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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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.