CS502:
Introduction to Graduate Studies in Computer Science
Spring, 1997

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

Class Meetings: WF, 11:00 - 11:50 AM, 220 Natural Sciences Building

Registration No.: 125771

Class Schedule:

CS502, 11:00 - 11:50 AM, ROOM 220 NATURAL SCIENCES
WEEK WEDNESDAY FRIDAYCOMMENTS
1 1/22
No Class		 1/24: First Meeting
Introduction to course
and to using LaTeX slides
see notes
2 1/29
5 min student talks		 1/31: Drop/Add Deadline
5 min student talks
3 2/5
5 min student talks		 2/7
NO CLASS
4 2/12: Assignment 3 Due
5 min student talks		 2/14
5 min student talks
5 2/19: Assignment 4 Due
5 min student talks		 2/21
class canceled
6 2/26
5 min student talks

 2/28
5 min student talks
Shapiro on conference abstracts
7 3/5: Assignment 5 Due
Shapiro on conference abstracts		 3/7
Assignment 6: Group 1
8 3/12
Assignment 6: Groups 2 & 3 		3/14: R Deadline
Assignment 6: Groups 4 & 5
3/19 3/21Spring Break
9 3/26: Assignment 7 Due
Assignment 6: Groups 6 & 7 		3/28
Assignment 6: Groups 7 & 8
10 4/2
Joyce Anderson on jobs		 4/4
Assignment 6: Groups 9 & 10
11 4/9
Shapiro on The Academic Career		 4/11 No Class
12 4/16: Assignment 8 Due
Shapiro on The Academic Career continued
 4/18
Assignment 9:
Chen, Chugh (canceled), and Huang
13 4/23
Assignment 9:
Hunt, Ianakiev, and Ismail 		4/25
Assignment 9:
Koplas, Lu, and Wang
14 4/30
Assignment 9:
Xu, Yang, and Zhang		 5/2:
Assignment 9: Santanam, Chugh
Assignment 10 Due

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:
  1. Fill in the course questionnaire.
  2. Each student will give a 5 minute talk to the class about anything except answers to current homeworks or projects in current courses. Technical topics are preferred, but anything the student feels particularly knowledgeable about is acceptable. The talk must use the ETEC classroom facilities as demonstrated during the first class meeting.
  3. Due 2/12: Each group is to turn a list of the top few journals and the top few conferences in its research area.
  4. Due 2/19: Each group is to find the Instructions to Authors for each journal listed in assignment 3, hand in a copy, keep a copy, and follow the format instructions of one of these sets of instructions in all future papers, except when told otherwise.
  5. Due 3/5: Each group is to find three reviews either published in the journals found for assignment 3, or about articles published in those journals, or at least about articles in their research area. (If you cannot find reviews published in regular journals, see Computing Reviews, which is available in UB's Science and Engineering Library.) They are to discuss these reviews among themselves, and turn in a review of the reviews, paying particular attention to their structure and how well or poorly each review gave them an idea of what was in the article reviewed and how valuable it would be to read.
  6. 3/7-3/21: Each group is to give a 20 minute talk introducing the research area of their interest.
  7. Due 3/26: Each group is to choose a paper from one of the conferences listed for assignment 3, read it, discuss it among themselves, and turn in a review of it.
  8. Due 4/16: Each group is to choose an article from one of the journals listed for assignment 3, read it, discuss it among themselves, and turn in a review of it.
  9. 4/18-4/30: Each student taking CS502 for more than 1 credit is to give a 10 minute talk on some problem or research area they are writing about for Assignment 10.
  10. Due 5/2: Each student taking CS502 for more than 1 credit is to hand in a paper describing some problem or research area within the area they are are interested in. The paper should be about five pages long, and cite at least three published papers or articles.

Other Resources:
Advice on writing abstracts and giving research talks.

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