1. Overview of Graduate Program at CS SFSU September 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.htmlhttp://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/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 Breadth requirements One from each area: Computing Foundations; Computer Systems; SW Development CLS Conc. SE Conc. GEN Conc. Electives Upper division OR any graduate OR 897/9 OR one course from other SFSU Departments Culminating Experience 897/9 followed by 895/8 9 9 6 6 (3 courses) (3 out of 5 courses) 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.htmlhttp://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.htmlhttp://www.cs.sfsu.edu/forms/aboutculminatingproject.html –http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/new_grad_culminating_req.htmlhttp://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/new_grad_culminating_req.html –http://www.cs.sfsu.edu/grad/Master-Thesis_Steps.htmlhttp://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.htmlhttp://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 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.htmlhttp://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/aboutculminating project.htmlhttp://www.cs.sfsu.edu/forms/aboutculminating project.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.htmlhttp://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.htmhttp://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.htmlhttp://www.cs.sfsu.edu/plagarism.html Get involved with ACM –http://acm.sfsu.edu/joomla/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.htmhttp://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 745 810 835 840 842 845 857 868 867 875 870 Comp. Geometry, with Math ? 869 NEW Data Mining