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Orientation forNew Grad Students
Department of Computer Science Virginia
Tech http//www.cs.vt.edu/gpc
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What I am going to talk about

• Some rules
• Some philosophy
• Some fun

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First things first

• Degree programs and classification
• M.S.
• Thesis option
• Coursework option
• Ph.D.

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Masters degree

• Thesis option
• 30 credit hours 73 (courses) 33 (research)
• Coursework option
• 33 credit hours 103 (course) 13 (indep.
  study)
• What to do
• Sem 1 Decide track
• Sem 2 Independent study
• Sem 3 Thesis possibly or remaining courses

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Ph.D. degree

• Thesis option (duh!)
• 90 credit hours with at least 113 (courses)
• Structured program
• Qualifying exam
• Preliminary proposal
• Research defense
• Final defense
• What to do
• End of sem 1 Take qualifier (Feb)
• Sem 2 Select advisor
• Sem 3 Work with advisor to set milestones

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Good standing

• 12 credits/semester (if full time)
• More than 3 courses is brutal!
• Ph.D. students can take at most 2
• Maintain overall GPA of 3.0
• Remove incomplete grades
• File program of study before end of first year

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Why do research?

• Good for your soul!
• Learn a set of skills you cant otherwise acquire
• Unstructured discovery
• Tackle real problems
• Become an expert in a way nobody else can
• More opportunities

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How to do research?

• Dont just take classes
• Talk to us!
• Get involved in research projects
• Attend research seminars
• Talk to current graduate students
• Browse faculty websites
• Checkout project group meetings

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Picking an advisor

• Determine what you want from an advisor
• Multiple factors interplay
• Mentoring style
• Research area
• Availability of projects
• Peer student research group
• Talk to a lot of people
• Faculty
• Current students

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Some quick opportunities

• To get better researchy-minded
• Take Dr. Shaffers CS 5014 (Research Methods in
  CS)
• Pick courses to suit potential interests
• HCI, SE, Systems Obvious candidates
• Bioinformatics PPWS/GBCB 5314, CS 5124
• Parallel computation CS 4234
• Graphics CS 4204

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Some dates to mark

• Open house for new CS building
• September 14th (KnowledgeWorks Phase II, 2202
  Kraft Drive)
• FFF (Food Fellowship Faculty)
• August 25th, 2pm (McBryde 655)

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Questions?

• Just walk in!
• Torgersen 2160L
• Email
• naren_at_cs.vt.edu

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Whats the fun stuff?