CS 390: Computer Science Seminar

Time: Wednesdays 4:30-6:20 PM 
Place: MEC 205
Instructor: David Luebke (Olsson #219)
Office hours: by appointment
Assignments: A small number of assignments, including at least one written and one discussion-oriented:
  • Preproposal - Meet with a faculty member; write up a one-page description of a possible topic
  • 4th-year discussion - Meet with a 4th year current doing their thesis, discuss advice and lessons learned.

Both these are due at the final class meeting, 21 April 2004.  We may also have another assignment or two; these will be posted here when they are assigned.
Format: One meeting per week, mostly lecture, sometimes discussion.  We will sometimes meet for only 60-70 minutes despite the allotted time of 110 minutes, but you should not count on that without checking with me first.
Description: The primary goals of this seminar are to expose you to state-of-the-art research in computer science, and to get you actively thinking about your senior thesis research well before you actually start TCC 401.  A number of researchers from the computer science faculty and the broader University community will give talks about their research.  You are expected to participate in these talks by studying the speaker's web page ahead of time, attending the lectures on time, and asking intelligent questions. We will also discuss topics of ethics, professionalism, life-long learning, and so on.
Course
Objectives:		 At the end of the semester students will:
  • Have been exposed to a wide range of state-of-the-art research topics in computer science and related disciplines.
  • Have begun preparing to undertake an in-depth research project in computer science or a related field.
  • Have been exposed to issues and questions in ethics and professionalism in computer science.
Lectures: A tentative schedule of guest lecturers and topics follows.  I will also try to post any electronic notes or presentation source.
Number Date Topic
1 1/14 Introduction, administration
     
2 1/21 Dave Brogan, Graduate school: what, why, and how
     
3 1/28 Alf Weaver, Federated, Secure Trust Networks for Distributed Healthcare IT Services
     
3 2/4 Charlie Grisham (Chemistry), Lab3D: A 3D virtual laboratory in Java
     
4 2/11 Jack Stankovic, Wireless sensor networks
 
5 2/18 Dave Luebke, Scanning Monticello and other cool graphics stuff
   
6 2/25 John Knight, Software Engineering for Dependable Systems
     
7 3/3 Anita Jones, Grand Challenges in Information Assurance
     
8 3/17 Ed Russell (TCC), TCC 401/402: Mechanics and purpose of the undergraduate thesis
     
9 3/24 [Class postponed to 5 PM to avoid conflict with CS 340 lab]
    5:00 PM: Kevin Skadron, Hot Chips: Designing computers to autonomously manage their own operating temperature
10 3/31 Tom Horton, TBD
    5:30 PM: Greg Humphreys, Chromium
11 4/7 [Class postponed to 5 PM to avoid conflict with CS 340 lab]
  5:00 PM: Chip Levy, Computational neuroscience
12 4/14 Dave Evans, 1001 things every self-respecting CS major should know
    5:45 PM: TBD
13 4/21 4th-year discussion
 
Grading: You will be graded on your assignments, attendance, and participation, roughly according to the following ratio:
  • Assignments: 50%
  • Attendance/Participation: 50%
Participation means coming to class, asking questions, taking part in discussions, not falling asleep, and so on.

Attendance is important; if you miss the lectures you will miss the entire point of the course.  There is precious little else that you are graded on.  Therefore I will check attendance every class meeting.  You are allowed three missed classes before your grade goes down.  Showing up late counts as a missed class (wandering in late is very impolite, especially when we have guest speakers).  Attendance is the best way to turn an easy A into a C or worse, so don't miss class. 

Honor Code: The honor code applies to all work turned in for this course, such as the preproposal.  Do your own work, don't copy from another student, don't rewrite or blindly paraphrase a researcher's web page.