Instructor: Prof. Olga Vitek Email: o.vitek@northeastern.edu Office hours: After the class, or by appointment on zoom or at 177 Huntington Ave, 9th floor.
Teaching assistant: Mr. Ethan Rogers Email: rogers.eth@northeastern.edu Office hours: By appointment on zoom or at 177 Huntington Ave, 9th floor.
Course description: This 2-credit undergraduate course introduces the scientific method and provides an overview of research in computer science and related fields. The course explores recent challenges and research advances in these fields, and gives students practice on how to read and analyze scientific literature in different sub-areas. The class meets once per week for a 100-minute session.
The prerequisite is CS 2500: Fundamentals of Computer Science 1, or permission of the instructor.
This a seminar course, which will consist of three components: Lectures The instructor and the guest lectures will provide the necessary general and technical background. Reading and discussing papers or presentations The majority of the course will consist of summarizing research papers, and preparing presentations for the class. Projects At the end of the semester, the students will conduct a mini-project, individually or in a small group. The project can take 2 forms: (1) overviewing a manuscript of Khoury faculty member and interviewing the faculty, or (2) research in a greater depth one grand challenge in AI or engineering.
By the end of the course you will: * Understand new and ongoing research areas in computer science. * Understand scientific methods used across the research areas. * Be able to read and evaluate a computer science paper. * Present and answer questions about a technical paper. * Conduct novel research and report results. * Understand how the research process works, from initial steps to analysis and paper writing.
Course administration: All the discussions and the extra handouts are available on Piazza. Please do not send email. Zoom links, assignment submissions and grades are managed via Canvas. The course has no textbook.
Course policies: Academic integrity policy is strictly enforced. Please review NEU Title IX policy and procedures. Please reach out to Disability Resource Center if you need an academic accommodation.
Participation You are expected to attend each class meeting, as attendance and active participation during meetings comprises a large fraction of your grade. The TA will take note of both the attendance and the participation in the discussions. If you must miss class, please contact the instructor at least 48 hours before the class.
Homeworks This course will have regular homeworks, most in the form of a review of a paper related to the in-class discussion that week. Each homework will be graded according to the quality of responses to the questions. Extensions to homework deadlines can be obtained if requested at least 48 hours before the deadline, and duly justified. Homeworks turned in after the deadline will not receive credit. Any requests for grade changes or regrading must be made within seven days of when the work was returned. To ask for a regrade, attach to your work a page that specifies (a) the problem or problems you want to be regraded, and (b) for each of these problems, why do you think the problem was misgraded.
Papers readings and discussions On days when we do not have guest lectures, a team of 2 students will make an oral presentation of the assigned manuscript. Leading the discussion involves two tasks. First, the team will make an approximately 15 minute presentation that describes the motivation, goals, and results of the paper. Second, after this presentation and for the remainder of the allocated time slot, the team will lead the discussion on the paper. The goal is to ensure a lively atmosphere for discussion, while being careful to stay on the topic of the paper. The remaining audience members are expected to have read the paper and participate in the discussion. Attendance and participation in each class is 10 points. Paper presentation and leading the discussion is 40 points.
Slip days There are 2 slip days for the participation and the homework submissions (slips for both participation and homework submission must be taken on a same day; it is not possible to take a slip day on a day when you are scheduled to lead a presentation). If you do not take slip days, 2 days with lowest participation and lowest homework scores will be dropped before calculating the final course grade.
Project During the semester the students will perform a mini-project (individually, or in a small group). You will identify a research manuscript (co-)authored by a current Northeastern faculty member, in an area that you are interested in. Alternatively, you will research and present in class one grand challenge in AI or engineering. Project completion consists of project proposal (25%), manuscript (or a grand challenge) summary (25%), discussion with a faculty member (25%), and leading an in-class precentation and discussion (25%). Projects having any degree of similarity with work by any other group, or with any other document (e.g., found online) is considered plagiarism, and will not be accepted. The minimal consequence is that all the group members will receive the project score of 0, and the best possible overall course grade will be a D.
Exams There are no exams in this course.
Grading The final grade is based on a total of 100 points. The sum of all the homeworks points will be scaled to the maximum of 30. The sum of all the attendance and participation points will be scaled to the maximum of 30. The project will be scaled to the maximum of 40. The scaled points will be added, and the final letter grades will follow the usual scale: 90-100% = A-range (i..e, A+, A or A-) 80-89% = B-range (i.e., B+, B or B-) 70-79% = C-range (i.e., C+, C or C-) 60-69% = D 0-59% = F The cutoffs for ‘+’ and ‘-’ grades will be determined at the end of the semester, at the discretion of the intructor. This scale is subject to change at any time, at the discretion of the instructor.
Changes to final course grade: Changes to the final course grade should be requested in writing, within one week after receiving the final course grade. The request should contain a technical explanation of why re-grading is necessary. If the request is justified, the instructor will regrade all the submissions, including all the homeworks, the exams and the project, to determine the new grade. The new grade can potentially be lower than the original grade.