CS 591 PhD Seminar, Fall 2024

 

Registration for this seminar is required for all Ph.D. students newly admitted into the Computer Science Department. Ph.D. students must earn a Satisfactory ("S") grade for the seminar or they will be required to re-take the seminar in the following Fall. Please note that a Satisfactory grade in this seminar is required before students are allowed to schedule the qualifying exam. If a Ph.D. student receives an Unsatisfactory ("U") in this seminar, they will be required to petition for an extension to sign up for their qualifying exam. Don't get a "U"!

M.S. students who are considering to apply to our Ph.D. program may also register for the seminar. However, if accepted into the Ph.D. program, they will need to re-take the seminar in their first year in the Ph.D. program. 

All assignments must be satisfactorily completed to receive an "S" grade.

Learning Goals

The goals of the seminar include teaching incoming Ph.D. students about:

Course Credit

1 credit

Time and location

Mondays, 11:00 - 11:50am, 1404 SC

Organizers

Robin Kravets (rhk@illinois.edu)
Nancy Amato (namato@illinois.edu)
Svetlana Lazebnik (slazebni@illinois.edu)
Viveka Kudaligama (kudaliga@illinois.edu)

Resources

Class announcements and discussions will be held via slack. You will be invited to the class slack space. Once you join, please make sure your name is set up correctly. Feel free to use nicknames if that is how you want to be addressed.

Attendance

Attendance is required and recorded electronically. Arriving more than 5 minutes late to the seminar will be counted as an unexcused absence. Students who receive more than one unexcused absence will receive an Unsatisfactory ("U") grade and will need to re-take the seminar.

Students are allowed one excused absence. Excused absences include University-related travel (e.g. to attend an academic conference) and personal illness. Job interviews do not qualify as an excused absence so please schedule them around class time. To seek an excused absence, please email rhk@illinois.edu (and copy kudaliga@illinois.edu) before the start of class or as soon as possible. Students with extenuating circumstances should contact kudaliga@illinois.edu and jcom@illinois.edu as soon as possible.

Participation

You must participate in class discussion. We want discussions to be casual and enjoyable so that each of you feel comfortable offering comments and speaking candidly. We will do our best to moderate the discussion and keep it moving forward. We expect you to be attentive during lecture.

Quizzes and Other Requirements

There will be 2 required surveys and 3 required quizzes based on the content in the seminar. Students are also required to introduce themselves on the class slack channel.

Program of Study

Sumbission of the the Program of Study form is required for satisfactory completion of this seminar. 

Responsible conduct in Research

As researchers in the Department of Computer Science, you are expected to follow responsible research conduct guidelines. The department offers a specialized seminar for all graduate students in the fall (date TBA). While the information provided in the lecture on Responsible conduct in Research in this seminar touches on many of these topics, you are atill required to attend the Department RCR Ethics Training.

Attention

You are not allowed to use extra computing devices during class for any purpose. Please focus on our seminar. A first violation of this policy will result in a warning. A second violation of this policy will result in an Unsatisfactory ('U") grade for the seminar.

Disability Accommodations

To obtain disability-related academic adjustments or auxillary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-1970, or send an e-mail message to disability@illinois.edu. They are glad to assist and so are we.

Online Resources

My.cs.illinois.edu portal: course rosters, assistantships, progress evaluations

Graduate College: fellowships, assistantships, professional development, diversity

Graduate College Handbook: rights and responsibilities as a graduate student

Grainger College Graduate Program

University Student Code

 

Schedule

 

Date

Session

Speaker

Assignment

Aug 26

Introduction: Earning a PhD

Robin Kravets (DGS) / Svetlana Lazebnik

(ADGS) / Viveka Kudaligama/

Jen Comstock (Grad Advisor)/

Nancy Amato (Dept. Head)

 

Sep 2

LABOR DAY - No Class Meeting

No Class Meeting

Complete Slack introduction by Sep 9, 11:59 PM CT

Sept 9

PhD requirements, milestones, and strategies (includes Program of Program of Study forms and strategies for engaging with your faculty committee)

Robin Kravets/ Viveka Kudaligama

Complete survey by Sep 9, 11:59 PM CT

Sept 16

Area Talks:

Artificial Intelligence

AI: 

 

Sept 23

Area Talks:

Architecture, Compilers, and Parallel Computing

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Architecture (1404 SC): 
BCB (2405 SC): 

Quiz 1 due Sep 22, 11:59 PM CT

Sep 30

Area Talks:

Computers and Education

Data and Information Systems

C&E (2405 SC): Colleen Lewis
DAIS (1404 SC): 

 

Oct 7

Area Talks:

Interactive Computing

Programming Languages, Formal Methods, and Software Engineering

IC (1404 SC): 
PL-FM-SE (2405 SC):

 

Oct 14

Area Talks:
Scientific Computing
Security and Privacy

Sci. Comp (2405 SC): 
S&P (1404 SC): 

 

Oct 21

Area Talks:
Systems and Networking
Theory and Algorithms

Sys-Net (1404 SC):
T&A (2405 SC): Chandra Chekuri

Program of Study Area due (by end of day)

Oct 28

Responsible conduct in Research

Responsible conduct when working with people and their data

  Attend RCR Ethics Training (info coming)

Nov 4

Learning to speak your ideas


Robin Kravets

 

Nov 11

Doing Research!

Robin Kravets

 

Nov 18

Taking care of yourself

 

 

Nov 25

Fall Break - NO CLASS

None

None

Dec 2

Fellowships in the CS Department

Fellowships in the College

 

 

Dec 9

Career paths and wrap-up

Robin Kravets

Complete a one question survey about career paths by December 9 @ 11:59 PM.