Brigham Young UniversityComputer Science

Why YouShould Go To

Graduate School inComputer Science

Do What You Love

• And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:31

• Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalms 37:4

• Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

What is There to Love?

• Research– What problem do you want to solve?– Who cares about this problem and why?– What have others done to solve it?– What is your solution to the problem?– How can you demonstrate this is a good solution?

• Independent thought, creativity• Being able to make a difference in the world• Rigorous and rewarding

What is There to Love?

• Teaching– Being able to present ideas and results clearly to

others– Helping students to learn, grow, become better

children of our Heavenly Father• Contribute to the mission of the university...

– ... to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life. That assistance should provide a period of intensive learning in a stimulating setting where a commitment to excellence is expected and the full realization of human potential is pursued.

M.S. Degree•Mastery of a discipline

– More in-depth CS knowledge– Specialized knowledge in your chosen area of CS

(your thesis)•Greater job opportunities

– Your specialization and problem-solving skills will be important and impressive to employers

•Career Flexibility– Do you really know what you will want to be doing

in 10 years?– Most people make multiple career changes

Ph.D. Degree•You get to do more of what you want

– More research, more independent work– More freedom – less guidance– Contributing to state-of-the-art

•Different world of employees– You interview for different jobs – more selective

job opportunities – Expected that you shape your own and your

company’s direction – lead and initiate– Making versus implementing decisions

Ph.D. - Two Routes

• Academia– Different types of universities – teaching versus

research, small versus large, public versus private– Higher risk research– Publication (conferences & journals)– Research funding proposals

• Research Lab (industry or government funded)– Google, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, VMware, etc.– More stable funding– Research driven by needs of company or

government

Salary

• This is not what you should use to make your decision

• General rule – in many companies the more education you have the higher your salary

• Lots of exceptions– Starting your own company– Getting in early with a startup that succeeds– Management – MBA

• The amount of money you make depends on your drive and your circumstances

Making a Decision

• Be Patient– There are always more job offers– don't be rushed

• Financial support available– PhD students generally funded– MS students may be funded but expect to pay your way

• Time frames for completing degree– 2 years for M.S.– 5 years total for Ph.D. if concurrent with M.S.

• When should you do it– Before you develop an expensive lifestyle– Very few people go back after leaving school

What to Do Now

• Classes– Get good grades, work hard– Shift your attitude from surviving classes to

learning concepts• Develop a portfolio of projects you have

finished, both for classes and outside of classes• Get to know the faculty

– Visit their web pages, read their papers– Take their classes – do well in them!– Talk to them– Try to get involved in undergraduate research

• Pray – what is appropriate for you?

What to Do as a Graduate Student

• Pick an Advisor– You should

• like your advisor• like your advisor's research area• be willing to work for him/her

– Your advisor is investing a lot in you (he/she is staking a portion of their career on you)

• Try to be a full-time student– BYU requires Ph.D.s to be resident full-time

• Plan to finish your thesis or dissertation before you leave

Why CS graduate work at BYU?

• Nationally-recognized faculty solving problems that make a difference in the world

• Funded research programs by Adobe, Google, NSF, DARPA, and many other industrial partners

• Open access to nationally ranked super computer

• Funded research opportunities with tuition benefits for qualified students

Applying to Graduate School

• Application Items– Specify area(s) of research, possible adviser(s): talk

to faculty ahead of time– Letter of intent

• Why BYU? Why computer science?• What research areas are you interested in and why?

– Letters of recommendation• At least two from profs (use M.S. Adviser if applicable)

– Other: GRE, transcript (if not BYU undergrad)– International: TOEFL, financial certification form

• DeadlinesFall Term Winter TermJanuary 15 August 15

Research Areas in our Department

• We would like to introduce you to our research areas– A mission statement for each lab

• What to look for– Make a note of faculty you are interested in– Look for classes to take at 400 level – Contact faculty for more details on their research,

undergraduate and graduate research opportunities

Data MiningChristophe Giraud-Carrier

The Data Mining Lab researches and develops methods to improve the process of extracting actionable knowledge from data

Preparation: CS478, CS470 Lab Meetings (Fall 05):

Tuesdays 10:00-11:00 in 1138 TMCB

We have several (urgent) projects suited for undergraduate training and research with industrial partners (contact cgc@cs.byu.edu)

Special Introductionto Data Mining

Meeting onOct. 25th

Don’t miss it!

• Goal Use algorithms to find proofs of incorrectness for programs, and find proofs of correctness if time permits.• Challenge The easy algorithms are NP-Complete.• Interested? Take CS 486 and other 400-level classes that focus on software.

Come to our lab meetings on Fridays at 11 am in 3325 TMCB

Modelsatisfy

assertion?

Correctnessproperty.

Mathematically precise model

Correct

Error

Not sure

Code (C, asm,etc)

Simulator

Our cool tool

Software Model CheckingMike Jones and Eric Mercer

Welcome to N.L.P.

…

Natural Language Processing

IJ IN NNP

PP

S

Information Dynamics Group

Use mathematical systems theory to design algorithms for scientific processes such as:

1) Modeling: learning from data2) Feedback Control: decision support 3) Verification: systematic experimentation4) Optimization: tractable computation

Use mathematical systems theory to design algorithms for scientific processes such as:

1) Modeling: learning from data2) Feedback Control: decision support 3) Verification: systematic experimentation4) Optimization: tractable computation

Sean Warnick (CS) in collaboration withChristophe Giraud-Carrier, Jeff Humpherys, Kevin Seppi, and others

ComputationalEconomics

EnvironmentalManagement

IntelligentManufacturing

SystemsBiology

Internet Research LabDaniel Zappala

• Internet-centric networking research– Extending the reach of the Internet: ad hoc networks– Developing new Internet services: peer-to-peer apps

UndergraduatesWelcomezappala@cs.byu.edu

PreparationCS 360CS 460open sourceprogrammingtools

• Research in Mobile and Wireless Computing– Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)

• IrDA, Bluetooth, WirelessUSB performance analysis

– Quality of Transport (QoT)• Dynamic heterogeneous transport selection

– Poket Doktor• Wireless healthcare application

Dr. Charles Knutson

Our approach: Automated trust negotiation authenticates strangers

in open systems based on their attributes

Dr. Kent E. Seamons

Research Problem: How to establish trust between strangers online?

Internet SecurityResearch Lab

http://isrl.cs.byu.edu

LAB MEETING TIME

Tues/Thurs 3pm, 2221 TMCB

COURSE PREPARATION

CS 465: Computer Security CONTACT

seamons@cs.byu.edu

UndergraduateMSPhD

REASERCHOPPORTUNITIES

Dan VenturaNeural Networks and Machine Learning LaboratoryWednesdays 12:00pm

Related Courses: cs252, cs478, cs470

Teaching machines to learn and to learn how to learn

Learning Model A

Learning Model B

Learning Model Z

.

.

.

What kinds oflearning modelsare available andwhat can they do?

Whichlearning modelis best for a particular learning problem?

• Goals and Contributions of the NNML:– Improved learning algorithms and models– Combine best of neural network, symbolic, and other

machine learning paradigms– Diverse research opportunities including algorithm

proposal, applications, theoretical issues and more

• Suggested undergraduate electives: 478, 470• Meetings times: Wednesdays 12-1pm, 1130 TMCB• Contact Dr. Tony Martinez (martinez@cs.byu.edu, 3360 TMCB) for more

information regarding joining the NNML group.

Dr.Tony Martinez

Applied Machine LearningDr. Kevin Seppi

We probably live in an uncertain world. Understand how uncertainty affects us and how it affects our perception of the world helps us learn and make more effective decisions.Current projects: Optimization, Economic systems, and Robotic motion Suggested classes: CS 470, CS 478, CS 412, Stats 421Lab Meeting Time: Mondays 2pmThere are opportunities for under-graduate research work in this lab

Pendulum Balancing Agent:

Human-Centered MachineIntelligenceMichael Goodrich

• Human-Robot Interaction• UAV-Enabled Wilderness

Search and Rescue• Multi-Agent Learning

• Undergrad research opportunities available

• Lab meetings: Wednesday at 1pm in 3365 TMCB

Computational SciencesComputational SciencesLaboratoryLaboratory

DNA Sequence AlignmentDNA Sequence Alignment– Gene FindingGene Finding– Active Region DetectionActive Region Detection

• Species EvolutionSpecies EvolutionNew Phylogenetic AlgorithmsNew Phylogenetic Algorithms

Protein PredictionProtein Prediction– Protein - Drug InteractionProtein - Drug Interaction

• Open-Source ToolsOpen-Source ToolsSoda, TCSSoda, TCSSupercomputer ApplicationsSupercomputer Applications

• Mark Clement & Quinn SnellMark Clement & Quinn Snell

3D Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality3D Computer Graphics and Virtual RealityDr. Parris EgbertDr. Parris Egbert

Virtual Environment Virtual Environment Creation and NavigationCreation and Navigation

Photorealistic Photorealistic RenderingRendering

Physically based Physically based modeling and renderingmodeling and rendering

Cognitive Modeling in Cognitive Modeling in GraphicsGraphics

Bill Barrett

More Image Magic

Nudging

Smoothing

FillingProf. Bryan Morse

Hyperspace Research Group

• Mission statement: computer graphic presentation Mission statement: computer graphic presentation of data, objects, and phenomena with 4 or more of data, objects, and phenomena with 4 or more simultaneous dimensionssimultaneous dimensions

• Preparatory course: CS 455Preparatory course: CS 455• CS Department’s oldest, continuous research CS Department’s oldest, continuous research

project, involving graduates and undergraduatesproject, involving graduates and undergraduates• World’s leader in Cartesian hyperspace graphicsWorld’s leader in Cartesian hyperspace graphics

Robert P. BurtonRobert P. Burton3326 TMCB3326 TMCBrpburton@cs.byu.edurpburton@cs.byu.edu

1989 1999 2009

Research areas: Computer Graphics, Geometric Modeling

Courses: CS455, CS557Research Opportunities: Family History Technology

Dr. Tom Sederberg

Data Stream Management

• Mission Statement: support on-line analysis/applications of rapidly changing data streams in sensor networks

• Current Research Topics: Dynamic load sheddingData stream mining Continuous query processingStreaming applicationsEtc.

• Preparatory Courses: CS 653 (Info. Retrieval), CS 452

• Research lab: Advanced Database Applications Lab

• Lab location: 2245 TMCB

• Lab Director: Dr. Dennis Ng (3322 TMCB)

Fig. The dynamic load shedding system for joining data streams in sensor networks

User Friendly Meta-Models for Conceptual Modeling

Highly Redundant, Distributed, Heterogeneous Information Storage

Peer-to-Peer Networking for Fast, Reliable Communication

Applications of the Above to Genealogical Applications

Peer-to-Peer Information Sharing

Scott N. Woodfield

Interactive technologyInteractive Learning

GesturesCameras

Dan Olsen

Information ExtractionDave Embley

http://www.deg.byu.edu/

From the Web From Images of Historical Documents

Mission Statement: Find, Extract, Structure, Index, Query, Integrate, Summarize.Required Preparation: CS452; Useful Preparation: CS470, CS478, CS579.Fall05 Lab Meeting Time: Wednesday’s 3:00 – 4:00 in the CS conference room.Undergrads Welcome: one current senior honors thesis; have sponsored several

ORCA grants.

Conclusion

• I am both hopeful and expectant that from this university there will rise brilliant stars in drama, literature, music, art, science, and all the scholarly graces. This university can be the refining host for many such individuals who, long after they have left this campus, can lift and inspire others around the globe. President Spencer W. Kimball (Educating Zion, p. 77)