The Department of Computer Science at Columbia University

The Department of Computer Science at Columbia University Henning Schulzrinne, Chair Dept. of Computer Science Columbia University 2008 CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Anatomy of a research group n Typically, each faculty heads a research group consisting of n n 1 faculty sometimes 1 -2 postdocs research visitors (industry, sabbatical) 1 to 10 Ph. D and MS graduate research assistants n n a number of undergraduate and MS project students n n typical: 5 COMS 3998, 4901, 6901 sometimes an administrative assistant (AA) CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Participating in research n n n Take 4000 or 6000 -level classes MS: take 4901 or 6901 project course with faculty MS: do 9 -credit thesis 4995 and 6998 are “topics” courses often offered only once, on research topic of local faculty or adjunct from local research labs (IBM, Bell Labs, …) Attend departmental talks n n typically, Mo or We, 11— 12. 30 faculty talks (research summaries), invited distinguished speakers and faculty candidates (spring) Attend research group talks in vision/robotics, networking, theory, … Participate in research group meetings n n often, students and visitors discussing current research sometimes pizza CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Upcoming grad student meetings & event n “Hello” meeting: September 15, 11 am n n Introductions Grad student town-hall meting: TBA CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Social life in CUCS n n n Departmental BBQ in fall and spring Grad student outings Family picnic September 27, 2008 Coffee hour on Thursdays at 4 pm in CS lounge Activities organized by ACM, WICS, Department and graduate school n roughly once a month CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Volunteering or How to Become a Czar(ina) n n Department needs your help to make it a nice place to study and work Ph. D volunteer positions include n n n photo czar help with departmental BBQ grad student representative ACM and WICS Contact Ph. D representatives: n n Arezu Moghadam Bert Huang CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Student groups n Women in Computer Science (WICS) n n http: //www. cs. columbia. edu/wics/ ACM n http: //www. cs. columbia. edu/acm/ CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Faculty to know n Prof. Gail Kaiser n n Prof. Mihalis Yannakakis n n Ph. D program director (phdczar@cs) MS program director (mihalis@cs) Prof. Tal Malkin n TA issues (tal@cs) CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Important people to know: staff n Alice Cueba n n graduate program and records Elias Tesfaye n n n department administrator Cindy Walters n facilities (space, repairs) keys, purchase orders, travel reimbursements Daisy Nguyen n Patricia Hervey n n receptionist: mail, fax, packages Lily Bao Secora, Remi Moss, Twinkle Edwards n n GRA appointments CS grad orientation - Fall 2008 CRF (Computing Research Facility): heads systems support (sys admin) group swipe card issues

MICE (Managing Information in Computer Scienc. E) n n https: //www. cs. columbia. edu/mice Services: n n n Find people and their contact information, office hours Select MS advisor Track your MS and Ph. D progress: courses, publications, exams, community service n n n Ph. D Black Friday Get notified of packages and faxes Jobs (posting and listings) Equipment tracking for research groups You will get password once you obtain a CS account n n but different password! if you forget password, MICE will send you a new one CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

MICE CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Getting into the building n n Need to get swipe card access enabled to get access to CEPSR and CS building Usually, no need to apply Special cases: apply in MICE (under “Access”) Some labs have keys contact your advisor for details CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Ph. D student resources n n n http: //www. cs. columbia. edu/~phdczar Program details Hints on writing and other “how to succeed in graduate school” items CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Projects (MS) n Can do research projects with most faculty n n n n CS 4901, 6901 Usually, unpaid (but there are exceptions) Good way to get to know a research area and faculty ( recommendation letters…) One (typically) or two semesters in length May lead to publication or CS technical report 1 -6 credits, with 3 typical Should be equivalent to one or two courses in effort, e. g. , 9 hours/week for 3 -credit project CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Registration Hints n n MS/Ph. D students should register for 15 points exactly. Up to 6 points, in very rare cases up to 9 points, should be in regular courses (4000 or 6000 level only), with the rest in E 9911 Graduate Research II (ignore E 9910 Graduate Research I). Ph. D students (post-MS) should register for one RU. No points are necessary, unless taking regular courses (4000 or 6000 level). Again, usually at most 6 and rarely up to 9 points in regular courses. MS GRAs must consult with their faculty advisors before registering, for 12 -15 points, in most cases restricted to max 6 points in regular courses and the rest in some combination of 6900/6901/6902 (or up to all 6 points may be taken in E 9910) Get faculty advisor approval for all regular course registrations! n Ph. D students without advisors should contact Prof. Kender (phdczar@cs. columbia. edu) CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

CRF (Computing Research Facilities) http: //www. cs. columbia. edu/~crf/ n n Director: Daisy Nguyen System administrators n n n Paul Blaer Tom Lippincott Quy O Hi Tae Shin Dan Benamy CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

CRF supports n n n Desktops: Windows Linux dual boot Windows + Linux Solaris on Sun workstations we do not support Macs Servers: n file servers (NFS, Samba) n mail (IMAP, POP, Unix mail) n DNS n web n print services n Sun and Linux research servers n Windows Domain Controller n SMS Mail readers: n pine, mh, Netscape, Mail, mulberry, etc. Software: n Matlab, Mathematica, Splus, CVS, Acrobat Reader, Distiller, ghostview, Winzip, MS Office, Virus checker, ssh, X environment, Emacs, etc. CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

CRF systems mail server web NIS Linux compute server diamond Research Machines flame dynasty cluster-pc Domain Controller Solaris cluster disco DNS play RAID file servers CS grad orientation - Fall 2008 SMS

CUCS Computer Labs and Facilities n Compute servers for remote login (ssh): n n cluster (Solaris) cluster-pc (Linux) No VPN needed – just use ssh Two laboratories for classes and projects: n CLIC (CSB 486) n n MRL (across from receptionist) n n 30 Linux workstations 30 Windows XP workstations Teaching laboratory for networks n n INTEREST lab routers, nodes, Ethernet switches CS grad orientation - Fall 2008

Contacting CRF n Send request (“ticket”) to crf@cs. columbia. edu Check status of tickets on CRF web page: n Normal ticket: daily requests n http: //www. cs. columbia. edu/~crf n n Urgent ticket: requests that need attention ASAP n n n install new software or machine non-critical software or hardware problems send ticket, will get response and updates your machine is down send ticket, then call CRF Emergency ticket: n n mail down power lost entire computing system down call us immediately anytime CS grad orientation - Fall 2008