Introduction

Syllabus / Course Material

Student Introductions

• who are you
• what stage
• how many have advisors
• what are your research interests
• what have you done before/so far
• what are your career goals

What is PhD about

• more course work?
• gaining broader knowledge in CS?
• developing more sophisticated systems?
• advancing knowledge in CS?

PhD is about doing research!

• why take courses?
• why take exams?

Research as a Career

• Many PhDs eventually become academics (fully or partly)
• But, research will continue whether in academia or not
• much research goes on in the industry, particularly in CS

What about teaching?

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The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

By Matt Might

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What is Scientific Research

"What is Research" slides

How does CS compare to physical, math, and social sciences

• Definitions of CS?!
• Is Computer Science, Science, by Peter Denning

How is Research in CS different

• algorithms
• theory
• systems and architectures
• user studies

A simple definition of science:

• "A method for systematically accumulating reliable knowledge"
   
• What this means: rationality and skepticism are how we learn about the universe and shape new principles. If the arguments and experiments are sound, if the theory can withstand skeptical scrutiny, if the work was undertaken within the framework of past research and provides a basis for further discovery, then it is science.

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What research is about - Practical advice

Unstructured Environment

• especially in PhD
• need to develop a routine
• make research a priority
• regular meetings with your advisor
• set up research group
• role of course work
• keep a journal - get in habit of writing down ideas

Research is about Reading

• Foundation of good research: find and critically read related work
   
• Locate important research tools in your area
  + journals and conferences
  + workshops
  + good research sites and groups
  + other faculty web sites
   
• Develop your own Web repository - why?
  => http://www.galeas.de/webmining.html
   
• How to read papers
  + first look at abstract, keywords, references
  + next: for some papers look at intro. and conclusions
  + next: for some, read in detail and write notes
   
• What to consider when reading papers (write these down for every paper you read)
  + what is the main problem being tackled?
  + how precise are the claims?
  + what is the hypothesis?
  + what is the main result (try writing a paragraph in your own works)
  + how does it relate to previous work
  + what are the most important references
  + what is the evidence and how was it gathered?
  + how are measurements taken?
  + how carefully are the algorithms and experiments described?
  + what would the reproduction of the results involve?
  + why is the paper trustworthy?
  + ideas for future work?
  => record these as well as the summary and bib. info.
   
• Note: using LaTeX and BibTeX
   
• Look at checklist on pp. 9-10 of LO.

Research is about writing

• writing is the most fundamental part of research
• writing not just an end, but also a tool
• writing <=> logical reasoning
• take a writing course
• when reading papers, mark those that are especially well-written
• back to the idea of keeping a journal
• consider writing a survey paper
• write one or more research proposals
• Note: programming or math are not writing; programming is also not research

Relationship between students and advisors

• What does the student get
• What does the advisor get
• what are the expectations and responsibilities
• PhD advisor =/= academic advisor
• "How to be a good graduate student"
  + Summary of doing Research

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Assignments:

• Read the article by Gray and Drew: "What They Don’t Teach You in Graduate School" and the article: "How to be a good graduate student". Then write some questions about what you read in the articles and your own questions about PhD, Research, CDM, etc that you want (we will discuss these questions in class next week).
• Read the article: Is Computer Science, Science, by Peter Denning. Write down the main points of the article and at least two questions or counter points. Be prepared to discuss this in class next week.
• Before next week, come up with ranking of 2 topics you want to lead for Weeks 4 through 8..
• Article(s) are posted for doing a review along with review form/guide.
• Read the material under Resources for Week 2 and read the text chapters.