1. Overview of Graduate Program at CS SFSU Spring 2010
Prof. D. Petkovic

2. Welcome graduate students!
MS degree becoming a key for advancement
Ability to work with geographically dispersed teams and multidisciplinary teams is increasingly important
Combination of general CS skills, domain depth and “soft” skills is critical.
Business skills are a also a plus!
Welcome international students

3. Outline SW trends driving markets, jobs and education Why MS degree
About CS Department
About the graduate program and new initiatives
About the research, theses and culminating experiences
International student specifics QA
For specific questions see advisors Profs. Levine, Murphy or ask in the CS Office

4. CS Department mission
Goals: to be the best in CSU and world famous in selected areas of Computer Science
Prepare students for careers in industry
Prepare students for further graduate study
CS WWW site
We offer BS and MS in CS
About 400 undergrads, about 100 grads
Most students have MS as terminal degree, and there are some going for Ph.D.

5. MS CS Learning Objectives – in addition to basic ones for BS CS Degree
Students will demonstrate in-depth knowledge in one of the offered concentration areas
Students will demonstrate a breadth of knowledge in computer science, as exemplified in the areas of systems, theory and software development
Students will demonstrate ability to conduct a research or applied Computer Science project, requiring writing and presentation skills which exemplify scholarly style in computer science

6. Important WWW links and info
CS WWW site
Here you will find all the info about the program and polices
Page for new grads
Read office and newsletters

7. 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
Increased emphasis on building SW from components and services developed globally
Everything is getting connected with WWW and wireless
Critical need for making systems easy to use, on time and budget, and with adequate performance, with geographically dispersed teams
Open source software community is another example of global collaborative approach to SW development.
New areas: games, sensor networks, biotech, personal devices, medical informatics…

8. Jobs Jobs are plenty CS careers are great BUT
BUT
New skills are needed

9. Computing and Life Sciences
Biotechnology, bioinformatics and related applications are considered next frontiers for computer science, both technically and in terms of business opportunities
Bay Area is one of the world centers of bioinformatics and bio technology
SFSU has outstanding programs related to biology and chemistry/biochemistry and skills and interests from Math
Every major university is having or will have programs in this area
Increased focus by funding agencies, government, politicians and university executives
Strong interest among students and faculty
SFSU Center for Computing for Life Sciences

10. Key “tracks” or MS Concentrations at CS SFSU
General
SW Engineering
Computing for Life Sciences
Computing and Business (New, started Fall 08)

11. Graduate program description
General, SW. Eng and Computing for Life Sciences Concentrations
Breadth 9 units
Concentration core 9 units
Electives 6 units
Practicum option 3 units
Culminating Experience 6 units
Total units

12. NEW MS Concentration in Computing and Business – with SFSU BUS school – started Fall 08
3 core CS courses
3 required CS courses as designated in the General Concentration
1 CS elective course
1 Business elective course, approved by advisor. These are drawn from 700- or 800-level courses in Business, Management, Finance, Decision Sciences, or Marketing (3 units)
3 required business courses (8 units)
BUS 780- Accounting
BUS 788 Mng. Principles
BUS 784 Political, Social and legal Environment OR BUS 787 Marketing
Equivalent of 2 courses for thesis/project; the thesis/project must have a business component. The student’s culminating experience committee will be composed of 2 CS faculty and one Business faculty.
Total units

13. Benefits of new MS Concentration in Computing and Business
Graduates with this concentration will have the skills to
Perform R&D in the computing field
Possess the skills and knowledge to manage software development teams or start their companies
Assume management responsibilities in organizations that require managers who understand both the computing and business aspects of information technology.
Assist with high-tech entrepreneurship ventures - assist in understanding and relating the technical feasibility of new ideas
Speak to both high-tech groups, and communicate technical ideas and concepts to non-technical groups in the business organization
Contribute to organizations that provide strategy consulting services to high technology companies (staff at these companies needs to have strong backgrounds in both technology and business)

14. Planning for BUS classes
BUS classes get full
Talk to our advisor Prof. Levine who will talk to BUS graduate advisor before you plan to take the cla1sees
Try summer classes too

15. Center for Computing for Life Sciences (CCLS)
CCLS is an official multidisciplinary SFSU Center for addressing problems in broad area of Computing for Life Sciences such as: bioinformatics, imaging, collaborative tools, UI, visualization, databases, computational biology and chemistry, applications in drug discovery, collaborative tools, algorithms etc.
Goal is to develop CCLS into signature “marquee” program of SFSU
CCLS is joint collaboration between Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Math, Physics and Astronomy

16. CLS projects Bioinformatics DB for large bio data sets
UI for biology and medicine
Biomedical imaging
Data Mining for bio data
WWW for biologist and doctors
Games for medical education
Medical informatics
…..
Many projects have funding. Can get space in CCLS
Professors: Sing, Okada, Young, Murphy, Petkovic

17. Serious Games for Nursing Education
NEW CCLS project between CS department, School of Nursing and Industry and design
Combines CS, graphics, game concepts
Faculty contact Prof. I. Yoon, M. Wong (CCLS)
Money for research work and culminating experience projects available

18. Cluster and Cloud Computing
New 40 node DELL Cluster operational in CCLS
For projects in computational biology and life sciences
For education (distributed and parallel computing, data mining…)
Starting to experiment with Amazon Cloud

19. Graduate seminar
Brings outstanding speakers from academia an industry. Every Wednesdays 5:30 in TH 331. Exposes students to great topics and great speakers, helps give ideas for projects and jobs
Each graduate student must collect 10 stickers (attendances) over several semesters
First two seminars by Prof. D. Petkovic: about graduate program and about department research
CS faculty will overview their projects – excellent place to get ideas for culminating experience Starts mid September – check CS WWW page

20. Thesis and Culminating project
Mandatory
Why Culminating Project?
Forces students to do independent work and complete a substantial project or scientific work
Requires writing and presentation skills also
Sets you apart from those who have not done it
Enables you to publish papers and go to conferences
Enables CS Department to do research and attract top notch faculty –important for you too
Makes our school much more fun

21. Advising - NEW Must see advisor upon start of the program
Must attend first Graduate Seminar during the first term (CS Chair will overview grad program) – Wednesdays 5:30 in TH 331
Should attend Chair’s welcome group meeting at the beginning of each semester
Get timely advising as often as you need
Those planning for Ph. D. program see CS Chair in the first semester
Advising page

22. How to complete Culminating Experience and have fun doing it

23. Outline What is culminating experience Why is it good for you
Formal requirements and paperwork
How to find the project and advisor
What is good research/project for culminating experience
How to do it?
How to write the Culminating Experience Report
How to prepare oral presentation
Overview of research in CS Department and CCLS

24. Culminating Experience
Key resource is (description, deadline, forms, process…)
Thesis (CSC 898) vs. Project (CSC 895)
One or two semesters prep (897 or 899) and one semester thesis or project write-up and completion (898 or 895)
Those going for Ph. D. talk to CS Chair asap. Advised to take two semester prep and more advanced culminating experience, with external publications

25. Why is Culminating Experience good for you
It is Mandatory
Why?
Forces students to do independent work and complete a substantial project or scientific work
Requires writing and presentation skills also
Sets you apart from those who have not done it
Enables you to publish papers and go to conferences
Prepares you for jobs and Ph.D. studies
Enables CS Department to do research and attract top notch faculty –important for you too
Makes our school much more fun

26. Formal requirements and paperwork
MUST read
Please follow the process and observe the schedules
Follow the suggested course of study:

27. Some key points
Usually one semester of supervised study (can be two) followed by a semester to wrap up the work and write a report.
Students drive the pace, but sometimes faculty has external obligations which depend on the student work  students must adhere to agreed upon milestones
Project report MUST be developed at the end of semester preceding final semester
Application for final graduation (895 or 898) MUST be done in a preceding semester (November for Spring semester, April for Fall semester)

28. How to find advisor and project
Check CS WWW site for faculty pages and their work
Check CS accomplishments and published papers to get an idea what work is going on and who is doing it, then talk to them
Attend Graduate Seminar Series and other seminars at SFSU
Check CCLS page for current projects
Do your own research for topics (WWW, friends, technical press)
Take the course form the professors teaching your favorite topics favorite professor
Ask professors, meet with the Chair
Check previous theses and projects

29. How to find an advisor
Faculty will participate in Graduate Seminars series and present their work
Prof. Petkovic will meet once a semester with all grads who do not have an advisor and should have it (second semester or later).
Main responsibility is on the student
If nothing works see the Chair
Let CS Chair know if you want to go for Ph. D.

30. What is good research for culminating experience
Novel algorithm solving something useful
New user interface or visualization
New application (use of complex machine vision, AI, visualization, search…)
Substantial SW project (complex WWW site, useful application etc.)
Data management and analysis system for some application (e.g. drug development)
Performance study (networking, search, storage, cluster computing)
Computing for life sciences: intersection of CS and biology and chemistry
……………..
In all cases one has to prove the usefulness: theoretically, experimentally, user studies etc. – whichever applies
Culminating experience examples:

31. How to do the research Requires independence, focus and follow up
Understanding of the problem
Literature review (what did others do)
Design, analysis, prototyping
Experiments
Implementation
Writing
It requires much more independence then class work
It is student responsibility to follow up, not the instructor!

32. Project Proposal
Submitted as part of your culminating experience package  Needed for enrolling into 895
It is a “contract” between you and advisor on what you want to do, scope, methods, tools used etc. Has to be approved by the advisor.
Suggested Content: Motivation, planned approach, benefits of the approach, method/tools to be used, reverences PLUS milestones and schedule (the best you can) – for exact outline check with your advisor
About 5-8 pages

33. How to write culminating experience report
There is some structure
Usual length about pages (no code)
Code on a CD
Requires time
Expect multiple iterations with the instructor
It becomes your “portfolio” for the rest of your life
Make every attempt possible to write a scientific paper form this (must for those going to Ph. D).

34. How to prepare oral presentation
Being able to present well is critical for your career
Culminating experience presentation: plan to talk 30 min. Count 1 slide = 2 min.
Test the presentation on the very same laptop you will use
Get feedback from advisor
Do early motivation and demo, then details
Talk to the audience, not the screen
Practice for time and delivery
Resources:

35. Overview of research and CS Department and CCLS
CS Department: check papers, faculty pages
CCLS: Check projects

36. Some project ideas/people
DB/UI/Applications in biology and bioinformatics and CLS area: Profs. Singh, Yoon, Okada, Yang, Petkovic
DB Tools, Multimedia databases: Profs. Murphy, Singh, Petkovic
Bioinformatics: Prof. Singh
Visualization/Graphics: Profs. Yoon, Okada
WWW Applications, Community applications: Prof. Levine
Performance: Prof. Dujmovic
WWW info retrieval, WWW 2.0: Profs. Singh, Wong
Algorithms, compilers, WWW search: Profs. Wong, Dujmovic
Distributed Systems, Open Source: Prof. Puder
Multimedia, sound, music: Profs. Hsu, Singh
Games: Profs. Yoon, Okada
AI, Computer Vision: Prof. Okada, J. Dujmovic
Data Mining: Prof. Yang
Decision Systems: J. Dujmovic
SW Engineering, Business aspects of SW Eng., SW Metrics: Profs. Petkovic, Levine, Dujmovic

37. International students

38. Welcome International students!
Learn about USA: customs, culture, geography
Bay Area is one of the bets areas in USA: geographically, culturally, for education and technology
Get internships with local industry
Visit places, talk to people from different cultures
Learn English (reading, writing)
Have fun!

39. Important rule for international students!
Keep GPA and class load above the minimum - Overall GPA 3.0, class load 9 units
New “practicum” option for summer internships: Max 3 one unit 893 can be taken that do not count toward electives and allow you permit to work outside of SFSU. Mostly for Summer work. Total units in MS program are then are 33. Need to be at SFSU two semesters prior to this.
Internships during the Fall and Spring only rarely approved, must be part time, GPA > 3.4 and OK of the advisor
Post completion training allowed only when thesis is more than 90% complete, need confirmation by the advisor AND letter signed by student about the rules (NEW).

40. Update on Written English proficiency - Level I Requirement:
Computer science students admitted to the M.S. program are required to satisfy English Level One prior to the end of their first year of study at SFSU. As a departmental policy, no waivers are given. Level One is satisfied by obtaining either a) a score of 4 or better on the GRE Analytical Writing Exam or b) a score of PASS on the Graduate Essay Test (GET, administered by the SFSU Testing Center) or c) a passing grade in SCI 614 or CHS 514 (international graduate students are strongly encouraged to enroll in Eng 670, if it is offered). Students may enroll in CHS 514 if all sections of SCI 614 are full. SCI 614 is strongly recommended for all students who wish to develop their skills in professional writing. Students are allowed to take the GET only once, preferably prior to their first semester of enrollment.

41. Background

42. Important stuff Visit WWW site and read e-mail
Program description
Graduate page
New grads page
Importance of early advising. New students MUST see advisor
Recommended sequence of study, selection of concentration – second semester; finding the advisor
Graduate seminar series requirement
Internships – new polices on 893 (practicum) – important for international students

43. More…
All steps in preparing culminating project forms
Culminating experience
How to write culminating project report
Cheating and plagiarism
International program – Fulda, Germany