Fall 2001 CS 5014 Schedule: Looking Back

Monday, August 27.
Introduction to the course and to each other.

Wednesday, August 29.
What is Computer Science? Why do you love it? Why are you pursuing research in CS? An overview of research in the Computer Science Department at Virginia Tech. Read the introduction to the most recent Strategic Plan for Computer Science at Virginia Tech (available in pdf). You may also want to read Peter Denning's article ``Computer Science: The Discipline,'' available here.

Monday, September 3. Meeting in McBryde 655.
Dr. Shaffer will join us and give a presentation on being a (research oriented) computer science graduate student at Virginia Tech. In preparation, familiarize yourself with the department's degree requirements. And scan through one or both of these collections of advice on being a graduate student: Come to class with at least one piece of advice gleaned from these articles --- advice that struck you as particularly useful or interesting in some way.

Wednesday, September 5.
We will discuss The CS `Literature': What and How? We will also go over some of the homework that you will have an opportunity to do this semester.

Monday, September 10.
We will continue our discussion of how to approach the CS literature, focusing particularly on how to keep an annotated bibliography and how to write a literature survey. We will also give more details, as needed, regarding homework due later in the semester. In preparation for class, read three of the articles (plus the introduction by Rosenbloom) on physically based computer animation in the July 2000 edition of Communications of the ACM. Be prepared to contribute to an annotated bibliography of these references that we will construct together in class. (One way to access CACM is through the ACM Digital Library.)

Wednesday, September 12. Meeting in the main lobby of the library.
We will meet with Michelle Young of the Virginia Tech Library. Michelle will introduce us to some of the special resources the library offers to assist graduate students in their research. Please meet in the main lobby of the library at 2:30. We will eventually end up in the Torgersen PC Classroom (3310 Torgersen).

Monday, September 17.
Introduction to experimental design material (Jain).

Wednesday, September 19.
We will spend part of the hour on Jain material, and part of the hour meeting with Dr. Manuel Pérez-Quiñones. Dr. Pérez will give us his perspective on CS research.

Monday, September 24.
Continuation of experimental design material (Jain).

Wednesday, September 26.
Meeting in McBryde 655. Our guests will be Professors Osman Balci and Sallie Henry.

Monday, October 1.
Continuing with material from Jain.

Wednesday, October 3.
Continuing with material from Jain.

Monday, October 8.
Continuing with material from Jain.

Wednesday, October 10.
Meeting in McBryde 655. Our guests will be Professors Chris North and Scott McCrickard. Besides giving us their unique perspective on CS research, Dr. McCrickard will focus particularly on issues arising when research involves human subjects.

Monday, October 15.
Continuing with material from Jain.

Wednesday, October 17.
Meeting in McBryde 655. Guest appearances by Dr. Jack Carroll and Dr. Doug Bowman.

Monday, October 22.
We will begin our discussion of material from Higham. What are the marks of good and bad writing?

Wednesday, October 24.
We will continue our discussion of Higham, focusing particularly on the marks of good mathematical/technical writing. Dr. Lenny Heath will join us for part of the class meeting, to discuss his views on CS research.

Monday, October 29.
Continuing discussion of material from Higham, focusing on spelling (!) and a bit on English grammar and usage.

Wednesday, October 31.
Continuing with our discussion of Higham, focusing on some particularly troublesome rules of English grammar and usage.

Monday, November 5.
Continuing with our discussion of Higham, focusing on composition techniques and how to write a good paper.

Wednesday, November 7.
Class was canceled.

CS 5014, C. J. Ribbens, last updated 11/12/2001