Administrivia

Arjun Chandrasekhar

Slides borrowed from Dr. Matthew Burton

Professional Background

Teaching Assistant Professor in CS/SCI

Courses: Computer programming, theory of computation, algorithms and complexity, statistical modelling, big ideas in computing and information

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BS: Computer Science (Caltech, 2014)

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PhD: Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (UCSD, 2019)

• Thesis: Derivation and Analysis of distributed computing algorithms in biological systems

Contact Information

Email: arjunc@pitt.edu

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Office: Sennott Square 6305

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Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 12:30-2:30 or by appointment

Personal Background

I…

• Grew up in Arizona, Wyoming, Oregon, and Arizona (again)
• Spent 10 years in Southern California before coming to Pitt
• I have a lot of interests that have little to do with computer science…
• ...and I’ll give you 10 minutes at the end of class to ask me about them

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Assistant (to the) (regional) Instructor

Dhruv Nathwani

(who is not sponsored)

UTA Team

Ben

Rucker

Diego Jurado

Evan Kozierok

Julianne Kruse

Kavin Sankar

Ruchi Hegde

CMPINF 0010 Course Administrivia

Big Ideas in Computing and Information

• Section 1010: MW 3:00 - 4:15 pm in Cathedral of Learning 324
• Section 1200: TTh 9:30-10:45 am in Cathedral of Learning 232
• Course website is where you will find all of the course information
• Submit all of your assignments on Canvas
• Get help on Discord
• Submit feedback on CourseMIRROR (more on that in a second)

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Don’t forget that there are also lab sections!

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Course components

• Lectures
• Lab Sections

Lectures

• I will introduce and explain a “big idea”
• What is the idea?
• What are some examples?
• How does it relate to past ideas?
• Top hat questions
• Practice problems
• Discussions

Remote lecture attendance

• Pitt must have a certain percentage of its classes be “in person” to remain accredited
• I cannot unilaterally decide to make a course remote or hybrid
• I am required to do everything possible to encourage in-person attendance
• I don’t make the rules

Remote lecture attendance

• First 2.5 weeks are remote
• Afterwards, we will be in-person - with caveats
• You must be in-person unless…
• You have been diagnosed with or tested positive for a disease
• You have been in close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with or tested positive for a disease
• You are physically unable to be in class due to medical or familial reasons

Remote lecture attendance

To attend lecture virtually, you must:

1. Notify me before class that you wish to attend lecture remotely
2. Explain why you cannot come to class
1. A brief explanation will do - I don’t need all details
3. Log onto Zoom before the lecture starts
• If you are late, I can’t guarantee I will be able to let you in while I am lecturing

Remote lecture attendance

• You must notify me beforehand
• You may not attend remotely and provide a reason after the fact
• You must notify me prior to each lecture
• Attending one lecture remotely does not grant you remote access to future lectures
• I reserve the right to ask for a note from a doctor or parent

Remote lecture attendance

• All Zoom meetings are in the Zoom tab on Canvas
• Lectures are recorded via Zoom
• Lecture recordings are in the Panopto Video tab on Canvas

Lectures

• I will usually introduce the idea, and then go through examples
• We might not cover all the examples
• And that’s ok!
• It is not a bad thing if we don’t cover all of the material in lecture!
• Lecture slides are made available for a reason

Asking questions

Asking questions

ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!

• Other students may will share your question
• Questions help stabilize lecture pace
• Having your question answered satisfactorily is an especially rewarding experience
• I am not a mind reader
• You deserve to get all that you can out of lecture
• You are paying time and money to be here

Asking questions

Misconception: “I should not ask questions because it slows down the lecture”

Asking questions

Misconception: “This may be a dumb question but…”

Asking questions

Misconception: “Asking questions means I’m not smart”

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Reality: The smartest person in the room is the person who asks the most questions

Asking questions

Top hat time!

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Some questions about…asking questions

CourseMIRROR

• This semester I am working with researchers at Pitt and Purdue to test CourseMIRROR: a new pedagogical tool
• After lecture you submit feedback
• CourseMIRROR uses artificial intelligence to summarize feedback
• I get to adapt lectures to your feedback

CourseMIRROR

• If you ask a question in class, you are guaranteed to get an answer
• You can ask questions over CourseMIRROR if you do not feel comfortable asking them in class
• I will make a weekly Canvas post that attempts to address questions that several people had
• Operative word: attempts
• Bottom line: CourseMIRROR is a complement for in-class questions - it is NOT a substitute

CourseMIRROR

You will get more out of CourseMIRROR provide specific comments that pinpoint where you stopped understanding the lecture

• Super vague comment: “I don’t get [lecture title]”
• Vague comment: “I didn’t understand X”
• Specific comment: “I didn’t understand the difference between X and Y in example Z”

Accessing CourseMIRROR

• Access it here (passcode: uhggmc)
• Youtube playlist on how to use the app
• Fill out feedback after every class
• Receive extra credit for participating!
• Please fill out the consent form if you are ok with your data being used to improve the tool

Lab section

• UTA will teach a lesson on the topic of the week
• This material is NOT covered in lectures
• UTA will show you how to access the lab materials
• UTA will go over the weekly skills lab assignment
• Open work time
• Work with a partner (sometimes required)
• Ask UTA for help

Lab Sections

• Thursday 9:00 am - 10:50 am (Ruchi)
• Thursday 9:00 am - 10:50 am (Julianne)
• Friday 9:00 am - 10:50 am (Diego)
• Friday 9:00 am - 10:50 am (Kavin)
• Friday 11:00 am - 12:50 pm (Diego)
• Friday 11:00 am - 12:50 pm (Ben)
• Friday 11:00 am - 12:50 pm (Evan)

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Attendance policy

• You may skip lecture at your own discretion/risk
• You do not need to email me
• You can skip lab section if you don’t need help with the material
• However…
• Some labs require collaboration
• It is MUCH easier to find a partner/group at lab section
• If you skip lab section, it is your responsibility to find a partner through other means

Course Structure

Synthesis

Area

Skills Lab

How will my grade be calculated?

Overall Breakdown

• Participation : 10%
• Weekly lab exercises: 20%
• synthesis activities: 20%
• synthesis essays: 30%
• final project: 30%

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Note that…

• We place a premium on participating
• As well as on thinking

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Participation (10 %)

• Based on how many top hat questions you answer
• Most questions graded on completeness
• Some questions are based on readings, graded on correctness
• Please complete readings before class

Skills labs (20%)

• Weekly assignments to help you build your programming and software engineering skills
• Based on the material covered in lab sections
• Skills lab material is NOT covered in lectures
• You have a week to complete exercises based on the new programming concepts
• You won’t need a week if you attend skills lab and take advantage of open work time in skills labs

Skills labs (20%)

• Focus on python, jupyterlab, pandas, and git
• You do not need ANY prior programming experience
• The UTAs will build your knowledge from the ground up
• The UTAs will show you how to access and complete the labs using SCI JupyterHub
• You are not required to install any software or IDE
• You may need to get VPN access - instructions here

Skills labs (20%)

• This is “Big Ideas in Computing and Information”
• Not “Big Ideas in Python Programming”
• Skills labs material is NOT covered in lectures
• This is a feature…
• ...not a bug
• We can’t cover the big ideas adequately if we devote lecture time towards teaching programming
• I support making labs into a separate course…
• ...but for now this is how it is

Skills labs (20%)

• This is “Big Ideas in Computing and Information”
• Not “Big Ideas in Python Programming”
• Skills labs material is NOT covered in lectures
• This is a feature…
• ...not a bug
• We can’t cover the big ideas adequately if we devote lecture time towards teaching programming
• I support making labs into a separate course…
• ...but for now this is how it is

Synthesis Activities (20%)

• In-class activities that allow you to apply the big ideas to a real-world scenario
• Split up into groups, complete an activity
• Submit a writeup on Canvas
• Designed to be finished within the class period (but you can take up to a week to submit)

Synthesis essays (30%)

• 1-2 page essays that ask you to apply the big ideas to real world systems
• You will explore connections between the big ideas
• You will have to do research and cite academic sources
• Will give more info on each essay in future lectures

Final project (30%)

• As a group, make a data-driven argument for the best neighborhood in Pittsburgh
• Analyze neighborhood data from the Western PA Regional Data Center
• Apply all of the concepts you learned in skills lab
• Present your work during skills lab
• Submit a github repository as your final product

Late assignments and extensions

• I do accept late work
• But you will be penalized 0.5% per hour late
• You have 3 late tokens
• Each token grants you a 24 hour extension
• Some other constraints - see syllabus
• I will only grant free extensions for family and medical emergencies

Area Talks

• Guest lectures by researchers, entrepreneurs, and professionals in computing and information
• See real-world applications of the “big ideas”
• Learn about what a SCI career can look like
• Learn about research opportunities at Pitt
• Meet your future mentor?

Area talks

• One of your synthesis essays will be a recap of your favorite area talk
• Summarize the talk to the best of your abilities
• Draw a connection between the content of the talk and two of the big ideas we have discussed
• Graded on effort and thoughtfulness - not correctness
• Due at the end of the semester
• You need to actively engage with at least one area talk!

TOPHAT TIME!

Let me learn about you

• Where are you from? City if from PA, state if from somewhere else in the USA, country if international
• What is your favorite sport?
• What is your favorite type of food ingredient? Dish? Cuisine?
• Why did you choose to attend Pitt? Sci?