1 Computer Science Graduate Program Processes & Procedures

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Computer Science

Graduate Program Processes &Procedures

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Slide Access• This presentation is available as a

powerpoint presentation• Go to the department web site and

follow the links to Dr. Watson’s website

• http://www.cs.usu.edu/~watson/cs6900

• The video is also available on this site

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What is CS6900?

• CS6900 is the department Seminar• Introduces students to the faculty in the

department, and their research interests• Gives guidance for choosing a

research topic (Plan A ,B, or C)• Familiarizes students with the rules and

requirements of the graduate program• The grade for Seminar is P (pass) or F

(fail)

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CS6900 Grading – On Campus Lecture

• You may miss no more than 3 lectures.– How do I miss a lecture?

• Not attend• Come to class after roll has been taken (No

you can’t sign in after roll is taken, you have missed!) (That’s ~5 minutes)

• What happens if I miss more than 3 lectures?– YOU FAIL

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CS6900 Grading – On Campus Lecture

• What if I have a really good reason for missing more than three lectures?–You Don’t!!–Do a (late) withdrawal, in which

case you will not have met placement requirements for that semester

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CS6900 Grading – On Campus Lecture

• Is there any other way I can fail CS6900–Sign in on the roll for other than

yourself. Also, in addition to failing CS6900, you will lose all opportunities for financial aid, and you may be terminated in the program.

Definition

• Tuition Waiver– This is an award from the department,

paid by the graduate school which covers the cost of the out of state portion of your tuition.

– It does NOT cover the cost of fees or the in-state portion of your tuition

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Definition

• Department employment– There are two ways to be funded

(employed) within the department.• Department funded employment means

employment in which funds for which the department has oversight are used. This includes such jobs a grader, tutor, and lab consultant.

• Non-department funded employment is employment paid out of a faculty member’s external grants

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MS PLANS – A, B, & C

• Plan A– 30 semester credits– Exactly 6 credits of which are thesis

(CS6970)• Plan B

– 34 credits– Exactly 3 credits of which are report

(CS6970)

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MS PLANS – A, B, & C

• Plan C– 37 semester credits– At least one two-course sequence

selected from the following

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MS PLANS – CApproved Two-course

Sequences• CS5200, CS6200 (CS6200 is taught every

other year)• CS5300, CS6300• CS5500, CS6500• CS5600 or CS6600, CS6610• CS5650, CS6650• CS5700, CS6700• Are other sequences accepted?

– Yes, sometimes – make a proposal

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MS Common Course Requirements

• For Plans A,B, and C, a student must:– Complete four >=6000 level computer

science classes • CS6900 (required) and CS6250 (Coop,

not required) do not count among these four

• These 6000-level classes must be CS– Complete CS6900 (seminar) – Meet ALL department GPA requirements– Meet placement requirements in first 12

months.

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MS Common Course Requirements

– Count no more than 15 semester credits of course work below 6000-level as part of program of study

– Form a graduate supervisory committee• Submit the form through Secretary (first

semester for tuition waiver if hired)– Submit and have approved a program of

study (second semester)• Does not have to include thesis/report

topic on program of study, but this must come

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MS Common Course Requirements

–Plan A or B: • Submit and successfully defend report or

thesis proposal – Must be done before registering for CS6970 or in same semester

• Successfully defend report or thesis• Have thesis approved by Department Reviewer ($18/hour) and by Graduate School

• Pay binding & graduation fees, and deliver or have delivered two copies of bound thesis or report to department

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MS Common Course Requirements

• CS 5950 or CS 6950 or CS7950 can be taken only with advisor's prior permission and only for 3 credits at a time. – CS6950 or CS7950 can count as one of the (4)

>= 6000-level courses– The maximum total number of credits allowed

for CS 5950 plus CS 6950 plus CS7950 is 3.

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MS Common Course Requirements

• CS 5950 or CS 6950 or CS7950 Form– Any student registered for one of these

classes must see the CS secretary and get a form filled out• Signed by supervisor• Signed by department head

– If the form is not signed, the student will be disenrolled by the second week

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GPA Requirements

•The department's GPA requirements for graduate students are more stringent than the Graduate School's

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GPA Requirements (MS)• Must have a GPA of 3.0 on the Program of

Study• After a semester in which your GPA

(semester or cumulative) for that semester is <3.0 you will be notified (warned)

• If your semester or cumulative GPA is <3.0 for two semesters (not necessarily consecutive) you will likely be dropped from the program

• Once dropped from the program, or the student voluntarily withdraws, a student cannot be readmitted to the program

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Grade Requirements • No classes with grades below C and

only two with grades below B- may be included on the program of study form.

• A single class (any level) may be repeated only once.

• In calculating GPA's, original grades for repeated classes will not be included.

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Added Department GPA Requirements

• Students must maintain a GPA >= 3.0 in each of the following categories:– all courses shown on their program of study – all courses taken as a matriculated

graduate student– all CS courses numbered 5000 or above

• If a student's GPA falls below 3.0 in one or more of the preceding categories for two semesters, that student will likely be terminated.

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Department GPA Requirements

• First year Criterion– A student whose GPA is below 3.0 at

the end of their second semester will likely be terminated, even if that <3.0 GPA is only the result of a single “bad” semester.

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GPA Misconceptions• In the Graduate School, the GPA

requirement is simply to have a 3.0 in the courses shown on their program of study. –NOT TRUE IN CS

• “My friend fell below 3.0 for 3 semesters and he/she was not terminated.”–They were lucky, you won’t be.

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Misconceptions

• “If I have GPA problems, I will be warned and given a chance to improve before I am terminated”

–Not necessarily true. Your “warning” may simply be a notification of termination

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Misconceptions• As long as my GPA is OK, I’m OK

– WRONG!!!

• In addition to meeting GPA requirements, it is expected that a student is making progress to the completion of their degree.

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Misconceptions• How can I not be making progress

if my GPA is ok?– More than 3 consecutive semesters of

continuing graduate appointment (CS6990) or simply non-registration means you are not making progress. Unless your major professor writes a letter of support for each semester after the third indicating specific progress made, you will be terminated

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Misconceptions• How can I not be making satisfactory

progress if my GPA is ok?– It is your second semester(MS) and you

have not formed your committee– It is your third semester and you have not

submitted your program of study– You have been at USU for 12 months (this

may count the summer you took off) and you have not met placement requirements. In this case, you will be terminated

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Definable Progress• An example of non-progress is the student that

goes for a year of CPT before completing their thesis/report, and during that year does not stay in touch with their adviser and does not make significant progress on their thesis or report. – When you return, you should be able to

present to your major professor a completed report

• Continually registering for CS6990 does NOT constitute definable progress.

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The “Cheap” ($15) CS6990• Some students believe that CS6990

always costs just $15/semester–You must pay full tuition when you

defend your thesis or report, i.e. must be registered for at least 3 credits the semester in which you defend

–Must pay full tuition if you use facilities or faculty during a semester.

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Algorithms & Data Structures Placement Requirement

• For your first semester, you must have gotten a B- or better in CS5050, or CS2420, or had the requirement waived because of an equivalent class taken at another school, or passed the GRE/CS exam at >= 50th percentile, or pass the placement test for algorithms and data

structures.

Placement Requirement

• All on campus MS/CS students must meet the algorithms placement requirement by the end of their first year or they will be terminated from the CS program. 

• In order to be eligible for department funded employment a student must meet this requirement by the end of their 1st semester.

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Placement Requirement

• Distance Ed Students should pass the algorithms placement requirement before they can submit a Program of Study

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Placement Requirement• A student meets the algorithms

placement requirement by – Passing CS 2420 or CS 5050 with a

grade of B- or better– Show completion of course work from an

ABET accredited computer science or computer engineering program equivalent to CS2420 with a grade of  B- or better

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Placement Requirement– Pass the algorithms placement exam on

the first try• To facilitate studying for the exam

the department has provided the study materials Go to

http://cs.usu.edu/htm/placement-requirements

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CS 5050 – Adv’d Algorithms• A student is allowed to take the

algorithms placement exam a maximum of two times.  – If they pass this test on the first try, they

can take CS 5050 if they desire, and it can be counted in their program of study. This meets the placement requirement.

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CS 5050 – Adv’d Algorithms– If they take the exam a second time before the

end of the first week of the semester, and pass, they must then take CS 5050 or CS 2420 and receive a grade of B- or better in order to meet the placement requirement.

– If they do not pass the on the second or do not complete the exam before the end of the first week of the semester, they must register for CS2420 and receive a grade of B- or better in order to meet the placement requirement.

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Off-Campus

• Off-campus students – since you are not a full time student –The GPA requirements hold–The times for committee

formation and program of study submission do not

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Problems – What should I do?• The decision on whether to terminate a

student not making satisfactory progress weighs heavily in terms of what progress they have made to date:– Have they completed Placement

Requirements?– Have they formed their committee?– Have they submitted their program of

study?

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Problems – What should I do?– Have they submitted their

thesis/report proposal– Is it a GPA problem due to a single

bad class or semester, or several classes or semesters?

– Have they violated the honor code of the department? (cheated)

– Are they working (RA/TA) for a faculty member who will “vouch” for them?

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Problems – What should I do?

• If you have any problem(s), don’t ignore them thinking they will not be noticed, or they will go away. –Talk to your adviser and establish

a plan to correct the problem(s) immediately.

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Time Limits• A Master’s degree student must complete

their degree within six years of matriculation

• Course work for a Master’s degree is good for eight years– Yes – that makes little sense, but that’s the rule

• Because of the first rule, you really only have six years to complete the MS

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Incompletes• After 12 months, an I grade will

change to whatever grade was given with the I; normally a F.–Only variance is for CS6970

• Once the grade change has occurred, i.e. 12 months have passed, departmental policy does not allow the grade to be made up, it is a permanent grade.

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CS6970 (MS)

• CS6970 is for thesis(6) or report(3) credits

• Thesis/report grades are given as an I until the student has successfully defended, at which time they become a P.– This means they cannot “help” your GPA.

• A letter of completion for the degree is not sent until the student has completed everything.

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CS6970 (MS)

• Completion of everything means the student has shown the CS secretary a copy of their receipt for their thesis, or report binding; and the receipt indicates that two copies have been designated for mailing to the department (one for the department and one for the major professor).

• At this time, the department will mail a letter of completion to the graduate school, and/or employers, etc. as requested

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Thesis (Plan A) vs Report (Plan B)

• Plan A–30 credits total–6 credits for

thesis–CS6900– thesis must

have component of originality

• Plan B–34 credits total–3 credits for report–CS6900– report need not be

an original idea, but it must be your work, and use current technologies

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Thesis (Plan A) vs Report (Plan B)

• Plan A• thesis reviewed by

department & Graduate school for form etc. need 4 copies (minimum) library, advisor, department, self– 1 hour public

defense– letter of completion

• Plan B– report reviewed by

adviser for form etc.(and possibly department)

– need 3 copies (minimum) advisor, department, self

– 1 hour public defense

– letter of completion

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English Proficiency• If a student's writing skills are not

adequate, it is the student’s responsibility and not the major professor’s responsibility to improve those skills.– It is the committee’s prerogative

to require that the candidate complete additional English class(es)

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Thesis/Report Questions

• Should my research topic and the interests of the faculty member be compatible? – Yes

• Do I have to come up with the topic?– that’s one way, or you can choose

one that your major professor has interest in.

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Graduate Committee

• The following, in terms of timing does not apply to off-campus students.

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Graduate Committee - MS• A student is required (to qualify for

a tuition waiver, and to be considered making satisfactory progress) to form their graduate committee before the start of their second semester (matriculated).

• In order to submit a graduate committee form, a student must be meeting all GPA and placement requirements at the time of submission of the form.

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Meeting GPA & Placement Requirements For Committee

Formation

• First Semester – Fall or Spring

• Have met the Algorithms & Data Structures placement requirement or are registered for CS2420 or CS5050

• Registered for CS6900– Summer

• No requirement, but be advised that you MUST meet the Algorithms & Data Structures requirement and complete CS6900 by the end of your second semester

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Meeting GPA & Placement Requirements for Committee

Formation• Second Semester (first semester was not

summer)– Total GPA >= 3.0– >= 5000-level GPA >= 3.0– Completed Alg & DS placement requirement– Completed CS6900

• Second Semester (first semester was summer)– Total GPA >= 3.0– >=5000-level GPA >= 3.0– Completed Alg & DS placement requirement or

registered for CS2420 or CS5050– Registered for CS6900

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Graduate Committee Membership - MS

• A graduate committee consists of three faculty members– major professor (must be Computer Science

or on-campus adjunct of Computer Science)– two other members, one of whom must

have a research area of interest outside that of the thesis/report

– One member can be outside the department• This person can’t be major professor• Could be an adjunct faculty member

whose placement on the committee is approved by the graduate school

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Areas of Interest

• Artificial Intelligence– Vicki Allan, HengDa Cheng, Donald Cooley,

Nick Flann, Vladimir Kulyukin, Xiaojun Qi, Minghui Jiang, Dan Bryce

• Parallelism– Steve Allan, Scott Cannon, Dan Watson

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Areas of Interest

• Software Systems– Steve Clyde, Minghui Jiang, Renee Bryce,

Curtis Dyreson• Bioinformatics

– Donald Cooley, Nick Flann, Minghui Yan

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Program of Study - MS• In order to qualify for a tuition waiver,

and be considered making satisfactory progress, a student must submit at least a preliminary program of study (everything except the approved thesis/report proposal) before the start of their third semester.

• In order to submit a program of study, a student must be meeting all department placement and GPA requirements.

Program of Study - MS

• The Graduate School requires that the POS be submitted at least 6 weeks before the defense

• The graduate committee cannot be changed any less than 6 weeks before the defense.

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Thesis or Report Proposal - MS

• In order to qualify for a tuition waiver and be considered making satisfactory progress, a student must submit an approved thesis or report proposal by the end of their fourth semester.

• If the proposal is sufficiently well written, the committee has the option to approve it without a formal presentation.

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Graduate Committee• The thesis/report proposal must

outline:• Thesis/report topic• strategy for carrying out and verifying your research/work

• results of an initial literature search with a bibliography ( the more thorough, the better)

• for a thesis, state what the component of originality will be (a must)

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Graduate Committee

• If the committee approves your proposal, it will be noted on your program of study, and the program of study will be sent to the graduate school. I the POS is already on file, only the title of the report/thesis will be sent

• The department will also place in your file a copy of your proposal. To some extent, this is a contract.

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CS6970 Registration• You cannot register for CS6970 unless:

– you are a matriculated CS graduate student– placement exam requirements are

complete– You have passed CS6900– Your graduate committee has been formed– Your program of study form has been

submitted.– Your thesis/report proposal has been

submitted and successfully defended. Your major professor can waive this requirement for one semester

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CS6950 Reading & Reports

• CS6950 is generally taken by graduate students to allow them to complete course work in areas that are not taught in specific graduate courses.

• A student cannot register for CS6950 for a course which is already offered by the department, regardless of the semester in which it is offered.

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CS6950 Reading & Reports• Although the department head is listed as

the instructor, it is the student's responsibility to find a faculty member who will supervise their CS6950 work.

• A student can only register for CS6950 if she/he has submitted the CS6950 proposal form. – Details work they will perform, and

criteria used for grading. – Secretary has the form.

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CS6950 Reading & Reports

• The requirements for incompletes for CS6950 are the same as those for any other class.– An I cannot be given for prevent of

receipt of a bad grade– The amount of work to be completed

should be <3 weeks worth of work, else, should withdraw

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Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

• The purpose of CPT is to permit students to gain additional knowledge and skills in the workplace which would not be available from on-campus studies.

• CPT is an option recognized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As such, it permits international students to hold appropriate full-time, off-campus employment for a period of less than one year during the course of their regular studies.

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Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

• Specific interpretation of eligibility for participation in this option is handled at USU by the International Students and Scholars Office.

• The current regulation is that students may participate in the option only if they register for CS6250

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Curricular Practical Training

• The following department policy applies to CPT:– International graduate students are not

permitted to participate in CPT unless they have formed their graduate committee and have the approval of their committee chair.

– If it appears that the employment will unduly delay the student's completion of the degree or will interfere with the student's research as part of a research team, the advisor will not approve it.

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Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

– All faculty members will be informed when a student requests CPT, and will have 3 working days to respond if it is a problem.

– CPT will only be approved for the period of one semester at a time. Students will have to file all the paperwork for additional participation, including co-operative work experience course enrolment and renewed permission from the committee chair (in the case of graduate students), each semester, including summer.

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Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

–Students are required to register for at least 3 credits of CS6250 for each semester of CPT, including summer.

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Co-operative Education Courses (CS 2250, CS

4250, CS 6250)

• The purpose of co-operative education is to give academic credit for legitimate learning acquired on the job. There is a University-wide co-operative education program which operates out of the Career Center.

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COOP• The department policy for COOP is:

–A student may take a COOP course only if employed and with the agreement of the work supervisor.

–A student may register for one credit per 5 hours weekly work that is educationally beneficial and relevant.

–Working with computers, but doing little or no software development merits only CS 2250 registration.

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COOP–Doing software development at an

undergraduate level merits only CS 4250 registration.

–CS 6250 registration is restricted to those whose job description requires at least a BS in Computer Science or the equivalent.

–CS 6250 may not be used as part of a graduate student’s program of study.

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COOP– No grade will be given in a co-operative

education course until contact has been made with the work supervisor to determine the student’s professional competence, work skills, performance, etc.

– Students may take a co-operative education course with a P-D-F grading option. Those who want an A-B-C-D-F grading option must submit a written report outlining the work done and the educationally valuable information or skills gained on the job.

Coop• For questions on COOP, see Dr. Steve

Allan – steve.allan@usu.edu

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Minimum Credit Requirement - Full Time

• In order to be a full time graduate student, one must register for at least 9 credits

• Exceptions– Working >= 15 hours/week, in which case

they must be registered for at least 6 credits (sometimes approved for 10 hours/week)

– Have completed most of the courses in their program of study (and the POS is on file in the graduate school), e.g. < 9 credits left, in which case they must register for at least 3 credits. If there are no credits left to complete, the student must register for 3 credits of CS6990.

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Minimum Credit Requirement - Part Time

• If a student is no longer going to school full time, i.e. they are working full time, they must still register as follows:– if they are an international student doing CPT, they

must register for 3 credits of CS6250 each semester

– If they are not doing CPT, and they are NOT using university facilities, e.g. talking to their adviser, using lab facilities, etc., then they may register for 1 credit of 6990 at a reduced tuition rate for that semester. (Program of study must be on file)

– The semester in which they defend their thesis, they must register for at least 3 credits at the regular tuition rate.

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Thesis/Report Format

• The format for a dissertation, thesis, or report is the same.

• For elements of the document whose form is not detailed in the USU Publication Guide for Graduate Students (available from the book store), the department uses the Communications of the ACM, e.g., tables, figure citation, etc.

• Remember different professors require different document processors. Be sure to check with your major professor before starting to write your thesis or report.

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Thesis/Report Format

• The actual order of presentation of material is determined by the student's major professor and committee, as a general guideline:

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Thesis/Report Format– Acknowledgment–Abstract–Chapters

• I Statement of the problem/Introduction

• II Review of the literature• III Method (what you did)• IV Results & Discussion• V Conclusions & Recommendations for Further Work

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General Guidelines for Theses & Reports

• There is no length requirement• The student and not the committee

is responsible to see that the report is well written and uses correct English. If this is a problem, the graduate student should hire assistance.– Myra Cook will review theses @$18/hour

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Thesis or Report Defense

• Report & Thesis Defenses are the same in format

• Presentation:–plan for 10-15 minutes. It always

takes longer. If you plan for more than 15 minutes, it will take too long.

–The defense is open to the public–don't make too many overheads

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Defense Scheduling• An Appointment for Examination form

must be completed by the student and committee, indicating approval of the proposed time and place for the examination and defense, and submitted by the student to the Graduate School Office a minimum of ten working days prior to the exam.

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Defense Scheduling• No committee member should agree to

proceed with a defense until he or she has carefully read and approved the thesis or Plan B paper. If any member of a committee believes that the document is not ready to be defended, he or she should notify the student and major professor and not sign the Appointment for Examination form. The defense should then be rescheduled.

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After Defense - What?• Assuming that your defense is successful:

– defense committee chair turns in defense completion form

– student fills out and returns forms included in defense packet

– student makes whatever corrections, etc. are dictated by the committee (major professor approves)

– Student goes to the cashier's office (M10) and pays $15?/copy for binding

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Binding & Final Approval• Go to the Graduate School and

give the receipt and one copy of the thesis for format approval.

• Once the format has been approved (a long time), take sufficient copies to the library for binding. –For reports, the format is

approved by the department.• There is also a $?? graduation fee.

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After Defense - Registration?

• The current policy on time limits after a successful defense are:– If remaining steps are completed by

the end of the following semester, further credit registration is not required.

– If all work is not completed within one year of the defense, a new defense will be required.

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WARNING• From the time you give the first draft

of your thesis/report to your major professor, plan on at least 8 weeks to the date of the actual defense–NEVER ANTICIPATE THE

COMPLETION DATE, i.e., make travel plans (buy a plane ticket), etc.

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Plagiarism/Cheating• It is best to err on the side of generosity.• Systematic unacknowledged use of the

techniques, data, words, ideas, figures, etc. of another is considered plagiarism.– When in doubt, use quotes and a

citation.– In order to use figures copied from

another, the student must have written permission.

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Plagiarism/Cheating

• Possible penalties for infractions:– re-write– failure of CS6970– terminate committee– termination as a graduate

student–cannot be hired by the

department (loss of financial aid)

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Publications Derived from aThesis or Report

• Where department facilities etc. are used to do the research for a thesis, the department retains the right of unlimited access to the data and results of that thesis/report

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Publications Derived from aThesis or Report

• For publications generated from a thesis/report the orders for authorship should be decided before submitting the paper.– Your major professor should at least

be co-author on all publications derived from your thesis/report

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Publications Derived from a

Thesis or Report–Remember, if your effort began

after your major professor gave you the project (idea), the major professor should be first author.

–Where committee members have had significant input for a thesis or report, they should be included as co-authors, but not first authors.

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FAQ’s• Will a 6000-level ECE class count

as one of my four 6000-level CS classes in the MS?

No

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FAQ’s• I just took a 5000-level CS course

for the second time and I received a C-. What can I do?

You are not allowed to take the course a third time. That course and that grade will remain on your transcript and be computed in your GPA

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FAQ’s• I have 23 credits total and I’m

doing a Plan A, can I register for 7 instead of 6 credits of thesis (CS6970)?

• No

• Similarly, only 3 credits of CS6970 are allowed for Plan B

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FAQ’s• I want to take CS5200 and ECE6600 – Is

that OK.– For the Program of Study, students can

have either (CS5200) or (ECE6600 and ECE 7610) on their program of study, but not both.

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FAQ’s• Can I take classes not on my program of

study, and/or take more classes than on my program of study?– Yes, but the graduate school will likely

charge tuition for such courses, even if you have a waiver.

• It’s mid-semester, and I have decided to quit my job – what happens– Students can’t quit and take another CS job

midway in a semester– Loss of employment will cause loss of tuition

waiver

FAQ’s• There are only 7 days before the end

of the semester, and everyone on my committee has read my thesis and they say it’s ready to defend. The graduate School says they will waive the 10 day requirement for the defense if the department will – will it?– NO

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