Graduate Student Orientation

Dr. Scott Fleming

Fall 2021
Agenda
• About the CS Dept
• Degree Requirements
• Academic Advising
• Pitfalls to Avoid
• Getting Started (Your First Semester)
Agenda
• About the CS Dept
• Degree Requirements
• Academic Advising
• Pitfalls to Avoid
• Getting Started (Your First Semester)
CS Department Mission
• High-Impact Research
• Effective Teaching
• Service – University, Research, and Community
CS Degree Programs
• Undergraduate Degree
• Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
• Graduate Degrees
• Master of Science (M.S.)
• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
• Graduate Certificates
• Cyber Security and Information Assurance
• Data Science
Faculty Research Areas
• Bio-Inspired Computing • Internet Architecture
• Bioinformatics • Machine Learning
• Computer Science Education • Mobile Health
• Cybersecurity • Natural Language Processing
• Cybersecurity Education • Software Engineering
• Human-Computer Interaction • Theoretical Computer Science
• Intelligent Systems • Wireless Sensor Networks
Research Impact Indicators
• Publication
• All publish in peer-reviewed science journals & conferences
• Many works appear in top-ranked publication venues
• Well cited by other researchers

• Funding
• Grants from NSF, NIH, NASA, DARPA, ONR
• Ranked 55th in the nation in federally funded research programs
• Dept with most funding per faculty at UofM
Discover Research Opportunities
• Department Research Overview
• https://www.memphis.edu/cs/research/

• Research Groups Directory

• https://www.memphis.edu/cs/research/research_groups.php

• Faculty Profiles and Websites

• https://www.memphis.edu/cs/people/
 CS Faculty
• William Baggett • Vinhthuy Phan
• Amy Cook • Vasile Rus
• Dipankar Dasgupta • Fatih Sen
• Scott Fleming Associate Chair/Graduate Coordinator • Sajjan Shiva
• Max Garzon • Deepak Venugopal Data Science Cert. Coord.
• Xiaolei Huang New! • Lan Wang Chair
• Nirman Kumar • Thomas Watson
• Santosh Kumar • Myounggyu Won
• Weizi Li • Kan Yang Cyber Security & Info Assurance Cert. Coord.
• Kriangsiri “Top” Malasri Advising Coordinator • James Yu
• Christos Papadopoulos • Xiaofei Zhang
CS Dept Office & Secretary
• Main Office: 375 Dunn Hall
• Notice Board outside

• Secretary: Rhonda Smothers <[email protected]>

• Submit forms to her
• You will be seeing a lot of her!
• Be nice to her!!
CS Dept Events
• CS Social
• Fall event
• Party with games & food

• CS Research Symposium
• Spring event
• Student posters, presentations, exhibits (& food!)

• CS Colloquium & Reception

• Fridays 12:30-2:00
• Invited speakers on various CS topics
• Snacks!
Agenda
• About the CS Dept
• Degree Requirements
• Academic Advising
• Pitfalls to Avoid
• Getting Started (Your First Semester)
Caution!
• This is only a summary!
• Omissions and ambiguities possible!

• Official source: The Graduate Catalog

• https://catalog.memphis.edu/
• Get familiar with it!
CS Master’s Degree
• Masters of Science (M.S.) in Computer Science

• Overview:
• Coursework
• Project or Thesis
Master’s Project versus Thesis
• Project
• Find project advisor
• Form committee
• Project report
• Project presentation/defense

• Thesis Main difference: thesis has higher

• Find thesis advisor expectations regarding research
• Form committee
contribution, quality of writing, and
• Thesis
• Thesis defense
worthiness of publication
M.S. Requirements
• 33 credits
• Core Requirement: COMP 7012, 7212, 7612, 7712
• At least 3 with B- or better
• 3 credits of Project (COMP 7980) or Thesis (COMP 7996)
• Max 6 credits of non-coursework (project/thesis/independent studies, etc.)
• Max 6 credits of 6000-level courses

• Comprehensive Exam:
• Project Report/Presentation or Thesis/Defense
Model M.S. Program
• Year 1
• Focus on courses
• Complete Core Requirement

• Year 2
• Find project/thesis advisor (earlier is better)
• Form project/thesis committee (with help of advisor)
• Mix courses and project/thesis work
• Optionally take 3-credit Independent Study to work on project/thesis
• Complete Comprehensive Exam during last semester
CS Ph.D. Degree
• Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science

• Overview:
• Research, research, research!
• Apprenticeship with advisor
• Some coursework
Ph.D. Requirements
• 72 credit hours
• 9-18 credits COMP 9000 (Dissertation)
• Min 12 credits 8000-level courses (other than 8901)
• Max 21 credits Independent Studies
• Max 6 credits 6000-level courses
• Qualifying Exam: 4 core courses with B or better
• Comprehensive Exam: Dissertation Proposal
• Final Dissertation/Defense
Model Ph.D. Program
• Year 1
• Find research/dissertation advisor
• Complete Qualifying Exam (Core Requirement)
• Year 2–3
• Conduct formative research with advisor (Ind Studies COM 8901)
• Publish paper(s)
• Complete Comprehensive Exam (Dissertation Proposal) by end of Year 3
• Year 4–5
• Conduct and publish proposed dissertation research
• Take dissertation credits (COMP 9000)
• Complete Dissertation/Defense by end of Year 5
M.S. on the Way to Ph.D.
• Use first 2 years of Ph.D. to complete M.S. thesis
• Benefits:
• Additional M.S. degree
• Little/no extra time or cost
• Add thesis to resume
• Thesis can be published as paper(s)
• Serves as formative dissertation work for proposal

• Discuss this option with your advisor!

Caution! Not All Courses Count
• Some COMP courses do not count
• Admission pre-req courses
• Non-major courses: COMP 6001, 6005, 6014, 6011, 6030, 6040, 6270, 6601,
etc.
• Cognitive Science Seminar (COMP7/8514)
• Only counts if closely related to CS or your research
• Advisor pre-approval required
• Non-COMP courses
• Rule of thumb: May count 1 for M.S. or 1–2 for Ph.D. if relevant to degree, but
must have pre-approval of advisor & Graduate Coordinator
• Warning! Easier versions of COMP courses from other departments will not
be approved (e.g., MIS databases)
Agenda
• About the CS Dept
• Degree Requirements
• Academic Advising
• Pitfalls to Avoid
• Getting Started (Your First Semester)
Academic Advisor
• Guides you through the degree program
• Answers your questions
• Approves certain things
• Clears your registration pin
• At the minimum, you should have an advising meeting once per
semester
• Advisor reviews/approves courses for next semester
• Advisor makes sure you're on track, provides guidance
• Advisor won't clear registration pin until meeting happens!

• Always get your advisor's approval when making decisions!

Advising Questions
• First, ask your advisor
• If your advisor doesn't know, you and your advisor may together ask
the Graduate Coordinator
• Idea here is that the advisor learns the answer as well as student
Changing Academic Advisor
• You are assigned an advisor when you enter the program
• If no advisor yet, request from "Top" Malasri <[email protected]>

• When you find a faculty who agrees to be your research/project

advisor, change your academic advisor to be that person
• Procedure for changing:
• Make sure new advisor agrees and old advisor is aware
• Email advisor change request to "Top" Malasri <[email protected]>,
CCing both new and old advisors

• It is possible to subsequently change your research/project advisor

• New advisor must agree
• If old advisor is providing a GA, you must finish out contract
Agenda
• About the CS Dept
• Degree Requirements
• Academic Advising
• Pitfalls to Avoid
• Getting Started (Your First Semester)
Dissertation (COMP 9000) Restrictions
• You cannot register for COMP 9000 until you have completed the
Comprehensive Exam (Dissertation Proposal)

• Once you start taking COMP 9000 credits, you must take at least one
COMP 9000 credit every Fall and Spring semester until graduation
• If you miss a semester, at time of graduation, you will be forced to
retroactively purchase credits for those semesters
Min Course Load for International Students
• Min of 9 credit hours per semester
• International graduate students may take fewer than 9 credit hours
only if they have
• met all coursework requirements
• dissertation-only, thesis-only, or final-project-only credits remaining
• Implies that Ph.D. students have passed Comprehensive Exam
What to Call Faculty
• By default, call faculty Dr. Lastname or Professor Lastname

• It is common for some faculty to have you call them by their first
name, but do so only with their permission
Grade Requirements
• Min GPA of 3.0
• Max of 2 C+/C/C- grades can count
• No D+/D/F grades can count

• Enforced by the Graduate School – no exceptions are allowed!

Academic Probation
• GPA < 3.0 → Academic Probation
• Recovery Process
• Each semester on probation, must submit a recovery plan to advisor and CS
Graduate Coordinator/Committee for approval
• May be required to participate in a hearing with the CS Graduate Committee

• Two consecutive semesters on probation may result in dismissal from

the degree program
• Some advice:
• Work hard, don't overload yourself, and mind your grades
• Seek advice/help from course prof or advisor if in trouble
Academic Dishonesty
• Serious matter – zero tolerance!
• Some examples of plagiarism/cheating:
• Representing the work of another as your own
• Direct copying the work of another person
• Paraphrasing the ideas of another person
• Recycling previously submitted work

• Potential consequences
• F grade – cannot be removed
• Appear before university committee
• Dismissal from degree program/university

• Code of Rights: https://www.memphis.edu/osa/students/code-of-rights.php

Agenda
• About the CS Dept
• Degree Requirements
• Academic Advising
• Pitfalls to Avoid
• Getting Started (Your First Semester)
TODOs for Your First Semester
• Meet your advisor ASAP!
• Complete the Programming Skills Test
• Apply for transfer credits (if applicable)
• Request core course waivers (if applicable)
• (PhDs) Apply for Approved Master's credits (if applicable)
• (PhDs) Submit the Curriculum Planning Form
Programming Test
• Make sure you can write programs that run
• 1 week before semester begins
• 1 hr test on computer
• Java, C or C++ (ask if you want to use other language)
• You must either
• Pass the test within your first 2 attempts
• Take a programming course (chosen by the department) and get a B or better
(B- do NOT count)
• Remember, this course does NOT count towards the degree
• Students who have not passed programming test cannot be
department GA
Transfer Credits
• Consult with advisor if have taken graduate CS courses elsewhere
• Must be CS relevant and not used to fulfill another degree
• For Masters students: at most 12 credits
• For Ph.D. students: at most 36 credits
• Must be applied for with help of advisor
• Will appear on transcript if accepted
Core Course Waivers
• If you have taken a graduate course elsewhere that is equivalent to a
core course, you may request a waiver
• A core course waiver removes the requirement that you must take
that core course
• Note: The credit requirements for the degree remain unchanged
• Applications for waivers must be reviewed and approved, first, by
your advisor and, then, by the Graduate Coordinator
PhD Curriculum Planning Form
• Complete with help of advisor
• Submit during first semester
• Must be approved by advisor, graduate coordinator, and department
chair
• Must be updated and approved again after completion of Qualifying
Exam
Approved Master’s Degree
• Courses and requirements similar to our MS degree
• If approved, up to 33 credit reduction of the 72 required credits
• Approval process:
• Give your transcript to advisor for evaluation in first semester
• Advisor makes recommendation to the graduate committee over email along
with your transcript and number of credits to be counted
• Graduate Committee reviews and approves/rejects
• If approved, document in PhD Curriculum Planning Form
• Note: You can use a UofM CS Master's
Closing Thoughts
• Meet with your advisor
• Familiarize yourself with the Graduate Catalog

Welcome to the CS Department!

Have a great semester!