The Department of Computer Science & Engineering
cse@buffalo
CSE 501:
GRADUATE STUDIES
IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Fall 2006

SYLLABUS

This is a living document; the latest version will always be available on the Web at:

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/501/syl.html

Last Update: 1 November 2006

Note: NEW or UPDATED material is highlighted

Index: Other Relevant Links:
  • Course Description
    		•
  • CSE 501 homepage
  • Prerequisites
    		•
  • Directory of Documents
  • Staff
    		•
  • Email Archive
  • Class Meetings
  • Important Dates & Tentative Schedule
  • Attendance, Listserv
  • How to Study
  • Grading
  • Incompletes
  • Academic Integrity
  • Classroom Disruptions

    • CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

    This course gives necessary information about graduate studies in CSE for incoming students. Registration and attendance are required for all new students. Topics include: academic integrity, the nature of research, good teaching and TA skills, resources available for research, departmental computer systems, relevant departmental, University, and U.S. regulations and forms,and planning an academic program. Required for all new graduate students.

    PREREQUISITES:

    STAFF:

    CLASS MEETINGS:

    CLASS INSTRUCTOR REGIS. NO. DAYS HOURSLOCATION
    LectureRapaport472919 TTh3:30 p.m. - 4:50 p.m. Fillmore 170 (most Tuesdays)
    Student Union 330 (most Thursdays)

    IMPORTANT DATES & TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

    Note: I have adjusted some of the dates and assignments below to reflect what we actually did in class, rather than on what I had planned or hoped to do:-)

      TOPICS
    T Aug 29 Presentation on important forms,
    by Jodi Reiner (Grad Studies Secretary)
    & Joann Glinski (Budget Secrtary)
    Th   31 Intro to 501,
    Grad Handbook,
    Misc. Topics website,
    Academic Integrity
    M   4 Labor Day; no class
    T Sep 5 Intro to CSE computing environment,
    by Ken Smith (Mgr., CSE Computer Operations);
    in Fillmore 170.
    Th   7 How to Do Research,
    by Bharat Jayaraman (Chair & Professor, CSE);
    in SU 330.
    Th   14 How to Study [.html] [.ppt]; in Fillmore 170 !!
    T   19 "Day of Learning"; no class
    Th   21 Advice for (New) TAs in Fillmore 170 !!
    Th   28 No class
    M Oct 2 Yom Kippur; no class
    ALL SESSIONS FROM NOW ON ARE IN 330 STUDENT UNION
    UNLESS OTHERWISE ANNOUNCED
    Th Oct 5 Faculty Research Overviews:
    Hung Ngo
    William J. Rapaport
    Kenneth Regan
    Th   12 Faculty Research Overviews:
    Vipin Chaudhary
    Murat Demirbas
    Roger (Xin) He
    Th   19 External Colloquium Speaker
    (hosted by Shambhu Upadhyaya):
    Shiu-Kai Chin (Syracuse Univ.)
    "A Rigorous Approach to Teaching Access Control"
    TUESDAY!!   24 Distinguished Alumnus Speaker:
    D. Sivakumar (Google)
    Th   26 External Colloquium Speaker
    (hosted by Chunming Qiao):
    Sajal Das (Univ. of Texas/Arlington)
    "Context Modeling in Smart Environments:
    A Perspective from Pervasive Computing"
    Th Nov. 2 Faculty Research Overviews:
    Bharat Jayaraman
    UPDATED Chunming Qiao
    Th   9 External Colloquium Speaker
    (hosted by Jinhui Xu):
    Mikhail Atallah (Purdue Univ.)
    "Privacy-Preserving Trust Negotiation"
    F   10 Last day to resign with "R"
    Th   16 Faculty Research Overviews:
    UPDATED Stuart C. Shapiro
    Shambhu Upadhyaya
    W   22 Thanksgiving; no class
    F   24 Thanksgiving; no class
    Th   30 External Colloquium Speaker
    (hosted by Jan Chomicki):
    Michael Benedikt (Lucent Bell Labs)

    READING:

    "Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself." — Chinese Proverb

    "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." — American Proverb

    HOW TO READ and HOW TO STUDY:

  • For general advice on how to study for any course, see my web page, "How to Study".

  • For advice on how to read a computer science text, see "How to Read (a Computer Science Text)".

    ATTENDANCE, LISTSERV:

    1. You will be expected to attend all sessions.

    2. Email list:

      You will automatically be placed on an email list (a "Listserv") for the course. If you do not normally read email at the email address that UB has as your official address, please either do so for this course, or else have your mail forwarded. I will use this list as my main means of communicating with you out of class, and you can use it to communicate with the rest of us.

      You may send questions and comments that are of general interest to the entire class using the Listserv: Just send them to:

      You can also send email just to me, at:

      In any case, be sure to fill in the subject line, beginning with "CSE 501: " so that my mailer doesn't think it's spam.

      If you send email to me that I deem to be of general interest, I will feel free to remail it anonymously to the email list along with my reply unless you explicitly tell me otherwise.

      I will archive the emails at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/501/EMAIL/.

      For more information, read the Listserv Information webpage.

    3. Students should notify their instructors within the first two weeks of class if they have a disability which would make it difficult to carry out course work as outlined (requiring note-takers, readers, extended test time).

    GRADING:

    The grading in this course is on an S/U basis, as far as I know.

    For my ideas on grading in general, see my web document on "How to Grade"

    Incompletes:

    It is University policy that a grade of Incomplete is to be given only when a small amount of work or a single exam is missed due to circumstances beyond the student's control, and that student is otherwise doing passing work. I will follow this policy strictly! Thus, you should assume that I will not give incompletes :-)

    Any incompletes that I might give, in a lapse of judgment :-), will have to be made up by the end of the
    Spring 2007
    semester.

    For more information on Incomplete policies, see the Graduate School web page, "Incomplete Grades".

    ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

    While it is acceptable to discuss general approaches with your fellow students, the work you turn in must be your own. It is the policy of this department that any violation of academic integrity will result in an F for the course, that all departmental financial support including teaching assistanceship, research assistanceship, or scholarships be terminated, that notification of this action be placed in the student's confidential departmental record, and that the student be permanently ineligible for future departmental financial support. If you have any problems doing the assignments, consult Prof. Rapaport. Please be sure to read the webpage, "Academic Integrity: Policies and Procedures", which spells out all the details of this, and related, policies.

    CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS:

    In large classes (but not such as this:-), students have been known to be disruptive, either to the instructor or to fellow students. The university's policies on this topic, both how the instructor should respond and how students should behave, may be found in the document     "Obstruction or Disruption in the Classroom".

    Copyright © 2006 by William J. Rapaport (rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu)
    file: 501/syl-20061101.html