CS grad orientation - Fall 2006 The Department of Computer Science at Columbia University Henning Schulzrinne, Chair Dept. of Computer Science Columbia

CS grad orientation - Fall 2006

The Department of Computer The Department of Computer Science at Columbia UniversityScience at Columbia University

Henning Schulzrinne, ChairDept. of Computer Science

Columbia University2006


Anatomy of a research groupAnatomy of a research group

Typically, each faculty heads a research group consisting of 1 faculty sometimes 1-2 postdocs research visitors (industry, sabbatical) 1 to 10 PhD and MS graduate research

assistants typical: 5

a number of undergraduate and MS project students

COMS 3998, 4901, 6901 sometimes an administrative assistant (AA)


Participating in researchParticipating in research

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 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

often, students and visitors discussing current research sometimes pizza


Upcoming grad student meetings & Upcoming grad student meetings & eventevent

“Hello” meeting: September 6 Introductions

Grad student town-hall meting: TBA


Social life in CUCSSocial life in CUCS

Departmental BBQ in fall and spring Family picnic September 30, 2006 Coffee hour on Thursdays at 4 pm in

CS lounge Activities organized by ACM, WICS,

Department and graduate school roughly once a month

Movie nights in lounge


Volunteering or How to Become a Volunteering or How to Become a Czar(ina)Czar(ina)

Department needs your help to make it a nice place to study and work

Volunteer positions include photo czar copier czar help with departmental BBQ grad student representative ACM and WICS

Contact PhD representative (Knarig Arabshian, Edward Ishak) for details


Student groupsStudent groups

Women in Computer Science (WICS) http://www.cs.columbia.edu/wics/

ACM http://www.cs.columbia.edu/acm/


Faculty to knowFaculty to know

Prof. Gail Kaiser PhD program director (phdczar@cs)

Prof. Mihalis Yannakakis MS program director (mihalis@cs)

Prof. Tal Malkin TA issues (tal@cs)


Important people to know: staffImportant people to know: staff

Alice Cueba receptionist: mail, fax, packages

Lily Bao Secora, Remi Moss, Twinkle Edwards graduate program and records

Mary van Starrex department administrator: GRA appointments

Patricia Hervey swipe card problems; budgets and finances, e.g.,

travel reimbursements Elias Tesfaye

keys, purchase orders Daisy Nguyen

CRF (Computing Research Facility): heads systems support (sys admin) group


MICE (Managing Information in Computer MICE (Managing Information in Computer SciencE)SciencE)

https://www.cs.columbia.edu/mice Services:

Find people and their contact information, office hours Select MS advisor Track your MS and PhD progress: courses, publications,

exams, community service PhD 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

but different password! if you forget password, MICE will send you a new one


MICEMICE


Getting into the buildingGetting into the building

Need to get swipe card access enabled to get access to CEPSR and CS building

Apply in MICE (under “Access”) Some labs have keys contact your

advisor for details


PhD student resourcesPhD student resources

http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~phdczar

Program details Hints on writing and other “how to

succeed in graduate school” items


Projects (MS)Projects (MS)

Can do research projects with most faculty 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


Registration HintsRegistration Hints

MS/PhD 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 E9911 Graduate Research II (ignore E9910 Graduate Research I).

PhD 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 E9910)

Get faculty advisor approval for all regular course registrations!

PhD students without advisors should contact Prof. Kender ([email protected])


CRF (Computing Research Facilities)CRF (Computing Research Facilities)http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~crf/http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~crf/

Director: Daisy Nguyen System administrators

Paul Glick John Petrella Dennis Shim Mark Yeun


CRF supportsCRF supports

Desktops:

Windows Linux dual boot Windows + Linux Solaris on Sun workstations we do not support Macs

Servers: file servers (NFS, Samba) mail (IMAP, POP, Unix mail) DNS web print services Sun and Linux research servers Windows Domain Controller SMS

Mail readers: pine, mh, Netscape, Mail, mail,

mulberry, etc.

Software: Matlab, Mathematica, Splus,

CVS, Acrobat Reader, Distiller, ghostview,Winzip, MS Office, Virus checker, ssh, X environment, Emacs, etc.


CRF systemsCRF systems

RAID file servers

DNS

webmail server NIS

Domain Controller

SMS

dynasty

playdisco

diamondflame

Solariscluster

Research Machines

cluster-pc

Linux

compute server


CUCS Computer Labs and CUCS Computer Labs and FacilitiesFacilities

Compute servers for remote login (ssh): cluster (Solaris) cluster-pc (Linux)

No VPN needed – just use ssh CRF does not offer modem dial-in use

Columbia facilities or commercial ISP Two laboratories for classes and projects:

CLIC (CSB 486) 30 Linux workstations

MRL (across from receptionist) 30 Windows XP workstations

Teaching laboratory for networks INTEREST lab routers, nodes, Ethernet switches


Contacting CRFContacting CRF

Send request (“ticket”) to [email protected] Check status of tickets on CRF web page:

http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~crf Normal ticket: daily requests

install new software or machine non-critical software or hardware problems send ticket, will get response and updates

Urgent ticket: requests that need attention ASAP your machine is down send ticket, then call CRF

Emergency ticket: mail down power lost entire computing system down call us immediately anytime


CRF contact informationCRF contact information

Hotline (working hours): x7174Daisy: x7140, x7039, 347-782-2345

(cell), 908-286-1139 (home)Mark: x7036, 917-449-4139 (cell)Dennis: x7035, 646-286-9769 (cell)

Documents

CS grad orientation - Fall 2006 The Department of Computer Science at Columbia University Henning Schulzrinne, Chair Dept. of Computer Science Columbia