COMP-604 Graduate School Fundamentals

Winter 2023, Course co-coordinators: Profs. Oana Balmau, Paul Kry, and David Rolnick

Welcome to COMP-604!

The goal of the course is to introduce students to fundamental skills every graduate student in computer science requires. This includes skills in research and communication with a focus on the culture and research in computer science, including graduate student orientation, research integrity and ethics, equity, diversity and inclusion, science communication for a general audience, elevator pitches, science writing for a general audience, finding/reading the literature, and peer review. The course will also introduce to the different career paths graduate students in computer science pursue and how to structure one’s graduate studies according to these paths.

When: Tuesdays, 4:05 PM - 4:55 PM

Where: McConnell Engineering Building, ENGMC 103. The class is in-person only, and the sessions/panels will not be recorded.

Credits: 1 credit.

Prerequisites: None.

Discussion forum: EdStem (to participate in the forum, you need to first sign up using this link, with your McGill email) Please ask all course-related questions on Ed, so everyone can benefit. 

For personal issues, you can reach out to one of the course co-coordinators at comp604@cs.mcgill.ca.  

Tentative Schedule

Week 1, no class. The semester starts on Wednesday.

Week 2, Jan 10

• • Lecture: Introduction and logistics. Prof. Oana Balmau.

Week 3, Jan 17

• • Panel discussion: What is research in computer science?

  • Panelists: Prof. Mathieu Blanchette, Prof. Kaleem Siddiqi, Prof. Jerome Waldispühl. Moderator: Prof. Oana Balmau.

Week 4, Jan 24

• • Panel discussion: Working in a research group

  • Panelists: Prof. Reihaneh Rabbany, Prof. Joelle Pineau, Andreas Enzenhoefer. Moderator: Prof. David Rolnick.

Week 5, Jan 31

• • Panel discussion: Work-life integration

  • Panelists: Prof. Jacob Errington, Prof. Faten M'hiri, Max Schiedermeier. Moderator: Prof. David Rolnick.

Week 6, Feb 7

• • Lecture: Writing tips for computer science. Prof. Brigitte Pientka. 

Week 7, Feb 14

• • Panel discussion: Ethics and reproducibility

  • Panelists: Prof. Martin Robillard, Prof. Brigitte Pientka, Pratheeksha Nair. Moderator: Prof. David Rolnick.

Week 8, Feb 21

• • Lecture: Oral presentation tips. Prof. Paul Kry.

Week 9, no class. Reading week.

Week 10, Mar 7

• • Panel discussion: Equity, diversity, and inclusion.

  • Panelists: Prof. Blake Richards, Prof. Siva Reddy, Prof. Samira Ebrahimi Kahou. Moderator: Prof. David Rolnick.

Week 11, Mar 14

• • Panel discussion: Effective networking

  • Panelists: Prof. Bettina Kemme, Prof. Hamed Hatami, Prof. Oana Balmau. Moderator: Prof. David Rolnick.

Week 12, Mar 21

• • Panel discussion: Effective teaching

  • Panelists: Prof. Giulia Alberini, Prof. Mona ElSaadawy, Changjun Zhou, Maximilian Schiedermeier. Moderator: Prof. Oana Balmau.

Week 13, Mar 28

• • Presentation week: Shakiba Bolbolian Khah, Nelson Bore, Kathie Cai, Raymond Chua, Breandan Considine, Roy Henha Eyono, Tzung-Han Juang, Aayush Kapur, Zonglun Li.

Week 14, Apr 4

• • Presentation week: Yu Lu Liu, Ray Luo, Renata Mutalova, Rahma Nouaji, Alejandro Salinas, Chuta Sano, Ziyang Song, Ye Yuan, Daniel Zackon, Mike Zhu. 

Week 15, Apr 11

• • Panel discussion: Life after the PhD. Career directions.

  • Panelists: Prof. Doina Precup, Prof. Xue Liu, Prof. Gregory Dudek. Moderator: Prof. Oana Balmau.

Grading Scheme

• Participation: 10%

Students are required to attend lectures for a minimum of 9 weeks and engage in the panels and lectures by responding to questions raised by the instructor, by asking questions, or by participating in discussion points highlighted by the instructor.

• Oral presentation: 30%. Presentation days March 28th & April 4th.

• Short written report: 30%. Due April 11th. 

• Peer review: 30%. Due April 14th.