Computer Science Graduate Student Newsletter

Welcome (back)!

First of all, on behalf of the Department of Computer Science, I welcome all of the new graduate students. Of course, we also welcome back all of our returning M. S. and Ph. D. students. We have again had a substantial increase in the number of applicants to our graduate programs and I am pleased to report that the number of graduate students in the Department of Computer Science exceeds now 300!

Party

The Department is organizing a party honoring all new students, either new to the university, or new to the department, or new to a degree program (yes, we do have some graduate students who received their undergraduate degree here!). The party will take place on Friday, September 19, from 4:30 until 6 pm, outside of the PGH Building, on its North side. The Department will provide food and drinks.

Come meet your new colleagues! Many faculty and staff will be there as well.

Points to Consider

Here are a few important points all graduate students, but especially new ones, should be aware of.

1. Initial Course Advising
   By now, all new graduate students must have their initial course advising (the infamous pink sheets). This is the formal process whereby the department determines what prerequisite courses a student must take before graduate courses can be taken. It is imperative that every student have this form on file; it is even more important that all courses specified there be taken (in the order indicated).

2. Work Authorization
   I have informed the Office of International Student Services that all work authorization for foreign students that the INS requires to be signed by International Student Services must be signed either by Ms. Amanda Vaughan or by me. You should be aware that you will not obtain authorization to work from the department if you have not successfully completed all prerequisite courses as specified on your pink sheet.

3. The 100 Hour Doctoral Cap
   The Texas Legislature has reduced the 130 hour cap on doctoral hours to 100. This means that all students (including in-state) are subject to paying premium tuition the semester following the one in which they complete 100 doctoral hours. (Premium tuition is currently about three times the in-state tuition.) For you old-timers, please note that the old rules do not apply any longer. Since the university receives more funding per hour taught for doctoral than for master's hours, the emphasis in the past had been to put students immediately into doctoral status. Our current general rule is that we will put a graduate student into doctoral status only once that student has completed 30 graduate hours. Please note that starting in Fall of 1998, students with more than 100 doctoral hours may no longer be employable by the department. So, my advice to all who might be affected is: GRADUATE!!
   
4. COSC 8x98 Doctoral Research
   Foreign students and TAs and RAs must maintain full-time status every semester. While this is frequently achieved by signing up for COSC 6x98 Special Problems, I ask that starting in Spring 1998, all Ph. D. students who have already completed their Qualifying Examination, but not yet the Preliminary Examination, sign up for COSC 8x98 Doctoral Research instead. This is appropriate since (presumably) at this point in their academic progress, they are preparing the research proposal required for the Preliminary Examination. Students may sign up for COSC 8x99 Doctoral Dissertation only after they have successfully passed their Preliminary Examination.

5. TAs/RAs Dropping Courses
   TAs and RAs who want to drop courses must obtain my signature if that would cause them to fall below the full-time status that semester. While I will usually approve the dropping of courses, ordinarily I will not endorse the request that the student may retain the non-resident tuition waiver. I strongly believe that TAs who are directly involved in passing or failing other students should be required to adhere to the general requirements.

6. Graduation
   Students who expect to graduate in a given semester must go to 108 E. Cullen and file for graduation. For the Fall 1997 semester, the deadline for filing is Friday, September 19, 1997.

7. Thesis and Dissertation Submission
   Please obtain the written guidelines regarding the format of theses and dissertations from the Dean's Office, 214 SR I. This semester, the deadline for submitting theses and dissertations to the Dean's Office is Wednesday, November 26, 1997. Also, you must announce your defense at least seven days before its actual date.

Faculty News

1. Dr. Ioannis Kakadiaris has joined the department as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science. His areas of interest are related to computer graphics, computer vision, and virtual reality. He is currently teaching the graduate graphics course.

2. Dr. Stephen W. Thomas is teaching COSC 4351 for us. He is Vice President, Research and Development, for SciVision, Inc.

3. Dr. Albert Cheng and his student Chun (Fred) Wong have a paper entitled "An Approach for Imprecise Transmission of TIFF Image Files Through Congested Real-Time ATM Networks" accepted for presentation at the 22nd IEEE International Conference on Local Computer Networks, to be held in Minneapolis, MN, in November 1997.

Ernst L. Leiss
Director of Graduate Studies


Office Hours for Fall 1997
Ms. Amanda Vaughan: Monday - Friday, 2 - 5 pm.
Dr. Ernst L. Leiss: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 3:30 - 4:30 pm.
Please confirm by calling 743-3350.