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