Written on April 4, 2019

Town Hall Minutes Spring 2019

Minutes from the semi-annual Computer Science Graduate Student Town Hall on April 4, 2019.

Agenda

  • New concerns and reporting page
  • Proposed Degree Requirement Changes
  • CSGSA Updates
  • Conference travel funding
  • Open Discussion

New concerns and reporting page

  • bouldercsgrads.org/concerns
  • Addressing needs of people who find themselves in a situation and not knowing where to go for help
  • Characterized by what concern is, who’s involved
  • Additional form at the bottom for other situations not addressed in current form
  • Flow chart also recently provided by graduate school

Proposed Degree Requirement Changes

  • Still a proposal
  • Will probably start applying in 2020
  • Current requirements
    • MS
      • 4 breadth from 9 bins
      • Issues: Some areas offered inconsistently, has jeopardized graduation plans
    • PhD
      • 5 breadth outside area of focus
      • Plan of study should be on file every semester
      • Issues: No way to ensure fairness when students don’t follow requirements
  • New Breadth proposal
    • Breadth: Take courses from 3 different bins
    • Remaining courses as you please.
    • Caveats
      • Still 30 credits
      • MS students restricted to 2 classes outside CSCI
      • Independent study requirements still apply to research-based MS students
  • 6000 series for PhD students
    • CSCI 6000 (Intro to PhD 1) 1 credit
    • CSCI 6100 (Intro to PhD 2, taken in year ~3) 1 credit
    • CSCI 6200 Research Colloquium 1 credit
    • Will count to 30 credit total requirement
    • PhD 1 vs PhD 2
      • Currently: trying to cover the whole spectrum of PhD study
      • Goal: by year 3, close to being done with courses.  Focus on community, research, giving talks, etc. with more information relevant to later PhD students
    • CSCI 6200 would have a one semester commitment from a registration perspective
      • Would be interesting to keep track of who attends colloquium.
      • APPM and ICS keep track of attendance
  • Proposed Bins (Tentative)
    • 3 bins
    • Bin 1- Graphics, High Performance Computation, Principles of Computation, Chaotic Dynamics, PDE, Numerical Linear Algebra, Theory of Computation, Convex Optimization, Algorithms
    • Bin 2- ML, NLP, Network Analysis, Neural Networks, Data Mining, Computer Vision, Advanced Robotics, Input Interaction and Accessability, User Centered Design, Human Robot Interaction, Intro to VR, Algorithms for HRI
    • Bin 3- Object Oriented Analysis and Design, Verification, Networks, Datacenter Scale Computing, Intro to Cybersecurity, Ethical Hacking, Fundamentals of PL, Comp Bio
  • Grad Comm will review bins regularly
  • Support for more course sequences (ie 6000 level)
  • Trying to move to hire professional instructors for lower level so faculty are free to teach classes in their area of expertise
    • Want a better faculty rotation planned for some of the popular classes
  • Once the system settles down, it would be nice to have breadth done in the first year
    • Especially Masters students
    • Masters switching to PhD would already have their breadth done
  • How to avoid large classes if that doesn’t match your learning style
    • Some 5000 level classes will be huge, but not all.   
  • Comment on how more summer classes would be helpful
    • RA funding would have to cover tuition for summer classes.
    • This summer: Multilingual NLP is being offered
    • Dean’s Office doesn’t pay much to instructors, so it’s hard to recruit people.
  • Projects-based class in the works for professional Masters students
    • 2 semesters (first Spring, second Fall)

CSGSA Updates

  • Thanks for doing the climate survey
    • Full report soon
  • Student space
    • Working on it.  Waiting for Aero to move out
    • Budget for a graduate student lounge has been added to CS dept budget
  • Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee
    • Join #qualityoflife on Slack
    • Focusing on Pipeline, Department Community, and Diversity Conference Funding
  • Student Fees
    • UGGS and CRC are working on initiatives calling on end to student fees for students on appointment
    • Brainstorming where the money would come from… don’t want to reduce the number of offered appointments or increase fees for other students.
    • UGGS trying to declare financial independence from CUSG
    • Any discussion of long-term plan to reduce student fees for everyone?
      • CUSG trying to propose new budget system
      • CUSG only has jurisdiction over 44% of student fees- trying to change that
    • UGGS said it would cost $3mil to pay student fees for everyone on 25% appointment or higher
      • Short term solution
      • For graduate students, if graduate student fees can include student fees, it can be covered by NSF/DARPA/whatever grants for students on RA
      • If RA happens, then TAs will follow suit.
      • Concern of teachers not bringing in as many RAs, but profs at town hall say it won’t be a huge deal.
    • Is UGGS also working on salary raises?
      • Possible 6.2% raise

Conference travel funding

  • Travel funding available for PhD students to attend conferences
  • Goal is to phrase it as a “conference scholarship” so students don’t have to pay money back to the school for bookkeeping
    • As of F19
  • Trying to add in same type of funding for Masters students who are presenting research at conferences
    • Again as of F19
  • Amount varies with the tier of the conference, if presenting at workshop, location of conference, etc.
  • Department has not run out of funds in a while
  • As scholarship, Dean’s office can’t match
    • If faculty has DA, Dean’s office can still match that.
  • Application will still be the same
  • Working on proposal with the Dean’s office to get funding to send people to Tapia

Open Discussion

  • Grader Applications
    • Current process: call for applications, instructor looks through, interviews and picks their graders.  
    • No centralized system because different instructors have different requirements
    • Open to suggestions
    • Discrepancy of people filling out the form AND send email reaching out to professors
      • Some professors get annoyed with the emails
      • Encourage people not to send emails
      • Encourage professors to not respond to mass emails
  • Remember grad comm is always open to questions/suggestions
  • CSGSA committee reps being elected for the fall
  • What would bring people to town hall
    • More faculty?  We intentionally backed down on the faculty to not intimidate students in the past
    • Try to recruit students to come through their faculty

Wrapping Up

  • Upcoming events
    • Grad student appreciation event April 5
    • Research expo April 18
    • Spring Picnic May 3
  • Liz is retiring as of August 21
    • Thank you for her service