:
Grading is on an S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) basis. Registrants are responsible for attending all class meetings and handing in all assignments on time. Excessive absences from class, or excessive missed or late assignments will be result in a grade of "U". A grade of "S" in this course is required for any graduate degree in this department.

Assignments:
Due September 5, 1997:
Answer the following questions (printed, not handwritten):
  1. (If you are a non-U.S. student) Why did you choose to do your graduate work in the U.S.?
  2. Why did you decide to do your graduate work in this department and in this university?
  3. What is the final degree you plan/hope to earn in this department, M.S. or Ph.D.?
  4. What area of computer science are you interested in?

Due every Wednesday following a departmental colloquium and every class meeting following a research presentation by member of the department graduate faculty:
Write a 1 page review of the talk. Include
  • The name and affiliation of the speaker.
  • The title of the talk.
  • What was the main point of the talk?
  • Give your reaction to/impression of the contents of the talk.
  • Comment on the positive and negative aspects of the speaker's delivery style.


Stuart C. Shapiro <shapiro@cs.buffalo.edu>