CSE 5194: Orientation Seminar
Spring 2014
Bharam Khalili
Class website: <http://ranger.uta.edu/~khalili>
Spring 2014
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CSE and the College of
Engineering
 Fall 2013 -> Fall 2014 Enrollment
 CoE: 4241 -> 4849 total
2760 -> 3051 undergraduates
1007 -> 1300 Masters
473 -> 498 Doctoral
 CSE: 889 -> 1067 total
586 -> 660 undergraduates
208 -> 316 Masters
95 -> 91 Doctoral
Spring 2014
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CSE Grad Website
 Where?
http://www.cse.uta.edu/graduate
 What?
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Contacts and Advising Hours
MS Guide
Various forms
Graduation checklists
Announcements
Course descriptions
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Other Resources
 Grad School Website – New & Current
Students: http://grad.pci.uta.edu/students
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Graduate Catalog
Graduate Calendar
Funding Opportunities
Thesis/Dissertation Guidelines
Grad School Forms and Info
Lots of other useful information!
 E-mail: we will use your UTA account
(exclusively) for announcements
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Personnel
Graduate Secretary
 Camille Costabile (ERB 630)
 Her office is the one-stop clearinghouse for all things MS
Graduate Advisors (ERB 6th Floor)
 Bahram Khalili
 General Advising – MS & PhD
 In charge of S/W Eng. curriculum
 Mike O’Dell
 General Advising - MS
 In charge of MSCS and MSCpE curriculum
 Ramez Elmasri
 General Advising – MS & PhD
 Leonidas Fegaras
 General Advising - MS
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CSE Degree Options
 MS CpE (Computer Engineering)
 Must have Undergraduate degree in Engineering
 Requires specialization is Systems/Architecture
 MS CS (Computer Science)
 Exact same degree program as MS CpE, except
Systems/Architecture Specialization is not
required
 MSFWE (Master of Software Engineering)
 Curriculum pre-dominantly Software Engineering
*MS CS and CpE have Thesis and Non-Thesis options
available
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Definitions
 Core Courses – These are mandatory
courses that all students MUST take.
 Major (Specialty) Track Courses – Three
courses in a subject area including at least
one at 6000 level. Areas:
 AI, Database, Systems and Architecture,
Networks, Software Engineering, Graphics and
Multimedia, Information Security, Theory and
Algorithms, Bioinformatics.
 Breadth Courses – Courses outside of your
major/specialty track(s)*
*Courses in chosen Major/Specialty Track cannot be used for breadth
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Non-Thesis (Structured) Degree
Option: 37 hours
 Orientation Seminar (5194)
 2 core courses: 5311, One of {5306, 5317, or
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5301}
3 breadth courses
 Only two may be in the same specialty area
3 courses in major area 1 (one 6000-level)
3 courses in major area 2 (one 6000-level)
1 Elective (can be in area of Major/ Specialty or
outside the Department, with prior approval by
advisor)
Must complete graduate survey in final semester
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Thesis Degree Option: 31 hours
 Orientation Seminar (5194)
 2 core courses : 5311, One of {5306, 5317, or 5301}
 3 courses in Major area (one 6000-level)
 2 Breadth courses
 The two have to be in two different areas
 1 Elective (can be in area of Major or outside the
Department, with prior approval by advisor)
 Thesis I (5398) No credit hours
 Thesis II (5698) Must be taken in graduating
semester. 6 credit hours
IMPORTANT NOTE: Thesis I is a pre-requisite for Thesis II
and must be taken in a semester before Thesis II. Thesis II
must be taken in the semester in which you plan to defend and
graduate. Thesis I and II may be repeated as necessary.
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MS Software Engineering: 37
hours
 Orientation Seminar (5194)
 5 Core courses: CSE 5311, 5324, 5325,
(includes 5328 and 5329 project, or
acceptable substitute)
 2 Courses from: CSE 5326, 5320, 6324,
6329
 5 Electives, including three from CSE
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Important Notes
 You can use at most one non-CSE course in
your Degree Plan as an elective.
 Max 2 courses can be transferred from
outside UTA (by formal request to GS)
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Must be from an accredited U.S. university;
Grade must be ‘B’ or better
Must satisfy a course requirement in your GMAP
Must be approved by grad advisor
 There will be NO waivers for the Core
course requirements, even if you completed
one in your undergraduate studies
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Important Notes
 Directed Study (5393) is not allowed under
the non-thesis (structured) option.
 If your GPA falls under 3.0 => academic
probation
 Must have >=3.0 next semester, else withdraw
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Planning YOUR Courses
 Make sure your Program of Work is complete… it is
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your responsibility
If in doubt, ask questions before you commit yourself
to a plan
Register early… get the courses you want
Plan “Major” sequences for a two - three semester
stretch.
Thesis students - Do not wait to complete all courses
before registering for Thesis I.
Several “Topics” classes can be taken, if in subject
matter is different
It is generally not a good idea to plan to graduate in
the summer if you need a “non-standard” or 6000level course to complete your plan
Spring 2014
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Managing YOUR Degree Plan
 CSE Graduate Students can register in
(almost) any course we offer… so BEWARE
 Only special CSE courses require clearance
(Directed/Individual Study, Thesis I, Thesis
II, deficiency classes, any web course)
 YOUR plan is YOUR responsibility
 Use MyMav Degree Audit capability to view
your progress (GMAP)
 Ask questions of the graduate advisors if in
doubt about progress or applicability of a
specific course
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Managing YOUR Degree Plan with
MyMav
 MyMav degree audit feature
 Your degree plan is associated with your id#
CS MS Non-Thesis, CS MS Thesis, CpE MS NonThesis, CpE MS Thesis, MS Software Engineering
Your graduate advisor can change between Thesis and
Non-Thesis
 MyMav uses best-fit algorithm to apply courses
taken to your specified degree plan
 Courses that do not fit will be shown as “notapplied”
 Certain courses will require advisor action to
apply in the correct spot
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Important Dates (e.g., Spring 2014)
 Current Student enrollment begins: November 4th 2013
 Open enrollment for all current/returning students
 Regular Enrollment end: January 12th
 Late fees apply for course adds after this date
 Students may add/drop courses until January 17th
 First day of classes, Late registration begins: January 13th
 Late Registration ends: January 17th
 Students may not add/swap courses after this date
 Census Day: January 29th
 Official date of record for university enrollment figures/funding/etc
 Can only withdraw from courses without refund after this date
 File for graduation: January 27th
 Refer to checklist for graduating semester
http://grad.pci.uta.edu/about/catalog/current/calendar/
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Thesis
 Is it for you?
 Sequence and Planning
 Work Expectations
 Assistantship Obligations - GTAs and GRAs
 GTAs need english proficiency
 Switching to and from thesis program
 Grades
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Curricular Practical Training (CPT)
- (Internship)
 Purpose: enhance your education through work experience
 F-1 Rules: see http://www.uta.edu/oie/forms/cpt_forms.php
 Current good academic standing
 Two semesters of graduate coursework complete
 Currently enrolled in an appropriate UTA course (hours cannot be used
for credit – CSE 5191)
 Part-time CPT students (20 hours or less) must be enrolled as fulltime student (9 credit-hours)
 CSE Rules
 CSE 5194 must be completed BEFORE internship
 6 graduate-level courses completed (18 credit-hours)
 Company and specific position/assignment must directly support the
student’s degree plan and be approved by CSE graduate advisor.
 GPA of at least 3.5
 No CPT in graduating semester
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Curricular Practical Training (CPT)
- (Internship)
 Procedures:
1. Ensure that you meet ALL requirements (OIE and CSE)
2. Obtain an offer letter from your employer
Must be on company letterhead signed by company official
Must state that it is an internship offer
Must specify what the position/work assignment is and how
it directly supports your degree plan
Must specify dates of employment WITHIN the semester
for which the offer is given (see OIE site for date ranges)
Must specify whether offer is for part-time (<= 20
hours/week) or full-time (> 20 hours/week) work
3. Complete the CPT Student application and bring the package
to a CSE graduate advisor for approval
4. The advisor will enroll you in cse5191
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CSE 5194 Course Requirements
 Goal:
 Let the new students better know the CSE
Department and Faculty
 Get a chance to focus on one professor’s work and
expertise
 The CSE web page has contact information for each
CSE professor
 This semester, we are trying a new approach:
giving 4 options for the CSE 5194 course
assignment
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CSE 5194 Assignment Options
 Assignment Option 1:
 The student will meet with a CSE professor (during
the professor’s office hours) and request to do a
project with that professor to fulfill the CSE 5194
requirement
 The student will have two weeks after this
orientation seminar to contact the professor and
confirm their project(Deadline: Friday, February
14th )
 If the professor agrees, they will assign and grade
the project for CSE 5194 (Pass/Fail grade)
 Possible assignments: read and summarize a paper,
complete a small programming assignment, work on a
research project, etc.
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CSE 5194 Assignment Options
 Assignment Option 2:
 The student will choose a recent publication
(conference, workshop, or journal paper) co-authored
by a CSE faculty, and get it approved by the CSE
5194 GTA
 Email your chosen paper to GTA
 The student will have two weeks after this
orientation seminar to choose the paper (Deadline:
Friday, February 14th )
 No two students can choose the same paper
 Paper must be recent (after 2005)
 The student will read and summarize the paper and
write a 5-page report, with critique of the paper
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CSE 5194 Assignment Options
 Assignment Option 3:
 The student will attend one of the CSE colloquia
(usually on Fridays), locate the paper that was
presented, and write a report on the paper and the
colloquium presentation (5 pages)
 At most 50 students can choose this option – email
to GTA (Deadline: Friday, February 14th ), first 50
requests will be allowed.
 First 10 students will attend a particular
colloquium.(GTA will manage it)
 If you choose this option, do not wait till end of
semester as you need to attend the colloquium, read
the presented paper and write your report
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CSE 5194 Assignment Options
 Assignment Option 4 (Group project):
 A group of 3 or 4 CSE 5194 students will study one
of the UTA CSE professor’s work and create a Web
site for the professor (has to be different from the
professor’s current Web site)
 Two group per CSE professor are allowed.
 The students will have two weeks after this
orientation seminar to submit the group members
and the professor they choose for creating a Web
site for (Deadline: Friday, February 14th )
 Email info to GTA, who will check that each group
chooses a different professor
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Assignment Completion
 Students will have 12 weeks to complete and
submit the assignments .
 Upon completion of the assignment, the
student must send to his/her assigned
professor/GTA a report on the work done
per the assignment. (Deadline: Monday, April
25, 2014 )
 For Assignment 1 and 4 professor’s can have
their own deadline.
 The professor/GTA will evaluate the work
and provide a pass/fail grade.
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Dates To Remember:
 Choose an assignment option and E-mail the
details of the
team/paper/colloquium/professor’s
approval:
Friday, February 14th 2014
(11:59 p.m.)
 Submit the reports : (Assignment 2 & 3)
Friday, April 22nd 2014
(11:59 p.m.)
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Contact Info for CSE 5194
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Instructor: Professor Bahram Khalili
Email: khalili@uta.edu
GTA: Sakthi Kumaran Shanmuganathan
Email: sakthi.shanmuganathan@mavs.uta.edu
Office Hours: Mo & Th 3.30 pm to 5.00 pm
Office: ERB 503 (or ERB 514)
For questions, email the GTA first and he
will compile your questions and discuss with
me
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