I&C Sci (ICS) H197 — Honors Seminar — Fall 2014

 

Please see also the ICS Honors Program Website.

 


Current Announcements:

 

o   Please send me soon your requested date and time for your practice technical talk, hopefully within a week (by 12 Nov.).  Also, please send me a title and abstract shortly.

o   Please attend ICS-90 in the HSLH 100A room, which is for juniors and seniors (the BS3 1200 room is for freshmen and sophomores).

o   Current announcements will appear here, at top-level, for quick and easy inspection.

 


Place: ICS-259 (building 302 on the UCI campus map)
Time: Wednesday 12:00noon-12:50pm

Faculty research lectures: Co-located with ICS-90, Wednesday 5:00-6:00pm,  in BS3 1200 (building 519 on the UCI campus  map); overflow room with streaming video in HSLH 100A (building 501 on the UCI campus map)

[NOTE: Some ICS-90 meetings will not involve faculty research lectures, and can be skipped.  See schedule as it develops (available at the bottom of this URL). The faculty research lectures are 5-5:30pm and 5:30-6pm, which you are obliged to attend if possible.  The time slot 6-6:20pm is reserved for advice to freshmen, which you may skip. Please attend in the HSLH 100A room, which is for juniors and seniors (the BS3 1200 room is for freshmen and sophomores).]

Two people primarily oversee the ICS Honors Program. The Honors Program Advisor, currently Rick Lathrop, is the faculty member in charge of the program. The Honors Program Counselor, currently Jessica Shanahan, will help orient students and track their progress. Feel free to ask us any questions about the Honors Program.

Instructor/ICS Honors Program Advisor: Richard Lathrop
Office hours: Wednesdays 1:00-2:00pm, or anytime by appointment, in DBH-4224

Email:  rickl@uci.edu

(If you send email, please put “ICS-H197” somewhere in the Subject line.)

 

ICS Honors Program Counselor: Jessica Shanahan
Office hours: By appointment, in ICS-
352

Email: shanahan@uci.edu

(If you send email, please put “ICS-H197” somewhere in the Subject line.)


Goal:

ICS H197 provides an opportunity for undergraduate honors students in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences to learn about the research taking place in the School and to begin to get involved with this research. The major purpose of this course is to help you learn what sort of research is going on, which people do what, and how to get connected with a research project. The course will also provide a general introduction to the scientific and technical research enterprise, including the research literature, how to give a successful technical talk, the responsible conduct of research, research intellectual property, and research funding (grantsmanship and entrepreneurship). Various enrichment activities include a library-based introduction to searching the research literature, faculty panel on improving your graduate school applications, and the opportunity to practice and improve technical talk presentation skills in a live talk to the class.

One of your major goals in this course is to gain an understanding of what research is being pursued in the School and what areas might be of interest to you for your project. This goal is crucial, since it should help you complete your next goal, selection of your faculty advisor. Remember that the arrangement must be mutually acceptable, so there is no guarantee that the first faculty member you talk to will say yes; it may be, for example, that they have no suitable project in mind at the time you ask.

It is not imperative that you begin your research immediately next quarter if your schedule for graduation allows you enough time. However, there are some important advantages to starting fairly soon, and we encourage you to begin by spring quarter. Starting early gives you more flexibility with regard to finishing the rest of your degree requirements, especially if you want to continue the research for more than two quarters. Also, students often find that those faculty members who have supervised their honors research project are good sources for letters of recommendation; they will be in the best position to comment on your ability if you are well into your research project.


Please Note:

(1)   Two types of students take this course: students in the ICS Honors Program (ICSHP), and students in the Campuswide Honors Program (CHP). In many ways the requirements are the same for both types of students: you are to select a faculty advisor, do two or more quarters of research with that advisor, and produce a report which is considered to be of honors quality. However, students in the Campuswide Honors Program should discuss their plans with counselors in the CHP, in order to make sure that they are meeting the requirements of that program.

(2)   We are in the process of transitioning the ICS H197 class into a more flexible largely-online course oriented more along the lines of "Introduction to Undergraduate Research."  Please help develop and debug the new format and content.  We'll work out the details as we go along.


Class Setup:

This course is graded Pass/Not Pass, and the principal formal requirement is that you attend and participate. You must read (at least) one research paper by an ICS faculty member, and attend (at least) one ICS research talk (see the ICS Calendar for schedule; this is in addition to attending ICS-90).

Some of the class exercises may involve students giving feedback to fellow students, and your active participation is necessary for everyone to get the most benefit from this. Occasional absences are inevitable given busy schedules, and will be excused on a case-by-case basis; make sure you sign the attendance sheet each class period you attend.

ICS H198: Honors Research

To complete the honors program you must do two quarters of independent, supervised work (ICS 198) with your faculty advisor. (In some cases, your advisor might ask you to take a graduate course to substitute for the first quarter.) Passing the 198s does not necessarily guarantee successful completion of the honors program, however. For the ICSHP, the thesis report on your honors work must be certified by your faculty advisor and by the program advisor to be of honors quality. (Again, students in the CHP should keep in touch with counselors in that program about the requirements.)

o   students majoring in ICS or CS can count completion of two ICS H198s as one project course.

o   students majoring in CSE can count CSE 181ABC as one of the ICS H198s required for the Honors Program.

o   students majoring in CSE can count Engr H199 as one of the ICS H198s required for the Honors Program.


Recommended books:

William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, MacMillan, New York.

Robert A. Day (ed.), How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, Oryx Press, 1998.

Joseph M. Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Harper-Collins, 1989.

Dale Carnegie, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking: Modern Techniques for Dynamic Communication, Pocket Books, New York, 1977.

Robert M. Woelfle (ed.), A New Guide for Better Technical Presentations, IEEE Press, 1992.


Syllabus:

The following represents a preliminary syllabus. Some changes in the lecture sequence may occur due to earthquakes, fires, floods, wars, natural disasters, unnatural disasters, or the discretion of the instructor based on class progress.

Background Reading and Lecture Slides will be changed or revised as the class progresses at the discretion of the instructor.


Week 1:

            Wed., 8 Oct., Introduction to (1) the ICS Honors Program, (2) ICS Research Areas, and (3) the Scientific and Technical Research Literature.

 

            Homework #1, due Wed., 15 Oct.:

Find and read a research paper by an ICS Faculty Member.

o   Make sure the paper already will be indexed in the literature (published at least 6 months ago in a major venue).

o   Bring your paper to MRC-164 at the Ayala Science Library on Wed., 15 Oct.

o   If you already have a research advisor and topic, this research paper must be from an entirely different research area.

o   The intent is to broaden your exposure to ICS research.

 

Background material:

            ICS Research Areas.

            ICS Research Centers.

            ICS Research Highlights.

            ICS Calendar.

            ICS Faculty.

            Literature overview. [PDF; PPT]

            Technical writing. [PDF]

 

Week 2:

            Wed., 15 Oct., meet in MRC-164 at the Ayala Science Library (to right as you face library from Aldrich Park).

            Introduction to Searching the Research Literature, by Julia Gelfand, ICS and Engineering librarian.

 

                        Bring your ICS faculty research paper to MRC-164.

o   Your challenge: Find your paper in the literature databases using the online search tools.

·         Pretend you didn’t know it existed beforehand, but need to find it --- Treasure Hunt!

 

            Homework #2, due Wed., 22 Oct.:

Summary, Point, & Question about your paper. [Instructions; Guide]

o   Email your 1-page Summary to Dr. Lathrop by Wed., 22 Oct.

 

Week 3:

            Tue., 21 Oct., meet noon-1pm in DBH-6011.  NOTE DIFFERENT DAY --- TUESDAY --- DUE TO CONFLICT WITH FACULTY MEETINGS.

            ICS Faculty Panel on Improving your Grad School Applications.

 

o   Students with time conflicts: Watch the video on the SAO website later. [link will appear here]

View the US Bureau of Labor Statistics chart of education, income, and unemployment (click here).

 

            Homework #3, due Wed., 29 Oct.:

            Identify five grad schools you might apply to.  For each school, identify one professor there with whom you might work.

o   Email your list to Dr. Lathrop by Wed., 29 Oct.

o   The reason for this requirement is so that when you write your Statement of Purpose for each school, you will be able to mention at least one professor *from that school* who interests you.

o   Some professors will do a global string search for their name through all of the applicant's Statements of Purpose, and then preferentially read those applications that mention their name.

o   Thus, if you want to improve the chances that your application actually will be read seriously, it is helpful to you to mention names of professors at that school who interest you.  Of course, if you mention a long list of names it will be obvious spam, so mention no more than one to three. Also, briefly mention something personal that attracts your interest about each, again to indicate that it isn’t just impersonal spam.

o   These remarks apply mainly to Ph.D. applications.  M.S. applications usually do not receive as much carefully individual scrutiny as do Ph.D. applications.

o   Even if you currently do not intend to apply to graduate school, you still must attend the Panel and do the homework.  If you ever change your mind later in your career, after you know more than you do now, you will want to be properly prepared.

 

Week 4:

            Wed., 29 Oct., Meet in ICS-259 rest of quarter. How to Give a Successful Technical Talk.

                        How to Give a Successful Technical Talk.

                        Tree Talk.

 

Homework #4, Due Wed., 5 Nov.:

Identify three interesting ICS research areas, and three interesting professors in each. [Instructions]

o   Email your 1-page Summary to Dr. Lathrop by Wed., 5 Nov. The point to this exercise is to show you that you have very broad interests, and that you can find many ICS professors who might sponsor interesting research.

o   If you already have a research advisor and topic, all three research areas must be entirely different.  The intent is to broaden your exposure to ICS research in general.

 

Background material:

                        Talk Tips.

                        10 Talking Points.

                        Example talk: Intelligent Systems and Molecular Biology. [Short version for ICS-90]

                        Example archived student talks.

 

Week 5:

 

            Wed., 5 Nov., Responsible Conduct of Research.

                        On Being a Scientist Video. Authors: Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine

                        Responsible Conduct of Research. Presentation Material Credit: On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research, Third Edition, The National Academies; Michael Kalichman, Director, UC San Diego Research Ethics Program; Said Shokair, Director, UCI UROP; ICS Honors Program by Rick Lathrop, Director, ICS Honors Program.

 

                        You learned the basics in kindergarten:  Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal.

                                    * Don’t lie:  Don’t make up false data or otherwise falsify results.

                                    * Don’t cheat:  Don’t misrepresent your data as something it is not or as better than it is.

                                    * Don’t steal:  Don’t use the words or data of others without proper credit and citation; don’t plagiarize.

                        More complicated cases may require you to consult for advice and disclose conflicts of interest so they can be managed.

                        When in doubt, seek advice and disclose conflicts.

 

            Background Material:

Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research,” Nicholas H. Steneck with David Zinn, Office of Research Integrity (ORI), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

UC Conflict of Interest Policy,” UC Business and Finance Bulletin G-39, UC Executive Vice President – Business Operations.

Integrity In Research,” UCI Office of Research Administration.

UC Office of Ethics, Compliance & Audit Services.”

 

Homework #5, Due Wed., 7 Nov.:

Identify one interesting ICS professor you might work with. [Instructions]

o   Email your 1-page Summary to Dr. Lathrop by Wed., 7 Nov.

o   The point to this exercise is to show you how to learn more about an ICS professor before you approach them for research.

o   If you already have a research advisor and topic, this ICS professor must be from an entirely different area. The intent is to broaden your exposure to ICS research in general.

 

Week 6:

 

            Wed., 12 Nov., Research Funding --- Grantsmanship and Entrepreneurship

 

            No more homework!  Work hard in your other courses!

 

            Background Material:

                        Research Intellectual Property --- Patents, Copyrights, Trade Marks, and Trade Secrets

                        UC Patent Policy, and Patent Acknowledgment.

 

Week 7:

 

            Wed., 19 Nov., Student Practice Technical Talks.

 

                        12:00-12:25 --- Farshad Momtaz

                                    Title:

                                                GIDMaPS: A Drought Time Machine [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

                                                Drought is defined as lack of water supplies and rainfall. During the recent years our economy, ecosystem, and even human lives have been affected by its effects.The Global Integrated Drought Monitoring and Prediction System (GIDMaPS) is the first global drought monitoring and prediction system that covers the globe with near real-time resolution. It is also the first drought prediction system, which automatically retrieves data from model simulations and satellite observations. The monitoring component provides drought severity, while the prediction component offers probability occurrence of drought for different severity levels. Its ability to predict the future droughts can prevent millions in economic loss, wild fires, and save human lives.

 

                        12:25-12:50 --- Sean Dunn

                                    Title:

DDoS Attacks: A Real and Rising Concern [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

                                                In the past decade, DDoS attacks have grown immensely popular among malicious hackers.  A DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service, is a method by which these malicious hackers can prevent users from accessing a certain computer resource by overloading it with requests from an array of separate computer systems.  The targeted resource becomes so busy responding to these empty requests that legitimate users are unable to access the resource effectively.  While a malicious virus or worm is a precision tool designed for a specific purpose such as using a host machine to send spam emails, a DDoS attack is a blunt weapon, capable for disabling entire systems for hours or even days.  Its effectiveness can be seen in its diverse use. Large scale DDoS attacks have affected everyone from video game companies to financial institutions and even the CIA.

Week 8:

 

            Wed., 26 Nov., Student Practice Technical Talks.

 

                        12:00-12:25 --- Yang Jiao

                                    Title:

                                                3D Non-rigid Objects Recognition Using Laplace Beltrami Eigensystem [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

                                                The recognition of three-dimensional (3D) objects is a major interest in computer vision. High-density point clouds provide an identification of object classes such as dogs, cats, and horses. Since each point cloud system is of different object classes, the non-rigid structures within the same object class can be interrelated due to their intrinsically similar distribution. The talk will address two approaches and solutions for recognition of non-rigid 3D objects that exhibit a “pose invariance” property under 3D rotation. It is difficult to infer the underlying class of a 3D model due to the lack of correspondence between the original model and its intrinsic class. The recognition of 3D models containing information inferring the underlying 3D object class is difficult due to the lack of consistent and reliable correspondences. The proposed approaches match and distinguish unordered 3D non-rigid objects by preserving characteristics represented by LB eigen-functions as well as eliminating noises via the moment invariant method. The resulting cluster analysis is able to directly match 3D deformable objects with its corresponding class and recognize non-rigid deformable objects as different classes, thereby supporting efficiency in the classification of unordered 3D models.

 

                        12:25-12:50 --- Weicheng Yu

                                    Title:

Crowdsourcing: A new work style [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

Crowdsourcing is a relatively new term. It defines a process of obtaining services, ideas or content by soliciting contributions from a group of people. The modern method transfers crowdsourcing to the Internet. Contributors in a crowdsourcing project are granted more freedom since they are not scrutinized by others physically. The online environment tends to put less stress on people, allowing them to deliver more creative works. Crowdsourcing is evolving quickly, and it is applied to many more fields other than computer science related projects. More and more people are embracing it as a new work style to the traditional work style.

 

Week 9:

 

            Wed., 3 Dec., Student Practice Technical Talks.

 

                        12:00-12:25 --- Vonnie Wu

                                    Title:

                                                The distinction of Concurrency and Parallelism [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

                                                In this talk, I reference Rob Pike’s Tech Talk on “Concurrency Is Not Parallelism” and discuss the differences and similarities between concurrency and parallelism. Concurrency is defined as the composition of independently executing processes, while parallelism is defined as the simultaneous execution of (possibly related) computations. These two concepts are related yet have completely different meanings: concurrency is about dealing with lots of things at once, while parallelism is about doing lots of things at once. I hope that this talk will make it easier to understand and effectively use these two principles in Software Engineering.

 

                        12:25-12:50 --- Geoffrey Tucker

                                    Title:

The Rise of Multi-factor Authentication [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

As computers become more powerful and encryption algorithms slowly become outdated, password security becomes increasingly more important. To maximize one's security, it is imperative to choose a long password with symbols, numbers, as well as upper and lower case letters. However, for the common user, long passwords are rarely chosen as they are easy to forget and take longer to type out. Multi-factor authentication provides a profound increase in security for common users who like to use their shorter passwords, as well as for more advanced users who seek to maximize their security beyond having a strong password.

 

Week 10:

 

            Wed., 10 Dec., Student Practice Technical Talks.

 

                        12:00-12:25 --- Kelly Magruder

                                    Title:

                                                Big Data Management: Past, Present, and Future [PDF]

                                    Abstract:

                                                In this talk, I will discuss the history of technological systems for managing “Big Data”, the inception of the field, and the current activities and architectures related to developing such systems.  Although Big Data has progressed massively since the need for management systems became most pressing in the late 1970s, many architectural issues still remain.  Recently developed components and layers within data management systems are being used to tackle these challenges posed by the current understanding of the Big Data field, and this talk covers professional opinions on what are the most important open challenges in the field are and the most promising solutions for the data community to pursue to ensure the most efficient data management systems.